3:2:1
"Enough sulking around. IAN! Earth, 2017, New York."
And in no time, they were in Manhattan. When Three came out of the ATOMS door, he had to shoo someone away. Apparently, the ATOMS took the form of an outside toilet. How disgusting. The city was as big and obnoxious as Anna claimed it to be. No one seemed to be bothered by an outhouse that appeared suddenly in the middle of a sidewalk. How blind are these people? With the help of the hammer, he locked the ATOMS from the outside.
While the city was a sight to behold, something seemed empty. In all the three centuries that Three has lived, he had never been alone. And despite bumping into someone every ten seconds, Three never felt more lonely.
"It's you!" someone exclaimed at him.
He turned around and saw a brunette with blue eyes.
"Who are you?" they both asked at the same time.
She took out a picture. It was Three and whoever the girl was. They were inside the ATOMS. Wait, this is familiar. One of his future incarnations said to remember the name of a girl.
"Is your name Susan?" Three asked.
"How did you know my name?" she asked.
"A hunch. Uh…"
"What's yours?"
"Three."
"Who?"
"I ask myself the same question every day."
"That's what the other guy said. Who are you?"
"Come with me and I'll explain."
After an hour trying to convince her to go into the outhouse, and another hour to explain everything that's happened and what was going on, she still had one more question.
"So that guy who had the picture was you?"
"Yes, we go through this process called…"
The explanation was cut short by a bunch of screaming.
"I'm guessing those are the people chasing you?"
"You're a pretty fast learner compared to the previous one. They're only after me, not everyone in this city. We have to go."
Once again, with a pull of a lever, they were out of the city.
Susan was sitting down at the misshapen couch, surprisingly taking everything around her with no question at all. After a few seconds, Three joined her.
"What's your last name, again?" Three asked.
"What?"
"Well, hello Susan What, you are now part of the ATOMS crew."
"No, my last name's not What, it's Ferekn."
"Okay, Susan Fere...Ferekn?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"I know that name. One of my future incarnations...do you have a relative named Reed?"
"H...he was my great grandfather, but...my family said he died during the Holocaust...does that mean…?"
"Do you want to see your great grandfather?"
3:2:2
This was the first adventure that Three had with a companion in a long time. He was so relieved that before they set off, Three gave Susan a rib crushing hug.
"You have no idea how relieved I am," Three stated, "I have been on my own with no one to talk to for a century. Have you ever had nothing to listen to but your own thoughts? For a century? The darkness that I witnessed...I now know what it means to have a fear. A fear of being alone..."
"I-can't…breathe…"
Three let go and pulled the lever. They landed in what Three guessed was the 1940s. There was an abandoned train car in front of them. Having used that disguise before, Three knew immediately that it was the ATOMS. With the help of the hammer, they got in.
"Who are you?" a bald, skinny man asked.
Three noticed that he was wearing the same clothes as him.
"I believe I already said it and/or will say it. My name is Three."
As soon as he answered, someone who appeared to be Japanese stepped out of the bathroom. Three noticed the eye-patch that wasn't there before.
"Ah, knew you would be coming soon. Hello, Susan. I'm the eighth incarnation of the fellow next to you. Hello, Three."
"Eight, if you could introduce them as I planned."
"Right then, Susan. Meet your great grandfather, Reed Ferekn."
They walked closer to each other and stared at each other.
"You look exactly like Maria…" Reed whispered.
"You look like how you looked in the pictures."
They embraced each other as Three was having a conversation with Eight in the kitchen.
"Have you heard from Twelve?" Three asked.
"Yeah, but only small visits. Other than that, I haven't heard anything from anyone after that adventure with all twelve of us," Eight answered, "You know what Seven told the others."
"Yeah, I know, it's not good, but since we talked about it, we can't change it, can we?"
"No, I'm afraid not, otherwise, you wouldn't be talking to me. I'm looking forward to turning into Ten."
"You and me both...did you get a tan? You weren't so dark the last time I saw you."
"No, I didn't get a tan. Something happened, and I think a part of Nine showed itself. I was almost worried…"
"That you had gained Nine's...other problem?"
"Yeah...but by day 12, I knew it wouldn't be a problem. Man, I forgot how much I enjoyed talking to myself."
"Yes, it's quite nice. Uh...what's with the eye-patch?"
"Oh, a mix-up in Berlin."
"Oh. Right then, me and Susan have to go. Do you still have that journal with you? The one that Anna gave you?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm starting to run out of space though."
"I thought you couldn't go into space in the first place."
"Okay, now I remember why I regretted my choice of words."
"Well, enjoy the last four lives."
"And you enjoy the last nine."
3:2:3
The goodbye was the most tragic thing to witness. Reed and Susan were hugging one last time and Eight pulled Reed to have a conversation.
"Excuse me," Eight told Reed, "Besides, Reed, we still have Japan to look forward to."
He went to Three and shook his hand.
"Hold on, Eight, did you just say we're going to Japan?" Reed asked as Susan entered the ATOMS.
Eight and Three gave each other grim expressions. Nine had told them that he would witness Hiroshima. He never said if Reed survived.
"Yes. Yes we are." Eight said before he and Reed started walking away.
"Wait, Eight. I wanted to give you something."
During the century of solitude, Three made another copy of the Photo Hammer, knowing that Seven got his broken.
"Oh my lord! I forgot about this!"
"Yeah, well, thank you for remembering the greeting. May Time have mercy on our soul."
He turned around and saw that Susan had peeked out. He walked back into the ATOMS. He pulled the lever and off they went through every opportunity.
"What does that mean? 'May time have mercy on our soul'?"
"Similar to Earth, the planet I'm from has a religion. Unlike Earth, there is only one religion. We don't worship a holy being like Christians or Muslims. We worship Time.
"Every war we ever fought wasn't for religious reasons. We fought based on what we thought was right. Right now, I'm fighting for my right to live. No matter what law the Hydra come up with, I have the right to live. I know you understand that. Your whole country was based on that right. I know Earth just as much as you do. Maybe even more. I've seen its creation, and I've seen its end. Multiple times. Why do you think that the point where Earth is on my map is also blue?"
"What map?"
Three showed Susan his expanding map of the universe and explained. He then showed where his planet was and where Earth was. They were about a foot apart, but Three said that they were trillions of light years away. At first, the map showed solar systems. Now, it just shows galaxies.
They stood there together, with the stars wrapped around them.
"I've always wanted to lay down," Susan started, "just stare at the stars..."
The map showed everything going on in the universe. Right now, they were witnessing a supernova.
"All throughout the universe are things that humans can't even witness in their lifetimes. I witness them every week. It's nice to have someone who's never experienced it. Makes it feel like the first time I saw it. Oh my lord, I forgot how beautiful it was."
The map zoomed in on a planet that was seemingly made out of stained glass.
"What is it?" Susan asked.
"Gemini. Home of the Gemynos, beings made from gems. We'll visit it someday. Not now, but someday. Right then, we…"
BOOM!
"Ah, I wondered what took them so long."
The Hydra had fired something in the ATOMS. Yellow smoke started to appear out of nowhere.
"Cover your face! It's poison!"
It was too late. By the time that they covered their faces, both Three and Susan had breathed in the gas.