Element flash – prompt: Daylight savings time.
Sapphire stepped onto the grass and took a deep breath. She wasn't sure if it was because the warm days of Spring had just arrived at this particular spot of Earth or if it was the first assignment since she'd become a mother. All she knew was that the trees were bursting with leaves, flowers were nodding in a pleasant breeze teasing the locks of her hair and the giggle of happy children intermingled with the chirps of songbirds.
She tried not to think of their task ahead. Sapphire hated termination assignments. She knew they were necessary and important to the path of the future, but that didn't mean she had to embrace them.
Are you all right? Steel's face, unreadable to most, spoke of his concern for her. It was not the sort of assignment he would have picked for her first time back into the field.
Of course, she answered too quickly. "Where are they?"
"Just ahead." Steel nodded to a pair of young girls. They were on swings, legs pumping in an attempt to go higher until chains hitched and for an instant the riders achieved weightlessness.
"Is that how it is to happen?"
"Higher, Daddy!" One of the children squealed with laughter.
"Hurry, Mommy! They are beating us!" The smaller and younger girl looked over her shoulder beseechingly at her mother.
"No, this is not the cause."
"I'm glad." Sapphire could think of no sadder fate than a death caused by playground equipment. It would be a stark and forever reminder of the events. "Then how?"
"There is a young man, befuddled by drugs and alcohol, headed in this direction. At exactly 9:06, he will see this family and be reminded of a memory so painful, he pulls a weapon and attempts to eradicate it. We are here to ensure that he succeeds."
"It's very sad." Sapphire knelt to pluck a blade of grass and analyzed it, not because it was necessary but it took her mind off other things.
A church tower clock chimed and she heard it without really listening. Then suddenly she gasped and swung towards her partner. "Steel, did you-?"
"I did. The clock tower just chimed ten. How is that possible? Sapphire, did we get caught in a time loop?"
Sapphire's eyes glowed bright blue as she accessed all the information she was privy to. "No, it is as it should be."
"Then how could it be ten o'clock here?" He checked his watch, a useless thing where they came from, but so necessary on a planet that measured everything in seconds and minutes.
Sapphire put on her best smile and approached a uniformed policeman. "Excuse me, sir, what time do you have?"
"Ah, caught you by surprise, did it, Miss?"
She resisted grabbing Steel's hand and correcting the officer. "Yes, I'm afraid so."
"It's ten o'clock, ma'am, just by the big clock there. You forgot about Daylight Savings time, I'm willing to bet."
"Daylight Savings time? Steel frowned and made a face as if he tasted bad medicine.
"Spring forward; fall back, as my mom used to say." The officer winked and continued his patrol.
"Steel, how could this happen…?"
"Sapphire, the killer is approaching." Steel nodded to a man, a boy, really, who was staggering along, holding on to a tree trunk or the back of a bench as he moved.
"Stop him, Steel!"
Steel turned and looked at her as if she was possessed. "What are you talking about? This is our assignment."
"It's wrong! It isn't time. It's a trick."
"Not according to Them."
"Well, They are wrong!" Sapphire shouted and grabbed his arm. She looked back to where the young family has gathered around a picnic basket. They were laughing and happily emptying the delights from inside the hamper. Yet all Sapphire could see was the blood and the tears and the tragedy to follow.
"Steel!"
"You'll face Their wrath alone."
"Anything, just stop him!"
Shaking his head in obvious disagreement, Steel walked quickly to intercept the young man who was clutching the upright part of a set of monkey bars and moaning. The man's eyes were fixated upon the small family and their joy and anger filled his face.
"No," he mumbled. "If I can't, you can't" He managed to get the gun free from his oversize jacket, pointed and fired just as Steel stepped in front of him.
Steel grunted as the bullet hit him and skidded along his skin. It took much more than a mere bullet to pierce his skin.
Around him, Steel heard screams and shouting. He could see people moving, coming closer and he just couldn't take the chance of the gunman getting off a second shot. He reached out and grabbed the gun, crushing the barrel closed. Now it would not fire and kill an innocent.
"What the hell?" The man was obviously taken aback.
"What the hell, indeed." Steel tapped him lighting in the chin and the man went down like a sack of potatoes just as the policeman came running up.
Sapphire watched the people crowd around Steel and the almost assassin and smiled gently. She watched the mother draw her daughters close to her and she knew how the woman felt. There was nothing that Sapphire wanted more at the moment than to hold Astra close and breathe in her scent, hear her baby giggles, and know that her child was safe.
Sapphire! The voice in her head made her wince. Here came the punishment for her disobedience.
Yes?
Have you carried out the assignment?
No.
Good. It was a mistake. There was faulty information. Stand by.
Sapphire took a deep breath and contentment spread through her. Now these young girls would not have to face life without their mother. They would not see a lovely spring day and think of carnage and horror. They could live as they were intended, as a family, complete and whole.
Steel managed to free himself of the crowd and approached her, an expression of awe on his face. "Sapphire, you heard?"
"I did."
"How did you know?"
One of the little girls laughed and threw her arm around her mother's neck, covering a cheek with kisses.
"A mother just knows, Steel."