This is the sequel to The Time Association. I advise you to read those fifteen chapters, because this takes off right where it ended.
Recap: Maximum Ride and her flock have just left the magical apartment belonging to the Time Association, a group of people who created with a time machine to stop disasters. Association characters are Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Jacob Portman, and Artemis Fowl.
It is okay if you don't know them from their fandoms. No one knows all of them; it's fine.
Artemis Fowl watched the six avian-human hybrids disappear down the street. Their leader, Maximum… she was an unusual person. He looked forward to researching more about the School, which he had been hacking recently. Nothing new there.
Jacob Portman closed the door behind him as the Time Association filed back into their rundown apartment. He, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson plopped down on the plushy chairs, exhausted. Percy switched on the ancient TV.
Artemis did not wish to join them. He decided to go upstairs instead; the other faction of the Time Association would need to be spoken to.
Bang, bang, bang.
Artemis froze of the first step. Someone was pounding on the front door.
But someone finding us is highly unlikely, he thought. We put magic on it. It is indiscernible from the brick wall outside.
Harry, Percy, and himself had worked together to make a spell for security reasons. It made their apartment accessible only with the proper assortment of spells.
Nevertheless, someone was banging on the door like his or her life depended on it.
Artemis glanced at his associates. They were as still as possible, watching the door, television forgotten.
"Who is it?" Percy called quietly. Jacob smacked him on the head.
Artemis shook his head sharply at them. The pounding continued.
As a genius, it took Artemis only seconds to figure it out. There was only one person it could be. Which meant that the Time Association would fail in the future.
He strode over to the door and opened it.
"Good evening, Maximum. I take it the time traveling device works?"
Max
I appeared suddenly in the alley where the Time Association's HQ was located.
I blinked, bewildered. It took me a moment to understand where I was in the past.
And then it hit me. I was actually in the past. When everyone was alive. When the streets were crowded and noisy. When One Direction was the biggest news on TV.
But I couldn't spend a second thinking about that right now. Facing the grubby brick wall that looked like every other one in New York, I thought about what to do. I didn't know the magic spells that would open the door. So I did the only logical thing I could think of.
I knocked on the wall.
No answer. I banged harder.
Still nothing. My knuckles were beginning to bleed.
I thought about shouting, "Open up!" but then decided it would make me look a bit insane if someone happened to pass by. So I pounded harder on the wall.
Just when I was about to call it quits and find another way to save the world, the wall evaporated into an average-looking door. It swung open. I narrowly avoided slamming my fist into the person standing there.
"Good evening, Maximum. I take it the time traveling device works?"
It was the blue-eyed boy. I tried to remember his name. Artemis Fowl.
I realized what he'd said. "How'd you know I used the time thing?"
He took in my appearance with distaste. "We'll get you some… fresh clothes… inside," he commented. "And it was obvious. Who else would know where we are, and I highly doubt your younger self would have forgotten something and needed to come back. You just missed her, by the way. And you are lucky you got the date correct. We wouldn't want you accidentally messing with Napoleon."
I blinked. "Okay…" I recalled my initial purpose in coming to the past. "I need your help."
Artemis stood aside. "Come in. We'll talk inside."