A/N: Thank you for all your great feed back so far. I'm glad to know that you are all enjoying the story. As you can tell things are getting more complicated for the characters as the story unfolds. I hope that you like the direction that I'm taking the story in.
Jimmy:
The creature that resembled Betty stood on top of the main pyramid and gazed out over the land. She could see the other five pyramids from this vantage point, even though they were miles apart. Each pyramid was crowned with a special disc that had been forged out of the dream metal. "Soon his friends will come to rescue him-" Betty thought to herself. She turned gracefully, her split cape fluttering in the wind, and went back inside.
Her thoughts continued to race through her mind as she made her way through the torch lit hallways until she found the room she was looking for. Once inside she found herself standing in front of a leathery skinned egg and gently caressed it on the side. "It won't be long before the transformation is complete my love. Your friends will come to rescue you. But it's too late. My power is nearly complete. I only need one last thing." She said as she gazed down at the onyx ring that she wore on her pointer finger. It was designed with a two headed snake, one had a pearl in it's mouth, the other did not.
"Cindy will lead the rescue. She won't be able to resist, poor predicatable Cindy. When she comes for you She will be mine, and when I have her I will have her pearl." Betty aimed the ring at the egg and concentrated. A purple colored light erupted out of the ring engulfing the egg. The air crackled with static electricty; Betty could feel the hairs on her arms stand up and the hair on her head blew around from the force of the energy as it cut through the air. Her ears hurt from the sound of the blast but she concentrated on her task.
After about thirty seconds she lowered the ring and the glow faded. The room grew silent. "Wake up my lover! Be reborn to my world!" She shouted in excitement as the thing that had been Jimmy woke within the egg. She watched as the egg pulsated, the shell cracked and a leathery skinned hand punched its way out of the weakened shell. She stepped forward and assisted, grabbing pieces of shell and pulling them away. It was sticky with fluid and she found it difficult to pull pieces away.
He emerged covered with that nasty yellowish fluid and climbed slowly and clumsily into the soapy water filled tub she had prepared near the egg. He rubbed the soap through his brown hair with his clawed leathery skinned hands. She was enthralled how muscular his body had become. His formerly blue eyes now glowed with a yellow iredecence. His canines had grown into two long poison tipped fangs.
"Concentrate on looking human my love-" She said. He closed his reptilian eyes and began to shimmer. A moment passed and his body shapeshifted to resemble his former human appearance. She offered him a towel as he climbed out of the tub.
"Your friends will come to rescue you Jimmy." She said to him as he turned to face her. His beautiful blue eyes sparkled and his grin was once again boyish and seemingly friendly.
"I don't think they will be a problem, Betty. Let me show you a theorem mathematically proving why they won't be a threat to us." He paused to watch her expression and it made him laugh a moment . She frowned. He became serious and his voice changed to a guttural demonic tone-"I'll rip them to shreds and feast on their insides if they stand in our way." His eyes changed over to snake eyes and his teeth grew into fangs again…
Jet Fusion:
Within the inside of a aircraft, Jet Fusion aka Agent X was ready to bale out at an altitude of three thousand feet. He checked his equipment one last time to ensure everything was secure. When the green light turned on the door opened and he launched himself out with grunt. He began to free fall. The tether line he had attached to the side of the plane caught and it automatically deployed his shoot. He rate of descent decreased and he pulled out his MP5K and held it at the ready.
One of the gargoyle like creatures, that were circling the sky around the pyramids, caught sight of him and let out a high pitched roar. "Great, Well I didn't get dressed up for nothing." Jet said through clenched teeth. He flipped his weapon from safe to semi and took aim at the nearest approaching flyer. They were grotesque creatures with leathery wings and diamond tipped tails. There faces seemed distorted and a mockery of human expressions. A lesser man would have given into despair at having to face such adversaries, but not Jet Fusion.
Jet pulled the trigger and the gun bucked in his hands. The shot went wide; the sound left a ringing in his ears. He had to twist in the ropes to get a view of his surroundings. The nearest gargoyle swooped upward claws descended, murder its intent. The next shot was true and the creature fell out of the sky with a hole in the middle of its forehead. The wind currents were strong and it he was finding it very difficult to maintain his heading while engaging the creatures. He could tell he was going to land off course.
He pulled hard on his guide line and the parachute fluttered in the wind as he banked to the left; correcting his course. Three more gargoyles came at him and he flipped the selector switch from semi to burst. He waited until they were almost on him and pulled the trigger several times while swinging the weapon from left to right filling the air with hot lead. He caught the first gargoyle in the chest, blood erupting from the impact; the creature fell out of the sky clutching the wound. The other two managed to evade the attack but ducked off in opposite directions.
Jet was still about 100 hundred feet in the air when one of the gargoyles returned. He managed to hit its wing and it fell like the others. He scanned his surroundings. The coast seemed clear. That was until the parachute shuttered, jerking Jet hard. The last gargoyle attacked from above. He couldn't get a clean shot without risking hitting the shoot. The fabric tore as razor sharp claws sliced through it. The thin slits in the fabric expanded rabidly under the high pressure exerted by the wind. Jet felt a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he began to fall faster. He looked down to see the crown of the nearest tree rushing up to meet him.
Eustace Stryche Manor:
Eustace sat intently listening to Cindy as she explained the whole story. He waited to respond for about a minute after she finished speaking so his mind could absorb everything he had heard.
"Ok so let me get this straight, you believe I had something to do with a break-in at Neutron's lab involving keys to mech robots. Neutron had a battle with a creature that resembles Betty Quinlan that came out of your imagination, and is now being held captive by her, and you need my help? " he asked.
"Yes and I hate to admit it but we can't do it without you." Cindy added.
"Cynthia, I swear I had nothing to do with the actual theft at the lab but I have a good idea where the keys to your mechs are." He said.
"So you really are going to help us?" Cindy asked.
"Of course I will. Why wouldn't I? A man's life is in danger. I can't stand idly by and do nothing." Every eye went wide in the room but none wider than Cindy's.
"Alright what gives? What's the trick? You've been acting really nice since we got here and it's not at all like you. Who are you really? Where is the real Eustace?" Libby demanded.
"Maybe this guy is an alien pod version of Eustace, like in Ultralord vs. the body snatchers" Sheen added.
He stepped back in shock. "I'm not an alien, Sheen. But I must ask you Libby, Is my descendant so rotten that by simply being willing to help you save your friend would reveal that I wasn't the kid you know?" He asked.
Cindy opened her mouth to answer but decided it would be best to act like she knew what he was talking about and let him speak.
"Alright, I'm not the person you think I am. I didn't think it would be that obvious. My real name is Eustace Alexander Stryche." He said.
"That's the same name as the guy in the painting! You're a ghost!" Carl shouted.
"No Carl, I'm not a ghost. I was brought here from the past. I was conducting an experiment with a friend of mine that is a scientist. The experiment was focused on temporal time displacement. As you can see, it worked, however it was a one way trip and I haven't been able to return to my own time as of yet. The Eustace you know is away with his father on business. His father is aware I am here and my predicament I must add. He has given me full access to his or I should say my old fortune in order to return to my own time. So far there has been no luck. The records of the original experiment were destroyed in a fire back in 1910. So its like starting from scratch I'm afraid." Eustace replied.
"This story sounds a bit far fetched. But it makes a lot of sense considering your new behavior. But if you are who you claim to be, than how do you know who we are? Cindy asked.
"I know who you are through a combination of what Blix has told me and surveillance camera footage from the time you all came to the mansion before. Blix painted a different picture of my relative though and made him sound like a good kid. I suppose I can respect such loyalty. I want to apologize for his behavior, I promise you that I will make sure he receives proper correction." He replied.
"My friend Jimmy has a time machine. His original equipment was destroyed in the lab at his house but he has a second one in the lab on the island I mentioned before. If we can rescue him I'm sure he can get you home." Cindy said.
"That would be wonderful. I have an idea of how we can work this out. The trick behind time travel, assuming that I will get home, is that I can make sure to do actions in the past that will help us now." Eustace said.
"Oh of course-" Sheen said to Eustace but then turned to Carl and said "I don't get it."
"Well Sheen suppose when I go back in time I commission to have a secret passage made through a wall, say in this very room." Eustace replied.
"Oh I get it and you could activate it by pushing a secret button that would be hidden under a stone on the fire place." Libby added.
"Now your getting it." Eustace replied as he turned to face the fire place. He felt around until he found a loose brick and pulled it away revealing a small metal switch. Everyone gasped including himself. "It really was only a theory but the good news is that this must mean I at least get home." He flipped the switch and a panel on the wall slid open exposing a dark dusty passageway. They flipped on their flashlights and went down to the passageway. Once everyone was inside the panel slid back into place.
The hallway led to a large bunker underneath the house. The walls were reinforced with steel. The entrance was a large blast door sealed with a wheel style crank. Eustace turned the wheel and hissing of escaping gas accompanied the opening door. They ducked low and stepped inside. "I found a light switch guys" Carl said as the room lit up.
The room was empty except for something in the center of the room. "Wow this is really something Eustace. But why didn't you fill the room with weapons and stuff?" Sheen asked.
"Well I come from a time period that really wasn't very high tech. The time machine was considered really sophisticated. Maybe I didn't have access to going forward in time to collect things I would need. But I don't believe that is true. If I really do end up in the past because our mission is successful then that thing in the center of the room must be the only thing that we need ."
"I'm down with that." Libby said.
They approached with wonder and saw that it was a raised pedestal that contained a display case and within they could see the five keys to the mechs Jimmy had created for them.
To be continued…..