“Is he even still breathing?” Kevin asked, pointing at the unconscious form laying on the couch.
“Yeah. He looked pretty beat up, I guess he was just tired.” Ally replied.
Ally, Tom, Mac and Dylan had bundled Fissure into Mac’s van the day before. Ally called her team-mates, and they agreed to meet at Katie’s house, as her dad was away on business… again.
“He’s been sleeping for like, a whole day.” Katie said.
“Really, really tired.” Ally said.
“Well, he’d better wake up soon, I need to be back in Vegas in a few hours.” Kevin complained.
“So… How do you guys fit into the picture again?” Matt asked Dylan, Tom and Mac.
“I’m Ally’s brother, these are my friends… This Fissure dude recognized all of us, so this is our business too.” Tom said.
“Yeah, I’m ‘The Fog’ apparently.” Mac said.
“How do you figure?” Dylan asked.
“Well, I can sort of see the future sometimes. And the present.” Mac said.
“I can see the present.” Matt commented drily.
“Yeah, but I can see other places, as though I’m there. But only when my mind is clear.” Mac said.
“Which it isn’t, because you’re stoned all the time.” Katie said.
“Not all the time. That’s where my other power comes in. If I’m stoned, or drunk, or whatever, I can transfer my condition over to someone else. I can clear my own head.” Mac said.
“Ok, but what about the other names… What were they? Stratos and Rabbit?” Matt asked.
“Well, Ally’s not the only lucky one in the family… I’m sort of a good luck charm too… Like a rabbit’s foot…” Tom said.
“So I guess that makes me Stratos? Funny… I never thought I’d be a super hero…” Dylan said.
“What do you do?” Mosley asked pointedly.
“I’m a battery…” Dylan said, holding his hand up, electricity crackling between his fingertips. “I charge up during the day… Probably from static or something. If I ground myself, it just goes away. Otherwise, I can shoot lightning from my hands.”
“That’s pretty cool.” Matt said.
“Thanks… I guess. So what he said was true? Ally’s Pixel… So that makes you guys…?” Dylan trailed off.
“Yeah, the Brat Pack.” Kevin finished.
“Legends… At least in my time.” Fissure croaked.
Katie passed the injured man a glass of water and a sandwich. “Here, you probably need these.”
“Thank you ma’am.” Fissure said, downing both quickly.
“Ok buddy, you’ve got some explaining to do.” Kevin said.
“Yes Mr Perfect sir!” Fissure said. “Like I said… I have a warning for you all. From the future.”
“From the future? Yeah right.” Mosley said.
“You must be Firestorm… Mr Universe warned me about you. He said if you give me lip to just start talking about your family. Sir, would you like me to continue?” Fissure asked.
Mosley mumbled incoherently.
“Good to know something about this time works the way it should.” Fissure commented.
“What do you mean?” Matt asked.
“Things have changed since I got here. My very presence seems to have made things happen differently. But for some reason, I can still remember my future, and the new future. Not much has changed there… Yet.” Fissure explained.
“Ok… So what are you here to warn us about?” Katie asked.
“It’s a long story…
“When I left, it was 2034. I’d just turned 18, and traditionally, that’s when members of the Brat Pack leave, to join the Rebellion, because Uncle Sam and Mr Universe tend to frown upon kids getting involved in militant action…
“You see, the Rebellion started in the mid-twenties, before the end of the war. A group of supers decided that they’d had enough of President Carmichael ruling us with an iron fist. The first group consisted of Mr Perfect, Mr Universe, Firestorm, The Blackbird, Cal Richards, Cobalt and the American Eagle. Then Uncle Sam came out of retirement, and they had a figurehead. President Carmichael named them fugitives, and they just went underground, gaining more and more support. Firefly joined, Napalm came out of retirement, even though he was in his 70’s or 80’s. Sherman II, also known as Lee Richards defected from US Force. The list goes on and on. When Uncle Sam III and the Second Miss Liberty tried to join, they were turned down, the big shots didn’t want kids getting involved. So Sammy started the new Brat Pack. He led Miss Liberty, Sparky, Cutter, Icon and Avatar for four years. I joined the team a few months before he got the call up, over a year after Avatar went up. When he left, Miss Liberty took over. By the time she graduated, we were… Close. In that time, Cutter graduated, Sparky… Sparky died. Icon dropped out. We gained Birdy, Tank and Flasher, but they weren’t up to the standard. On my 18th birthday, I ordered them to disband. I couldn’t let those three go into battle without a real leader. I made sure they all went back to their homes, before I contacted Mr Universe, who was at that point the leader of the Rebellion, Uncle Sam retired two years before, Mr Perfect was field commander. You allowed me to join, on one condition. That I be sent back in time, to kill Carmichael before he could gain enough power to run for President. Mr Universe said it had to be me, because the time travel is easier if the target is lighter, and as a teenager, I was smaller than many other Rebels. Not to mention my powers would allow me to Earth-port closer to Carmichael, undetected.”
“Wait… Carmichael? Like, Secretary Carmichael? He’s still alive… There were never any reports of an assassination attempt.” Katie said.
“I know… It seems he’s already begun to build his super-human army. Three of his Secret Service guards were supers. One super-strong, he fought me, even in my armoured form. Another, a blaster of some description, he kept me on my toes from a distance. And the third, Daytripper, he teleported me to a prison of some description… I’ve been there ever since. They tortured me non-stop for weeks, they wanted to know who sent me, why they sent me… The usual crap. I was above-ground somewhere, because I was too far from the Earth to use my geokinesis. I think they had a psychic… God knows what they learned, but I didn’t give it up to them. Cobalt put psychic barriers in my mind before I left, but I don’t know how well they held. I do know I had a splitting headache for days after the torture stopped.” Fissure said.
Katie moved forward. “May I?” She asked.
“Go ahead. Don’t go too deep, those traps were nasty.” Fissure warned.
Katie nodded and began to concentrate… “There’s a barrier of some kind, but it looks like a bomb hit in there. I think their psychic got through a few layers of the barrier. They found out some stuff. They weren’t very neat about it either.” She said.
“That would explain the changes to my future…” Fissure said.
“Anyway, if you already failed your mission and botched the assassination attempt, what are you here to warn us about?” Matt asked.
“I can’t kill Carmichael, but we can still stop him becoming President in 2012. He runs as a third-party candidate, he spent time in both parties, so he knows how to sway their voters. The Time Without Heroes was a breeding ground for fear, and Carmichael took advantage, promising a new-and-improved Liberty Force. What he gave us was US Force. Dozens of super-humans loyal to him.” Fissure said.
“Time Without Heroes?” Ally asked.
“The East Coast Boomers have already gone missing?” Fissure asked.
“Yeah, a few weeks ago.” Dylan said.
“Halfway through next year, Liberty Force will be redeployed in Iraq. A suicide strike by some crazed supers will kill Patriot and Desert Storm, and wound Uncle Sam and the American Eagle. Uncle Sam will retire. The American Eagle works solo, and Cai heads up some Black Ops team. In the States, the West Coast Boomers go back to just being the Boomers, and work across the nation. A fight with the Order of Darkness in 2010 allows them to free The Freak from the Shadow Plane, but all the other East Coast Boomers are dead. The Freak retires. GL is attacked in his home by an unknown assailant, and murdered. Nymphette moves to France. Corona and Plasma return to their lives of crime. Thunderbolt disappears. Mr Perfect, Cal Richards and Mr Universe try to form a new team of Boomers from younger heroes, and the rotating roster is successful for a short amount of time, but the team dissolved just a month before the election.”
“Wait… How did Carmichael stay President in your time? Surely someone noticed when he ran for the third term?” Matt asked.
“He declared war on North Korea in 2018. China declared war on us. We fought for 9 years. We threw everything at each other. Except for the nuclear weapons. Russia, India and France made sure of that. Carmichael was granted emergency power, and gained extra terms. His army of supers continued to grow, we later found out he was literally growing them. When time for the first election after the war came around, his army numbered in the hundreds. He refused to step down, and no-one could really argue with a man who had that much power at his fingertips.” Fissure explained.
“If you were trapped, how did you escape?” Mosley asked.
“They were transporting me to another facility. Probably to study my DNA for their farms. Our intelligence shows they were already performing experiments to build supers, even back then. I mean now. Whatever. I was sedated, bound on a trolley; they wheeled me out to a car. I provoked one of my guards, and he knocked me down. Even sedated, I managed a quick Earth-port, aiming for California. As luck would have it, I was transported directly in front of Pixel and Rabbit.”
“Wait, how do we fit in to this Rebellion future thing?” Mac asked.
“The Fog and Rabbit control one of our safehouses in California. Between the two of you, you’ve managed to keep dozens of our operatives safe on hundreds of occasions. Rabbit’s luck, combined with the ability to see the future and present, allow the two of you to remain undetected for years.”
“Right on.” Tom said.
“So how are we supposed to stop Carmichael from becoming President? Run a smear campaign?” Kevin asked.
“No. We have to end the Time Without Heroes before it gets any worse. On April 20, the Order of Darkness will attack Salt Lake City. We have to be there. We have to force them to free the East Coast Boomers from the Shadow Plane.” Fissure explained.
“But you said they were all dead except for The Freak.” Matt said.
“In 2010, yes. This is almost a year before then. We need to strike as soon as possible.” Fissure said.
“Alright guys, you heard him. April 20, the Brat Pack is heading to Utah.” Kevin said.
“Hooray!” Ally exclaimed.
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