009 clung to the thick steel beam on the ceiling not daring to move until the right moment. His newest target, the doorway guard, strolled by whistling as he walked. 009 shifted himself so his feet were flat against the beam as he clutched it. As soon as the guard was directly under him he accelerated, shooting himself from the beam and into his target. The guard was thoroughly unconscious. Kyle and the others appeared from behind another door that led into the room 009 had just cleared and headed to the nearest exit. 009 opened it and walked into a room that glowed with a blue light. A white light glowed above a silver examining table. The body of someone lay on top of it. Kyle instantly recognized the person as Randy, his old partner. He shut his eyes and swallowed hard.

"Is he dead?" 002 asked.

"Yes." Kyle answered him immediately.

"How do you know maybe there is a pulse," 002 insisted stubbornly. Kyle just shook his head.

"We're in Black Ghost's morgue and you think anyone lying on one of these tables will be alive? Maybe we walked into the "almost dead" room."

"OK! Ok! I get it! Sheesh…"

"We have to keep moving guys," 009 hurried past them motioning them to follow. No one took another glance at the motionless form of Randy as they walked on. Not even Kyle. 003 stood at the head of the group, leading them through the dark hallways to their destination.

"The time machine isn't much farther from here." She spoke true as they came to a room with biohazard symbols and danger signs plastered all over the doors. Kyle stepped forward and shook his head. Without a word he kicked open the doors with a bang. Inside was all the hustle and bustle of the various scientists and workers as they hurried about their many experiments and tasks. As the crash of the doors reached their ears, not one of them made a sound.

"Nice going Kyle!" 002 muttered angrily. Kyle only gave him a sideways smile. The silence on the other side of the doorway was maddening.

"Run for the machine and hit it with all you got. I'd aim for the doorway; it seems to be the most vital part of the whole thing."

"What about you?" 003 questioned. Kyle frowned.

"Don't worry about me." He ran in.

"GO!" 009 shouted. They sprang forward after him and the lab became total chaos. Cowardly scientists ran for their lives, while the braver ones grabbed anything from their tools to try and resist. Soldiers rushed in to surround the time machine. 009 jumped into the middle of the fray and in no time at all secured at least 10 men around him. He grinned as they all jumped for him but captured only the air where he had been. In a matter of seconds many of them were on the ground clutching them selves in pain. 009 reappeared and shook his head at the lot of them. 'Idiots' he thought. He abruptly found himself in a headlock, during which he laughed. He flipped over on the ground taking the guard with him and flipped up to his feet. The guard rapidly pointed his gun and fired, but 009 didn't even flinch as the bullet went through his chest. Instead, he grabbed the man up by his collar and sighed.

"Honestly is that the best you can do?" He dropped the man to his feet and disappeared and then reappeared behind him. The man gave a start. "Hi ya" 009 clutched the soldier to him and accelerated. The soldier was ripped apart. 007 amused himself by changing into a copy of the person he was fighting, utterly confusing the poor victim. 008 quickly lured a group of soldiers over to 005 who dropped a chunk of machinery on them. 006 began to give the scientists involuntary dance lessons as they avoided the fire shooting at their feet. 003 had tricks of her own. She stood still looking frightened as a soldier ran towards her.

"Now how did a girl like you get mixed up in here."

"How would you describe a 'girl like me'?"

"Well… uh … I"

"I don't think you'd like a 'girl like me'." The soldier stood looking confused. 003 deftly spun around and tripped him, raising her blaster to his heart. He glared and raised his own, but before he could fire she had already struck him with a laser. "A girl like me…" she laughed bitterly. She whirled around as she heard a soldier paging Black Ghost from a distance. She aimed and fired, hitting the man right between the eyes. He crumpled to the floor.

"DAMNIT!" Black Ghost bellowed.

"I'll summon another unit of the army sir."

"NO, don't waste your time. I'm going down there myself." Black Ghost swept out the door of his chambers. "It looks like my test subject has come to me willingly." In no time at all, he was there in the mess the lab had become. 009 stood out in his red uniform as he ran past a clump of guards that had frozen at the sight of Black Ghost. He pulled back his fist to strike but Kyle had beaten him to it, and surprisingly hit his target. Scarl stumbled back a few paces from the blow but just laughed.

"Kyle, I see you've come back yet again. What is it that draws you to this place? My lovely machine? Is that what you want?"

"You dead is what I want."

"Get in line boy."

"I am, and I'm next." 009 grabbed Kyle by the arms.

"You don't have a weapon, what are you thinking?"

"I know I don't have a weapon, just let me go!" 009 refused, and held him firm. Kyle elbowed him in the stomach. 009 was taken by surprise and released him. "Sorry Joe, but I know what I'm doing." When he turned back around to confront Black Ghost once more, he was gone. He whirled back the other direction and there was. Lightning fast Kyle was caught by the throat and was being carried over to the oval doorway of the time machine. 009 hurried after them. Scarl pressed a button on the device and the doors opened with a snap. A yellow-gold light swirled around beyond them, and once again the room was motionless, and silent.

"Ahh Kyle, you are such a foolish boy."

"Wow, I can't…believe, that...you would insult…yourself." Kyle wheezed.

"What are you talking about?" 009 exclaimed. Scarl looked at the wriggling young man held tight in his grasp. His eyes narrowed and then widened.

"Go back where you belong!" he snarled as he violently tossed Kyle into the doorway and was immediately sucked in with a flash. 009 without hesitation jumped in after him. Scarl shook with laughter.

"So I can finally solve the mystery of my own creation. Glad you could volunteer 009." 003 ran and lunged for Scarl.

"You bring him BACK!" she shrieked as two soldiers caught her around the waist. She writhed and fought in their grasp and succeeded in freeing herself. Black Ghost took a step forward and thrust out his hand. She began to levitate right in front of him. He looked at her.

"Such a pretty face." She spat at him. He did nothing. "My dear girl, I don't know how to bring him back."

"Even if you did you wouldn't."

"I won't deny that. 009 has caused me a lot of trouble."

"Not just him! All of us."

"You're no threat to me." He took his hand away and landed to her feet. "If you want him back so badly, be my guest." Scarl gestured to the still open time doorway. 003 looked from Black Ghost to the doorway, and back again.

"Fine." She leaped through.

"Kyle?" 009 called. He walked down a long sidewalk. It was the middle of fall and colored leaves littered the ground. The air was pleasant and warm enough to satisfy the human skin without a jacket. Joe looked at himself. His Cyborg uniform was gone. Instead he wore jeans, and his long white shirt and blue vest. "Kyle?" He called out once more.

"Hello Joe." Joe turned and saw Kyle sitting on a bench not too far from where he stood.

"Kyle, where are we?"

"My home town."

"What?"

"If you don't like it we can go to yours."

"How?" Kyle sighed and sat up straighter on the wooden bench.

"You can travel to any point in time in someone's life, as long as they are in the time machine."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I came out of it Joe. How? Because I tried to build a similar machine and I went inside and came out on the other end like a portal. I guess I didn't quite get the time part right."

"Yeah you did if you can go back to parts of your life."

"I guess, but the whole idea of a time machine is to go back to any point in time regardless of whose past it is."

"You know who I'd really like to see?"

"Who?"

"My mother."

"Alright. Just think of when you were born and she should be there." Joe did so and when he opened his eyes, he was alone at night in a small town. He stood in front the edge of a forest. A dirt road was worn down beside his feet. A woman trudged slowly down the road with a small bundle clutched tightly in her arms. She staggered and swayed as she walked, and squinted her eyes in pain. Joe ran to her and took her by the arm. The woman shrugged him off and shielded the bundle from him.

"I don't need your help, or your pity. Not from you or anyone else."

"I won't hurt you." Joe protested. The woman only shook her head.

"No one ever wanted to help me before, so why does someone bother now of all times. Now, when I've already given life to the thing that they shunned me for."

"Why would they shun you?" He asked. The woman gave a bitter laugh.

"He doesn't have a father." She replied, and began her unsteady stride once more.

"Wait-"

"If I don't need your help what makes you think I want it?" she snapped, not looking back, "Let me go and have my last few moments with my child in peace. My child…My baby boy…" Her voice trailed off as she lifted her head to stare up at the night sky. Joe looked past her at the building that she was slowly but surely approaching. Stone steps led up to heavy wooden doors with crosses carved into each one. As the woman came closer and closer to the stairs, one of the doors flung open and a priest ran out to her. She collapsed onto the cold staircase breathing heavily. The young man stayed back not daring to move. The priest knelt down in front of the woman and took the newborn baby from her. She struggled to speak to the priest and finally laid her head down on a step and became forever silent in a sorrowful death. Quiet tears trailed down the young man's face as the priest held rose and gently cradled the baby. He looked up and his eyes stared out into the shadows and rested right on Joe, who hurriedly turned and ran back toward the distant forest. Joe closed his eyes as he ran, but when he opened them he was not back in his bed. His dream had been real.

"That was my mother, and the baby was me…" He stopped running and fell to his knees. "Oh god…"

"Joe, you're mother died giving birth to you." Kyle appeared in front of him and sat down beside the weeping Joe.

"I know, and I wish I had never been born. If not for me existing she would still live."

"That's a foolish thing to say. It's not like she could have just stopped being pregnant at the time when she was living. Besides, she wanted you. She went through hell to keep you. You would have been her world. She loved you Joe and still does." Joe lifted his gaze from the ground and up to Kyle.

"Show me something from your past Kyle."

"Alright. My past is better than my future…"

The next chapter is on it's way.