The Upside Down
"What do you mean?" Eleven uneasily asked, her shaky voice betraying her focused and serious expression. Jon- or Doctor Manhattan- continued staring at her with the same intensity, "I was... born at the same time you became... this?"
"Not just born," Jon answered, the images of his memory slowly fading away, returning to the familiarity of the black nothingness she'd become somewhat accustomed to, "You received your code name the same time I received mine, while you were fending off monsters from one of the reflections of your world, I was fending off the Viet-Cong in my Vietnam War," Static images began appearing around them- some moments from her memory, and others from what she guessed was probably Jon's, "When you rekindled your relationship with Michael Wheeler, I had just begun mine with Laurie Juspeczyk- abandoning Janey in the process."
The evocation of Mike's name sparked a small fire of anger inside the young girl's chest- which, in all honesty, was probably about as threatening to Jon as a termite getting angry at a tank. Taking a deep breath, she slowly loosened the tight knot that had formed in her chest, "Did you... did you make it that way?" She asked, watching Jon's face change from blankness to the barest, slightest hint of excitement.
"Not me, no. Not of my own choice, at least," He answered, his eyes wider and filled with a newfound interest in their conversation, "There are certainly higher beings than me out there, but they do not reside in any one universe." What the hell was this guy talking about?
"So what do I do about it?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders in confusion, "Why did you send that Eddie guy to my world?" She waited for answer... and he remained silent. Again. She groaned as his eyes darted around the images appearing from nothing around them, emitting a bright reflection that shone off of the black waters around them.
"I sent him there so that he could make peace with someone. It doesn't have much to do with you, in all honesty," Another riddle, amazing. "But I suppose there's a lot of things that don't have much to do with you in the multiverse at the moment." Eleven narrowed her eyes at the blue man, trying to get any read off of him- but nothing came.
"So... are you going to answer?" She asked, but it only seemed to make him more cryptic.
Jon's expression returned to the cold, blank stare that he'd had before, "Shone..." Dammit, how much coke was this idiot on? "I like that word. I've always liked it, but I'm not sure why."
Eleven raised her eyebrow, "You mean, you don't like it yet, do you? Because for you, time is..."
"...happening all at once. Yes. For both of us."
Old Underworld, Taris
06:01
"Sabine Wren to DJ-1, do you copy?" Sabine repeated for the eight-billionth time, "Sabine Wren to DJ-1, do you copy?" Hera had been flying The Ghost aimlessly around the abandoned city for hours, hoping to pick up the signal her Mandalorian crew-mate was looking for, "Hello? Do you read?" It was a risk coming to this planet- especially since their only guide was an old friend of Sabine's, and with the exception of Ketsu, it wasn't like many of them were very reliable.
Rex had gotten antsy and decided to check the supplies in the cargo bay again, Bo Katan was tinkering with her blasters- the motions of her hands becoming more and more intense as time went on, Zeb had fallen asleep, and Hera was starting to wonder if they'd explored the entire planet a dozen times over. Batman, as usual, seemed to be the only one who had remained patient throughout all of this- it kind of reminded her of how Kanan and Ezra used to be.
"What guild was this bounty hunter in?" Bo Katan spoke up, breaking the silence, "He or she may have been notified that it was a New Republic job and dropped off the radar." There was a certain intensity to her words- it'd been there ever since the Darksaber went missing. If there actually was any change to the timeline, it likely had something to do with why Mandalorians around the galaxy were suddenly dropping like flies.
"It was a he," Sabine answered, "At least I think it was..."
"DJ-1, to Ghost, receiving transmission." Hera's head snapped to the comms channel, looks like Sabine's friend had come through after all, "Sending coordinates now. What took you?"
"Copy, DJ-1," Sabine replied, locking The Ghost's path onto the one her contact sent through, "We'll be right with you." The ship dipped downwards into the lowest levels of the planet, weaving through the darkened streets and avenues, until it came upon an over-grown clearing surrounded by the otherwise mechanical planet, "Must be the place."
Hera stared in awe at the massive, hulking ship that sat in the center of the clearing- it's shattered armor giving way to the expanding life of vines and greenery, "That's an Old-Republic corvette!" Hera gasped, she hadn't seen one of these since her time at the academy on Ryloth. These were ancient artifacts of the old war, and it didn't seem like anyone would ever see them again, yet here one was, "They're supposed to be all destroyed!"
"Does that look like it's in working condition to you?" Bo Katan asked, grabbing onto the back of the seat as the Ghost landed, "It'd probably crack if you so much as tapped it." Batman sat silently in the back of the ship, looking at another ship to the right of the Old Republic cruiser- a Razor Crest.
Skywalker Moisture Farm, Tatooine
19:32
I'm one with the force and the force is with me... I'm one with the force and force is with me... I'm one with the- KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK! Rey jumped out of her thoughts at the sound of someone at the door, "Who is it?" She called, expecting the moronic shouts and insults of Jawas. Ever since she'd arrived on Tatooine, beginning to to rebuild the Jedi Order, she'd been endlessly pestered by scavengers and Tusken raiders.
She was expecting the same thing, but was pleasantly surprised by the answer, "Land-Shark." Rey couldn't help but burst out laughing at the answer, knowing exactly who was waiting outside the door. She picked herself up off the dusty floor and opened the door-circuit, as it slid out of the way to reveal Finn and Poe smiling like idiots at her, "Candy-gram." continued Finn.
"What trouble have you two gotten yourselves into now?" She shot back, but her smile betrayed her snarky wording.
Poe pointed to the ship, "Those two," Rey peered out of the doorway, looking over at the parked Millennium Falcon, where Rose was walking two strange-looking prisoners towards their position, "Not Final Order, if that's what you're thinking," It wasn't, but she let him continue, "They're... well, we don't know. But they did seem to know a lot about the force. They wouldn't stop asking questions about it ever since we left Ajan Kloss."
Taking another look, she could tell that they weren't the most compliant prisoners in the galaxy (if there was such a thing), and guessed that the one with the beard was probably somewhere between forty and fifty years old, with the other probably a few years younger than she was, "Why'd you bring them to me?" She knew that there was something off about the pair just by glancing at them, the force moved very differently around them than anything else she'd ever seen before.
"Figured you might have some idea about what they're talking about," Finn answered, "They said something about someone making changes to time... other worlds... other universes... I don't know." It had been roughly a month since the ordeal with The First- or Final- Order had wrapped up, but despite the relative peace that had been restored to the galaxy, Finn still seemed uneasy. Like there was something he was keeping secret from Rey and the rest of the group.
"Well, you made the right decision," Rey responded, staring strangely at the two prisoners, "Did you get their names?"
"The younger one's name is Parker and the older one's is Stark, judging by what they were calling each other," Poe answered, crossing his arms tightly, "No one uses ancient names like that anymore." He said, which was true. Both the names Parker and Stark were surnames that ancient humans on Coruscant had used- and few people other than Master Skywalker had been named something like that in the past few generations.
"There's certainly something different about them," She said, "I'll meet you inside, but let me do the talking this time?" Neither Finn nor Poe could say a word before Rey shut the door, preparing to get to work.
Illinois
October 14th, 1985
5:32 AM
The escape from Gila Flats had been rough at best, and it left zero room for error. Adrian had managed to navigate the group to a nearby window, where they made their escape, but not without a storm of gunfire following close behind. Government facilities were always well guarded, Steve knew that, but this was on a different level- even compared to the one in Hawkins.
Dan managed to get the Owl-Ship up and running, just in time to leave the compound and evade the fire of anti-aircraft guns following them. Adrian had been hit in the shoulder by a guard with a pistol, but other than that, they were largely unscathed. In the meantime, they had other things to worry about. The Owl-Ship- Archie, as Steve had heard the other two men call it- was a round, wingless flying object that had two afterburners on it's rear, and you know what else had all those qualities? UFOs.
Steve had been sleeping when he was startled awake by the boom of Adrian's laughter, hitting his head on the ceiling. The news of a UFO sighted over Arizona had, of course, caused some commotion. It was only a few weeks ago when the world became aware of the existence of Area 51, another government facility in Arizona, which supposedly housed aliens and flying saucers.
Adrian found the whole situation hilarious, and began to mock the entire nation for actually believing that's what it was, and he wouldn't shut up about it since they'd crossed out of Kansas. In the meantime, Steve had lots of reading material. Under the bench he was resting on, there were stacks of various books, most were about quantum physics and all kinds of science-stuff, but every now and then, something would catch Steve's eye.
He'd found a book about the moon landing, which was something he was at least a little interested in, but it quickly turned from talking about the story and talking about the science. He hated science. Everyone he ever met who was into science was a geek- a nerd. The little bastards (and Steve meant that in the most loving way) back home were a perfect example of that, and while he didn't mind them at all, he did recognize that the only reason Mike or Lucas had managed to get the girls that they did was because they had fought monsters before... or said they fought them. Steve still thought that Mike was lying about how he fought off a demogorgon with a sling-shot.
Eventually, the book became a little too dull, and Steve would simply toss into a pile of books he'd already read through and decided he was done with, but there was always another one just a few minutes away. As the residence of Becky Ives grew closer, a single, brown book sitting idle in it's own separate cabinet caught his eye. Walking over, Steve picked it up and read the label:
Journal: 1984-1985
W. Kovacs
Truth will ultimately prevail
Where there is pains to bring it to light.
-George Washington
I am very sorry about the wait, there's been a lot going on lately. That said, there are other things besides this story that I'm working on, and unlike this one, they have due dates. I understand that some of your patience was wearing thin, but please remember that I'm still in school, and some of the classes I'm in require a lot of writing, and you do get tired of it from time to time. On the other hand, the fact that you all are this invested in the story means a lot to me, and every review I get compels me to write, but sometimes it's a little hard actually get started. I promise the next one will come sooner, and I'm sorry again for the wait. Until next time!
-MB
