A/N: I'm sorry this is so late! I was going to post this on Saturday, but then there was a slight medical emergency involving stairs, a cell phone, toe socks, and a piece of toast. Don't ask. Anyways, I hit my head hard enough so that I couldn't think straight for the past few days, and posting this just kind of slipped my mind. But it's up now, so enjoy!
May 7, 2775
Sive's POV
"So, why can't Velvet can't just go to another time and get this thing?" I asked as I inspected the bio-converter. It was sitting on a side-table next to the couch I was sitting on. Mei was standing on the opposite end of the table, also inspecting it, and Claire and Tech were sitting in armchairs across from the couch. Chroniker had gone to bed a long time ago.
We had gotten the bio-converter back to Chroniker's without a hitch a few hours earlier, but something had just occurred to me. Velvet could always go further back in time and take the converter, right?
"No-we-have-nothing-to-worry-about," Claire reassured. "If-she-went-further-back-than-we-did-to-get-it-then-not-only-would-she-affect-the-future-but-she-would-also-make-it-so-that-we-didn't-take-it-so-in-a-way-it-would-doubly-affect-the-future." I was very confused by this, and I looked to Tech for help. He was pretty good at translating smart-people jargon.
"There can't be two of the same thing at the same time," Tech explained, never looking up from his laptop. He had been on it ever since we got back, figuring out what we had missed while we were gone. "Velvet going farther back in time than we did to get the converter could screw everything up so much, the fabric of time would unravel."
"Well why didn't you just say so?" I asked. Claire stuck her tounge out at me, and I stuck mine out at her in response.
"So, now that we have this thing," Mei began, "what should we do with it?"
"Hide it, keep it away from the forces of evil...all that jazz," I replied through a yawn.
"Amen to that," Mei said as she sat down next to me. A lot had happened in the last two days, and none of us had gotten any sleep through any of it. It was starting to catch up to us.
We were still staying with Chroniker for the time being. Now that we had the converter, we had to keep it safe, and Velvet, Celeste, and Ceci would inevitably find out it was us who took it, so our HQ still wasn't a safe place. As far as we could see, they hadn't suspected Chroniker helping us as of yet, so his place was as safe as any.
We still needed to figure out what we were doing next, anyways. We had done everything we could do without giving ourselves up in the screwing-with-the-bad-guys department, though that wasn't our main priority anymore.
"Has-anyone-come-up-with-any-ideas-yet?" Claire asked.
"Nope," the rest of us replied in unison. Claire groaned in response.
We had been trying to figure out anything we could do to find the rest of the team. We unsurprisingly hadn't heard a thing from them in the past couple of days, and we were all really worried about them. Finding them had become our main priority, but it wasn't easy. We had spent almost a week way far back in the past, and when we got back, all we knew was that they disappeared without a trace. Well, almost without a trace; our only clue as to what had happened to them was the shadow walkers that Celeste left behind. That meant that whatever happened to them, it was Celeste-related, which was a pretty broad topic. They could have been sent to another time just like we were, or they could still be in the future holed up somewhere for all we knew. And that's thinking positively.
"Maybe we should go to bed and try again in the morning when we're not half asleep," Mei suggested.
"Mei, that is the best idea I've heard all day," I replied.
We all got up and went to our rooms. I felt as if I could sleep for a year, and I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow. Unfortunately, I didn't have a year to sleep. I didn't even have more than a few hours, actually; Tech came in and woke me up, and it was still dark outside when he did so.
"Sive! Sive, wake up!" he said as he shook me awake. I could tell by the tone in his voice that something was wrong.
"What's up?" I asked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
"You need to see this," he said urgently. I looked up at him and saw that he looked pretty freaked out. I had never seen him like that, and it freaked me out a bit, too.
I followed him back to his room, where his laptop was lying open on his bed. I was tempted to ask if he had slept at all, but whatever was going on here seemed to be really important, so I kept quiet.
We sat down next to each other on the edge of the bed, and Tech held the laptop in his lap as he showed me what he wanted to show me, so I had to lean on his shoulder to see. He opened up an email in his inbox, and I read it with silent shock.
Hello, Tech. I'm not sure how you did it, but you took something I want, and I intend to get it. If we knew where you were, Celeste would insist on just taking it from you. I, however, am more agreeable than my future counterpart. How about a trade? I believe that I have something you want… I've attached a picture in this email. Interested? Meet us in the alley behind the old hardware store near 46th and 10th tomorrow at 11 PM. Bring the converter. Oh, and I want you and your other coyote friend to stay behind. -Black Velvet
"Why doesn't she want us to come?" I asked as soon as I finished reading.
"Because we're threatening to her," Tech replied. "You're essentially a mobile flashlight, and I've played a fairly large role in screwing her up both times we've encountered her."
"So she's afraid of me and thoroughly annoyed of you..." I muttered to myself, still trying to fully wrap my brain around this whole situation. I sighed as I asked, "Do I want to know what she has, or should I just assume the worst?"
"Both," Tech stated grimly as he clicked the link in the email that opened the attached picture. It was dark, but we could make out jail-style bars in the foreground, and through the bars, we could see our teammates. They all looked okay, which was a big relief, but it was a small comfort.
I stared at the picture for a moment, then sighed and said, "We need to show Claire and Mei."
Tech nodded, closed the laptop, and we both stood up. He went to go wake up Claire while I got Mei, and we all met up in the living room. Tech showed them the email and the picture there.
They both sat there in shocked silence for a moment before Mei finally asked, "How do they know your email address?"
"Mei, totally not the time," I stated.
"What-are-we-going-to-do?" Claire asked hopelessly. "We-can't-just-give-them-the-converter-but-we-need-to-help-the-others!"
"Maybe you and Tech could whip up a fake one and we can give them that instead?" Mei suggested.
"I already thought of that, but we don't have enough time to construct a convincing fake," Tech stated. "And besides; this has 'trap' written all over it. I don't think we'd be walking away from this with our teammates, if at all."
"What we need is a plan!" Mei stated determinedly.
"Uh, Mei, in case you haven't noticed, we haven't been too good at coming up with those lately," I reminded her. "...I'm not saying you're wrong, though. We need to figure out what we're going to do, and we don't have a lot of time to do it."
We sat there in silence for a while, trying to think of what to do. Every so often, it looked as if someone was about to speak, but then they kept silent as they saw some hole in their plan.
Claire was the first to break the silence. She had been analyzing the picture on the computer for almost half an hour, when she pointed to it and asked, "What's-that-thing?"
The rest of us looked over her shoulders to see what she was pointing at. It was a large, dark, rectangle in the middle of the door to the cell. It was hard to make out with the dark lighting, but when I stared at it really hard, I could just barely make out a keyhole, meaning that it was the lock. Mei looked as confused as Claire, and Tech was giving me a confused look in response to their confusion, which I shot right back.
"Uh, it's a...lock?" Tech stated with an unsure note in his voice.
"That's a weird looking lock," Mei said. "How do you punch in the code?" Tech and I exchanged another look.
"There's no code... There's a key," I stated in a voice that suggested I was teaching a kindergartner the difference between the colors red and blue.
"Oh!" Claire exclaimed. "It's-a-tumbler-lock-I've-only-read-about-them-but-I've-never-seen-one-before!"
"A tumbler lock?" Mei repeated, still looking very confused.
"We-don't-have-these-in-the-future-we-only-have-electronic-locks," Claire said in response to Tech's and my confusion. "And... If-I'm-remembering-everything-correctly-then-this-might-give-me-an-idea... Let-me-think-for-a-minute."
We left Claire alone as she did the Runner-family version of pacing; running across the room at light speed and back. Tech and I had seen Rev do that multiple times. We just watched her go back and forth until she suddenly stopped in front of us. "Okay-I've-got-something-but-I'm-not-sure-if-everyone's-going-to-like-it."
"What do we have to lose?" Mei asked. "Let's hear it."
xoxoxoxoxTech's POV
Claire was right; I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit. It could work, and it was a good plan, but I still didn't like it.
"This could work... And yet it could go horribly wrong..." Mei said as she thought it over. "And yet, that seems to be the way a lot of our plans work out..."
"I'm-okay-with-it-if-the-rest-of-you-are," Claire stated, looking at the rest of us.
"Hmm...same here," Mei said. We all looked at Sive to see what her decision would be. She would play a big part in Claire's plan, and if she wasn't okay with it, then the whole plan was forfeit.
"...This plan has a better chance of working than failing as far as I can see," Sive said. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right, and I was worried where she was going with this. "...I like it. I'm in."
"You can't be serious!" I exclaimed. Sive, Mei and Claire all looked at me, but unlike the other two, Claire didn't seem surprised. In fact, it looked as if she was expecting me to do that, but I figured I would be less confused if I read into it less. I had noticed that she shot a quick glance over in my direction when she said that everyone may not like her plan, but I wasn't sure if she looked at me or Sive. Now I knew.
"Why wouldn't I be serious?" Sive asked as she faced me and crossed her arms. "Our friends are in danger, and if there's something I can do to help them, I intend to do it!"
"But you're putting yourself in danger!" I exclaimed. I calmed myself down before continuing. "I understand that you want to help, but you need to think of your own well-being, too." I saw Claire shooing Mei out of the room, and Claire following her out of the corner of my eye. Sive didn't catch it, and I didn't dwell on it.
"Tech, what makes you think I'm not thinking of my own well being?" Sive asked, also calming down and looking at me curiously.
"Because you never think of yourself before jumping in," I replied calmly. "You push yourself beyond your limits a lot more than you should, and eventually, you're going to get hurt. I get it; the guys are in danger, and you want to help them. I want to do whatever I can, too, but pushing beyond our limits only does so much good." There was something else I wanted to say, too, but I couldn't figure out how to say it. "I- I just... I care about you, Sive. I don't want to see you get hurt."
Sive seemed taken aback for a moment. She obviously wasn't expecting me to say that, and honestly, neither was I. It came out a bit differently than I intended it to, but I meant it either way. I was a bit worried how she would respond, though.
Sive kept that surprised look on her face for a moment, then she gave me a soft smile. "Tech," she said, "you don't have to worry about me. I know how far I can push before anything bad happens, and I always know what I'm getting into. All that time I spent on my own and fending for myself has given me a pretty good idea on how to handle myself. I know what I can and can't handle, Tech."
I hadn't thought of that before. I had always thought that she blindly ran into situations and just got lucky; I never thought that there could be a method to her madness. And yet, she was right; if there was any single member of our team who could handle themselves, it was her. She did have around eight years of experience, after all.
"I see your point," I began, "but that doesn't mean that I won't worry about you."
"I know," Sive stated, "but the way I see it, anyone else on the team would do the same for me."
I sighed and rubbed my eyes, half in frustration and half because I had gotten next to no sleep. "There's no changing your mind, is there?" I asked after a moment.
"Nope," she stated with a smirk.
"Then let's get to work," I said. "Just…be careful, alright?"
Sive smiled at me, then looked around the room. "Where did-?"
"I sometimes find it better not to ask when Claire is involved," I stated wisely. I knew we would have to go looking for them, but I thought it would be smart not to think about Claire's motives; it just led to more confusion.
Fortunately for us, Claire and Mei walked back into the room right then. "Where did you-?" Sive began, but she was cut off by Claire.
"Okay-so-are-we-doing-this-or-not?" she asked. Sive nodded, and so did I, albeit grudgingly. "Great-okay-so-Tech-you-and-I-can-start-messing-with-the-coverter-and-Mei-can-get-to-work-with-Sive."
"I hope you can work on the fly, Mei," Sive said, "because I need to go back to HQ and grab what I need."
Mei groaned, but still followed Sive as she ran out of the building. Meanwhile, Claire and I got busy disassembling the converter. There was a lot of work to get done, and not a lot of time to do it.
A/N: Okay, so I can tell you right now that the next chapter will be on the short side, and I will try my hardest to get it done by Friday. Why Friday? Because I'm going up to my uncle's cabin again next week, and there's still no wifi up there. I'll be gone all week, but I'll for sure have a chapter for you when I get back. Or possibly two if I can't get this next one up before then. Anyways, R&R!