Chapter 33: Past and Future's Crossing part 1/3
(Note: This is effectively the last chapter, but due to the long list of events that will transpire during it. It like the previous one, will be split into parts. This will remain in progress to take in any requests for plotlines that people may have. Just send them to my inbox. I'll see if I can work with out, which I normally can. I will mention you in the Author's note for a chapter if you suggested the plot for it.)
Charlie kept his thoughts aimed at Dudley's previous day's adventure. He had talked with Dudley about what he had experienced. Under normal circumstances, he would figure that Dudley's experiences in a temporal paradox would just be something that would be ignored, but with the experience involving Charlie himself working for head, he figured that it spelled something dark on the horizon, even if he himself didn't really believe in stuff like premonitions. Charlie's thoughts are interrupted by the sound of an alarm going off. Charlie gets up and checks where the alarm is coming from and sees that it's the front door again, but this time it's not Dudley. Charlie runs over to the front door.
At the front door, once again are all the TUFF agents that are in the building at the time that the alarm went off, this time Dudley being among them, but he's not really paying attention to what's going on, licking the chewtoy that he has in his mouth. At the front door lies an orangutan, who is trying to force her way through the cluster of TUFF agents. "Out of my way, I want to see Charlie." The girl says out of desperation and Charlie looks up toward her face, hearing his name being called.
"Cynthia? Cynthia, is that you?" Charlie asks as he moves his way to the front of the door. The girl, apparently Cynthia, looks up and sees Charlie and her face instantly brightens up, quickly grabbing Charlie by his arm and pulls him into a tight hug, several bones in his back popping in the process.
Charlie eventually manages to break free of Cynthia's grip, stretching and popping his bones back into place. "What are you doing here Cynthia?" Charlie asks as he takes a couple steps away from Cynthia.
"That's easy silly, I'm here to see you, just like I said. I heard that you started working here. I was thinking that maybe I can get a tour." Cynthia answers giggling a bit to the question.
"I can't give you a tour. Protection protocols. The least I can do is gather up some of the important people and have a get together for us later on." Charlie answers sighing a bit. He had to be cautious, even around an old friend of his like Cynthia until Keswick can finish up the biosignature scanner that Charlie suggest for the base. Charlie would be doing it himself, but Keswick knows the base technological schematics better than Charlie and Charlie likes to work on things from scratch and work his way up from there. Charlie himself couldn't tell if the Cynthia he is talking to is the real Cynthia or the Chameleon in disguise who tricked the gentle and kind Cynthia into saying how she knows Charlie.
"Okay, I understand. I wouldn't mind that though." Cynthia answers somewhat disappointed, but knowing that Charlie is working with a secret agent group as TUFF that it is more than likely there is to be an actual protection protocol.
"I'll meet up with you for lunch. Just let me see if my girlfriend wouldn't mind." Charlie answers, drawing an even larger grin to Cynthia's face.
"You have a girlfriend? You know what your mom would say to that, wouldn't you?" Cynthia answers chuckling. Despite the mention of his mom, the main thing would be the fact that he does know what she would say if she was alive and found out that he has a girlfriend and it draws a massive blush to his face.
"D-Don't remind m-me about that. Sh-She enjoys watching m-my face turn red by asking th-that." Charlie stutters, trying to shake his head free from the blush that lies plastered onto his face.
"Your mom's right. You are relatively adorable when you stutter." Cynthia answers giggling more.
"Wait for me at the restaurant at the corner of 1st street and Balmont Boulevard. I'll be there slightly before noon if Kitty doesn't mind. If it's noon and I don't show up, then Kitty might have gotten a bit jealous about me hanging out with an old friend." Charlie chuckles before adding on, "She may decide to join us so I can make a better introduction of you to her." He adds on before walking away. Cynthia nods her head and heads out toward the aforementioned restaurant to wait as she doesn't have anything else to do.
Charlie does just what he has promised Cynthia and heads over to Kitty's desk, where she was busy dealing with some paperwork that was pushed onto her by Chief in place of another agent who went on a paid vacation. "That looks like a real pain." Charlie answers chuckling a bit. Kitty wasn't in that good of a mood since she was pushed to do this while also having to deal with her own work. She decides to toy around a bit with Charlie as well as relieve some of her pent up steam by throwing a large stack of paper stapled together at Charlie's face while he was chuckling. Charlie doesn't see it coming and falls backwards onto his back from the impact.
Kitty chuckles and resumes her work, "Thanks Charlie, I needed that." Kitty answers as she signs off on some papers. Charlie groans a bit as he rubs his nose which was the main portion that was hurt from the stack of papers before grabbing the stack that was thrown at him and stands up, setting it back onto the pile on Kitty's desk.
"I'm glad to see that I was able to help you." Charlie answers still groaning. "I'm going to be meeting an old friend of mine for lunch. Would you like to join?" He later adds on rubbing his back a bit.
"I thought you didn't have any old friends since you became your father's henchman when you were eight." Kitty asks confused as she turns away from the stack of paperwork to look over at Charlie.
"It's a really long story and we more than likely won't have time to talk about the long series of events that took place for the two of us to become friends. I am planning on having a little get together with her, you, Dudley, Chief, Keswick, and myself later on." Charlie answers, not really all that pleased with remembering those events in his head.
"I don't think that we'll have too much to worry about right now. I think DOOM, Birdbrain, the Chameleon, as well as Doctor Rabies and Madame Catastrophe are all still recovering a bit after the group assault on you and TUFF, so I don't think that will be much of a problem for us to accommodate." Kitty answers smiling a bit as she is a bit curious about this old friend of Charlie's. Charlie smiles at the response and heads over to talk to Dudley, figuring that the first people he should invite to the get together are his partners, one being his girlfriend, the other being a walking and living death trap in Charlie's opinion.
"Hey there Dudley. I want to have a get together for Kitty, Chief, Keswick, you, and me along with my old friend Cynthia. Do you want to join us?" Charlie answers before realizing that Dudley was more than likely not paying attention to a single word he says. Strangely this time Dudley was listening, though it was mainly since a get together usually involve food in some way.
"Get together? Will there be food?" Dudley answers excited as he has a chew toy in his mouth. Charlie closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. This is just one of those times that Charlie cannot believe that Dudley is in fact a TUFF agent with the way he acts and thinks. After a while, Charlie reopens his eyes and nods his head.
"Yes, there'll be food. It's going to be my treat to everyone who decides to attend for being so willing to take some time out of their day to join for a meal." Charlie answers calmly as he wanted to try and calm down from dealing with Dudley's lack of common sense is keeping him from thinking a bit clearly. Dudley doesn't notice as he keeps eating and licking the chew toy.
"Sometimes I worry about Dudley but mostly I worry about Kitty and myself for working with him." Charlie mutters to himself as he walks to check on Keswick. His footsteps generally as light as he walks around to find Keswick. Charlie eventually catches up to Keswick at the workbench, still working on the biosignature scanner that Charlie has suggested to him. His work was taking him a long time, mainly having to deal with obtaining a sample of each agent's DNA for registry. The Chameleon's suit may alter appearances, but it's molecular composition isn't standard skin and hair, so it is distinguishable.
"Keswick, want to join me, Kitty, and Dudley for a get together with my old friend later today?" Charlie answers as he slid a tool along the workbench that Keswick was trying to reach without disrupting the circuits that he was keeping in place.
"Thanks Ch-Charlie. Sure th-that sounds good." Keswick answers smiling as he resumes working on the biosignature scanner. He keeps tinkering with the device as Charlie helps as much as he could for a while until Keswick tells him that he can handle the rest. Charlie nods his head, and heads off to find Chief, the one person he has yet to try to talk about the get together. He walked up to Chief's office and knocks on the door.
"Come in." Chief answers curious about who was on the other side of the door as he wasn't expecting a visit. Charlie enters Chief's office and closes the door behind him.
"Ah, Agent Cheetah. How can I be of service?" Chief answers smiling. It was a rare thing for Charlie to enter when it wasn't a mission for him and his teammate. That along with Charlie's tutored capabilities made him a nearly self-sufficient agent, so something must be up in order for him to approach Chief.
"I was hoping that maybe you can join me, Kitty, Keswick, and Dudley for a meal with my friend Cynthia later on Chief." Charlie answers, walking over and taking a seat in front of Chief's desk. The request draws a reluctant sigh from Chief, which Charlie could easily deduce the meaning of.
"Too busy Chief?" Charlie asks hoping that the reason is more professional than a person reason for having to decline. Chief solemnly nods his head, dealing with everything that was starting to happen was taking up a lot of his time. That along with the fact that people have started to want to know about the one person that they had shunned or avoided for so many years. Chief's position of authority gave him the right to know things that most people don't need to know regarding those that he supervises. Charlie's life is one that few people have the need to know.
Charlie nods his head and takes his leave when Chief speaks up after a while. "Give your friend my regrets about being unable to make it." Chief says solemnly. This draws a smile to Charlie's face as he nods his head and takes his leave from the room. Just as Kitty had said, the villains were somewhat recovering, but mainly planning.
At DOOM HQ, Snaptrap paces back and forth in a furious mood. "HOW CAN WE HAVE LOST TO ONE AGENT!?" He roars out as he keeps his eyes on his henchman who were murmuring among themselves, trying to figure that out themselves. Among all the chatter, a knock is heard at the door. Snaptrap, being the one being the most jittery as well as the one closest to the door, walks over and pulls out his laser before opening the door.
"STATE YOUR BUSINESS OR PERISH!" Snaptrap yells angrily before turning to face the person. The person was wearing a black hooded cloak that concealed most of his face. The person waited for Snaptrap to calm down before finally responding.
"I'm here to offer my group's assistance to your mission. We'll do it for free. All we ask is that you and your underlings follow me to your new base." The person answers, their cloak hiding their mischievous and malevolent grin. Snaptrap himself was too caught up in the fact that he was getting more minions and a brand new base to even notice. Snaptrap cracked a twisted grin as he turns to face his current goons.
"We have a new base. Follow this guy or perish." Snaptrap calls out with a somewhat sinister glee. Ollie and Francisco don't have a good feeling about this, but decide not to look the gift horse in the mouth. Larry, having had enough of being sent into the shark pit, is the first to get up and walk over, Ollie and Francisco shortly afterwards following suit. The person's grin grows wider as he turns and slowly starts walking into the city, the members of DOOM following behind him. The person lead them toward a pharmacy having a hand scanner outside of the store. The person places their hand on the scanner and the scanner verifies his identity. The doors to the pharmacy open, revealing a highly advanced base of operations. The people in the base don't even acknowledge the opening of the door. The person walks into the base, the DOOM members awed at the sight quickly follow behind him. The person lead them to a passage with guarded doors. The person opens one of the doors and walks inside, the DOOM members too awestruck to notice that it's a holding cell. Once inside, they take a while to realize that fact.
"Why are we here? Is this a secret meeting room?" Ollie answers unaware of the true nature of the situation.
The person smiles and shakes his head, "Like we were going to offer our services to morons like you." The person answers slyly as he flips into the center of the group of DOOM members quickly spin kicking all the members into separate walls of the cell. While the DOOM members recover, the person walks out of the cell and closes the door, activating the laser field in front of the door on the inside of the cell.
"Sir, we have captured the targets. It went even easier than planned. We also have our unknowing assistant, who will hopefully be able to take down the larger of the obstacles." The person says into an earpiece in their right ear. The response was inaudible, but the person smirks and walks away.
Charlie goes to have lunch with Cynthia as Kitty didn't have any problems with it. Charlie and Cynthia use the time to try and catch up as much as they can. It doesn't turn out to be enough, so they have to stop about two thirds of the way through. Charlie heads back to work after informing Cynthia about the place that the two of them are going to meet up with Dudley, Kitty, and Keswick for the get together.
When the time for the rendezvous arrives, the four TUFF agents get together before hand and head to the meeting spot as a group, Cynthia arriving on her own, waiting for them for a bit. The five of them take a table and everyone's eyes but Cynthia's turn toward Charlie. Charlie looks confused by the stares and directed toward him, but eventually speaks up. "Why are most of you looking at that like me?" Charlie answers hoping that the stares would stop after one of them decides to say why they are looking at him. The stares continue for a while, but Kitty is the first to break the somewhat awkward silence.
"We are waiting to hear how the two of you met and managed to stay friends after you became your father's henchman." Kitty answers as Dudley and Keswick nod their heads in agreement. Charlie sighs, somewhat afraid that was the answer that he was going to get, but he quickly recuperates by taking a deep breath.
"Cynthia and I were never friends before I became my father's henchman. We became friends after that event passed. When I was ten, I was getting tired of being avoided and leered at because I was my father's henchman. You can say that it was the starting point of when I was starting to have problems controlling my temper. My father's method of emotion control only made it that much worse for me to control my temper. That day, someone insulted me by calling me 'A monster whose mother is more than happy to be gone.' I lost my temper and shot myself at the person, aiming to kick them in their head as they laughed. They stopped laughing and noticed me closing in to strike. They moved out of the way with Cynthia behind them when I swung my leg at them. I wasn't as strong as I am now back then obviously, but the kick was strong enough to leave a red mark as well as knock her out. I was taken to the principal's office while she was taken to the hospital. I still had my remorse during that time so I felt bad about hitting her, so despite my dad's attempts to dissuade me, I went to visit her. My presence wasn't all that welcome in the hospital, but they eventually yielded and led me to her room. We became friends shortly after I apologized. Ever since that day, she has helped me to deal with school when I would've normally lost my temper." Charlie says somewhat ashamed of himself, speaking over several minutes, taking several breaths not to exhaust himself with the events.
Cynthia only responds to it with a giggle, "It might not have been the best start to a friendship, but I probably say it was also far from the worst Charlie." Cynthia answers still giggling, embarrassing Charlie a bit, which causes the rest of the TUFF agents to chuckle or giggle with Cynthia.
"I would prefer not to be embarrassed. My mom likes to do that as she says I looked cute when I was embarrassed." Charlie answers before sighing trying to return his cheeks to their normal color by calming down.
"You still look cute when you are embarrassed Charlie." Kitty answers teasingly just to see how Charlie will react. Charlie's face turns a deeper shade of red from embarrassment. This draws an all out laugh from the rest of the people at the table as Charlie pouts about his embarrassment being funny.
"That's not funny Kitty." Charlie answers rather upset by the fact she was joining in on this. Kitty doesn't stop laughing, but after a while, it dials down to a giggle.
"Sorry Charlie, but it's funny cause it's true." Kitty answers as the rest of the TUFF agents and Cynthia keep laughing. Charlie sighs as the conversation shifts from Charlie's easily embarrassed disposition at times to more casual matters. Time passes by in a flash and before any of them realize, the sun was already starting to set. The five of them start to get up and start to head their separate ways. Cynthia walks over to Keswick, "Keswick. I know of some people that are hoping to see your skill with technology. I know of a place where you can meet up with them." Cynthia says over to Keswick. Keswick is a bit curious about the people, but is somewhat worried about staying up too late and sleeping past when he should be at TUFF HQ the next morning. In the end, he figures that he can whip up something real quick for those involved and agrees to follow Cynthia. Cynthia leads Keswick to the same pharmacy that DOOM was led to and knocks on the door four times followed by a short pause, eight more knocks, a second pause, five additional knocks, another pause, one knock, a fourth pause, and four more knocks before stopping.
(Author's note: First set of knocks is the number of letters. The remaining four sets refer to the numerical placement of each individual letter.)
One of the men in the base opens up the door and looks at Cynthia and Keswick. "Ah, we are so glad that you decided to take us up on our offer to demonstrate your skills. Thank you Cynthia, I'll have one of the others direct you toward what you asked for in return for your assistance." The person lies before snapping his fingers, a second man quickly departing from his task to join the first. One leads Cynthia down one hall and the other leads Keswick in the hall that leads to where the tricked and trapped DOOM members are.
"You taking me to where I can be taught how to be about as skilled as Charlie?" Cynthia asks innocently, unaware of who she assisted and their true intentions. The man smirks and nods his head, which draws a happy cheer from the unaware and oblivious Cynthia. The man beside her leads her to a second set of containment cells and opens up one of the empty cells. Cynthia looks in and then becomes confused, but before she has time to react, the person beside her presses a button and a spring trap launches her into the cell. Cynthia quickly recovers and runs to the door, but the person activates the laser barrier between her and the door before closing the door on her. Cynthia finally realizes what is happening and sits down on the floor, hugging her knees.
"We have no further use for you. We're just making sure you don't get the chance to try and ruin our plans." The person says as he turns to walks away.
"I'm sorry Charlie. I messed up big time." Cynthia mutters to herself as the man smirks and keeps walking away.
As Keswick and the other man walk down the hallway, Keswick hears the voices of the DOOM members as they cry and yell out to be let out. Keswick starts to get a bad feeling and pulls out his laser, aiming at the man that was escorting him. "What's th-the meaning of this?" Keswick answers as he waits for an answers. One of the guards in the hallway sneak up behind Keswick and kicks him toward the person that Keswick was aiming at earlier. Another guard opens up a door to a cell as the former escort for Keswick catches and disarms Keswick as soon as he's in reach. The person throws Keswick into the cell before the guard closes the door and activates the laser barrier.
"We are H.E.A.D. and you have just been taken out of the equation. We'll be destroying your base to keep your friends from being a noticeable threat to us when we destroy the city." The person answers before walking away.
"You w-won't get away with this. Charlie is still in this city. We know that you want him." Keswick answers, but the statement only draws a smirk to the person's face.
"We know, we have planned for that. We'll show the city the rage and malice he still harbors. We know how to draw it out." The person answers with a cold precision that causes Keswick to shudder in terror for what they have planned. The man signals two of the guards to inform them to start the destruction of TUFF HQ before the night is done. The two guards nod their heads and head out from the base, gathering a container of black beads along with a data pad.
The two walk casually from the base, walking through the near deserted streets of Petropolis to TUFF HQ. One undoes the lid to the container of beads and dumps them around the base of TUFF HQ as the other one turns on the data pad. The person with the data pad moves the beads, which turn out to be actually miniscule robots, into a set formation around TUFF HQ before turning and looking at the other person, nodding their head. The person holding the now empty bottle nods in response and sets down a disc a short distance away from TUFF HQ and gives the person at the pad a thumbs up. The person at the data pad nods their head and presses a read button as the disc creates an energy field around TUFF HQ. The robots all explode at once, turning TUFF HQ into a base of rubble, the sight and sound being blocked off by the energy field. The two people pick up the disc, set down a tv monitor and DVD player along with a DVD disc before they both walk away.