Sandstorm {Discontinued}{Rewritten}

Interlude #2

In Heinz site, Anita could see why following some strange, forty something year old man into an alley might have been a bad idea. The city was full of all sort of creeps, especially since the meta human criminals had started popping up. One could never be too careful. Still, the Flash usually showed up to save the day. (She wasn't sure how he knew people were in danger, but she figured he'd probably show up if something happened. He was the city's designated super hero after all.)

Anita paused at the entrance of the alley, frowning when the mystery man headed towards the dumpster just below the fire escape of the nearby building. "What? Is your time machine a trash can?"

He turned and gave her a look of pure disgust. "Don't be stupid. Trash cans can't be time machines. Do you know how badly a person would smell, if they went around traveling in a garbage container? How would you get a thing like that to move through time anyway?"

Anita rolled her eyes and shrugged dramatically. This guy was being chased through her school by a flame throwing meta human, but a time traveling dumpster was too unbelievable? Sure, why not? "Okay. Then, where is your time machine?"

The man turned again, moving swiftly as he reached behind the dumpster and pulled out a thick, leather bound history book. It looked suspiciously like some warn down version of the books she used in her fifth period class. (Same color scheme and everything. Right down to that crude drawing of a Vikings helmet and war ship.) Anita raised her eyebrow at him. "So...it's not the dumpster, but it's behind it?"

He nodded, like that made much more sense. Anita still wasn't convinced. So, she asked, "And it's a history book?"

"Yup. I stashed it here, when that rude fire guy stole the front page, which I need to go home. He set it on fire when I tried stealing it back before. So, I figured I'd better keep the rest of the book safe while I track him down. It's the only one I've got...Well, actually it's not just this one." The mystery man nodded, shifting the book in his hands so that he could hold it up for her. "This one only takes you through the twenty-first century. There's more books back at the lodge, but this one's the only one I brought with me."

"The lodge?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"...Right. Well, if your 'time machine' is a bunch of books then what did you have to steal? How do books need to be fixed? The front page or..?" Anita wondered. She flexed her fingers, using air quotes, as she said the words time machine.

"Oh! Right! I'll show you. Hold on." The mystery man reached in his pocket, either not noticing her sarcasm or not caring about it. When he withdrew his hand from his pocket, he was holding a piece of paper: something that looked like a publication page. Only, instead of the name of a publishing company it just had The Lodge written in big fancy, curly letters right smack dab in the center of the page. The corners of the paper were a little singed from where - apparently - the flaming meta human had set fire to it, when the mystery man had been stealing it back. From the burnt pieces of the page, Anita could see a few lose wires poking out as well.

Anita watched as the man flipped the book to the first page. He placed the page inside the book carefully, aiming his watch at the book's spine. She frowned, as the page slowly began fixing itself up... Well, sort of. The burnt edges were still there, of course. (It wasn't magic after all.) But the left side of the paper began reattaching itself to the book's hinges. The wires mended themselves, stitching together just enough that they weren't just hanging limply; after a moment, the page looked completely normal (aside from the varies singes). One wouldn't even be able to tell it had wires inside of it (as long as they didn't look too closely that is). The only sign that it had ever been ripped out of the book at all was the small hair line tear along the left edge of the page.