Dirk Bell leaned his head to the side until his neck popped. He was well into his mid-fifties now and had taken 15 seconds to to disable his much younger guards. Five
seconds longer than it would’ve taken him a decade ago. An untamed living weapon, Dirk Bell was the definition of the term “maverick.” Pansies. . .he thought, stepping over the unconscious forms of Blackwulf Jr. and Punchline.
**************************
“Who are you and where did you come from?” Kristofer Schanz asked Doc Paragon, as he watched him attempt to repair the small device he seemed to hold close to him at all times. “You must be one of Shirley’s friends. . .” Paragon began, looking him over and offering a hand.
As Paragon related his tale of alternate worlds and the chronal genocide of the Clockmen, a chord was struck in Chance. How similar they seemed to be, he thought. How similar their stories, and yet, how different.
“Can I see this?” Tora Trystan, the Time Trust of Vanguard Prime, looked over the damaged box that Paragon had been unsuccessfully working on. “This resembles Time Trust Tech. . .” She noted.
“Do you think you could fix it?” Paragon asked.
“I think so. . .yes. Yes, I”m sure I could, but I’ll need some help.” She said, inwardly pleased to have someone else to talk about scientific matters with.
“My main field is chemistry, but Dr. Quantos has been helping me to learn about technological devices. I’ve done some work with Mandelovian tech as well.” Chance offered.
“Great, let’s get to it, then.” And with that, the three headed for Tora’s lab.
*************************
The fist flew through the air and impacted with the left side of his face, knocking loose teeth, and sending a small trail of blood into the air. “Bastard!”
The conversation was not going the way Grissom had hoped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes ago, as Vanguard Prime scrambled to recapture their prisoner, Grissom and Tayden walked down a corridor of the complex moon headquarters of the team.
“Why don’t you talk to him?” Tayden offered, gazing out at the luminescent white landscape outside.
“I’m not sure if it’s such a good idea, me family’s got a history of not gettin’ on well. . .” Montag thought of his own father and their troubled relationship.
“Hello.” A tall, green skinned man with curly blond hair and a hooked nose offered as they passed. “Hello.” Tayden returned the greeting with a smile as they passed one
another.
Montag looked at the stranger, at Tayden, and back again, before shaking his head and returning to the subject. “Do you think. . .” He began.
“What could it hurt?” The angel offered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Get up, ya drunken hooremonger! Get up, so I can knock you on your arse again!” Brian Montag’s three fingered fists shook in his rage.
“It’s not like that, Brian, I don’t know what happened to you. . .” Grissom offered, holding his jaw.
“BOLLOCKS! Ye know exactly what happened, don’t ye?!” Brian screamed at him. “The bloody Montag curse, aye?! Drinkin’ and boozin’ and livin’ it up wi’ yer hoores!
Aye, me mum met plenty of men with “the Montag curse” after ye had yer fun and went yer merry way, didn’t she?” Brian’s words dripped with venom and anger as they fell off
of his lips.
Grissom’s face went pale as he slumped against the wall. “I won’t let this happen, I won’t!” He angrily spat as blood trickled down his lip. "I promise you, Brian. . ."
“Ye already have.” Brian answered him, his eyes flashing as he walked off, leaving his father to ponder his future fate.
***********************
Dirk Bell avoided Priest’s charge as he ranted nonstop. “Don’t you get it! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be! These bastards have taken over the world! There's no place left for normal people!”
“He’s insane. Delusional. Dirk was never the most stable of people, but these days he’s a bloody loon.” Dan Hearn watched as Vanguardians past and present attempted to subdue
the former “lone gunman of the apocalypse.”
“Allow me.” Nuriko simply stated as she walked up to the carnage and delivered a spinkick to Bell’s jaw, dropping him into Priest’s waiting arms. She looked down at him
with a mixture of sadness and contempt. “Asshole.” she whispered under her breath.
“What was that?” Priest asked, lifting Bell over his shoulder.
“Nothing.” She stated, walking away from him.
“How did you?” Hearn asked as she passed by him.
“Forgot what I used to do for a living, eh?” She briefly ran a hand across his cheek. “You grew up to be very handsome, Danny. I don’t know what you had against me, but I hope we resolved it.”
Hearn smiled a bit as he watched her walk off.
“How bout a hand here if you’re done watching the show?” Priest asked, as they went to return Dirk to his cell.
