Calibrations

California 2006

Figment was slowly learning that traveling to the past was like having the worst sense of déjà vu ever. He had just left the Paramour, and he was walking down the streets of Los Angeles with his younger selves. It was all so familiar: the weather, the houses, even the stupid argument that his past selves were having with each other.

"She didn't judge me when I asked for 52 copies of The Filth," Pepper said. "I think she can handle it."

"What's The Filth?" Youngblood asked.

"It's just a comic by Grant Morrison..." Pepper said.

"It's really good!" Revenge interjected.

"Shut up, I'm trying to talk," Pepper said.

Figment tuned them out after a while. None of this mattered, because everything was going according to plan. He had successfully recruited his first three past selves, and soon, he would be back in 2019. He imagined Frank's arms around him, the warmth of his embrace, the taste of his lips. He couldn't wait for all of this to be over, to finally get a chance to go home.

He fell behind the group as he daydreamed about going back to his own time, after everything had been fixed, of course. However, he tried to keep an eye on Pepper, Youngblood, and Revenge. He had to make sure that everything stayed on track. He couldn't let his younger selves mess this up for him.

All of a sudden, someone tapped Figment on the shoulder. He turned around, and Ray was there. He froze, unable to imagine what in the world Ray was doing here. He'd been so careful. He thought that the other band members hadn't seen him when they were going upstairs or when they were trying to leave, but maybe he'd gone wrong somewhere.

Then again, even if Ray had seen them, maybe it wouldn't be a big deal. Sure, he'd have some questions, but he could always say that he, Revenge, and Youngblood were family members visiting from out of town. Pepper would back them up. Eventually, Ray would do what most people did when they were confronted with irrefutable evidence of time travel: he'd mull it over and then forget about it.

"Can I see your license?" Ray asked.

At first, Figment had no idea why Ray would ask that. It took Figment a while to realize what he was really asking for, but when he did figure it out, he decided to play dumb.

"Like my driver's license?" he said. Giving Ray his driver's license might give him away - the issue date was over a decade in the future - but it was better than flat-out admitting that he was a time traveler.

"No," Ray said. "Your time travel license."

For the first time since he'd left 2019, Figment panicked. This was not what he had planned. He'd suspected that someone close to him was in the Watch, but he'd never thought that it would be Ray. He'd always been so sweet, so innocent, so unassuming. In all of the years that they'd known each other, he'd never once suspected that Ray might know about time travel. He'd thought that they were friends, bandmates, but now, with Ray standing in front of him, asking for his time travel license, he wondered if they'd ever known each other at all.

He had sworn that the Watch wouldn't take him alive, that it would be like a bullet through a flock of doves, but in the end, he had no choice but to cooperate. He fumbled through his pocket, pulled out his license, and handed it to Ray.

"Research Class C, huh?" Ray said as he looked over the time travel license. "And you're being sponsored by Netflix? The DVD rental service?"

"Yeah," Figment said.

Ray just looked confused. "What exactly are you researching, Gerard?" he asked.

"Uhh...the band broke up, and I'm collecting Netflix customer data?" He winced as he said it. He couldn't ever imagine having such a boring job, one where he couldn't create art with the people he loved. Maybe it wasn't such a surprise that Ray figured out that he was lying.

"And you're doing that through time travel?" Ray said skeptically.

"Uhh...yeah. Definitely."

"I'm afraid that I'm going to need to see your copy of Forms 405A, 405B, and 942D."

"I don't have those," Figment admitted.

"All holders of a Research Class C license must travel with those forms," Ray said. "They explain the details of your research project."

"I left them in 2019," Figment said, which was technically true.

"I hate to do this, Gerard, but I don't have a choice," Ray said. "If you don't have the proper forms, I have to report you to my boss and take you in for questioning."

Ray took out a pair of handcuffs, and he clipped them onto Figment's wrists. "What are you doing?!" he shouted, wild-eyed and furious. "I have a reason to be here! I've done nothing wrong, I swear! Ray, you can't take me! You won't take me! Frank's dying, and you're just going to fucking arrest me? What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"I suppose I can add verbally abusing an agent of the Watch to your list of charges, along with time traveling without the proper documentation, traveling for reasons other than those specified by the terms of your license, and God knows what else," Ray said. He paused and then said, "Before I send you to my boss, I should ask you one more thing. Are there any other versions of you in this era, other than the one that's supposed to be here?"

"No," Figment said.

"You're lying," Ray said. "I can tell."

"I'm not lying," Figment insisted. He looked around for a moment, and thankfully, Revenge, Youngblood, and Pepper had all wandered off. They probably didn't even realize that Figment was gone yet. They'd saved themselves from the Watch, and Figment promised himself that after he got away from them, he'd find a way back here, and he'd finish his mission.

Figment wondered what he would do when he got back to 2019. How could he look Ray in the eye after this, knowing that he was in the Watch, that he'd been spying on him all along? Then again, dealing with Ray in the future was the least of his problems right now. He needed to figure out how to get away from the Watch, and he needed to save Frank.

Ray started typing something into his watch. The time machine looked similar to Figment's, but there were a few extra buttons on it. Figment wondered what they did, and then he decided that he was probably better off not knowing. "What are you going to do to me, Ray?" he asked.

Ray didn't respond. Instead, he put his earpiece on and started talking into it. "Director Armstrong, this is Special Agent Toro," he said. "I've captured a time traveler with improper documentation, likely engaged in illicit activity...yes, it's Gerard Way...no, it's not our Gerard. It's him from the future, he says he's from 2019...yes, I'll do that."

Ray continued to type, and Figment kept on shouting. "Ray, it's me! I'm your friend!" he exclaimed. "You don't have to do this to me! And what about Frank? He'll die in a bus crash if you don't let me save him! Ray, don't do this!"

"I'm sorry," Ray whispered as he pushed one last button on his watch, and all of a sudden, Figment was gone.