The clock ticked by at an agonizing slowness, irritating the young girl with its constant ticking noise. Couldn't this day go by any faster? She asked herself, internally scowling at everything. To her, the academy was boring and just a waste of time, she would much rather be back home in her makeshift lab then spending the day learning useless information that wouldn't help her in her endeavors. She twirled her pen in her hand, her tacky iron boot tapping against the cold marble floor at a constant pace, earning her a glare from a few nearby students. The instructors were talking at the head of the class, but she tuned them out, as she was too busy venturing into her own little world. Her head slowly began to droop down, due partially to her boredom as well as her exhaustion. She hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep the night before, she was too busy working on her latest project. Her goal in life was to invent time travel, and everyday she was sure she was getting closer.
Her head finally dropped down to the metallic desk, an audible smack ringing loudly through the room. Normally from an impact that hard, one would think she would've shot her head up and made some sound of discomfort. However she was too tired to do anything, she figured this was her means of gaining some much needed sleep. She finally started to drift off when she felt a soft and gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned her head towards her blonde friend, her cheek laying against the cool metal as she fixed a weak glare on him. He ignored her trying to set him on fire and just smiled at her gently, leaning down towards her and whispering in her ear.
"Go ahead and sleep, the instructors probably wont notice, or care for that matter." He said confidently. She returned the gesture with a small smile, and let her golden eyes flutter shut. Her breathing became even, her mind going from being a blank canvas to being filled with vivid colors, an artistic wonderland known as her dreams. She was walking through this strange and unfamiliar world, a great and dense forest surrounding her. She slowly maneuvered through the tress until she came across a clearing. She walked out into the open, blinking the light from her eyes and came to focus her attention on a well that sat in the center. It glowed brightly, beautiful and bold colors streaming from within. Her curiosity got the best of her and she cautiously made her way towards it. She was getting so close, her fingers slowly tracing the rough wood that outlined the deep hole. She slowly peered over the edge, her eyes glittering with the rainbow like wisps. She slowly started to reach into it, but suddenly her world turned red. She felt a sharp pain that brought her back to reality, jolting up from her previous slumber.
Her instructor was towering over her, her agitated gray eyes boring down into her own, a ruler wrapped in her lanky fingers. I didn't even know they still had those! A quiet laugh left her, an innocent smile playing on her lips. She glared at her until she was satisfied, before she scoffed loudly and walked away from the red haired girl and back to the front, resuming to tutoring the class. Her happy expression left her face, turning into a dark one filled with annoyance. She turned towards her snickering partner and roughly elbowed him in his side, causing him to double over a bit, a small cough leaving him.
"What the hell Wolff? You were supposed to wake me up before she noticed!" She scolded him quietly as not to attract the attention of her superiors. He cowered back a bit and raised his hand defensively.
"I tried! You wouldn't wake up!" He whispered harshly, turning his head slightly to the front of the classroom to make sure the teachers weren't paying attention. They hadn't seemed to take notice of their argument, so he focused his attention back on the fiery girl. She rolled her eyes at him and turned her attention back to the board. Today, they were learning about the 2000's era, an era filled with luxury cars and smartphones. She had always found this era interesting, considering this was always known as the stepping point into the future. Maybe someday, I'll go back in time and visit there. She smiled to herself as she started to dream about the possibilities, causing the blonde haired boy to give her a weird look.
"Are you daydreaming again Echo?" He whispered in her ear, causing her to snap out of her thoughts and glare at him. He took great pride in being able to annoy her to the extent that he did. She sent him a cute, but obviously irritated smile before she zoned off again. Her thoughts however were interrupted again, this time though by the sound of the bell ringing, signaling the end of class and the school day. She was quickly pulled up from her seat by Wolff and whisked away outside the classroom before the teachers could punish her for not paying attention again. It's not my fault they're boring. They continued down the hall, maneuvering through the mass crowd of students until they made it to the Sonic Speeder station. The massive cars levitated off the tracks a few feet, and was similar to an odd contraption from the 2000's, something know as a Bullet Train. The young girl was always intrigued by this, always trying to figure out how it worked and if it could be improved. No one besides her ever seemed to wonder or even care about how all these things worked. According to history, something like this wasn't even possible as of 1,000 years ago. Wolff saw the frustrated look on her face and laughed slightly.
"What's so funny?" She asked with a disheartened tone, her nose scrunching up slightly in thought.
"You are still intrigued by the Speeder even though it's been here since before we were even born." He said with the most amused expression on his face.
"Don't you ever wonder how these things work or how they came to be? People don't even wonder why their vehicles levitate or why Cybers roam everywhere. Does anyone ever wonder why we are here on Daela and no longer on Earth?" She said, finally finishing off her debate and inhaling sharply as she noticed her lack of breath. Wolff just shook his head,
"Mankind hasn't lived on Earth for the last 750 years. No one wonders because all that matters is that this is home now and has been for a very long time." He stated as if it were no big deal as the Speeder finally pulled into the station. They quickly boarded as to avoid the crowd and sat down in the first seats they could find. She found herself squished due to overcrowding, stuck in between Wolff and another friend of theirs named Shadow. She is just slightly insane.
"Hey guys, what are you up to?" She asked in the perkiest and loudest voice she could muster. Wolff huffed under his breath with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Echo's being inquisitive again." He stated lazily, who was slowly dozing off due to the lulling motions of the Speeder. He was rewarded with the confused stare of Shadow, who's blonde hair was now falling into her baby blue eyes.
"But Echo's always inquisitive." She told Wolff with an almost confused undertone, considering that this wasn't exactly something that was extraordinarily rare and he shouldn't really be bothered by it. He readjusted his position and laid his head on Echo's shoulder, a satisfied groan leaving his throat as he finally felt comfy enough to sleep. He then proceeded to pull his green beanie over his eyes to block out the unnecessarily bright lights. The young girl just rolled her golden eyes, not at all surprised by his actions. He was always doing things like that, so she paid him no mind.
"Shadow, you have to come over later, I am on the verge of something extraordinary!" She nearly shouted with excitement, her golden eyes gleaming. Shadow only giggled at her outburst, also considering that when Echo gets excited, she tended to talk with her hands. So she hit Wolff quite a few times without realizing it, causing him to glare at her. The psychotic girl had found this string of events to be quite hilarious, though he wasn't very happy about it in the least.
"I can't, I have a date with Salvo later." She said with a sweet and lovestruck look on her face. Wolff let out a low groan from the Echo's shoulder.
"Of course you're going on a date with my brother." He said disapprovingly. He sat up and pulled his green beanie from his azure eyes, locking eyes with the blonde girl.
"You deserve better than him." He stated, pulling his beanie back down and leaning down against Echo's shoulder once again, nuzzling slightly while trying to become comfy again. The red haired girl glared at him slightly, insulted that she had been downgraded to a pillow.
"Shouldn't you be supporting your brother?" Shadow asked curiously, though she had known all along that they didn't get along.
"It's simple, I like you more then I do my brother. Therefore YOU are the one who deserves better, he is the one with the greatest thing that will ever walk into his life but knowing him, he will let you go" He mumbled out tiredly, causing Shadow to nod her head in response. Meanwhile, Echo's golden eyes were fixed on Wolff, a fiery glare being sent his way.
"You better not drool on my shoulder dog boy." She growled out, a sly smirk spreading on said boy's face.
"No promises kitten." He said slyly, his smirk growing even wider as he felt her heat up in anger.
"I am not a kitten, I hate cats and you know it!" She practically snarled as she scolded him. He just laughed mockingly at her outburst and continued sleeping on her shoulder, or at least trying to. She had pretty bony shoulders considering she skipped meals a lot while working on her projects. It wasn't on purpose, she just would always forget.
"What's wrong with kitties, I'm a kitty!" Shadow said playfully, rubbing her head against Echo's other shoulder and meowing. She brought her hands up to mimic paws and attempted to make a kitten like face, which was only effective in making Echo giggle.
"You are the only cat I like." She said, scratching the girl's head teasingly. She started to 'purr' as she continued, though how she was able to do that, no one knew. She is such a weirdo. The speeder finally pulled to a stop, shifting everyone on board as it stopped in its tracks. Students finally started pouring out by the dozen, people eager to get home and eat or study. The group had waited behind for the train to clear out, as to avoid the massive crowds and risk losing each other in the chaos. The Speeder would stay in that particular station anyway for 15 minutes, so they had some time before they had to brave the masses. Echo gently shook the sleeping boy in an effort to wake him up. He jolted awake suddenly and his head flew back, bashing into the seat behind him with an audible thunk, him quickly leaning forward to rest his head in his hands to try and soothe the pain. Shadow laughed loudly at his overly skittish form, though Echo was feeling particularly bad for having scared him.
"It's time to get off the Speeder." She said as sweetly and calmly as she could, gently reaching her small hand forward and running it through his hair. That always worked when trying to wake him up or get him to pay attention. He slowly moved his head forward and rubbed it against her hand. He was a puppy alright. They made their way off of the Speeder and onto the platform, the air whooshing around them as it took off again at supersonic speeds to reach its next destination. They looked around through the crowds, until finally they spotted a familiar couple sitting off to the side and started making their way over. Echo and Wolff waved while Shadow ran over as fast as she could and glomped the raven haired man.
"Weasel!" She yelled as she held onto the raven. The brunette woman sitting beside of him brought her hand into a fist and raised above the young girl without her knowing, bringing it down and bonking her on the head. She dropped to the floor overdramatically and held her knees to her chest, a depressing aura seeming to surround her.
"Was that really necessary Glamour?" Echo asked her without a raised eyebrow and a disappointed stare, which didn't seem to affect the woman in the slightest.
"My sister doesn't need to be hanging on my boyfriend, no matter how cute she thinks he is." She stated in a monotone voice that made the standing pair shiver. Those two were perfect for each other, in more ways than one.
"She's all yours now. Good luck!" The red haired girl stated with a closed eye smile, patting the stoic girl on the shoulder. She then proceeded to walk out of the station, a satisfied smirk on her face when she heard Wolff trying to catch up before he came to walk directly beside her.
She pushed open the glass doors and breathed in the fresh air, well fresh artificial air, but it was still air. She squinted as she adjusted to the light, her hand hovering above her eyes in an attempt to block out the light. Building and skyscrapers towered high into the sky, twisting and bending in odd angles. There was a traffic jam on the highway above, the road was see through allowing you to see the undercarriages and boosters underneath all of the vehicles. Humans and Cybers walked down the sidewalks harmoniously, as if one didn't have blood pumping through their veins and the other was artificial intelligence. The sky was a subtle gray color with a pinkish hue, the stars being seen in the daylight. The young girl took in her surroundings and looked at all the technology, smiling as she watched the world go by. She hadn't even realized she had stopped until a clumsy Wolff, who hadn't been paying attention either, walked into her and nearly knocked her into the pavement. She turned around to scold him, but was interrupted when his little brother came into view.
"Hey Fox, what are you doing here?" She asked the orange clad boy, her mood immediately shifting once she started talking to him, causing her blonde haired friend to scoff and mumble something about favorites.
"I came to get Wolff because dinner's ready and Mom's tired of waiting." He said in a quick little burst before grabbing his older brothers arm and dragging him away before Wolff had a chance to answer. He had a very evident look of fear in his azure eyes though.
"Say hi to Flash and Scarlet for me!" She yelled out before he finally disappeared from sight. She absolutely loved his parents, His mother was a stay at home mom and had a very hot temper, which is probably why Wolff had such a fearful look on his face. She had three boys, but always managed to have them on their best behavior. Most of the time anyway. His father however, was the CEO of Cyber Inc., where all technology was created. They say that the original owners were the ones who created this planet in the first place, after some unknown events many years ago. Echo's dream was to work there and be known as one of the greats. She slowly made her way down the street before coming to a stop in front of her condo. It was getting down, and the moon was now visible. She stopped and stared at it in awe, before walking up her front steps. She unlocked her door with her thumbprint, smirking as she heard the ding that indicated it unlocking. She walked in and quietly closed the door behind her, silently thankful that the annoying creak the door liked to make was omitted.
"Mom, Dad! I'm home" She called out, but as she expected, she received no response in return. They were never usually home anyway. You see, her father is Flash's right hand man at Cyber Inc. and was almost never home because of this. Her mother is a doctor ho usually take nightshifts at the hospital, so she was always preoccupied with that. They usually saw each other in the morning though before she would go to school. Funny thing is, she looked nothing like her parents. Her mother had pale blonde hair and her father's hair had always been white, even from birth. She got her eye color from her father's brother though.
She walked through the quiet and empty house, not bothering to turn the lights on and dropped her tablet on the white sofa and walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and scanned the items inside, trying to determine what she should eat, or if she should just skip dinner all together in favor of returning to her current project upstairs. Her head shot up as she heard the lock beep, signaling someone had opened the door. She called out into the vast space that was her kitchen waiting for a response, knowing that whoever it was had to have been programmed into the system, so there was no danger.
"It's me, your dad sent me to look after you until he got home." A slithery voice called back, turning on the lights as he walked. A huge smile spread on her face and she ran into the living room, tackling the older male in a bone crushing hug.
"Uncle Viper!" She yelled out, a head coming to rest at his chest due to their height difference. He chuckled at her enthusiasm and returned the hug, not as tight as she had though. She loved her uncle and felt like he was the only person who understood her and her crazy antics. He was always experimenting on things and trying to come up with the next big thing, similar to how she always was. They both shared the same dream: to invent time travel. With them, it was just a race to see who could accomplish that feat first.
"Uncle Viper, do you want to see my latest project?" She asked with a hopeful tone, bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. He laughed at her antics and patted her on the head.
"I will later, let me fix you dinner first." He told the young girl before kissing her on the top of her head and disappearing into the kitchen to make dinner. She walked up to her room to wait for dinner, snapping her fingers to illuminate the darkened room and allow her to take in her things. Tools and scrap metal laid in various places around the room, old inventions laid broken and abandoned in the corner. The bed however was the only neat part of the room, perfectly made and pillows fluffed. This was due to the fact that she rarely slept in it, always usually passing out at her desk. Her eyes wandered over to the Eastern corner of her room, where her latest project laid. It had four pillars that connected at the top, giving it the shape of an octahedron, or a diamond if you want to simplify it. Ten large wires stuck out of each side and tons of small wires came out the bottom, all connecting to the main power component. Blueprints were sprawled out on her desk, as well as her research book filled to the brim with possible combinations and failed attempts at this current experiment and this one. Various colored sticky notes poked out the top, indicating where the important stuff lied.
She sat down at her desk and started tinkering on four tiny boxes, pulling on her lab coat that her father had given her. She pulled on rubber gloves and put on her goggles. She tied her auburn locks back into a high ponytail, before finally pulling out her chemistry kit. She set up four test tubes, and placed her beaker in front of her. She reached under her desk carefully and pulled out a bottle marked 'Hazardous' and slowly poured the chemical into her beaker. She had stolen the Anti-Matter from her father's lab a few days before. He had so much stuff in that lab though, so she figured he wouldn't notice the substance was missing. She steadied herself and slowly poured the chemical into the test tubes, each one holding a different amount. Just as she was about to pour them into the tiny metallic boxes, her uncle called her from the kitchen.
"Echo, dinner is ready!" He yelled, the sound startling her and nearly causing her to spill the Anti-Matter all over her desk.
"I'll be there in a second!" She yelled back in response. She continued pouring the chemical into their makeshift containers, her sticking out of her mouth in concentration. She was able to get it all safely inside, not letting a single drop go to waste. She finally deemed that finished for now and carefully set them aside, removing her gear afterwards. She ran downstairs and into the kitchen where her Uncle Viper waited with the table already set and plated with spaghetti and meatballs.
"Have I mentioned you are an awesome uncle?" She asked in awe, her mouth watering as she stared at the food and the aroma filled her nose. This smelt so much better to her then what she usually made for herself, which didn't usually look edible let alone smell edible.
"You have mentioned that more then a few times." He stated with amusement and a hint of pride, grabbing his own fork and eating. Dinner was silent for the most part, except for banter here and there on how they were going to invent time travel and then just random conversation. They weren't exactly talkative people, their minds always focused on something else entirely. After dinner, they both participated in washing their respective dinners plates, and placing the leftovers in the fridge so Echo would have something to eat tomorrow. Soon after, she became incredibly bouncy and her excitement radiated off her.
"Do you want to come and look now?" She asked excitedly, happy that her uncle was going to evaluate her work and possibly provide constructive criticism.
"Alright, let's go see your latest project." He said, not being able to reject his niece. She grabbed a hold of his arm and practically dragged him up the stairs and down the hall, opening her bedroom door that was plastered with hazardous signs and caution tapes, and leading him inside.
"Tada!" She exclaimed gleefully, her uncle walking close to it and eyeing it curiously.
"What is it?" He asked, his eyes not once leaving the machine as he fingers traced the carefully created structure.
"This will solve the secrets of time travel!" She said proudly, a smug smile replacing her original cheery one. He had a look of almost shock on his face, and continued looking around the untidy room. He walked over towards the desk, picking up her journal and scanning, viewing all of her notes and how many times she had failed and to start from scratch. His eyebrows furrowed as he caught sight of the hazardous bottle on her desk, grabbing and holding in front of him as he tried to make out the messy handwriting. He made it out, and gave her a disappointed stare.
"Echo, where did you get this?" He asked, though he had a pretty good idea where. He just wanted to hear her admit it. She sent a seemingly innocent smile his way.
"I found it." She lied horribly. She was usually an excellent liar, but when it came to her uncle, it was like he could see through everyone and it always made her lose her composure around him.
"You know you can't lie to me, you got this from your dad's lab didn't you?" He asked. This time the young girl just hung her head in shame, staring down at her shoes as she nodded slowly. She was acting just like a little kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"I'm going to have to take this back to your father, but I won't tell him about the amount you have already used." He told her with a coy grin. She returned the smile, but with a much brighter one. She was extremely grateful to have an uncle like him, he was always getting her out of trouble or in some extreme cases would he take the fall. This was usually smoothed over with ice cream as gratitude.
"OK, fine." She agreed before turning around and shuffling through her heaping pile of blueprints. He diverted his gaze from her and looked towards the clock that hung from her wall, slightly nodding his head as he noticed the time
"I have to go now, so I'll leave you to invent time travel." He said before ruffling her crimson locks. He walked out of the room, and Echo waited until she heard the lock beep again, indicating that he had left the house, before going back to her experiments. She told herself that it was going to work this time, despite the device always failing before hand.
She connected the boxes that had been filled with the Anti-Matter to each corner of the machine, as beams began emitting from them and created a crisscross pattern across the met in the center. She reached over to her desk and grabbed a full syringe of some unknown substance, and carefully added a few drops to the base of the machine. She was satisfied with the current look, and walked over to where all the wires met. Her fingers lingered on the switch, a sense of excitement and hopefulness washing over her. She exhaled and pulled the switch down, nearly yelping when sparks flew once it was all the way down. The lights above her flickered as the machine squealed in an attempt to start itself, but to no avail. Then, the lights went out.
She cursed silently to herself and walked over the fallen debris and to her window, nervously peering out to assess the damage. No lights could be seen as far as the eye could see, not even traffic lights. She had caused a nationwide blackout. Her cheeks burned as rage overcame her. Why doesn't it ever work! She let her rage consume her and decided that the best option was to take it out on the thing closest to her, her wall. She repeatedly punched it until her knuckles were bloody, and would've kept going if she wasn't interrupted my a frantic knock on her front door. She gave up on furthering damaging her wall and her hand, and walked to the front door. She opened it slightly to get a peak at who it was, when it was thrown open the rest of the way by a very panicked Wolff.
"Are you okay?!" He asked with a slightly frightened and louder tone then he had intended. She grimaced at the loud noise in her ear, before nodding his head in an attempt to calm down the overprotective boy. Leave it to Wolff to make a big deal out of nothing. He breathed out a sigh of relief, letting his usual warm smile replace his worried expression.
"For a moment I thought you did this." He said with a small laugh, walking away from her a bit to give her space. Her face paled a bit, and for a moment she thought he had seen her expression when he became worried again. However, she was relieved for a moment when she saw his gaze was on her bloody hand.
"What happened to your hand?!" He asked, running over and grabbing her hand in his own, pulling it up to his face so he could assess the damage. Her usually pale cheeks started to burn again, a pinkish tint dusting them. However she was unsure as to why she had this reaction around him, considering it only usually ever happened around him. She just chose to blame it on the chemicals like she usually did.
"I may or may not have beaten up my wall." Shae stated with a sheepish, awaiting his usual scolding or gaze of disappointment. However, she received none of these, and was just dragged into the kitchen behind him. He turned the water on and let it run, bringing the temperature to lukewarm, and finally running her fingers underneath it. He let her continue to rinse the blood off while he fetched some spare gauze her mother kept in the cupboard. He returned and dried her hand off before tending to the wound, wrapping it to keep whatever chemicals she was playing with out of it. He finished and brought her hand up to his face, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her knuckles. She could feel her face burning again, and couldn't tell why. She made a mental note to look into that later. She was brought back to reality when she could hear him laughing, probably at her vacant expression.
"What?" She inquired, her face returning to usual pale complexion. "Nothing." Was all he replied simply and quickly, turning away from her to wash his hands off of her blood. He used the towel on the sink to dry his hands off, though instinctively ended up rubbing them on his jeans anyway, and sat next to her on a stool.
"You didn't cause this blackout, did you?" He questioned with a sudden serious tone. She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, in an attempt to maybe sway the current conversation. Yet from his unamused expression, she could tell that things weren't exactly looking up for her. She just gave him a crooked smile, and that was he needed to know that she was guilty.
"What?! You could've been seriously hurt this time!" He scolded, which was immediately rewarded with a golden glare.
"It's nothing I haven't done before." She stated simply, turning her head away from him in defiance. He looked at her with an almost horrified expression.
"You caused a nationwide blackout! On a planet that runs solely on electricity! You have never done that before!" He yelled, his tone becoming increasingly harder by the minute. She knew deep down that he was right, and that his worry was understandable, but her pride and stubbornness was getting the best of her.
"Well maybe if you had come over to help me today, this wouldn't have happened!" She yelled back, turning the blame to him. Her voice seemed to echo off of the metallic walls, cold and harsh.
"So now this is my fault?!" He shouted, now more aggravated then scared and disappointed. He stood to stand in front of her, towering over her.
"Of course it is, you are just afraid of the possibilities!" She accused. They were both red in the face with rage, and they were standing so close to each other that she could feel his breath on her face. He released an agitated sigh, running his fingers through his blonde bangs.
"You need to stop this before you get yourself seriously hurt." He said lowly, refusing to make eye contact with her.
"I'm not going to stop, I have dedicated my life to this project, and I am surely not going to stop because some dumb mutt told me too." She seethed out before she couldn't even process her words, her hands immediately flying to her mouth in an attempt to keep anything else hurtful from spilling out. However from the upset look on his face, she could tell it was already too late.
"Well I'm not going to stay around and watch you burn yourself into the ground." He said in a broken whisper, one so quiet that Echo had to question whether or not he had even said it at all. Without sparing her one glance, he walked out of the kitchen and through the front door, slamming it behind him. She waited for a moment before finally she felt herself breaking into tears, a low quiet sob vibrating her throat. She knew she had crossed a line, that he was very sensitive, and that no matter how much she wanted to run after him and apologize, some things couldn't be forgiven so easily. That hadn't been what she was trying for, considering she always called him dog and mutt anyway. However, she knew that the way she had said it had come out wrong, and hurt him greatly.*
She walked back to her bedroom numbly and looked around the darkened room, her vision blurred by tears. Her eyes locked onto the failed machine in the corner, a sudden feeling of deep anger washing over her as she took it in. Looks like I did get something from Mom after all. She let out a strangled scream of frustration and took out her anger on the machine, kicking it multiple times until she was interrupted by a strange whirring sound.
Her lights flickered on and off, until finally they shattered and sprayed glass onto the darkly carpeted floor below. She backed away in shock as her began to emit a strange purple hue. The columns on it began to spin wildly, spinning faster and faster until finally what looked to be a hazy mirror appeared in the rapidly rotating structure. It looked almost like what could be described as a kaleidoscope effect, a deep purple mist accumulating within the room. She walked over to the machine, her curiosity besting her. She slowly reached out and let her hand disappear inside, a smile of satisfaction lighting up her face. However, when she went to retract her hand, it wouldn't move, almost as if there was something beyond the mist that was holding her. She pulled with all her might, but to no avail. She called for help, called for Wolff instinctively, before remembering that he wasn't there.
She kept pulling, but the friction was almost enough to deplete all movement indefinitely. Suddenly, to her horror, she could feel someone, or rather something, grab her hand from beyond the barrier, pulling her deeper into the mist. She tried her hardest to pull back, but to no avail. Whatever was pulling her in was far stronger then she was. She lost her footing, and felt herself being dragged in the rest of the way. A terrified scream was that last thing that was heard, before she found herself disappearing into the infinite darkness of the abyss.
Uncle Viper found himself walking out of his brother's house, feeling a little guilty for leaving her alone when he was supposed to babysit her, but he needed to find his brother and force him to be there for his daughter. He knew that she was practically growing up without parents, a fate that both him and his brother Gama had endured during their childhood. He walked to the tall building that stood at the center of town and walked through the gigantic glass doors into the lobby. He gave a slight wave to the receptionist at the front counter, and she didn't give him any grief when he entered the employee elevator, considering he would always find himself here more often then not. He used his thumbprint to identify who he was, and was granted access to the top floor, where his brother's office was. The elevator was very fast and technologically advanced, which wasn't very surprising due to the fact this was where most technology was invented. The doors opened a few seconds after, and he walked through the hallways and into his lab. He knew him well enough to know he wouldn't be in the office, considering he couldn't sit still for more then a few seconds. He ignored the Hazardous sign and walked to the where his brother sat, going over inventory and looking for a missing chemical.
"Missing this?" He said while holding up the bottle of Anti-Matter he had retrieved from Echo. His brother jumped slightly from his brother's voice and went to scold him before noticing what he held in his grip.
"Where did you get that?" He immediately questioned, reaching out and roughly snatching the chemical from his older brother's hand.
"Echo had it." He stated, massaging his wrist in an attempt to soothe the ache after getting the bottle snatched from it. His eyes widened slightly after hearing this.
"Why and how did she have it?" He asked quickly, an almost worried yet disappointed look showing through his usual stoic features.
"She got it when she visited you last and you know why she had it." He said while rolling his eyes, obviously already bored.
"Gama, how about I bring you home early today? Echo really needs the support of a mother and father. Not her equally crazy uncle and overprotective best friend." The black haired man said, grabbing his upper arm and pulling on it slightly. He glared at him before sighing loudly in annoyance, glancing up at the clock.
"Fine, you win Viper." He said with a sigh, pulling off his lab coat and hanging it on the hook above his desk. They walked out of the lab and used the elevator to get down to the lobby. However as they were about to walk out the doors, all the lights went out. They had to manually push the doors open as the emergency generator was still kicking on, and walked onto the now dark street. There was no lights on throughout the entire city.
"A blackout, but how?" Gama questioned, more to himself then Viper. He scratched the back of his head in thought as he looked around, seeing that even the vehicles had stopped. Viper couldn't help but wonder if Echo had done, but quickly shook off the thought as he could never think that she would actually pull something like this off.
They made their way down the dark streets, their eyes straining as they tried to see what was hiding in the darkest hours. The giant clock in the center of town ticking loudly, echoing off of the buildings and giving off an unusual eeriness. They were only a few blocks from the condo, when Viper's eye caught sight of a familiar blonde boy, whom seemed to be heavily upset. They walked over and the black haired man placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort, which caused him to jolt his head up and lock his watery blue eyes with him.
"Wolff, what's wrong?" He asked in concern for the boy, yet he only returned it with a forced smile.
"Nothing's wrong, why do you ask?" He responded with confidence, however his voice couldn't but crack, giving away any sign that he was fine. Viper went to respond and try to get some answers, when Gama tapped him on the shoulder, a confused look on his face. He turned around, hoping to figure out what was going on, only to met with silence. There was absolutely no noise, and what was weird for them was a certain noise was missing. Their gazes traveled upwards and locked with the face of the great clock, which had for some reason stopped turning, just stopped in its tracks.
"That's weird, that clock hasn't stopped once since it was placed here 300 years ago." Gama stated, an incredulous look on his face.
"That's not the only one." Wolff stated with a stunned tone. Viper and his brother turned their heads and looked around slowly. He was right, every clock in every shop or building had miraculously stuck. They were all stopped on 11:22. This was very surprising to them, and seemed like some unexplained phenomenon. Viper started making his way to the clock tower to check out inside, when the deafening silence was shattered by a horrified scream.
"That's Echo!" The blonde boy cried out, immediately recognizing her scream. He ran quickly to the condo, the two older men following shortly behind. They forced the door open considering the lock would no longer work now that the power was out, and quickly made their way upstairs. The once locked door was quickly busted open as they made their way inside. The machine that Echo had showed her uncle earlier was slowing to a stop, a strange and wispy mist slowly dissipating. Once the machine stopped, it started sparking and caught fire, Wolff running over on instinct and quickly putting it out.
They stood in stunned silence as they looked for any sign of the red haired girl. Suddenly, they heard a soft, ticking noise interrupt the silence and their worrisome thoughts. They looked over to her desk where the noise was coming from.
The clock was ticking once again, and slowly changed over to 11:23.
* You saw where I put this right? Well for those confused on why Wolff was so offended, it is because in this story, 'mutt' is a term that means, not fully human. It is a term used to describe those who have undergone genetic modification, and therefore are not purebred humans in the eyes of society. Wolff did not have a very good past, which will be explained later, and he is technically one of these. Only his family, Shadow, and Echo know, and though he should be registered to the government, he isn't because he just wanted to be treated like a human. Wolff didn't realize Echo was originally trying to say her usual dog banter, and he took it the wrong way. I hope this clears everything up!
