A Cursed Gift: by Nick Venom (freenovel24 txt) 📕

a home. Alpha closed the door behind them before inspecting the rather large warehouse. Posters of boy bands and other music groups were plastered everywhere, but they were torn and scratched. Like everything else in the warehouse, they had seen better days. 

Nine minutes passed without any concerns. Sav was getting close to piercing the security on the teleporter and giving them free rein. He was less than a minute before completely hacking into the device. Alpha and Rachel, on the other hand, grew more anxious as time passed. They were expecting the Time Task Force to put a wrench in their plans. 

Unfortunately, the expectations were met. 

As Sav neared the finish line, five soldiers part of the Time Task Force had dropped in from the worn-out roof. They broke through the fragile roof and landed on the ground, brandishing their weapons.

Alpha quickly jumped up, brandishing a small revolver-like gun known as a Time Gun---something that all Time Officers were equipped with. He pointed the gun at the nearest soldier and fired, nicking the trooper. 

“Are you done?” Alpha shouted at Sav. 

“Give me a second-”

“I don’t have a second, I’ll give you a millisecond instead.” He joked, firing off more bullets aimed at the soldiers. Most of the bullets either nicked or dented the soldiers’ officers. Unbeknownst to Alpha, the equipment used by the Time Task Force had advanced in recent years. His bullets couldn’t pierce through the armor anymore, barely denting it. 

Sav jumped off from his hiding spot and activated the teleporter. Everything needed was imprinted into the setting by Alpha earlier. They only needed to press the large red button that read, “Time Travel”. 

“We’re good to go,” Sav shouted, changing one of the settings before pressing the button. Alpha and Rachel retreated to Sav, teleporting as soon as they bunched up. They time-traveled to an earlier period of time in their history, leaving the soldiers in modern times. However, Alpha and his group wouldn’t be the only people in the past soon enough. The Time Task Force soldiers immediately reported the incident and were being sent into the past to confront them. A war was brewing with the setting of the past painting the battlefield. Everything was clicking together in place. 

 

TBC…

Episode Four "Death to Winter"

They emerged into the past, standing in 2019’s version of Iron Wall. It was more vibrant and lively than the 2050 version. 2050 was full of gloom and despair, something that 2019 was devoid of.

“We’re back,” Rachel muttered to herself. “We’re really back.”

“Yup, this is 2019. We are back in time.” Alpha said, looking around. Passersby noticed the trio of strangers in weird attire, appearing out of nowhere. One of the passersby, a blonde female with a strange short white hairstyle, searched for an officer to arrest them. 

“Yeah, this is 2019. Let’s get going.” Alpha said as he stared at the middle-aged woman. He then ran in the opposite direction of the woman calling for police with Rachel and Zero at his side. They ran as far as they could before their lack of stamina hit them. They slowed to a trot, glancing around. They were standing in what would become the Nobles Section. However, in 2019, it was a few stretches of neighborhoods, nothing uncommon. In 2050, it was everything. While everybody else lives in shacks and huts, the rich live in proper houses. Alpha always despised those people.

“Okay… what… what… are we going to do?” Sav asked. “You have… a plan?”

Alpha sucked in fresh air before exhaling the old air. He then turned to face Sav. “I do. Have you heard of Captain Gwen Black or Tom ‘Justicebringer’ Clem?” 

“Wasn’t Gwen-” She took in a deep breath of air. “-killed in 2028 after she was tracked down by Winter?”

Alpha nodded. “Gwen Black worked as an officer for a decade before moving to the army and gaining the title of ‘captain’. However, in the army, she saw the worst tragedies. Murder, torture, and other unspeakable acts were everywhere. That’s what broke her and led to Gwen Black being one of the heads of the rebellion. At least, until she was ambushed at the rebellion’s headquarters. She was killed brutally, her head stuck on a pike and paraded around by Winter’s army.” Alpha informed them, stopping to scan his surroundings. Normal people passed by him, glancing at their strange entire. Nobody else had their weird 2050’s sense of fashion.

“How did you get those details?” Sav asked. “I’ve heard Justicebringer’s story since it was plastered everywhere, but I never heard Gwen’s full story.”

Alpha shook his head. “I was in Winter’s army.”

Rachel glared at him, shaking her head to get rid of her glare. She calmed herself before looking up at him. “Why were you helping him?”

“Don’t mistake me for another Winter goon. I was a Time Officer, meaning that we were under Winter. He was our commander-in-chief like any other of the military branches. I was dispatched alongside Winter’s First Army and other Time Officers to deal with Gwen. I didn’t deal the final blow, but I participated in it.”

Sav and Rachel looked at him strangely.

“Don’t worry, I met my wife shortly after that and slowly left my life as a Time Officer away. Of course, I was blinded with love, so my decisions post-Gwen don’t help with my reputation.”

“So-” Sav started, tilting his head. “-how did she die?”

“We were…” He gritted his teeth. Sav took a backstep, opening his mouth to apologize, but Alpha stopped him. “We were playing around, going into different time periods and treating it as a vacation. However, we never thought how our presence would have consequences. We messed up and, as a result, she was erased by Father Time.” He explained.

“Oh,” that was Sav’s only response.

Rachel nodded, looking up at the sky. It was overhead, indicating noon. “Should we get going? We don’t know if those people were teleported with us. They could be looking for us.”

Alpha nodded. “Let’s meet with Gwen. She’ll become a worthy ally.”

Rachel waved her hand, indicating the area in front of them. “Lead the way.”

***

They arrived at Lost City Police Station, a small police station stationed in the Lost City neighborhood, hence the name.

The brick building had been wrapped up in blue plastic, covering the entire exterior. The concrete on the sidewalk and main pathway was cracking. Small and large cracks divided the pathways into smaller sections. The windows were new, on the other hand, replaced after hooligans broke them with rocks. That was the only new thing given to the rotting police station, which appeared to be sinking lower and lower as time passed.

The trio stood outside of the police station with different expressions towards the building; Alpha with interest, Rachel with slight disgust, and Sav with appreciation.

“Reminds me of home,” Sav muttered, the other two diverting their attention. For someone that lives in a barn to say something like that was disgraceful. 

“Are we going inside?” Rachel asked, staring at Alpha.

He nodded, taking the first step forward. He walked inside the station, approaching the receptionist---a young teenage girl with short red locks and dark skin.

“What can I do for you three?” She asked.

“I’m looking for Captain Gwen Black.” Alpha blurted out. Sav and Rachel’s eyes widened as Gwen wasn’t ‘Captain’ yet.

“Captain?” The receptionist questioned, confirming Sav and Rachel’s worries.

Alpha’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake. “I’m sorry, can I talk to Gwen Black.”

The receptionist eyed him suspiciously, unsure of who he was. “Are you family?”

“Well, no, but I need to talk to her about something important.” He told her. The receptionist hesitated before grabbing the station’s intercom and requesting Gwen.

After a few minutes, she arrived. A Middle-Eastern twenty-something girl burst into the room. Her hair was frizzy, almost puffing up into an afro. “Who are you?” She quickly questioned.

“My name is Alpha, I need to talk with you about Winter.” He blurted out, again exposing something from the future.

“Who’s Winter? I’m sorry, but I don’t know who that is.” Gwen said.

“What he means is that there’s a dangerous man named Winter who’s about to make a lot of people’s lives hell.” Rachel summed it up in the best way she could.

“Do you have proof?” Gwen asked.

“Well, no, but-” Alpha was cut short by Gwen turning around and walking away. “I need a lot more than an accusation. Bring me proof and I’ll get the ball rolling. Give me nothing and you’ll get that.”

The trio was then asked to leave the station, walking outside. “What now?” Sav asked once they stood on the steps outside. “She treats us as kids.”

“Yeah, and we’re all adul-” He looked at Rachel. . Well, some of us are older than her. Whatever, let’s go and see if Justicebringer will help us.”

“But it won’t work.” Rachel declared. “Neither of them have hatred against Winter. He didn’t become president until 2020, so their hate hasn’t built up yet.”

“If they don’t hate Winter because he hasn’t committed a crime, then shouldn’t we eliminate him before he does?” Sav threw out a suggestion and Alpha jumped on it.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think about that. I know where Winter lives. Let’s go get that bastard before he begins to ruin people’s lives. Let’s bring him his worst fear. Death. Death to Winter.”

 

TBC…

Episode Five "Ambush"

“They’re gone!” A woman dressed in a black cloak exclaimed to a man dressed similarly. “They went to the past.” 

“Then let’s go get them. I’ll have our Ark Teleporter brought here and we’ll go and stop them.”

“We’ll have to. Otherwise, Winter will have our heads.” 

The man nodded. “Let the task force deal with the run-down house, we’ll go back in time and stop them from interfering with the timeline.” He said as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, unraveling it. “Winter was prepared for this, so he wrote down a note to give to his younger self.”

“We’re not chasing them down?” She questioned.

The man shook his head. “Agent Rogue, you do understand that we’ll be following them, right? They’ll be leading the way and we’ll be the followers. However-” He raised the paper into the air. “-Winter wouldn’t want us acting like that. Instead, we’ll be leading them.”

“By getting in contact with his younger self and alerting him to the crisis, right? Make them think that they’re getting the edge over us? Brilliant idea, Agent Seven!”

Agent Seven nodded, turning away from her as a member of the task force approached him with an Ark Teleporter. “Thanks,” He muttered to the soldier. “Oh, and have everybody else travel