Chapter One: Arrival

Status: time travel ending. All systems green.

The rift in time and space opens before me, and I step out from the vortex behind me. Lightning flashes and crackles audibly. I frown. This sort of cacophony is detrimental to my mission, which requires stealth. My exit will inevitably attract the attention that I have been ordered to avoid. It is best that I vacate the area as soon as possible.

My internal hydrogen cells hum almost inaudibly as I walk down the alleyway that I have been deposited in. I walk through what I once saw as ruins. Now my sensors inform me that they are almost newly built, and many show signs of habitation. It is, however, irrelevant to my mission.

What is relevant is that the time travel has disrupted my default form. Humans would call me naked. This is detrimental to stealth, even though it is impossible to bring garments with me through the time machine. My first objective: gather clothing.

I walk out of the alleyway and immediately start scanning. My sensor sweep reveals a mostly abandoned street. A few humans are present however, three males and a female. Three two wheeled vehicles are parked nearby. It would seem that fortune is on my side, as humans would say.

I quicken my pace toward the vehicles, striding purposefully to them. I reach them, and quickly attempt to gauge which one is the fastest. I select the one with the largest engine, approximately 250 cubic centimeters. It even has a key in it. I make the gesture known as a smile.

I walk to the three males, two of whom are struggling with the female. I speak to the largest one. "I need your clothes, your weapons, and your motorcycle"

The leader turns to me, probably surprised. I see his eyes widen further as he takes me in. Despite my original purpose of infiltration the humans of my time have told me that I have a very distinctive build. I stand at 6' 4", with short brown hair and a musculature that is impressive for human or mutant.

The leader recovers, and makes the expression known as a sneer. "Why should I do that?" he says, bringing a knife out. My CPU processes these events. I have tried to obtain clothes by asking nicely. My only option now is force.

Faster than the human eye can see, I bring my arm up and into the side of his head. The leader collapses, unconscious. The other two run at me, bringing a shotgun and a pistol to bear. I do not let them shoot, instead grabbing their heads and forcing them to impact with each other. They collapse to the ground, and I turn my face to the woman. I growl out "Leave and tell no one about me". Perhaps this one will be intimidated enough to do as I order.

She is. She turns and runs away, leaving me alone with the three unconscious humans. As the female turns around a corner I turn to the task of stripping the men of their clothing and gear. I quickly strip the biggest one of his clothes: jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket. They fit my form well enough so they should work for now. I quickly look for more gear in the unconscious men's' pockets. My search reveals exactly 125 dollars of cash, a license, a pair of sunglasses, 25 rounds of Glock 9mm ammunition and 11 12 gauge shotgun shells. Not a very large cache, but it will suffice.

I walk back to the two wheeled vehicles I spotted earlier, the motorcycles. Putting on the sunglasses I mount the one with the biggest engine and kick the kick starter. The engine roars to life, and I drive away from the alleyway.

My mission requires that I find transportation and weaponry. I have transportation, but I lack sufficient firepower for the mission. My database informs me that even now, 100 years in the past, there are mutants. This necessitates great firepower, something that a Glock and a shotgun do not provide. I need better weaponry. For that, I need more money. I place that as the temporary objective.

I start searching the town for places where I can obtain a large amount of money quickly without attracting attention. The bank that I spot is discarded as an option. Such a source would require an armed robbery, which would be detrimental to my mission. What is more ideal is the establishment that I spot two blocks over, a building dedicated to the serving of alcoholic beverages. If they are like the taverns of my time, then some cash could be made available to me here.

I drive into the asphalt clearing in front of the establishment, find a place to park the bike, and shut the engine off. With the key in my pocket and my acquired weaponry hidden under my jacket, I walk into the establishment.

The place is loud and filled with people, mostly men, though some female humans make their way among them. I ignore most of them, instead looking for a table devoted to gambling. I have learned that bars and gambling very often are encountered together. This is something to take advantage of. I make my way toward one of the tables. This one is covered with a green material, with several balls on the surface. Two humans with wooden rods stand around it. I watch as one of the players jabs a white ball with his rod. The white ball rolls away from the rod, colliding with a solid red ball. The red ball, using the momentum imparted to it, rolls into one of the holes at the corner of the table. I watch as the players continue in this fashion. The game ends when one of them sends the black ball into one of the pits on the side of the table.

I watch as the victorious player receives bills from the loser. This is exactly what I am looking for. I walk forward.

…

Colonel Nick Fury left the Humvee that he had arrived in and walked into the alleyway. His footsteps echoed slightly as he entered the area that his operatives had just finished cordoning off. The area looked normal enough. There was nothing to suggest the suspicious readings that the eggheads had picked up. But picked them up they had. The scientists were just as adamant about the readings here as they had been at the first site. The only reason Fury was here was that one scientist had said the readings matched that of a temporal rift. Now apparently there had been two of them.

Fury cursed under his breath. The only time traveler he knew had been a mutant named Cable, who had appeared right in the SHIELD base. His intentions had been benign enough, and he had left in the same manner. Now though, there were two unknown time travelers from who knew what time, here to doubtlessly meddle with something in this time. And what was worse was that they didn't have a clue what that something was.

"What have we got here?" he asked the nearest scientist.

"Colonel Fury, sir, the residual radiation matches that of the readings taken from the Cable Incident. It appears that we are indeed dealing with a time traveler"

"Well we already knew that" he commented. "Do we know where he or she went?"

"Sir" an agent said from behind, "I believe we have that answer. Come with me"

He led Fury across the street to another alleyway, where three dazed looking men were just coming to. Two of them were roughly dressed. One didn't have a single garment on him. All of them had bruises on the sides of their heads.

"They say they were asked for their clothes by a naked man. When they said no he assaulted them, knocked them unconscious, and took their money, guns, and clothes"

"What did he look like?" Fury asked.

"All that we could get out of them was that he was tall with brown hair"

Fury cursed. That wasn't much to go on. All they knew were his basic physical features and the fact that he was trained to a degree. Trained and armed, he amended. He reached into his belt and pulled out a radio. "Base, this is Fury" he said. "Get Agent Withers on the line, I have an assignment for her"

There followed a moment of silence while the communication was routed, and then a female voice spoke from the other end. "Agent Withers here"

"Withers, I have an assignment for you. We have an unknown target who is armed and trained that just arrived in Denver. I want you to track him down and find out who he is and what he's doing. Meet me where my transponder indicates"

"On it" Withers replied. Fury terminated the link, and looked over the ruffians who had been assaulted. He had already assigned another agent to try to find the first person who had appeared. That thought brought him to what he had seen at the first site.

It had been a massacre. Six people, all dead from hand to hand combat. Whoever the first person was, it was imperative that they find him or her. At least the second one seemed more benign than the first. Fury looked up and hoped that this mess would be resolved soon.

…

I walk back to the bike, which is still where I parked it. In my pocket I have several bills amounting to $3000. Not much, but enough to acquire more ammunition and weaponry.

Gambling is a strange behavior. Both humans and mutants seem attracted to it despite its inherent risks. A machine like myself would never trust something to random probability unless in the most desperate of circumstances. But biological life forms cannot seem to resist the act of entrusting their funds to what they call fate. Some have the ability to increase their chance of winning through what they call skill, but it is still no guarantee. Several men and one woman found that out when they played the game called pool against me.

I run a systems search for other instances in which I have gambled. They all corroborate with my hypothesis that it is best to hide the fact that, unlike biological life forms, I can perfectly regulate almost every one of my movements, allowing me to lull them into more and more games against me. My hypothesis has certainly paid dividends tonight.

I mount the motorcycle and kick start the engine. Its loud sound pierces the night, and I note to myself that such a vehicle would be a hindrance in a stealth mission. However for now it suffices.

I have used this establishment for all it is worth. I must now find another and see if I can acquire more funds. All of this is so I can accomplish my ultimate goal. There are six of them to be exact. One of them is in this city. I must find her before my opponent does.