Chapter #5 – It's all over now
As Bruce surmised, Chronos decided, given a lack of superheroes in the 19th century, stealing a multi-million dollar shipment of gold would be much easier to accomplish in the Old West than in the 21st century. While he'd made almost all of his high-profile thefts to date look relatively easy, Chronos needed the gold not for further advancement of his growing wealth but for simple survival.
Chronos real name was Walker Gabriel. He was accepted at CalTech as a 16-year old science prodigy. Even relative to his peers he was viewed as brilliant, though somewhat dysfunctional with respect to his relationships with his contemporaries or even his professors, who he mostly viewed with disdain. Most of his students and teachers mocked his ideas on temporal physics, dismissing them as the rantings of a science fiction freak. His senior thesis on time travel received only a "C." Crestfallen, his advisors counseled him to seek employment with engineering firms he felt were beneath him instead of pursuing a PhD. Vowing revenge, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in theoretical physics from CalTech then attended Graduate School at the University of Chicago.
Once in Chicago, Gabriel became fascinated with the escapades of The Clock King, specifically the technology The Clock King had stolen from a physicist which allowed him to wreak havoc in Gotham during a two-week crime spree. The Clock King became the world's most powerful criminal during those two weeks until Batman replicated the temporal technology and threw him behind bars.
Gleaning what insight he could from the available media and police records concerning The Clock King's exploits in Gotham a few years before, Gabriel duplicated the Clock King's temporal field generator with equipment from the physics lab at the university. The temporal field accelerated him faster through time than others around him so the world appeared frozen. When he engaged the field generator, he was even faster than the legendary Flash. Once Gabriel perfected the field generator, he perfected the technology. Armed with a grant provided by the University (which Gabriel obtained under the guise of research into magnetic fields), Gabriel built a time machine which allowed him to move both forward and backward over 200 years at a time.
The power requirements for time-travel proved to be daunting. He couldn't maintain the magnetic field necessary to initiate the time travel without blowing every circuit in his lab. Frustrated, he engineered his initial theft that evening. He used the temporal field generator to accelerate himself so that no one could see him, then broke into a nuclear power plant three hours away and stole a five-pound rod of pure plutonium. Once back at his lab, he mated his power supply with the back-pack sized time machine and cried in triumph when the plutonium sustained the magnetic field to accommodate his time jump.
Gabriel worked feverishly for the next week, integrating the temporal generator, time machine, plutonium power pack along with a wrist mounted computer which operated the entire system. As he integrated the elements, Gabriel realized that all of the circuitry between the four elements of his system would be exposed. He machined a lightweight suit of armor to protect the elements then as a final touch added two shoulder mounted lasers for offensive capabilities along with a helmet. The combined equipment weighed almost 70 pounds which drastically slowed his movements in 'normal' time, but he didn't plan on spending much more time in 'normal' time once the suit was complete.
As he started experimenting with the suit, Gabriel realized that the circuitry integrating the components was extremely fickle. Whenever he engaged the time machine, the plutonium power pack emitted an electro-magnetic pulse ("EMP") which occasionally fried some of the circuits. Gabriel, who by now had taken to calling himself Chronos, found an application of gold over the most sensitive instruments and circuitry, including his wrist computer, would protect his instruments from the EMP. The only problem was that the gold would last for one and sometimes two consecutive time-jumps before de-stabilizing into a crystalline residue of lead, the next element on the periodic table. He added a storage container with replacement parts to the backpack, carrying the parts with him on missions demanding a fail-safe contingency if the circuits fried.
Chronos spent the next few days stealing one priceless work of art after another, ironing out the bugs in his suit until it worked flawlessly. Stealing the $100 bill mold from the Treasury was his crowning achievement but turning his thefts into profit that he could actually spend proved to be difficult. Batman had easily duped him into meeting in Gotham when he agreed to the $10 Billion bid on E-Bay. When he'd fled from the League in 2005 (a lucky escape for him as the gold in the suit held up twice that escape), Chronos realized that to carry on with his mission, it only made sense to procure a large supply of gold. Enough gold such that a circuitry breakdown was the last of his worries.
Prior to his escape from Lantern's bubble, Chronos had conducted an extensive amount of research. In the 1850's a large amount of gold was being extracted from the Sierra foothills on a regular basis. That time period also had the benefit of improvements in smelting which would provide 24 karat gold, bereft of impurities. Sensing an opportunity, Chronos escaped from the League and journeyed back in time to 1853. His target was Placerville, a small mining town halfway between Sacramento and Coloma. Once there, he cached his suit in a hay-loft of a barn, procured some suitable clothes, then did some recognizance. It quickly became evident that ambushing the Wells Fargo wagons would be the easiest way to procure his stash of gold, but the weapons their guards used could still penetrate his suit. He needed accomplices to accomplish and ambush and accomplices required upfront payments to put their lives at risk.
Short of cash, Chronos used his field generator to steal some newly smelted gold ingots, literally taking them from under the nose of a bank guard. After replenishing the circuitry in his suit, Chronos used the rest of the gold to hire and outfit a group of unsuccessful miners living a desperate existence panning for gold on a played-out part of the American River. When he revealed his plan and the amount of money he was willing to pay to help him in the endeavor, twenty of the men had no objection to leaving their equipment on the riverbanks to follow him on his quest.
Chronos rented the house and barn where he'd originally stashed his suit. They opened the cache of .30 caliber rifles he'd bought then they spent a few hours getting acquainted with the weapons. Once the miners were able to demonstrate a reasonable level of marksmanship, Chronos turned his attention on staging the ambush.
A day later, his team of mercenaries were bunked down in a ravine. They'd set up an ambush on the main road from Coloma to Sacramento early that morning. They were armed knowing the arrival time of the wagon train in advance. Chronos has sent a man that he viewed reasonably intelligent named Bob Tedford into the town the previous day. Tedford was armed with $1,000 of gold he used to bribe a cashier from the bank known to be unlucky in the gaming saloons in town. Tedford returned a few hours later with the schedule.
It was a simple plan. Chronos suit was relatively heavy but once he was in the vicinity of his quarry, he could use his field generator to help him move faster than lightspeed until its power supply ran out. He needed his army of mercenaries to stop the wagons in a location of his choosing so that off-loading the gold and moving back to the 21st century could be accomplished without putting himself at risk. After stealing the gold, he planned to escape back to the future. Chronos didn't care what happened to his band of miners, arrogantly rationalizing that their lack of success to date in their lives was a clear indication that none of them would have a "paradox" effect on his own future.
The paradox effect was something he dreaded but couldn't entirely avoid. The effect was simple to explain. If a time traveler went back in time and influenced his own future for the better (or for the worse), how could it have been possible to travel into the past without influence from the original journey? Mathematicians had compared it to a "mobius loop" which curved time and space back in on itself, with the time traveler doomed to keep repeating the same journey over and over again with no escape.
Chronos had realized there was a possibility of a paradox effect occurring during his own time travel. He decided to travel to times and locations where he couldn't cross paths with his ancestors. His paternal and maternal grandparents had come to America in the late 1800's from Austria. Chronos therefore decided that he would only travel to the U.S. before their arrival from Europe, reasoning that his thefts could have no impact on their lives and therefore would pose no danger to his own future.
It was a dangerous game nevertheless as one misstep on his past could cause a calamitous affect on the future. He weighed the consequences and decided to take the gamble.
It was a decision he would later lament.
The terrain surrounding the ambush spot lent itself to his objective. The road funneled through a narrow pass between two hills before crossing a bridge over the American River. There was an immediate drop-off from the road down into the ravine formed by the river. Perfect cover for an ambush. Chronos had his mercenaries plant a series of dynamite bombs 200 meters away from the bridge as well as underneath the bridge. Once the wagons had crossed a pre-set marker, Tedford triggered the plunger, resulting in a series of explosions which left a five-foot deep crater in the road.
The wagon train immediately stopped to determine what had occurred behind them. Stunned by the magnitude of the explosion, the drivers stared backwards. Some of the drivers jumped off their wagons, attempting to assess any damage that might have occurred to their wagons. As they milled about, Chronos gave the signal to blow the bridge in front of them, blocking their only escape route. As soon as the smoke and dust cleared from the second explosion, the mercenaries opened fire. They pulled the triggers on their .30 caliber rifles simultaneously, then all hell broke loose. The guards on the wagons dismounted from their wagons and hit the ground, searching for cover under the wagons or behind the horses, wherever they could find shelter from the incoming stream of hot lead.
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At the sound of the first explosion, Bruce and John wheeled their horses around and charged towards the rear of the wagon train, surmising that they were under attack. The retreat probably saved their lives. As they inspected the smoking crater, a second explosion roared, collapsing the bridge and knocking them to the ground. They attempted to make their way up to the first wagon, however their movements were quickly interrupted by a roar of gunfire. Bruce and John dismounted from the horses and crouched next to the rear wagon, searching for their attackers. They could see that all of the wagon drivers had dismounted next to the wagons. Unfortunately a few of the horses were screaming in pain from poorly aimed bullets, but there was nothing Bruce or John could do to help them.
Bruce looked to the other side of the wagon and spied Wild Bill Hickok frantically looking for their attackers. 'Probably his first gunfight,' Bruce realized. He didn't have time to offer encouragement to the young gunslinger as two shots ricocheted over his head. 'He'll learn soon enough.'
Anxious to help his teammate, Bruce started crawling on his hands and knees up to the front, desperate to help Diana and Carson as they were exposed on the frontlines of the assault.
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For her part, Diana was unscathed with the exception of her wounded pride. When the gunshots initially rang out, Carson had forced her off the wagon. Standing out in the open, she'd surreptitiously deflected five incoming bullets with her bracelets. Carson emerged from under the wagon and tackled her to the ground, pinning her underneath him as he rolled her under the wagon. Initially, he made a great scene of surveying the ground in front of them for the telltale smoke-puffs erupting from the barrels of their attackers. Diana was shocked a moment later when Carson managed to slip his hand onto her butt, slyly groping her while he pretended to be reaching for an ammunition belt.
She initially didn't respond to his blatant overture, electing to spend her time looking for their attackers, but when he rolled her over and pulled her close to him in order to kiss her, Diana had enough. She pushed him away easily with her Amazon strength, knocking his head against the undercarriage of the wagon to ensure he got the point, then returned to survey the scene in front of her.
'Men', she thought angrily. 'Will they ever learn?'
She settled into the ground as best she could, noting her position was relatively safe as two of the horses in her team already lay dead in front of her, providing ample cover if she kept her head low. Some of the security guards in the wagons behind them moved up to flank their position in front and started pouring return fire towards their attackers. By now, the guards had identified the attacking positions. Crouching low, the guards started marking their targets, working in classic sniper teams as the men alternately served as spotters for each other. The difference between the aim soon began to tell as the incoming fire slackened considerably over the next few minutes. Diana was impressed at how well Carson had trained them, then remembered her disgust at his behavior and looked him over. He was regaining his senses from her attack but probably wouldn't be up on his feet for a few more minutes.
Diana was contemplating her next course of action when she heard the springs of the wagon creak overhead. Once compressed, the springs rose up to their full extension as the heavy load they were carrying suddenly eased off the wagon. She realized that the wagon had indeed gained at least five inches in height since the springs made their first squeak. 'The gold!' she thought immediately, then started crawling back towards her teammates to tell them what she'd learned.
She'd gotten only a few feet along the ground when two shots rang out in front of her. Diana rolled onto her side to bring her bracelets up in defensive position. She intercepted two shots from an attacker who'd managed to flank her wagon, spraying her position with well placed bullets. Pinned down by the gunfire and her inability to use her bracelets for anything other than defense, Diana debated whether or not to use her powers. Furious about her predicament, she was about to take matters in hand as Wonder Woman when a black bullwhip snapped out from behind an oak tree next to her wagon.
The bullwhip wrapped around the Henry rifle her attacker had used to pin her down, then it ripped the rifle out of the man's grasp. A caped figure, complete with black mask, emerged from behind the oak tree. Diana looked at him with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment. He silently bowed then vanished into the arroyo. Diana waved to the man's back but he didn't reply as he disappeared with a dramatic flourish. She briefly commiserated with all of the people in Gotham who'd received a similar response from Batman, then turned to make her way to the rear of the wagon train.
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Bruce and John met Diana underneath the third wagon, all covered in dust from crawling on their hands and knees but otherwise uninjured. "You okay?" they all blurted simultaneously, then Diana quickly told them about the disappearance of gold on the first wagon and her rescue at the hands of a bullwhip-wielding man in black.
"Zorro!" Bruce exclaimed, then peeked his head up to look for the hero. Finding nothing, he took a quick glance at the cargo in the wagon they taken as shelter, then dropped back down onto the ground, reporting. "The gold's still in this one."
"Even with his field generator it will take him a few minutes to pile up all of that gold." John surmised. "It's time we put an end to this."
Diana and Bruce nodded in agreement then revealed their own field generators, changing the dials to the angstrom level Bruce had suggested. While they sped up, the rest of the world seemed to slow down. The first change Diana noticed was the lack of noise as their time-frames accelerated to almost a thousand times faster than they experienced in normal time. In turn, John was reminded of scenes from 'The Matrix' as he could literally see the bullets plowing through the air, moving past him at the speed of a slow walk.
The rest of the wagon team seemed to be frozen in time. Only the blinks of their eyes were detectable at the accelerated timeframe in which they were now operating. Bruce looked over at his two League teammates then moved out from behind the wagon to reconnoiter the situation. John and Diana rose at the same time and were surprised to find Chronos walking towards them only twenty meters away.
Chronos was piling all of the gold from the wagons near a rock outcropping. He heard their footfalls on the gravel behind him and turned around, shocked by their sudden appearance. Momentarily frozen with indecision, he dove behind the second wagon, narrowing escaping Diana's lasso. Two batarangs sailed over his head a moment later before he regained his senses, triggering a laser blast in their direction. A second wave of batarangs came in lower a moment later, clipping off the top of the laser cannon mounted on his left shoulder. Cursing their appearance, Chronos typed the instructions into his wrist computer to power up his suit then triggered a second blast from his remaining cannon.
Free from the prying eyes of civilians, John energized his ring and created a shield to absorb the energy from Chronos' attack. Bruce rolled to his left and Diana rolled to her right in order to flank Chronos position, then the air shimmered around him as he engaged his time machine, disappearing before their eyes. They couldn't tell what he was saying, but both of them saw the familiar sneer etched onto his face as he escaped their grasp for a second time.
They ran to the spot where he'd taken refuge but there was no sign Chronos had ever been there with the exception of the ten gold bars he'd managed to take with him from the rear of the second wagon.
Lantern arrived next to them a second later, sweeping the ground for Chronos' tell-tale energy signature. His ring picked up the muons a moment later then they repeated the tracking exercise they'd undertaken in Gotham a few days before. Lantern altered the flow of the muon stream into the field generator in Bruce's hand. He looked at the readout on his computer a moment later then shook his head in disbelief.
"What's wrong?" Lantern asked, concern evident on his face.
"Chronos must have been in a rush when he escaped. Looks like he overshot 2005 by another fifty years."
Diana considered the news calmly then pulled off her cowboy hat, revealing the tiara underneath. "Guess we won't need these anymore." She lamented. "I kind of liked the clothes."
Bruce walked to the third wagon, stepping over Hickok prone on the ground as he walked. He retrieved his bag with the Batman costume in it then changed into the suit behind the wagon. Diana grinned at his need for privacy then popped the buttons on her white blouse to reveal her armor underneath. A minute later John looked at the two of them, dressed as Batman and Wonder Woman again for the first time in three days, shaking his head in derision as Batman unlocked the case carrying Booster Gold's time machine.
"I don't like this." Lantern growled at Batman. "You're in no condition to make another time-jump."
"You almost collapsed on your horse awhile back." Diana observed, her face suddenly awash with concern. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." Batman barked. "We only have a few minutes before we lose his trail. Let's get moving."
"Should we leave them a note?" Lantern asked, looking at the men engaged in a firefight that seemed like it would take years to finish at their current relativity.
"They'll probably think we turned tail and ran." Bruce replied, then stood up after he made the last adjustment to Gold's time machine. "They'll be fine."
"How's this work?" Lantern asked nervously as the three of them took their places in front of the machine.
"I don't want to chance time travel with these field generators engaged. Let's dial them back to zero. As soon as you hear the bullets, start fueling the energy receptacle on the top with your ring." Batman replied. "As soon as its charged it will send it and us into the future."
"Hang on tight." Lantern replied, then raised his ring and released its energy. A moment later they felt the familiar pull of their bodies into the teseract, slamming them into the future.