The sun was just starting to tilt the day into the evening mood when Johan was halfway down with his dinner. He was waiting at the table he agreed to meet at. Johan dipped a fry into the puddle of ketchup on his plate before tossing in his mouth with several other fries already in there. He was peacefully eating his burger and fries while watching the news roll out on the huge screen. Then felt someone watching. Johan turned his head back to the table. It was client. He was early.
"Yo!" He greeted still chewing his full mouth. Johan could hear his mom scolding his bad manners but he was a bounty hunter eating dinner. He was still more politer than any other bounty hunter in the whole restaurant.
"You're early." Johan tried again after he swallowed.
"I like to make sure that my packages arrive on time. But it looks like you beat me to it." The client smirked. "Do you have it?" Johan nodded reaching for his bag resting on the back of his chair. But the guy stopped him before he could even reach the zipper.
"No, not here. I need to make sure it works. Besides I left the rest of your payment back there anyway." He smirked.
"Well aren't you a smart buyer." Johan joked and tossed his bag over his shoulder, before grabbing the second half the burger. He fallowed the guy from behind, leaving some cash on the counter for his meal. The guy led him through the city streets. Johan could only hope he was taking the direct route or wasn't lost as the sky turned a dark purple and the street lights came on. Even at night the city was active with music pouring out of opened door restaurants, people going in their own directions, bright lights from stores. Johan hated it. It was far too much activity at time when people should be home. That's why he would only live in suburbs. To have people around but have an untold curfew. It gave him a since of home. The client stopped in front of a rundown tech store. The sign said open and the lights were on but the only person inside was a boarding looking man reading a magazine on the counter. Johan didn't think he heard them come in.
"Hey!" The client slapped the counter snapping the man out of his trance with a startle. "The part came in." He motioned his head at Johan. The guy at the counter gave Johan a quick look like he was afraid of him then he went over to a room that said back storage and unlocked it. Johan fallowed the two into the room then down a set of stairs to the basement. But it didn't look like basement back home in the twenty first century. This one looked more like an inventor's lab that got slapped in the middle of 1990's office building. The walls were a nauseating shade of beige with the old cubicles. The client took a seat at one of the cubicles pulling something out of the drawer. He started messing with it with some tools on his desk.
"So you're Geo Advervent." His partner looked at him. Johan looked back at him, sizing him up. Then he looked back at the client ignoring his comment.
"The part." The client looked back over his chair, his arm and hand bent out, gesturing for the item. Johan pulled out the box from his bag and handed it over. He was forced to wait till the client was sure the part worked. When he smiled that's when his partner pulled out a white envelope from inside a drawer. Johan opened it and did a quick count making sure all of it was there. He stuffed the envelope in the bag and glance at the device in the ex-client's hand. It looked just like an Elucidator! But this one was different. This one was bigger than the others and it had a gold line enclosed by two thin black lines along the edges. It was strange they had one at all since time travel was now impossible, turning all Elucidators useless.
"Is that an Elucidator?" Johan asked. The man in the chair smiled and turned around.
"This isn't just an Elucidator! It's an Alpha Elucidator! This has the ability to travel into Damaged Time. It puts all other Elucidators in shame. There is not another Elucidator in existence that is more powerful than this one!" He stood up completely excited. Johan could feel his heart swell up with so much hope he thought it just might burst. An Elucidator with no limits on it! That alone was a rare treat back in the past. He could go back stop this mess from happening. Katherine, Chip, Andrea and all the other kids would be back the twenty first century and back to their normal selves. Sure he would have to go back to be thirteen and have his voice bounce up and down but it was worth it. He could save JB and his parent! I can go home!
"You guys need to test it out right? I'll be your guinea pig. Heck! I'll even do it for free." Johan had to force him not to sound excited. The two men looked at each other. Johan was already thinking of more arguments he should go if they said no.
"Alright." The ex-client nodded and gave him the Elucidator. As if it could read his mind everything went black.