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War with the Future

Hartdegen noted that this machine was far larger than his in more ways than one. Not only was there the most obvious difference that the glass circles now reached out so far in all directions that they could have covered some smaller houses, there was also a far larger combination of components in the centre of the machine.

The main machine itself was surrounded by several seats, approximately thirty overall, and each one was holding what looked exactly like Mara's description of a Morlock. Each creature was a dirty brownish-yellowy colour, were very muscular and were wearing outfits that resembled an ancient Aztec outfit, but less colourful. Their faces also resembled some of the old statues that was seen in some temples, with thin scraggly hair hanging down to around their shoulders. Their eyes weren't very large, but they had nostrils that were almost the size of a thumb.

At the top of the time machine was a far different figure from the others. His skin was a colour that could best be described as moonlight blue, and his hair was white and far thicker than the other Morlocks. He was wearing a similar outfit to the others, but his didn't cover his chest and it was black. His face was also far less remarkable than the other Morlocks; in fact, baring the colour, it was a normal human face. However, from where Skinner and Nemo were sitting, they would see that his back looked far less normal; his spine bones were sticking out of his back, and there was a large pink mass running down his back that looked remarkably like a brain.

*****

However, the League had only a few seconds to take all that in before Sawyer fired both bullets in his rifle at their time machine. The bullets shattered one of the glass plates in front of the machine to smithereens before they struck the machine itself.

The Morlocks looked down at the machine as it began to make a rapidly rising whistle-like noise. They didn't possess the greatest intellects on the planet, but even they knew when something was going to explode. They leapt off the machine at once...

Just as it blew up.

It wasn't an especially large explosion; the Morlocks all around it and the intact glass plates managed to absorb most of the explosion, especially given that the plates were especially strong ones. However, that didn't prevent a large amount of damage being done; although the majority of the Morlocks and the glass plates just hit the ground, some of them flew directly into the nearby buildings and were instantly knocked out by the stone walls. Sawyer estimated about five or six of them were down, leaving them only twenty-five to stop, including the Uber-Morlock.

As the Morlocks began to pick themselves up, the Uber-Morlock stepped up himself. Somehow he'd managed to land directly on his feet despite the explosion sending him far up into the air and his hair having been badly burned.

He looked over at Hartdegen and Sawyer, and cocked one quizzical eyebrow.

"Ah," he said, smiling a sick-looking grin at Hartdegen. "So you still live, Alexander."

"You don't get rid of me that easily," Hartdegen said, cocking his pistol at the Uber-Morlock. "I cannot allow you to spread across the world."

"Oh, and why not?" the Uber-Morlock replied, walking slowly towards Hartdegen. "After all, the fact that we're here even after you wiped our reality out shows that there isn't only one history. What's to say that yours won't be there when you go back?"

"That doesn't matter," Hartdegen stated simply. "You'll be here in one reality, and I cannot allow that."

"Oh, and you believe that these...people...can stop us?" the Uber-Morlock asked, indicating the League.

Sawyer cocked his pistols and aimed them at the Uber-Morlock. "Those people, for your information, are the ones who have a bullet pointed at what is at least a part of your brain."

"Really?" the Uber-Morlock said, looking over at Sawyer. "I'm not very impressed, if you're the best the past has to offer."

"OK, I've just about had it with this jerk!" Sawyer said, as he fired two bullets at the Uber-Morlock. The blue figure tried to dodge them, but all he managed to do was take them both in his left arm.

As the Uber-Morlock fell, briefly stunned by the shock of the bullets, Sawyer raised one hand. "League, ATTACK!" he yelled, as he bought it down in a chopping movement.

Instantly the League and Hartdegen leapt onto the recovering Morlocks.

*****

Quickly, Sawyer's eyes skimmed over the situation in front of him. Nemo had somehow found himself fighting trying to fight at least three Morlocks at once, but he appeared to be handling himself; two of the Morlocks were being kept back by two of Nemo's swords, and he occasionally swapped hands to strike at the third. It was evident that Sawyer wouldn't be needed there just yet.

Skinner and Hartdegen, although not doing as good as Nemo, were still managing to hold their own against the Morlocks. Skinner in particular had managed to get in a few good shots; he'd downed at least two Morlocks already, from what Sawyer could see. Hartdegen had managed to shoot three of them directly in the head, and was even now reloading his guns while Skinner provided cover.

Hyde and Mina were doing especially well. Hyde currently had at least five Morlocks on him trying to bring him down, and he was resorting to some rather unusual methods to get them off; currently he had torn one of them off and was waving it around like a large stick to beat the rest of them off. Mina was moving like a ferocious machine, using the sword that Nemo had given her for Christmas in a massive sweep. Already three Morlocks were lying on the ground with some parts of their bodies in a separate place, and a fourth was staggering around with only his right arm.

Scanning the area, Sawyer noticed three Morlocks that were heading for one of the barriers Hyde and Mina had set up. Mina's bats looked fairly active, but Sawyer got the impression that they wouldn't be attacking the Morlocks any time soon.

So it was all down to him. Quickly he drew his pistols and aimed them at their retreating backs. It may have gone against everything he believed in to shoot a running foe, but these things weren't even human; they were monsters, and he had to stop them.

He waited, as he mentally allowed for wind currents and other things. Then, once they were in his mind, he attempted to do as Quartermain had told him and feel the shots.

He felt them.

He fired one bullet from each gun, followed by a third from the right one.

All three Morlocks fell to the ground at once, blood leaking from their backs. No sooner had the bang they had caused faded from Sawyer's ears then he heard a low growl behind him. Spinning around, he saw a fourth Morlock, looking ready to jump right onto him.

And no chance of getting in a shot in time, Sawyer thought, as the Morlock leapt forward, arms outstretched. Acting on pure reflex, Sawyer dropped his guns, grabbed the Morlock's outstretched right arm, and hurled him over his head, ducking and grabbing a nearby rock that was jutting out to prevent himself being dragged along as well.

The attempt was only partly successful; he did avoid getting yanked along as well, but the Morlock was still conscious and he'd cut himself on one hand. Fortunately, it wasn't his shooting hand, but it still would restrict what he could do in a fight. Therefore, it was in his best interest to end this fight before it could really start. Quickly grabbing his left gun from where it had fallen, Sawyer fired one bullet directly at the Morlock's head. It was done instantly.

*****

As he launched off three bullets at a Morlock, Hartdegen took the time to briefly check out the situation with the rest of the League. Sawyer, from what he could see, had already managed to take down four Morlocks and was scouting around for his fifth one. Nemo had killed his first three opponents and was already stabbing another two with his swords. Mina and Hyde had taken down about ten Morlocks between them both. Skinner, on the other hand, wasn't coping too well; he'd only killed about one Morlock so far, and was having trouble with another even as Hartdegen was looking at him.

"Skinner!" he yelled over at his unusual friend as the Morlock knocked him over. "Use the serum I gave you!"

Skinner looked back at him (At least, his hat rotated to face him) and nodded. "Check!" he yelled, as he shoved the Morlock back with all his might before he reached inside his coat and pulled out a small needle. Yanking his coat off and tearing his hat away from his head, Skinner plunged the needle into his arm and injected it.

No sooner had he done that then something changed. Only a few seconds ago a Morlock had been getting back up to attack him, but now it seemed incapable of even smelling him. After only a second the Morlock suddenly found itself with a large piece of loose masonry in its left eye, sticking in so far that it was definitely lodged in the Morlock's brain. The Morlock gagged briefly, and then collapsed.

It worked! Hartdegen smiled to himself as he fired his gun at another oncoming Morlock. He quickly ran over how many were down now; out of the original thirty normal Morlocks, the League and him had managed to kill twenty-two of them, not counting the six that had died in the explosion of their time machine. That left about two normal Morlocks... No, Skinner and I have just killed the last two, he thought... and the Uber Morlock.

"Exactly, Alexander," a cold voice said from behind him.

Looking behind him, Hartdegen saw the Uber-Morlock standing behind him. His left arm didn't look like it was going to be much use in a fight, with Sawyer's bullets still being lodged in the upper part of it. However, he still generated the appearance of being able to overpower Hartdegen in a fight.

"YOU!" Hartdegen suddenly heard Hyde yell. Glancing over at the large man, he saw that the League (Well, the visible ones, at least) had all spun around to face the Uber-Morlock, with the other Morlocks all lying around in various interesting methods of death.

"I would advise you all to stop right there," the Uber-Morlock said, looking around at the League. "I am only interested in fighting Alexander. The rest of you are not my concern."

"Well, too bad. You're ours," Sawyer said, drawing his Winchester and slipping a couple of cartridges into it before he pointed it at the Uber- Morlock. At the same time Hyde and Mina tensed themselves to spring, and Nemo looked ready to run towards the monster himself.

The Uber-Morlock just looked around at them all and sighed in an exasperated manner. Then he raised his arms out in front him, palms in front, and whisked them through the air. Instantly the League froze in their current positions, only their faces remaining mobile.

"What the...?" Hyde grunted, visibly straining to move.

"I have temporarily paralyzed the parts of your brain responsible for movement," the Uber-Morlock explained, as he turned back to face Hartdegen. "This is between me and Alexander."

"And that's the way it will end," Hartdegen said, as he threw his gun aside.

"Hartdegen, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Hyde yelled over at the man. "There is no time to be fair, this nut's too powerful for you by yourself!"

"I can't, Hyde," Hartdegen said, facing the blue figure in front of him. "I want the pleasure of stopping him close up."

"Really? And I thought you were opposed to murder," the Uber- Morlock replied with a smirk.

"You can only murder a human being," Hartdegen replied. "You're not even close to human. You're just pure evil." He took up a combat stance, one arm outstretched in front of him. Then, he rotated the hand so that the palm was facing upwards, and beckoned with all four fingers. "Bring it on."

Roaring, the Uber-Morlock charged towards Hartdegen, launching a powerful punch at his head. Desperately, Hartdegen ducked underneath the blow before striking at the Uber-Morlock's chest with a powerful punch that would winded most normal men. For the Uber-Morlock, however, all it did was briefly daze him, and when he recovered he was even more angry.

"That wasn't much, Alexander," he said, looking at Hartdegen from where he stood; Hartdegen had moved over to beside Nemo, and had taken Nemo's swords from the scientist's hands.

"Well, I'm still getting warmed up," Hartdegen said, fitting one sword comfortably in his right hand before throwing the second over at the Uber- Morlock. "Interested in trying your luck with these?"

The Uber-Morlock caught it and grinned. "Very well, Alexander," he said, as he stuck the sword out in front of him and quickly advanced on Hartdegen. "I should mention, though, that I am capable of reading any information I want about sword fighting from the mind of Captain Nemo." With that, he struck forward with one powerful swipe, but Hartdegen managed to parry it so that it only cut him slightly above his left eye.

"Oh, I guessed that," Hartdegen smiled, as he swung his arms around in a circle that ended with his sword aiming at the Uber-Morlock's throat. "But you still can't predict what moves I'll make; I'm betting you can't read a mind in a moving body, or you'd be unstoppable. Besides, you've forgotten the basic rule of sword-fighting."

"Which is?" the Uber-Morlock asked, as he struck the sword away and leapt a foot or so back.

"Never fear the most experienced swordsman," Hartdegen said, as he struck forward with a blow that was barely parried, "but the least," he continued, as he knocked the sword back with a blow to the Uber-Morlock's wrist that made him drop, "because he will be unpredictable," Hartdegen finished, as he slashed the Uber-Morlock across the chest. As the Uber-Morlock fell, Hartdegen once again had his sword pressed against his throat. "See what I mean?"

"Yes," the Uber-Morlock said simply, as he looked down at the blade. Then, he grinned. "But you should never pause." With that he grabbed the sword and yanked it directly out of Hartdegen's hand. At the same time he kicked Hartdegen in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. Before Hartdegen could get back up the Uber-Morlock's foot was on his chest, the sword he'd taken pointing at Hartdegen's throat. Hartdegen looked up at the Uber-Morlock, and then, to the surprise of the Uber-Morlock, he grinned.

*****

"What's the joke?" the Uber-Morlock asked. "I have all your friends paralyzed and you will soon be dead. Do you really think you can survive?"

"Actually, I'm betting good money on it," Hartdegen said, blinking back the blood that had leaked into one eye. "Look behind you."

The Uber-Morlock did so, and saw to his horror one of Sawyer's pistols floating in the air and pointing directly at him.

"What?! But none of you have psychic powers!" he yelled, as gun the targeted him.

"We don't," a voice said from near the gun. "I'm just invisible. Rodney Skinner, former Gentlemen Thief, at your service." The voice suddenly became even harder. "Now die."

And the gun fired.

Before the Uber-Morlock could move, the bullet had struck him in the forehead. He may have had a brain that spread all the way across his back, but it still needed to be completely there for him to live.

His evil, at last, was ended.