AN: So, firstly, I apologise for the lateness of this chapter… I've been doing a lot of Graphics lately and family issues (my Grandad is moving house this Friday). Secondly, I apologise for the shortness of Chapter I. But after all, it is just the opening ;) I promise all chapters from this point on are going to be much longer, and make for a better read ^^
Rules Are Made to be Broken
In a cold, slightly damp warehouse a faint chill blew over the guards. Three stood guard to a door behind which they knew not what was hidden; only that no one was to get to it. It came as a great shock then, when they could hear pounding footsteps running behind the steel door. Immediately suspicious, the guards opened the door to the storage room, and cautiously stepped inside. Lifting their guns they slowly stepped inside. It was dark, but they dared not switch on their torches – surely the intruder would be ready for them?
Quick as a flash, a woman darted around the corner. At first she appeared not to notice the guards, before she stopped suddenly, looking very alarmed. She put up her hands immediately, and the guards seized her. After passing through several damp corridors, they took her to a circular room, with a thin beam of sunlight shining through the middle of the room. Under the light stood a lone chair, ominous with rusty chains hanging loose. Against the wall there were countless numbers of shackles, obviously waiting holds for prisoners. All the shackles were empty apart from two, where a girl and boy stood. The boy was unconscious, but the girl was staring at the guards. She looked underfed and dirty; she must have been here several days. The guards forced the woman against a pair of shackles, a short way away from the other two prisoners.
Then a scream could be heard. The woman looked alarmed. Several gunshots followed, and a deep roar could be heard. More screams followed. Guns clattering on the floor could be heard closer. Then another scream could be heard just outside the circular room. Then three men walked into the room. They walked over to where the girl was chained next to the boy. She looked frightened; rightly so. They unchained her and dragged her over to the chair in the middle of the room. One of the men moved in front of the girl. He wore a savage grin on his face.
He pulled out what looked like a small wooden stick. He pointed it at the girl in the chair and said "Crussssio!" The girl shrieked in pain. She writhed and struggled against the chains of the chair, but she was held in place. The man shouted again and again, and the three men laughed and jeered the girl together. It was an ugly sight. In the sunlight, the girl could be seen to cough up blood. Then the man with the stick spoke.
"Sssso. What are you doing in my ssssity?" His voice was raspy, and had a snake-like edge to it. The girl looked alarmed, but said nothing. "Ssssaying nothing won't help you! Crussssio!" And once again, the girl screamed and writhed in the chair. The rusty shackles appeared to be chaffing away at her skin. Her wrists were already raw from being chained to the wall. The three men laughed again, before stopping. The girl hung limp, panting heavily.
"Any ansssswer yet? No? Crussssio!" And again, she screamed and writhed. The torture this time seemed to go on for a lot longer however.
Suddenly, an almighty 'CRACK' resounded through the room. A purple portal had opened in the middle of the room. Through it came a boy holding a katana, which was glowing purple, the same as the portal. The three men had turned to look at the disturbance, and now one of them was charging at the boy, who merely raised his katana, and the man impaled himself on it. Outraged, the other two also charged at the boy.
"Not very bright are you?" He taunted. The men stopped, looking puzzled.
"What issss thissss one?" The man with the stick whispered to his companion.
"He issss but dung. After killing Sssscorpio, he deservessss to die painfully." The other replied. They immediately charged at the boy, however their appearance changed. The two men now appeared more wolf-like, with dark manes and a more snout-like nose. They had claws instead of nails, and they moved faster. The boy was unnerved by this sudden changed, and hesitated to attack.
The two men used this to their advantage. One rammed straight into the boy, the other slashed his face with his sharp claws. The boy jumped back from the attackers, but they quickly resumed the attack. The men slashed and swiped at the boy. It was all he could do to stop himself being torn to pieces. He sustained the cuts to his leg, one to his left arm and three deep cuts across his back. The two men launched themselves once again at the boy, who in return swiped his katana towards the nearest man. The sword collided, and cut off his hand. The man howled in rage. In return, the other man raised the wooden stick, and yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" A green flash of light erupted from the end of the stick, which barely missed the boy. The man yelled again, this time the boy had to block the strike with the flat of his sword.
The man took his second chance. He struck the boy straight on the chest, sending the boy flying back several feet. The boy staggered to his feet. The other man had recovered from the loss of his hand and was renewing his attack on him. Now the boy felt rather worn out by the whole thing. He positioned himself against the men, and rushed forwards, just as the men did the same. The boy slashed at the nearest man, cutting his cheek. The man flinched and pulled away. This time the boy didn't hesitate. He swung his sword back around into the man's head. He fell to the floor, limp. The boy turned to face the other man, and jump, narrowly avoiding yet another cut. As he landed, he slipped on a pool of blood, and nearly tripped over the severed hand.
The last man charged and started jumping from side to side, hoping to avoid the boy's katana; however the boy was ready for him. A look of pure anger now over his face, the boy sidestepped the man's next strike. Only up close did the man notice that the boy's left eye had changed colour from brown to purple behind his glasses. The boy took the moment's confusion to push his katana through the man's chest. The man slumped to the floor heavily. The boy sheathed his katana and grimaced. Blood had begun to run down from his left eye. He looked around the room and made immediately for the girl in the chair. She had not looked up, but rather looked to have passed out. The boy removed the chains and lifted her out of the chair. Next he made his way over to the boy shackled against the wall. He tried to speak up, but the boy with glasses silenced him. After releasing him, he made his way over to the woman, and too released her. Then, with everyone released, he made his way over to the middle of the room, drew his katana with his left hand and made a slicing action. This tore open another purple portal with a crack, out of which a blue water-like like substance shot out a few feet, before retracting back towards the portal, leaving a hole into what looked like a living room. The boy motioned for his two followers to go through, and they did, but not without hesitation. The woman went through reluctantly, unsure whether to trust this new arrival.
As the boy came through last, the portal closed with another crack. The boy laid the girl down on the sofa in the middle of the room, and moved to the kitchen part of the room. The room on the whole was clean, but well lived in. There was a flat-screen TV displaying the news, but was muted. There were many pictures, of the boy with friends, some including the girl and the other boy in them.
"My name's Aiden." He called from the kitchen. "Of course, you already know that Olie, but she doesn't." And he made a vague movement towards the woman with his hand. He came back into the living room with a damp cloth and three cups of what looked to be hot chocolate. Then, the other boy spoke up.
"Aiden how… when… what…?" He started, but couldn't finish. Aiden smiled slightly. He had put on an eye patch over his left eye. Quickly it began to stain red. Aiden placed the damp cloth onto the girl's forehead.
"Well, there is a lot I have to tell you I guess, but we'll wait until Kathryn wakes up. She needs to hear this too. As do you Abby." He motioned to the woman, who looked very surprised that Aiden knew her name. "Yes, I know who you are. I've read into ARC's system files, and the anomaly reports are very strange… Good thing I kept the system running when it went under actually, there are some things you need to look at." Oliver looked bewildered at this, but the woman just looked amazed.
It was several hours before Kathryn stirred, and when she did, Aiden quickly hurried back to the kitchen. He came back with a thick, syrupy substance, some seeds, a mortar and pestle and water. He quickly crushed the seeds, added them to the syrup, and waited. When Kathryn opened her eyes, Aiden gave her a little water, before mixing the rest with the syrup. Aiden moved over to her.
"Here, drink this. I know it'll taste bad, but it'll make you feel better very quickly." And he slowly helped her drink the whole lot. When she'd finished, she sat up and looked around.
"Where the hell are we? And where'd you come from Aiden?" She said harshly. Aiden just smiled and sat in a chair next to the sofa.
"Sit down you two, and I'll tell you everything I can. Right, where to start…" Aiden looked at Abby and Kathryn, and then Oliver spoke.
"How did you find us? We'd been there a couple of days, but even then, to find us would have been very hard. We've kept out of sight for so long, and suddenly we're caught not only by some strangers wanting to torture us, but by you too Aiden. How the hell does that happen?" He sounded almost angry.
"How did I find you? Well, I never lost you. When you said to me that you were disappearing, I decided to track you, and that wasn't easy. As you saw earlier, I can create portals. I am always at least subconsciously aware of every one I create, because it requires an immense amount of energy. I created the tiniest portal possible, and it's been stuck to you ever since our last meeting. When I say stuck, I mean it's been trying to pull you through to my living room, but obviously, you wouldn't fit through something that small. However, I've been able to watch you closely by magnifying the portal at my end. That's how I've been able to know where you were, and I imagine, that's also how you were found yourselves. I noticed a bunch of strange folks lurking around my house; I guess they must have noticed the area you were in. I also noticed, Abby that several anomaly readings had updated just an hour before I came to find you three." Suddenly, Kathryn spoke up.
"Dude, what the hell are anomalies?" She asked, none too kindly.
"Erm, well they're kind of like balls of light that are rifts through time. It's hard to explain past that, but you should get the picture. The locations of the old and new anomalies led me to some conclusions, which have been proved, in the main, correct. However, there were some things I hadn't been able to predict. For example, the use of magic, and the cruciatus curse on you, Kathryn, was not expected." Aiden paused. He looked towards Abby again, and registered the look on her face before continuing.
"It's apparent, from the data that already exists, that one of two previous anomaly events are occurring again. The first conclusion I drew was that convergence was occurring again. The second, that took a little longer to hit me, is that Matt Anderson has returned, somehow, from the future." At this Abby, look shocked, angry and scared all at once. "Now, I do, already know that he is responsible for the death of Connor Temple, and that you would like nothing better than revenge on him, but before you do decide to do anything rash, let me tell you that it is possible for Connor to be saved. However, for this, Matt is essential." Abby began to protest, but Aiden cut over her. "Not directly, mind you, I would never have suggested it if that was the case. But we need him alive; at least in the mean time. I do have a contingency plan, but the chances of it succeeding are so slim, you'd have more luck winning the lottery. That's why, until we have Connor back – who right now would be brilliant to have helping me with a problem I've got – we must not let Matt die, or become otherwise indisposed. Should this happen, well, I have every intention of helping you get back Connor, but I cannot guarantee anything more.
"Now then, onto my next subject. The use of magic has complicated things not only in the fact that it's another danger to us, but also to my team. Well, strictly speaking it's not my team, but I am part of it. The Order of the Phoenix is its name, and it's part of a long-standing order which once was the main group trying to take down Lord Voldemort. Not only was he one of the most dangerous people alive, he used magic to obtain his status. Magic is deadly, as you have no doubt found out today. The Order is trying, not only to eliminate those wrong doers who abuse magic, but also to achieve many other ends, some of which are overseen by myself. These aren't very big events and schemes, but should make the whole operation smoother. In actual fact, the Order doesn't even specialise in dealing with magic. The main focus at the moment is another problem entirely. But, I have been banned from operating within this area, for I am a subject of the problem itself, only they can control me." Aiden's appearance became grave and saddened.
"Control what exactly? You've shown you can use portals to get from one place to another, but that doesn't exactly have much to backfire on, does it?" Oliver asked. Aiden shook his head.
"No. The portals aren't the problem, and in fact, they're not a power restricted to just me. Anyone can use this sword if they are trained to. The real problem is this." And he took off his glasses and pulled what looked to be a contact lens off of his left eye. It glowed purple, and a strange mark could be seen shimmering on it. Suddenly, Aiden vanished, and reappeared behind them. Then, the floor of the living room shifted, and out of the floor, a sword seemed to melt and materialize in front of them.
"What this is," He said, "is a very powerful ability, called Geass. There are several variations of it, each with different effects. Mine, unfortunately, is the most destructive to the user. While it boasts great effects and promises great things, the effect on the user is great as well. Not only does it put a strain on my whole body just to keep it functioning," The sword began to melt back into the floor. "But it also causes great damage and pain to my eye, more the longer I keep it active. So, like this, my eye hurts just demonstrating it to you, but should I use it for longer, it can cause damage to this eye, maybe even destroying it should I go too far. The only problem is, no matter how much I destroy my eye, the effect can still continue. So in theory, I could kill myself by using it." He paused once again to let the words sink in.
"Aiden, they want to control this, despite the damage it could cause to you?" Kathryn asked, for once a tone of kindness in her voice. Aiden just laughed.
"Did I not just prove to you exactly why they want this power? I made that sword purely by pressurising minerals and ores within the earth below my house. Of course, I probably did it wrong, so it would be useless, but the principal remains. It is one of the strongest weapons they have against magic users. Of course, other threats, nearly as big if not bigger, have shown themselves now. However, this power remains able to counter every single one so far. I just don't have the ability to do it myself. They want to keep me on so that they can find a way to use me, control me, put the ability into their hands, taking it from mine."
"That's horrible though, putting you through that to meet their own ends, it's totally unjustified!" Abby spoke up, for the first time. Aiden looked heartened by the sound of concern in her voice, but shook his head.
"It matters not to them whether they kill people. In the end, all they care about is the results, not what it takes to get there. And while I may not approve of their methods, I am certainly trying to achieve the same thing they are. We might as well help each other. And if I must die to help make society a nicer place, well, is it not worth it?" Aiden replied, suddenly wishing that he was not bound to the Order at all.
"No! It's not worth it! If you have the power to stop them, then just do it yourself! You don't need them, not after you saved us three earlier!" She retorted, seeming angry by Aiden's lack of self appreciation.
"But that was nothing! They were nothing! I'm not as good as you seem to think! Besides, I barely used any skill there; they just were stupid enough to walk into my sword. If they had actually had some training in combat, I probably would have lost. As it is, they seemed very unable to fight at all. And look what a state they got me in anyway! I had a hard time beating even then! I am not able to stand up to the kind of threats the Order can." Aiden finished, hoping that the argument would end soon.
"She's right Aiden. You can't do this. Even if it would stop some serious things, using you like that isn't right; they'll just have to find another way to stop it." Oliver piped up. Aiden groaned. They didn't understand, he had to help the Order, he had no choice, but he didn't want to tell them why. It didn't look like it was going to work out that way however. "Why are you so intent on staying with the Order if they treat you like this anyway?" Oliver asked. Aiden sighed, and ran a hand over his forehead.
"They're forcing me to stay on or else they'll kill everyone I care about." He said quietly. "They've already got my sister; I don't want them to get anyone else." He faded to a whisper as he finished. Everyone sat in shock, and looked away. After several minutes, Kathryn spoke up, and Aiden immediately wished she hadn't.
"Who is there then, that you care about? We could perhaps, I don't know. We could gather them all in one place, and try to stop them being killed." Aiden stood up and walked out of the room. Kathryn knew then she'd said the wrong thing. She started to stand up, but Oliver grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Leave him. If you go to him now, it'll look like you're pressing him for an answer he can't give. Not without pretty much destroying the friendship you currently have. I think I did that earlier though. I wish I hadn't said that." He sounded grave and regretful. Abby then got up and walked out of the room. She walked down the narrow hall to the room Aiden had gone in. It was a small study, with paper everywhere. On every sheet numbers and equations were scribbled, most scratched out. Aiden sat on the floor in corner, with his head buried in his arms, his knees drawn up. Abby sat opposite, watching him for a while.
"She was eight years old." Aiden started without prompt. "I had known about my ability for two weeks, and so had they. The day it surfaced, they contacted me, threatening me that should I not cooperate, they would hurt my family. I thought it was some kind of sick joke and ignored them. They took my sister, and streamed to my computer live as they killed her. They slit her throat right in front of me. They promised they same would happened to everyone else I've ever cared about, unless I joined them. What choice did I have? My parents were dead, but that didn't mean there was no one left. Not many are left, but I couldn't let the same happen to them too." He stopped and looked up at Abby. "I promise you, I'll help you get Connor back. The threat of losing someone you love is bad enough. I've seen your work, and Connor's. I also know how much you cared about him. I want to help you; to remove the pain you feel. If I weren't marked, I could save Connor for you right here, right now.
"That's another thing the Order has done. A man called The Doctor marked me when he found out I could travel through time; which my portals can. He stopped me interfering with the past or future, which would directly involve someone's memory. If my plan using Matt fails, then I shall do everything in my power to remove the mark and go back myself. After all, rules were meant to be broken." Abby stared at him, unsure what to say. This boy, she'd just met, was offering to give everything to help her. Yet she knew of no way in which to help in return, or in fact, much about him at all. Aiden seemed to realise this, and smiled a little.
"I can see I've made you uncomfortable. All I ask is that you stick with me in these coming few days. I can see something big coming, and we'll all be forced together, or apart. I need you on my side in this Abby. The Order is out of its depth, and since you three have already shown your support – for which I'm eternally grateful – I want to be able to upstage it, and deal with this new threat with my own team. You've inspired me, and I want to use this chance to stand and hold myself against them, not cower away as I have done. But again, I need you Abby. Are you with me?" He looked hopeful, but also a bit doubtful. Abby was unsure. Just yesterday, she'd been back in the past, fighting for her life from the wilderness and the dinosaurs which inhabited the region. Now she would be fighting a new threat with someone she barely knew. Yet somehow, she felt she could trust Aiden. He reminded her of Connor, in a lot of ways.
"I'm with you." She said, quietly. Aiden smiled and nodded.
"Thank you." He replied equally as quiet. They sat together for a moment, before Aiden began to stand. Then, out of the blue, a tremor shook the house, and Aiden nearly ended up on the floor again. Water was leaking through the window and ceiling. The entire floor was wet. The house shook again, and again. Aiden was thrown sideways and hit the wall hard. He hit the floor with equal force and did not stir. Abby tried to steady herself and grabbed a draw, which opened to reveal a gun. Before she slipped, she grasped a shelf and picked up the gun. It was loaded. She turned into the hallway, and turned to see Kathryn knocked out, and Oliver held by his throat by a boy slightly smaller than himself.
The boy looked Chinese, and wore glasses. He looked and saw Abby, grinned an evil grin, and suddenly water enveloped her, suffocating her. She struggled for a moment, before everything went black.
AN: Dun dun DUN! So, once again, apologies for the delay. I've been so annoyed that it's not been done. But, hope you liked it. I know there was a lot of talking in it, but it's all important, and it got it out of the way at least. Next chapter should be interesting though, at the very least, and should be written a lot faster! Not as much to stop me writing you see. I hope to start an actual routine of uploading soon, so that you won't be waiting so long. I'll get back to you on that one ^^