Figured this was needed after the abysmal ending to one of my favorite shows.
2028…
The earth was a barren wasteland, death and destruction as far as the eye could see. The sky was even green due to the large amounts of radiation in the air.
"F***!"
One of Earth's last surviving humans was running for his life, holding what appeared to be a glowing lantern in his grip. Who was this man, how was he still alive, and why was he running?
This man was Ray Spiewack, originally a firefighter until the death of his best friend and partner, Danny, he became a drifter for a few years until he met Walter O'Brien, leader of Homeland-sponsored genius team Scorpion. After winning over "Wally", Ray became an unofficial member of the team for a few months. However, Walter eventually proved that Danny's death was NOT Ray's fault, giving him the courage to head back out into the world.
Over the next couple years, Ray kept partially in touch with the team, showing up from time to time, even officially joining them at one point. But then, it all came crashing down.
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"
Ray jumped forward, just missing one of the mutants who had lunged forward, almost grabbing him and ending his mission. Luckily Ray was in top physical condition after the last decade.
Finally, Ray noticed the decaying bridge, which would lead to his safety. He picked up the pace, making it to the edge of the bridge only a couple yards ahead of the nearest mutant. He quickly reached into his vest and pulled out his grappling hook, aiming it at the other side of the bridge and firing, propelling across just out of range of another mutant.
Once landing on the other side of the bridge, Ray chanced a look back to see the mutants were still coming, running off the edge of the bridge to their deaths. Ray almost felt pity for them, knowing they were human once. Shaking his head, he turned and continued running to the old warehouse a little ways away. Once he entered, he called out, "I'M HERE!"
"YA GOT IT?" A voice yelled back.
"YEAH!" Ray said, holding up the lantern as he headed deeper inside, "I GOT IT, BOSS!"
"Good." Ray turned to see his companion walk out, using a cane and his leg in a brace. The other man was Ralph Dineen, the smartest living person in the world (both currently and before the events that lead to the world's present state). In his mid-twenties, Ralph was also in fairly good shape due to the shape of the world requiring it; however, he had been injured one day a couple years back, and as a result needed a leg brace and cane to properly get around. Other than that, he was still in perfect health, both physically and mentally.
"Here ya go, kiddo," Ray said, placing the lantern on a table for Ralph to inspect, "Luckily those zombies didn't stop me from getting it back here."
Ralph sighed as he examined the lantern, "Ray, we've been over this. They are NOT zombies. They are merely humans who have been mutated into crazed, near-death states with violent aggression who crave human flesh."
Ray stared at him for a moment, before pointing out, "Ralph, what you just described are zombies."
"Agree to disagree," Ralph shook his head, grabbing the lantern and gesturing Ray to follow, "Because in a few moments it won't even matter."
"Wait, are you saying…" Ray paused, almost scared to hope.
Ralph grinned as they made their way to the back of the warehouse where his greatest invention was: it merely looked like a giant boiler mixed with a computer and radio system, but Ray knew it was so much more. It may be their only hope.
"With this energy core," Ralph began, smashing the lantern and retrieving what looked like a simple yellow, glowing ball from it, "Put in my machine, combined with the right frequency, I can finally complete my time machine."
Ray grinned as Ralph placed the energy core into a special slot before making his way over to the computer and began inputting some numbers into it.
"So, what exactly is the plan here, boss?" Ray said, "I mean, I know we obviously gotta go back in time to keep the team together so they can catch Collins before he can start WWIII, but how exactly are we gonna do that?"
"We're gonna go back in time and kill Flo," Ralph replied, seemingly without a care in the world.
"Um…what?" Ray asked, certain he had heard wrong.
Ralph sighed, looking Ray right in the eyes as he explained, "I'm going to go back to March 19, 2018, the day Walter and Flo went to that lecture together. I kill Flo before their "friendly night out", then she never falls for Walter, Walter and my mom don't break up because Walter lied to her, the team doesn't fall apart, and then they're able to find and stop Collins before all this happens."
Ray frowned, "Look, little buddy, I get that Flo caused the team to split up, but don't you think killing her is…a bit much?"
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Ralph replied, going back to the computer, "Besides, this way will actually leave Flo on good terms with everyone. Instead of hating her for falling for Walter, the team will be distressed over her apparent murder."
"There's gotta be another way," Ray frowned, "You're not a killer, Ralph."
"And I never will be," Ralph replied, "If my calculations are correct, once I take Flo out, then this timeline will be erased, and I will be, too. Then, my past self will have the chance to grow into a better world." At that, Ralph began working the radio system to get the proper frequency.
Ray frowned. He may have only met Florence a couple times, but she had seemed like a nice lady. Sure, she messed up with Walter and Paige, but she was only human.
At that moment, the machine started glowing. The two stepped back as the machine sputtered a bit, before finally stopping. The inside of the boiler-part was now glowing, and Ralph grinned as he hurried over and opened it, pulling out what looked like a simple watch.
"Ok, then," Ralph smiled, hurrying back to the computer. He held the watch up to it, and it appeared to scan the info from both the computer AND the radio. The watch then projected a 3-D holographic computer and radio system above it. Ralph then grinned at Ray, "Well, bud, this is it. Just gotta set this, and I'll be ready to go. I wanna say thanks for your help, Ray. You've just saved the world."
Ray grinned weakly at his companion as Ralph typed in the info into the watch, before getting the right frequency.
*CRASH*
The duo stopped what they were doing as they looked to the front of the warehouse, where the wall had just crumbled down, letting in dozens of mutants.
"CRAP!" Ralph said, "Ray, it needs a minute to charge. Buy me some time."
Ray nodded, getting his grappling hook and firing it up to the balcony, before handing it to Ralph, propelling him to safety. Ray then got out his machine gun and began firing at the approaching mob. Due to the fact that they were exactly like zombies, Ray knew he had to shoot wisely. Thus, he started by shooting out legs, before moving on to heads.
"How's it coming Ralphy boy?" Ray yelled back, chancing a look upwards. What he saw made his heart stop: some of the mutants had actually climbed up and were heading towards Ralph, who could only move so fast with his leg brace. "CRUD!" Ray snapped, heading towards the nearby stairs in an attempt to get to his friend, several mutants following.
By the time Ray got to the top of the rusting stairs, one of the mutants had caught up to Ralph, tackling him and biting his leg. Ray quickly shot the freak off of him, then rushed over, grabbed Ralph, took the grappling hook, and shot up towards a hole in the roof, getting them both out of danger, at least for the moment.
Setting Ralph down on the roof, Ray inspected the damage: Ralph's good leg was bleeding from the bite, and the blood was turning green.
"What do we do?" He asked worriedly. Ralph began groaning as he showed Ray the other bad part of the attack, "I fell on the watch when that thing tackled me." The watch looked fairly ok, but was cracked, the hologram lightly flickering in and out.
"Can you still use it?" Ray asked desperately, as the building began to shake. A quick look down the hole showed the mutants were running straight into the walls in an attempt to bring the roof down.
"No, I can't," Ralph shook his head, "I'm in no condition to use it. I go back, and instead of taking care of Florence, I'd likely start this whole thing even sooner by going savage and biting her and anyone else I can." Ralph coughed at that point, coughing up a bit of blood, "You have to do it, Ray."
"What? Me?!" Ray cried in shock.
"The frequency and date are all set up," Ralph said, handing him the watch, "Just use it to go back to that afternoon, take out Flo, and then we'll save the world."
Ray hesitantly took the watch, looking it over before sighing, "Ok, if there's really no other way."
Luckily Ralph had developed the watch with a simple "GO" button. Ray looked back at his friend, ready to say goodbye…
When Ralph turned, becoming one of them and grabbing Ray's wrist, attempting to pull him close enough to bite him. Ray yanked his arm back, right as the mutants down under completed their destruction, causing the whole building to collapse.
As Ray fell, he pressed the button, only for nothing to happen. He managed to see that Ralph had cancelled the date when he grabbed him. Luckily he had also activated a voice-command override.
"Date, please?" A digitized voice spoke out.
"MARCH 19, 2018!" Ray screamed, as he plummeted towards the ground.
"Warning, device damaged. Warning, sound interference. Taking you to May 19, 2018."
"WAIT, NO! THAT'LL BE TOO LATE!" Ray cried, disappearing in a flash of green light a mere second before hitting the ground.
Well, looks like Ray'll have his hands full. Hopefully he can help team Scorpion prevent the end of the world.
R&R