He and the other three members of Evil Industries had been sitting around a table in the Pocket D nightclub – the place to be, regardless of whether you were a hero or a villain – celebrating the success of their latest heist. They had stolen some sort of magic flute from the Circle of Thorns – Kaykor wasn't sure what exactly it did, but Orchid, who seemed to know the most about magic and magic artefacts out of the four of them (which wasn't exactly saying much) assured them it was pretty powerful. All Kaykor had to do now was stop his partners in crime from trying to actually play the damn thing, inadvertently break it or sell it on eBay.
"Why is it always magic flutes?" Geoff asked suddenly as he mulled over his pint. The others looked at him – well, Kaykor and Orchid looked at him, as Vraenar was apparently hypnotised by the flashing coloured lights of the nearby dance floor. "Well?" Geoff continued. "It's always flutes, or something else small and fiddly. Why aren't there any magic trombones, or oboes, or things like that?"
Kaykor was just struggling with the image of a mage playing a magic trombone in an arcane ritual when there was a sudden flurry of movement to the left of their table. He looked over and found himself staring at an old man with a long, bushy white beard standing next to their table.
Apart from the beard and a deeply panicked expression, the old man was wearing nothing but what appeared to be an old bed sheet wrapped around him.
"Please, I need your help-" the old man began.
"Toga party's in the Tiki Lounge," Kaykor interrupted, gesturing roughly in the direction of the VIP area before turning back to his drink. But the old man stayed where he was.
"Please! The fate of the world is at stake! The whole universe in fact!" the old man exclaimed. He made to grab one of Kaykor's arms as if in emphasis, but the look he got in response made him pull back his hand very quickly.
"Maybe you should go and try the other side of the club?" Orchid suggested, sipping from a drink that seemed to be comprised almost entirely of paper umbrellas and colourful plastic stirrers. "You know, the hero side?"
"There's no-one else!" the old man replied, and Kaykor had to admit that he seemed pretty stressed out about something. "Please, heroes and villains alike are in danger! I do not care whether you call yourselves good or evil, but the fate of the world is at stake, and you may be the only ones able to save it!"
"The bouncers in this place really need to pay more attention to who they let in," Geoff muttered.
If it had just been these three members of Evil Industries, that would have been the end of it. Violence was not allowed in the Pocket D, but Kaykor and his teammates would have been more than happy to simply ignore the obviously mad old man standing at their table until he got the message and went away.
"Hey! Are you Santa? Where's your red suit?"
Unfortunately for Evil Industries, however, Vraenar was also there.
"Look guys, it's Santa! Are you delivering presents, Santa? Can we help you?"
It didn't really make Kaykor feel any better to see that the old man looked as confused as the rest of them at Vraenar's excited outbursts.
"No... My name is Old Father Time. But I do need your help-" the old man tried to explain; unfortunately, once Vraenar had an idea in his head, it generally took nothing short of a team of experienced neurosurgeons to get rid of it.
"Sure, Santa! Sure we'll help you! Won't we guys?" Vraenar turned expectantly to his teammates, who just stared at him and the old man with sinking feelings in their stomachs. Eventually, in a deeply exaggerated gesture, Kaykor checked his watch and sighed.
"Well, I guess we might just have the time to hear you out, old man-" he began.
"That's just the problem!" the old man – 'Old Father Time' – interrupted. "If we don't act soon, there won't be any more time at all!"
"I'm sorry," Geoff said. "We may break a lot of laws, but the laws of Physics are kind of out of our jurisdiction."
"Let me explain," Old Father Time continued. "Every year, at midnight on the last day, I have to pass my mantle onto Baby New Year, so that the year can begin anew and time can continue. But someone has kidnapped Baby New Year! A Red Cap named Snaptooth has teamed up with the Winter Lord, and they plan to take Baby New Year into the lands of the Fey, where he will be trapped! And if that happens, all time will stop at midnight on New Year's Eve!"
75 of Evil Industries just looked at him (Vraenar was trying not to jump up and down in his seat with excitement). Eventually, Orchid spoke for most of them. "You want us to go rescue a baby, who's not really a baby but an anthropomorphic personification of time and, more specifically, rebirth, from a great big garden gnome?"
Old Father Time nodded gravely.
Kaykor, Orchid and Geoff looked at each other for a few seconds. Eventually Kaykor shrugged.
"What the hell, it should kill a few hours."