Beta reading once again by awsome animeloveramy!
Honestly, I don't like this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! Thanks for all your support!
Wilbur had never run so fast before! Neither during the training nor ever in his entire life. His feet were barely touching the ground and he could hear is heart beat hammering in his ears! The walls raced past him as he ran in the direction where Wilma's scream had come from! Somewhere behind him echoed Violet's steps.
But of all that, Wilbur hardly realized anything. He had only one thought in his mind: he had to save his sister! If something happened to Wilma, he would never be able to forgive himself in his life! He would never be able to look into his parents' eyes if he didn't save Wilma. After all he was her big brother!
The corridor ended abruptly and Wilbur stood on a high balustrade, followed by Violet. Completely bewildered, they looked at the scenario about 50 feet below them!
The clones attacked their younger versions, while some guy - it had to be Cobra - boarded with Wilma into the time machine!
When Wilbur saw his sister in the clutches of this guy, he only wanted to strangle him on the spot, if he only would be close enough! Angrily, his hands clutched around the railing as if it were Cobras throat.
Wilbur looked around in despair; it was too deep for jumping, and the next staircase downstairs was on the other side of the hall! He would never reach Wilma in time!
Suddenly he discovered that the balustrade was carried by long poles that stood side by side at a distance of 30 feet and extending from the ground below to the floor above. Without wasting another thought he ran to one of these poles before climbing over the railing, clinging to the pole and sliding down.
Just at the moment when Wilbur touched the floor, the time machine lifted from the ground!
In horror, he was forced to watch this madman not only change the time stream, but to kidnap his helpless sister! With an infernal scream, Wilbur ran towards time machine and jumped! He got hold of a wheel of the undercarriage, and clung to it with all his might, while the time machine continued to gain altitude!
Suddenly, the undercarriage was retracted and as Wilbur tried to hold on desperately, it slipped from his grip and he fell, crashing hard on the side! He had scarcely recovered from the crash, when suddenly Omega attacked him! Wilbur managed to give him a violent blow to his stomach causing him to brake down.
But that wasn't important!
Completely helpless, he looked up to the time machine that was still so close and yet unreachable!
"Wilma!" he cried desperately.
"Wilbur! Help me!" cried the little child's voice full of fear. It tore Wilbur's heart with grief! He wanted to reply something, anything to soothe her, even though he knew it was useless. But suddenly he was again attacked by Omega, who had struggled back on his feet. He attacked Wilbur from behind and pushed him hard to the ground!
At that moment, Inferno and Medium appeared in the hall! Inferno examined the situation quickly and had a plan within a few seconds!
"Medium! Robinson! Help me to drive the clones into this room here!" she cried, pointing to a small corridor.
"What about my sister?!" Wilbur cried, while he still wrestled with Omega. Although Omega possessed only the ability to walk through walls, and wasn't much stronger than Wilbur, he had still a bleeding nose and some difficulties to keep him at bay.
Inferno looked up to the time machine and didn't hesitate a second. She shot up as a fireball, but before she was even close to the time machine, Delta attacked her with her ice beam! Inferno's fire went out and she fell to the ground!
The younger Violet, who just put up a good fight with Sigma (which meant, Sigma was zanily hammering against Violet's force field without any effect), was not far off when she saw Inferno crash on the ground and heard her bones break! Violet shuddered with fear, but at the same instant Inferno regenerated herself again, only to be directly attacked by Delta! Again, the entire hall was filled with steam in a few seconds!
Meanwhile, the older Violet was still standing on the upper level and watched helplessly at what happened beneath her. Desperately, she clung tightly to the metal railing. She had the strong desire to do something, but she had no super powers! What should she do?! But when the time machine suddenly flew off to the launch pad in the direction of the exit, she could no longer hesitate! Reflexively and probably out of a habit, she began to act!
Frantically, she looked around! She somehow had to get to the time machine! She had to save Robinson's daughter and to stop the time machine before Cobra disappeared in the time stream!
Suddenly she spotted a long steel cable that was stretched across the hall, which was still filled with steam. Violet ran towards the cable. Still running, she took off her shoes, hooked the heels of them in the cable, and without hesitation jumped off the railing and slid with high speed down the cable causing her dress (or what was left of it) to fly out behind her like a red flag! She dipped into the steam for a moment and could hardly see anything!
When the time machine suddenly appeared below her, she let go and jumped right at Cobra's back! He collapsed with a cry of pain, crashing on the dashboard and losing his weapon! But she had no opportunity to enjoy her perfectly calculated jump or to pull Wilma from the back seat before Cobra elbowed her a hard into the stomach. She staggered back, holding her belly. Cobra used the opportunity and grabbed his weapon, but Violet was faster and kicked it away. Then she struck out for a blow!
But suddenly - !
A deafening tinnitus didn't only paralyze Violet, but all people in the hall and across the entire platform at one stroke! Violet desperately pressed both hands on her ears, but it was useless! The noise didn't seem to come from the outside! First, she could still hear Wilma's screaming, but then everything was drowned out by this deafening, brain curdling sound! The noise was so strong and all-encompassing, that Violet was about to lose consciousness again! And she was not the only one; everyone on the platform - even the clones - felt the same!
Except Medium... she was the one that averted the worst from the others. This meant, however, that she also got the most concentrated load, like a dam that protects the land from the destruction of the thunderous flood.
She tried desperately to protect the others from their certain death, only by the power of her mind! She built a mental wall around her and the other individuals on the platform. The effort was so strong that her nose began to bleed. Nevertheless, she was amazed that she was able to afford something like this at all! She had underestimated the potential of her powers all her life! When she felt that the others started to recover, she looked over to her sister.
"What the hell was that?" Flame cried, who still pressed her hands on her ears, just like Omicron and Lightning behind her.
"That's Alpha ..." started Medium with a trembling voice. She had difficulty to maintain the mental defense! Alpha's attacks were just too powerful!
"He is angry ..." she added, while blood dripped from her lips.
"What?! I thought he doesn't have feelings!" replied her sister.
"Now he does..." Medium replied bitterly before she teleported herself away. She was the only one who could take on this enemy.
Of all that Violet realized nothing in the time machine. Her head still hurt like hell, and apparently Cobra recovered much faster than she did! He tore the still-dazed Violet to her feet and then gave her a hard blow to her the face so that she dropped out of the passenger cabin. She managed just in time to cling to the wing of the time machine!
The strike had one good side effect: now she was in her right mind again. Cobra had turned around to the dashboard, sat on the driver's seat and began to press a few buttons. Then, suddenly the hatch of the time machine closed! Wilma screamed frantically for her brother! Violet heard Junior's voice calling from somewhere, while the time machine again started to move!
She somehow managed to climb back on the wing! However, she had trouble keeping her balance without shoes on the slick airfoil. She leaned on the glass hatch, when she suddenly realized inside that Cobra aimed at her with the gun!
Cobra fired and the glass shattered!
Violet dodged away, but still a strand of hair got burned, and she almost fell off the wing of the time machine! Everything went so incredibly fast! Somehow, she managed to hold on and pull up again. With the shot, the glass hatch was completely destroyed! Violet leaned forward and pulled Wilma from back seat, that was covered with shattered glass, out on the wing! When Cobra noticed her, and saw that she was still not dead, his head turned red with rage.
"You lousy bitch! What do I have to do to get rid of you!?" He yelled furiously. But then, instead of shooting at her, he grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it violently to the side! The time machine flew a sharp curve, so that Violet, holding Wilma with one arm, with the other one clinging to the time machine, had difficulties to hold on!
The fight against Alpha was absolutely not like Emely had imagined. It wasn't a battle between good and evil. It was just some pointless fight like so many others, and would also end tragically like so many others. Alpha was strong, incredibly strong! And his attacks were full of hate and anger! But just that humanized this poor creature! Just a few minutes ago he had really gotten aware of himself and his environment! He wasn't a dead hearted object, not a mindless slave anymore, but a man! A man who had been betrayed and disappointed ...
Emely could understand why he was so angry. Nevertheless, she had to stop him!
They were in the dark room, where Alpha had been imprisoned by Cobra. However, the walls were deformed now like from a violent shock wave. Everything was wet and the water dropped from the walls and the ceiling. Alpha concentrated his attacks now much stronger, they were no longer comparable with the simple psi-attacks from before! Even the walls squeaked and moved under the telekinetic tension that filled the room!
Emely, however, was weakened ... but not from the exertion, as she thought first. After a while she noticed that fear was paralyzing her... her fear of wanting to explore the full potential of her powers. When Alpha started an attack again, it just happened.
She didn't want it! It happened out of an accidental reflex... it was so easy; like blowing out a candle.
Just like last time she let Alpha enter her mind just a little, only to attack him then from all sides with the indomitable strength of her spirit. But this time she could not stop herself in time. Suddenly, the light of his life was blown out... and everything that left was darkness.
Medium opened her eyes...
And even though she knew what she would see, it still was a shock. Hot tears began running down her cheeks, when she realized what she had done.
Alpha was dead, he lay stretched out on the ground a few feet in front of her.
She had killed him ... just like that ... out of a fatal misfortune, because of an experiment to experience the limit of her powers, just to satisfy her curiosity, she didn't wipe out the life of a mindless clone, but of a man!
Wilbur pushed Omega into the narrow, dark corridor, and his younger self suddenly shut the door with a push of a button! Inferno then put her hands on the metal door, so that the metal began to glow orange from heat! This way they could make sure that Omega and Lightning couldn't escape. The other clones were unconscious. Suddenly a cry of panic filled the air!
"Medium! Inferno!" Violet screamed, who still clung with Wilma on the wing of the time machine. Inferno, Wilbur and the two time travelers jerked around as the time machine flew towards the exit.
Without further hesitation, Inferno raced as a flickering ball of fire towards the time machine! When Violet saw her, she let go of Wilma (to Wilbur's horror, who almost got a heart attack!). Violet knew that she could rely on Inferno hundred percent!
Wilma slipped from the wing with a shrill shriek; fell down a few feet until Inferno caught her!
Shortly before Inferno touched Wilma, she transformed to her normal form! She grabbed Wilma, firmly closed her into her arms and protected the little girl with her body from the crash! She felt that she had broken some bones, but after she had ascertained that Wilma was well and unhurt, she transformed back to the fire and rushed behind the time machine, which had almost left the platform!
Suddenly, bright plasma began to glow around the time machine!
Violet still clung to the wing, but when she saw that the time machine was about to leave the platform, she panicked! She would prefer to break her bones here than to fall many hundred feet to smash on the ground!
But what about the time machine? Violet tried with all her strength to hold on to the wings! She had to stop Cobra! No matter what! Even if she had to follow him through the time stream!
Suddenly the time machine made a sudden move aside, Violet could no longer hold on! She slipped and fell! She was preparing for the pain of the crash, but suddenly she felt how she was grabbed roughly and suddenly she rolled across the floor with Inferno!
She had only a short time to recover.
"No! Not me! You have to stop -" she stammered breathlessly, while the time machine disappeared in a bright flash of light "... the time machine..."
Inferno struggled on her feet and regenerated herself.
"Hey! A little 'thank you' wouldn't hurt you!" she cried, offended that her rescue didn't get the proper appreciation. Meanwhile, the younger Wilbur helped up Wilma and carefully unfixed the bonds.
"Are you okay?" he asked, worried about the little girl. Wilma was silent and just shook her head distraught. Then her big, dark brown eyes filled with tears.
"I want Mommy ..." she choked.
"Oh honey, ..." Wilbur said, touched and stroked her head, "we're going to take you to Mom, okay?" he added while he picked her up.
Suddenly, Wilma was pulled away from him by his older self! The older Wilbur pulled the little girl into his arms, kissed her on the forehead and cheeks and whispered incessantly to her, but Wilbur couldn't understand what he was saying.
In the moment when he saw his older version cuddling with his future sister, Wilbur felt a burning jealousy flaring up in him.
This, however, extinguished immediately when Violet approached. She looked nervous, and uneasily looked back at the from heat orange glowing door, where the clones and Lightning were caught.
"I'm not sure whether this will keep them out for so long ..." she said uneasily.
Wilbur fought the urge to say that the clones were now their minor problem. The time machine was gone, and thus any chance to return back to their time. Probably they would no longer exist in a few minutes. But he didn't want her to make pointless reproached again, so he remained silent and looked away. Then they followed his older self to Inferno and Violet's older version.
"Are you okay?" Inferno asked, now sounding more motherly and helped the older Violet to get up.
Violet touched the elbow of her bare arm (whose sleeve had been torn off by Junior). She had just hurt it during the crash. She looked at the others and then shook her head frustrated.
"Doesn't matter now! Cobra is gone! With the time machine..." she muttered and then drooped, discouraged "We're dead!"
Inferno gave Junior a questioning glance.
"It's only a matter of minutes ..." he said softly, and hugged Wilma tightly, wiping away the blood from his nose.
When she heard that, the younger Violet began to make the most terrible self-reproaches.
So.
That was it.
It was over...
Now Cobra had the power over time and space... only thanks to her!
Only because she was so egoistic and stupid, she had made it possible for Cobra to destroy the world! Probably he would first wipe out her existence and then Wilbur's father!
At the thought of what that meant for Wilbur's life, tears shot into her eyes. She turned her head away... the others shouldn't see that she had nothing better to do but crying about the trouble she had caused. But suddenly she felt a warm pressure on her hand.
"It's all my fault!" she whispered, angry at herself and sniffed.
"Oh, nonsense!" Wilbur said determined, put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around so that he could see her face. "Well ... maybe you are... a little bit!" he added smiling and shrugged. Violet laughed, while the tears streamed down her cheeks. Then she suddenly found herself back in a solid, comforting embrace. It was incredible how quickly this reassured her again. She felt so good and safe in his presence, even if she was responsible for the destruction of the world.
When the older Violet saw that, she felt how their cheeks became hot. From the corner of her eye she ventured a cautious look at Junior. He had closed his eyes, while he held his little sister in his arms, gently seesawing back and forth. Violet had to smile at this sight.
Only a short time ago she had regarded him as a narcissistic idiot, but now it became clear to her that he was not only a loving brother, but also absolutely fearless and courageous. How often had he saved her life today?
'Well, Violet ... seems like you've been a little superficial, concerning Junior' she thought, with a bashful smile.
Suddenly, Medium entered the hall limping. She looked pale as a sheet, the curly hair covered her eyes.
"Hey, good work with Alpha!" Inferno cried half-heartedly across the hall. She saw no reason for optimism when their existence would soon be wiped out anyway.
Medium twiddled nervously with her fingers and looked down at her feet. Only when she came closer, the others saw that she was crying.
"Hey honey, are you hurt?" Inferno asked, worried and ran to Medium. When she heard this question, Medium burst into tears. The sobs shook her slender body so strong that she could hardly stand on her feet.
"I've killed him..." Medium stammered between the sobs. Inferno laid her hands on her shoulders.
"You've only defended us and yourself..." she said soothingly, and stroked her curly blonde hair.
"I've killed him ... just like that ... just because I was able to..." she continued sobbing. An awkward silence began to spread. Nothing was heard but her bitter sobbing.
"You had no choice!" said Inferno choked up, now fighting with the tears herself. She didn't want to believe what her sister was trying to say.
Although Wilma didn't really understand this depressing scenario, it still made her sad, so much that she began to cry. She put her little arms around her brother's neck and sobbed quietly.
"Shhh, it's good... everything's okay ..." Wilbur lied to reassure her, while he turned and slowly walked a few steps away.
"I killed him because I can! Because I thought that his life wasn't worth anything! How could I be so presumptuous?" cried Medium, while she tried to free from her sister's grip, "I won't use these damn powers ever again! Mom was right all the time!" she added defiantly.
Suddenly there was a deafening roar! Pipes burst; debris flew around, while several giant robot legs crashed into the hall! And the glowing door that would keep out the clones was destroyed! The clones were free again and this time there was not only one giant robot, but there were two in the hall!
Inferno led them all behind a protected wall in order to cover! Even if their last hour had literally struck, she surely wasn't going to leave them to these mindless clones and robots!
"Okay, that's the plan! You all stay together!" she commanded, and gave all Violets and Wilbur's a stern gaze, then she turned to the younger Violet "You're in charge! I rely on you! You have to protect them on their way to the rescue capsules!"
At these words, Violet gulped and really felt the heavy weight of responsibility on her shoulders. Inferno then turned to the older Violet.
"And YOU insane girl won't dare to do more stunts like that before! Is that clear?! I can't take care of you constantly! And you -" she turned to Medium suddenly.
"Huh?"
"You can carry her, right?" said Inferno and pointed at Wilma.
"Uhm, well ... I think so ..." Medium replied hesitantly, her cheeks were still wet.
"Take her and bring her down to safety!" commanded Inferno, and wanted to take Wilma, but the little girl clung to her brother's shirt.
"But -" began Wilbur, who really didn't want to give his sister away again.
"But nothing! It's too dangerous for her here!" interrupted Inferno and tried to solve Wilma's grip of Wilbur's collar.
"NOOOO! I don't want! I wana stay with you, Wilbur!" cried Wilma. It almost broke Wilbur's heart.
"Sweetie, you have to! Medium brings you to Mommy!" he said reassuringly and pressed a kiss on her cheek, "Everything is going to be alright! You'll see!"
Wilma released him reluctantly and Medium took her.
"I'll take care of her" assured the young super hero.
Suddenly, a hydraulic line exploded right next to them, the liquid sprinkled on the ground and caught fire! The clones were closely followed by the robots!
"Come on! That's the way to the rescue capsules!" cried Inferno and shooed the others away, while she prepared to fight against the superiority!
The others ran off, while Medium, with Wilma her arms, jumped from the edge of the platform!
There was a hopeless mess on the big square. Usually the area, that was built right next on the waterfront of Todayland, was spacious and bright, but because of the power failure it was very dark and the whole place, that was crowded with people, now made a menacing and disturbing impression. Especially because the only sources of light were candles and makeshift torches, so that everything appeared in a blood-red, flickering light.
A police squad had marched up and secured the area, but still in the darkness, they could not ensure that some curious onlookers strayed onto the place, or just people who wanted to know what all this chaos - caused by the power failure - was about.
Cornelius stood still and watched about every five seconds on his watch, even though it didn't work anymore since the power breakdown. He could only guess that it should be time in a few minutes. Then the time machine would show up exactly on the centre of the square. The police would arrest and access Tenner ... then his children and the space-time continuum would be saved...
This was the plan at least...
He could only hope that Tenner didn't have the opportunity to notice his modifications on the time machine...
Cornelius realized that he was tearing a piece of paper nervously. That was a stupid habit that always appeared when he was impatiently waiting for the first test run of a new invention.
But now it wasn't about some stupid invention, but about his children! He angrily threw the paper on the ground, as if it had done something to him.
Suddenly, he felt Franny's gaze. He didn't turn around, but stared at the paper on the ground instead and then on his non-functioning watch. He knew that Franny was pale, that she had cried and was terribly scared. But what should he do? He had just as much fear as she had. Cornelius couldn't bear her gaze. This whole mess was only his fault. He should have never invented this stupid time machine!
Cornelius suddenly wished that she would shout at him, that she would make reproaches to him - but she just stood silently behind him, and he knew that tears were running down her cheeks. He had to say something; he wanted to say something, to apologize, anything...
When the silence between them became almost unbearable, a general uproar arose over in the crowd.
"What's going on?" Franny asked quietly.
"Something's up there!" someone shouted suddenly, and before his voice fell silent, they saw the silhouette of an object landing in the distance. It was too small to be the time machine, but Cornelius still ran up to it, closely followed by Franny.
The crowd had formed a circle. In the middle stood of a young woman, who wore a super suit. And in her arms she held -
"Wilma!" Franny exclaimed, while she rushed past Cornelius and literally tore her little daughter out of Medium's arms. A sigh of relief went through the crowd when the mother joined her child happily into her arms.
But Cornelius' relief didn't last for long.
"What about my son?" he asked breathlessly.
"They are fine, don't worry," Medium replied with a smile. Then her eyes began to glow all of a sudden.
"I gotta go ..." she said with a strange echoing voice, and suddenly, with a bright flash of light, she disappeared.
"They...?!" he heard Franny's skeptical voice suddenly. He turned to her and pulled uneasily on his collar while he tried to evade her bewildered gaze.
"I'll ... um ... explain that later ..."
Also check out Vstriker's Willet fanfic Breaking the Loop! YAY for Wilbur x Violet!