CHAPTER 1
Garcia Flynn stepped out of the pristine Time Machine 'Mothership' and looked around the dark warehouse where they had landed. According to Anthony Bruhl, his pilot from Mason Industries, the landing was not his doing. Apparently the Mothership had been pulled out of the time vortex to this time and place by an unknown and possibly hostile force. Flynn carefully slipped out a handgun and jerked his head, signaling two backup soldiers to come out, followed by Anthony.
As soon as the scientist/pilot stepped out of the machine, the warehouse lights flicked on, startling the group and setting Flynn on edge. Someone else was here. Now that the lights were on, they could see that the warehouse seemed to be completely empty, besides the Mothership and a strange-looking machine in the middle of the room. "Do you know what that is, Bruhl?" asked Flynn, still looking around for any other sign of life. "No... No. This tech- it's more advanced than I've ever seen." the older man walked over to the machine, but before he could touch it, a deep, British voice spoke, echoing around the room. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A gentleman stepped out from behind the machine. He had a black beard and black hair combed back neatly with grey streaks through it. He wore black clothes and gloves as well as a smile that gave a malicious look to him. Flynn and his backup readied their guns, but the man just chuckled. "Oh, there is no need for that," he said, his deep British voice still having an echo in the warehouse, "You'll find I'm harder to kill than I look. However, I am not looking for war, Garcia Flynn." Flynn raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? Because your machine suggests otherwise." he gestured with his gun to the machine, which Arthur was still trying to get a good look at. "And besides," Garcia continued, "If it's not war you want, what do you want?" "An alliance," said the man, "because we both want the same thing." "Yeah? And what's that?" "To take down Rittenhouse."
Now the man had everyone's full attention. "How do I know YOU'RE not Rittenhouse?" "Because, Garcia Flynn, Rittenhouse has taken something of mine as well, and I mean to make them pay. Unfortunately, I cannot do that without a working mode of transport, and your time machine is a worthy candidate." Flynn was starting to see sense in working with this stranger, and from the way Arthur was looking at the machine, and the way that tech had pulled the Mothership from the Time Vortex, he felt that it would be wise to work with the man. For now. "Okay, deal," said Flynn, "but I have one question: Who are you?" "I am universally known as the Master."