Old Timer shambled over to a nearby building and placed a hand on an exterior pillar. He closed his eyes as confused pedestrians gave him a wide berth. The other timies stood around and waited, Maxwell Keeper checking his pocket watch and tapping his foot nervously. A young couple was walking by the crew, the man breaking away from his woman and approaching Clockfacer.
"Nice costume man." He said. "Kind of weird though. What are you supposed to be?"
Clockfacer stared back, the hands on his face ticking ominously. Suddenly, the man collapsed with a scream that rattled the eardrums and shook the vocal cords. His woman rushed to his side.
"Andrew! Andrew what's wrong!"
Andrew turned to look upon her and, to her horror his once brown eyes were replaced with two images of clocks that ticked in perfect time.
"Oh my God!" She screamed.
Sun Dial burst into manic laughter, bending over and pointing in the direction of the unhappy couple. The woman looked at her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She sobbed.
At that moment, the building receiving Old Timer's attention collapsed, spilling steel, concrete, and glass into the intersection, cutting off traffic and causing quite the commotion. The woman picked her man up by the arms and fled along with the other rabble crowding the chosen ground.
Old Timer returned to the group covered in dust but otherwise unhurt.
"Good job Old Timer." Desmond praised with an easy smile. Old Timer brushed the dust off his sweater and mumbled something about Pearl Harbor.
Desmond's smile grew into a wide grin as he examined the area, clouded in chaos, the air ringing with shouts of panic and pain. Sun Dial wandered into the midst, everywhere she stepped those around her freezing in place. Like photographs they stood mid sprint, looks of terror locked on their faces, their limbs not moving an inch. She grabbed a middle aged Hispanic woman and began twirling her around the pavement in a one sided macabre tango. Around her some stopped to stare while most were too busy running for their lives.
"Why do they run Desmond"? Inquired Maxwell. "Do they not know that this is a joyous occasion?"
Desmond answered. "For some, nay, for most, time is an infinite mystery." Contempt now grew on Desmond's face as he studied the panicked public. " Their pathetic little lives are run entirely by the hands of time, yet they pay it no regard save the occasional glance at their watch. They dwell in the dark, their existence is miserable and they don't even know it."
"Gee Desmond, if only they knew as much about time as you do."
"Yes, if only. Ignorance is a stubborn enemy. Its insidious grip is tight, viselike around the hearts and minds of humanity. To defeat it, you must smash its fingers, pummel it into submission. Half measures must be disregarded. Tonight, Brockton Bay will be made an example of. Soon, the whole world will be dragged into the sweet embrace of Father Time."
"Wow." Maxwell stared wide-eyed at the man before him. Desmond's dissertations never failed to elicit pure excitement from his brother-in-law. Desmond stood amidst the dust of destruction, his ebony cape billowing about his manly figure, his eyes shining with determination, bathed in a cacophony of light from the neon advertisements and the moon itself gazing down in envy. To Maxwell, he looked like the very image of God.
"Well, don't just stand there gawking! Get the briefcase!"
Desmond's anger snapped Maxwell out of his stupor, and he rushed to grab Desmond's case from where it lay several feet in front of him. No sooner had he handed it to Desmond than two figures appeared across the intersection.
"Uh Desmond." Maxwell's voice shook with trepidation. "They're here."
"So they are." Desmond stood facing the new comers, Clockfacer stood beside him mute, still as a statue. Old Timer muttered angrily about Chinese immigrants.
Approaching them were a man and a woman. The man wore power armor over his body and a visor obscuring his face. In his right hand he wielded a halberd, its simple appearance hiding its true nature. The woman was dressed head to toe in camo fatigues. A scarf styled after the American flag was wrapped around her lower face and above her eyes. She held an M9 handgun.
"Awww, the party poopers are here." Sun Dial gave an exaggerated pout. Around her she had amassed a sizeable group of civilians. Ensnared in her circle of time manipulation, some were in the middle of tripping over themselves trying to get away, while others had been arranged into poses that Sun Dial found humorous.
Armsmaster stepped over a fallen traffic light, flashing and spewing sparks. His jaw was set hard, his mouth tight in anticipation of combat or perhaps in contempt of the criminals he regarded. Although not covered by armor, his lower face looked hard as stone.
"Sun Dial." When he spoke, his voice was gravelly and dark like storm clouds. Sun Dial spat.
"Armgrasper!" Desmond returned the hero's greeting in a friendlier manner. "And you must be… don't tell me… G.I. Jane!"
Miss Militia didn't respond. Her eyes were calm and calculating, the gun by her side remained still, like a viper coiled to strike.
"I assume you're here to witness history. Sadly it appears the common folk don't have the stomach for it."
"You are all under arrest." Miss Militia's intonation was no less confident than Armsmaster's. She continued: "For destruction of public property, public endangerment, defacement of U.S. currency, littering on a mass scale, multiple counts of assault with a parahuman ability, and multiple counts of domestic terrorism."
"Trumped up charges! This is a kangaroo court! I have rights!" Sun Dial shrieked from the top of a young man's shoulders where she sat perched like a child.
Desmond took up the defense. "These charges speak nothing of the intention behind them. I assure you, we are not bad people."
Miss Militia fired back. " Just last month you trapped Gallant in a twenty-four hour time loop!"
"I was merely teaching him a lesson in appreciating the flow of time. He should consider himself blessed!"
"He was trapped for three years! He's currently receiving therapy to get over the trauma!"
" The Groundhog Day Ray is one of my greatest inventions! Some simply do not posses the constitution to face the wonderful power of time."
Armsmaster spoke up. " Enough!" He slammed the end of his halberd on the ground. "Are you going to come quietly?" The anger in his voice made it seem that he secretly hoped Desmond would resist.
Silence overcame the streets where they stood. Maxwell was watching the exchange, sweating profusely, fondling his pocket watch like a good luck charm. Clockfacer stood still as a corpse, even his lungs were at rest, as he did not need to breathe. Old Timer adjusted his grip on his cane and coughed. Sun Dial reached down to the man on whom she sat, pulling his face into weird expressions. Her eyes darting back and forth between Desmond and his opponents the crazed smile never left her face.
Finally Desmond shattered the silence. "Of course I will come quietly, after I finish this New Years celebration. And it is in your best interest to allow me to do so." He held up the briefcase. "The contents of this case are unlike anything you've ever seen. It is also quite volatile, if handled improperly it is liable to take the life of every sorry excuse for a human that inhabits this fair city."
Miss Militia raised her gun. "Put that case down and surrender."
Desmond stepped quickly into Sun Dial's area of time manipulation, rendering him essentially invincible. "I'm surprised you would threaten violence in the face of so many hostages." He caressed the cheek of a young girl, eyes wide in fear and confusion, the last emotions she felt before her existence was taken prisoner by time itself. "To me they are nothing. But to you…" He shrugged. "Even dumb beasts have an urge to protect their own species." Sun Dial cackled and Maxwell chuckled nervously.
Desmond set the case down and knelt before it. "But fear not." His voice cascaded through the buildings and throughways like a preacher enabled by a higher power. He continued. " Tonight you will all be saved from your miserable lives of inferiority!" With that, Desmond opened the case.