A Leap Into Destiny
One Leap Forward
Before Al knew it, he was back at the castle where Project Chronos was located. He wasn't sure of his exactly location within the fortress but from the looks of all the trees and bushes, he was somewhere in a garden.
"You there," a voice from behind him called out.
Two armed security guards came up to him with their weapons trained.
"Oh geez, from the frying pan into the fire," Al grumbled.
"Turn around," the guard ordered.
Al did as he was told.
"What's that in your hand?" asked the second guard.
"Oh this?" Al looked down at the mystical hourglass in his hand.
"That looks familiar," the first guard glanced at the hourglass. "Wasn't that Zoey's?"
"Well it was," Al replied.
"What happened to her," the second guard aimed his gun directly at Al's head.
"Whoa," Al raised his arms in the air. "Stay still, both of you!"
At once, the hourglass appeared to respond to Al's will, glowing brightly as Al Calavicci closed both his eyes to shield his vision from the glare.
By the time Al opened his eyes, he saw that both men were frozen still.
Around him, time itself also seemed to have stopped. There was a butterfly also frozen in mid-air from what Al saw.
He looked down at the hourglass in his hand, the very instrument which was capable of bending the fabric of reality and time to its will. At that point, he realized he had been given a gift which could turn the tide and help him save his friend.
"Hang on Sam and Alia," Al whispered to himself. "I'm coming for both of you."
oooo
Alia sat on against the wall inside her jail cell, unable to do anything at all as she heard the tortured screams of Sam Beckett.
She made a promise to herself to help and save Sam, the same way he had helped her in the past, but right now, she wasn't even in a good position to do that. She was just as helpless and as captive as he was. Right now, Al was their only hope.
"Poor guy," an armed prison warden walked up towards her. "I don't think he's going to last much longer."
Alia looked down at the keys which hung from his belt.
Unfortunately for her, the warden also realized what she was thinking.
"Don't even think about it," the warden told her, slowly backing away. "Sam Beckett's not going to magically save you this time like you're on some leaping mission."
"Then why are you here?" she demanded. "Here to read me my last rites?"
"As a matter of fact, I will be doing that," the warden told her. "You see, Zoey may have cared about making your life a living hell but Kairos has changed his mind about keeping you as a prisoner. He doesn't find any worth in keeping you around at all so he ordered me to put you out of your misery."
Alia gulped but still tried to maintain her composure.
"Then what are you waiting for?" she demanded. "Why don't you just get it over with?"
"Happy to be of service," the warden grinned, reaching for his gun.
Suddenly, he realized he didn't have it anymore. It was as if the weapon had disappeared into thin air.
"What the hell?" the warden gasped.
Out of nowhere, a cold clock to the back of his head knocked him unconscious.
After the warden fell, Alia saw Al standing behind the fallen man's body.
"Al!" she cried.
"I'm alive and well," Al confirmed.
"What happened to Zoey?" Alia asked.
"She made an attempt on an unborn Sam Beckett's life and it didn't end well for her," Al informed her.
"I see," Alia said with a tinge of regret as Al got the keys from the warden. "I hate that it came down to this. At one point in the past I saw her as both a friend and a mentor. But she chose to live a life of manipulation and power…"
"Well," Al opened up the door for her, "Zoey may have been too far gone to have been saved, but we still have someone else who very much needs our help right now… Sam."
"I agree, let's go get him," Alia stepped out.
oooo
"I imagine you're wondering right now," Lee Harvey Oswald smiled. "When will all of this end?"
Sam only looked at the assassin with a glazed stare.
"Well, just so you know," promised Oswald, "none of this will end unless the man upstairs wants it to."
With that, he drove the electrical baton into Sam's stomach, sending several more jolts into his body.
"Don't worry," Oswald informed Sam. "I'll take my time and make it slow. Don't you worry your little Einstein head."
"Let him go!" a woman's voice came out of nowhere.
"What?" Oswald turned around.
At the door were Al Calavicci and Alia.
"Oh, it's you two," Lee Harvey Oswald sneered. "Here to save Sam?"
"Back away from Sam," Alia warned, training her gun on Oswald.
"You gonna shoot me?" Oswald said mockingly to her. "Think you got what it takes to save your boyfriend here?"
"I don't want to," Alia told him. "But I have killed before in self-defense and I'll do it again if I have to."
"You really mean it don't you?" Oswald slowly backed away, dropping his baton finally.
As Oswald backed away, Alia continued to train her weapon on the communist assassin as Al ran to Sam, taking out the keys he had yanked from the warden.
"Hang on Sam," promised Al. "I'll finally have you out."
After unlocking all the bonds holding Sam to the table, Al helped Sam off the rack and helped him to lean down.
"You good now, Sam?" asked Al.
"Want it to end…" Sam said with a glazed expression on his face. "I just want it all to end…"
"What are you talking about, Sam?" demanded Al. "That's crazy talk!"
"Is it?" Sam sighed in resignation. "My wife is dead… my life's work is slowly being dismantled before my eyes… and now my body feels like it's going to break apart if I take even two steps forward."
"Yeah, and I'm sorry all these things happened, Sam!" insisted Al. "But now's not the time for self-doubt! We've got to get you out of here!"
"Just go and save yourself," Sam's head drooped. "I'm tired… just so tired."
"Damn it, Sam!" Al grabbed Sam by the collar with both hands and lifted him up. "We've been through hard times and through thick and thin, you always persevered to do the right thing! All these years you've sacrificed your own happiness for the lives of others and that takes heart and courage! You're a hero, Sam. And I haven't given up on you, even if you've given up on yourself!"
Finally, Sam looked up, staring into Al's eyes with more emotion this time. Al realized that his words were finally getting through to his friend.
As Alia looked over at Sam and Al briefly, Oswald saw his opportunity. Grabbing Alia by her gun hand, he lifted her hand into the air and struck her in the jaw with elbow, knocking her down as he twisted the gun out of her hand.
"Sorry this happy little reunion's going to come to an end soon," Oswald walked up towards Sam and Al with his gun.
He came up from behind Al and yanked him back. With a swift kick to the stomach, he knocked Sam down to the floor.
"Don't bother trying to reach Sam," Oswald warned Al. "After what I've done to him, his will to live is gone!"
"Don't count on it," Al growled.
"As I recall, you once held me prisoner in that waiting room and held a gun to my face," Oswald reminded the observer. "You also nearly destroyed my eardrums when you fired that gun right next to my ear… I never got the chance to pay you back for that!"
With that, Oswald boxed Al in the ear sharply with his knuckles, sending Al stumbling back.
"How do you like it now?" demanded Oswald.
Once more, Oswald continued his assault. He punched Al in the stomach, taking the breath out of the older man and then slammed his knee into Al's face, knocking him down on his back.
"Stay away from him," Sam said, managing to somehow lean against the wall despite his whole body being racked with pain.
"You're going to stop me?" Oswald turned around, smiling as he saw Sam struggle to stand.
Turning back to Al, Oswald began kicking the observer repeatedly.
"I said stay away!" Sam felt a sudden burst of energy and life return to his body.
At once he charged. Oswald turned around in time to see Sam slam right into him, causing him to drop the gun in his hand. Sam continued his charge until he slammed Oswald into a wall.
"Agh!" cried Oswald.
Sam pressed his elbow against Oswald's throat and began punching the man over and over again, drawing blood and breaking the man's nose.
"You broke my fucking nose!" screamed Oswald.
Immediately Sam silenced him with a knee to the gut. He grabbed Oswald by the back of the neck and hurled him to the floor. Oswald managed to get back to his feet but as he did, Al clocked Oswald across the head with the gun, knocking him out cold.
At around this time, Alia also got up, having recovered from the blow to the face Oswald had delivered to her.
"Are you alright?" Alia asked.
"I am now, thanks to you and Al," Sam replied graciously.
"Good to have you back, Sam," Al walked up towards his friend.
"Good to be back," Sam hugged Al. "Thanks for telling me you still believed in me."
"Shall we go?" asked Alia.
"Not yet," Sam told her. "First, we need to get the other prisoners out of here."
He gestured towards the different cells, each one housing a different prisoner whom Kairos had plucked from different periods in time. After tying the unconscious Oswald to the straps on the table, the three quickly concentrated their efforts to freeing the prisoners.
"I got the keys," Al quickly got to work, opening up the cells.
Alia went to Sister Angela's cell while Al went to Father MacRoberts and Sam went to help Abigail.
"You alright Father Mac?" asked Al.
"Who…" Father Mac's tired eyes looked upon Al with questioning.
"Don't worry, I'm with Sam," Al promised. "We're getting you and all the others out of this joint."
After rescuing those prisoners, Sam went over to Jimmy's cell, releasing him from the virtual reality headset he was plugged to. Unfortunately, however, Jimmy was released in almost a catatonic state, mumbling nonsensically the whole time.
"I'm sorry Jimmy," Sam hugged the mentally handicapped man. "I'm going to get you out of here."
"Hey Sam!" Al called out.
"What is it?" Sam let go of Jimmy and went over to the observer.
Sam entered into the cell where Al was while Alia, along with the recently freed Katie McBain, Abigail, Jimmy, Father Mac, and Sister Angela stood outside.
"It's Roy Brown," Al told Sam, cradling the unmoving body of the man Sam had met in Washington State. "He didn't make it."
"What?" Sam was aghast. "Why not?"
"After the Vietnam War Roy wasn't exactly in the best of conditions, remember?" Al said softly. "He already had a bad case of epilepsy and with the kind of torture inflicted upon him here, his body and mind just couldn't take it."
"Roy," Sam knelt down. "Remember me, buddy?"
Roy did not reply.
"C'mon!" Sam insisted. "You remember me! We were out in the wilderness together!"
Tears began to well up in Sam's eyes as he saw that Roy still did not respond.
"It's not over for you, Roy!" insisted Sam, clasping the man's hand. "Stay with me! We can still go searching for Bigfoot together one day!"
"I'm sorry Sam," Al stood up, putting a hand on Sam's shoulder. "He's gone…"
"Damn it all," Sam clenched his fist.
"We'll give him a proper burial," Al promised. "But right now we need to get out of here while we still can!"
"I'll help carry him," Father Mac offered, taking the body of Roy into his arms.
"Alright," Sam got up as Al tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Once we get everyone here to safety, Al, we come back to put a stop to Kairos and this whole Godforsaken Project Chronos for good!"
"We will Sam," Al nodded.
"I remember a quick way out," Alia told them.
Soon, the whole group followed Alia as she led down a darkened hall, going through one of the hidden passages in the castle. Fortunately for them, there were torches hanging on the walls to light their path.
"Are we almost there?" asked Abigail.
"Almost," promised Alia as she saw an unmistakable light ahead of them, leading towards a door.
Alia and Father MacRoberts were the first to reach the door.
"I see two guards outside," Alia took a quick peek through the window of the door.
"I believe I can be of some use," Father Mac told her. "I don't run a boxing gym at my cathedral for nothing."
"I'll take the one on the left and you take the one on the right," Alia told him.
Father MacRoberts nodded his head in silent agreement as Alia grabbed the handle. Forcefully, she flung it openly, knocking the door into the guard to the left.
"What the—" the other guard grabbed his weapon.
Before the guard could open fire on Alia, however, Father Mac came in, grabbing the guard's wrist with one hand and punching him out with the other.
The other guard who had been knocked down by the door tried to get up but Alia quickly kicked him across the jaw, knocking him unconscious.
"The coast is clear," Alia told them.
As Alia ushered the freed prisoners out, Sam began to follow but then noticed a room to his right. After taking a peek through the bars, he realized it was a morgue room with coffins lined up all over the place.
"Hey Sam," Al asked. "What's the hold up?"
"Hang on for a moment, Al," Sam took the door and opened it up.
Alia noticed Sam entering the room just as Katie McBain and Jimmy exited the door.
"Could you accompany them for now, Father?" Alia asked Father Mac. "I'll be right with you."
Father MacRoberts tilted his head in acknowledgement and left with the others.
"Sam?" Alia asked as she entered the morgue room. "What is it?"
Sam looked down into center coffin in the room. Inside was the body of Donna, his wife. Her body, even now was still in near-pristine condition, with an expression of sadness etched across her face.
"It's her," Sam said softly.
"His wife," Al whispered to Alia.
"Oh Sam, I'm sorry," Alia told the leaper.
"Don't be," Sam replied with a silent rage in his voice. "It was Kairos who killed her."
"C'mon Sam," Al beckoned. "Let's go. We'll see to it that Donna gets a proper burial as well."
"Yeah," Sam whispered emptily as he picked up Donna's body.
As the three left the room, they felt a sudden chilling presence upon them.
"Dost thou truly believe escape is an option?" a familiar voice remarked.
"You," Sam growled.
The three of them froze. Kairos stood before them and the exit door.
Alia took out her sword immediately.
"I see Zoey was not able to complete her task of killing thee in thy mother's womb," Kairos hissed towards Sam.
"No," Al shot back. "In fact, she won't be harming anyone anymore!"
"Pity," Kairos caressed his time staff. "Zoey was a most promising apprentice."
"Yeah, well looks like you'll be needing a new hobby from now on," Al glared at the sorcerer in disgust.
"Thou shalt not leave here alive," promised Kairos, raising his time staff.
"Not this time," Al took out the hourglass from behind his back.
"What?!" Kairos stammered. "How?"
"I got this from Zoey," Al replied.
"Hah!" Kairos laughed. "Thou may possess the hourglass but thou would have to be a master of time in order to wield it properly."
At once Kairos raised a gnarled hand.
"Return to thy master," he commanded.
The hourglass in Al's hands shook violently at the verbal command of Kairos, pulling Al forward as it began floating back towards the time mage.
"I can't stop this thing!" Al cried.
"Get him!" cried Sam, running towards Kairos.
Alia, in the meantime, got her sword out and charged as well.
As Kairos concentrated with one hand, psychically summoning he hourglass back to him, he gestured with his other hand and telekinetically summoned a knife from his sleeves. The knife flipped around in mid-air as the sorcerer aimed it towards Sam and launched it with a mere flick of his wrist.
"Sam!" Alia cried.
Sam saw the knife flying towards him but before he could react, Alia got in front of him, hugging him as the knife struck her back, piercing her heart and drawing blood.
"Alia!" Sam cried.
"You… saved me from Project Chronos," Alia looked into Sam's eyes, coughing blood. "I couldn't do otherwise for you…"
"You son of a bitch!" Sam grabbed the handgun on the floor which Al had dropped.
The leaper pulled down on the trigger, firing several rounds into Kairos. The time mage was forced back but each and every time his own magical powers simply healed his body rapidly, removing the bullets from his flesh.
Sam, however, would not be deterred as he continued to fire. Angrily, Kairos raised his hand, summoning a fireball. As he did, however, a stray bullet struck the mechanical part of his time staff, the portion that had been fused with the supercomputer Lothos.
"What?!" Lothos held the front of the staff directly in front of his face as electricity began to sputter from where the bullet struck.
Unfortunately for Kairos, he did not possess the common sense or modern day street smarts to realize that holding a damaged unstable piece of machinery which could explode at any second so near to his face was a bad idea.
Immediately, the top part of the time staff exploded in the face of Kairos, consuming his upper body in a flaming explosion which knocked the time mage back several yards as both his robes and flesh caught on fire.
This time, the charred body of Kairos did not move.
"Stay with me, Alia!" Sam cried, holding Alia's now-lifeless body in his arms.
"Sam, we have to go now!" Al went up to his friend with hourglass in hand. "We have to get Father Mac and the others to safety and back to their own time!"
Sam fought back the feeling to stay in his place and sink into despair yet again. He picked Alia's body and slowly walked out the door. There was no feeling of triumph this time like he had when he usually completed a leaping mission. There was only a sense of sorrow that yet another person he helped had died. And even more pronounced was the feeling of emptiness inside like his life's work had been for nothing.
To be continued.