Timeline X, Chapter Nine: The Darkest Night
2062
"Nexus point?" All of the science mumbo-jumbo was to be eluded by Alex, up until now when she needed to learn about this one thing at the very least. "What does that mean?"
"In other words, I'm not just deploying you to the past, but in a point in time where this entire timeline as you see it, did not exist. The intersecting point where one becomes another, that's what I'm talking about."
"Y-you- What?" Alex processed it twenty times, trying to simply comprehend the complex level of what he tried to explain. Timelines, nexus points, alternate timelines- What? "You're sending me to the past- Not this past, but one where it's different? Hold on, but how can I cross into another timeline? I'm bound to this one, therefore-"
"You're going back before the creation of this one," Dylan explained, feet still clamped high on the desk table in perfect comfort. "At the start, it was only one timeline. I just need to throw you before the changes."
"Oh, I- I think I get it!" Alex still pondered it. "So, this is... An, uh- Alternate timeline to the original, and I'm going back to-"
"The original, and you're going to follow Lincoln Loud into the opposite timeline-"
"The... Doesn't- Wait, what opposite?" Alex was confused again. "You just said-"
Dylan, of course, chuckled wholeheartedly. "Alright, hold on-" Taking he feet off the desktop, he moved to open his drawer to take out a sheet of paper along with a pen, drawing a single line for her to see. "Look here-"
Alex dragged her eyes down to the paper, where she saw him put an "A" on the left end of the line, followed by another "A" at the right end. "Uh-huh..."
"This is what I believe of all of this- No way I can be completely accurate but, anyways- This is the original, primary timeline, right? Timeline A."
"Yes..."
Underneath the first line, Dylan retraced it somewhere in the middle, only to deviate it below, making another line separating from the first. "This one is us, Alex. We're here, in A2."
"A- A2..." She nodded slowly. "This is the A2 timeline."
"And you're going back to A to protect Lincoln Loud-"
"LINCOLN- WHAT?!" Alex lost her still composure and jerked from the chair, making it fall backwards. "YOU DARE TAKE ME BACK TO A TIME WHERE HE WAS ALIVE?!"
"Yes, Alejandra," Dylan confirmed, keeping calm to her outburst. "I've received reports of the Domicile members having planned to send their two scouts for an assassination mission. As much as I truly despise the albino man- And I know you do as well- His death does not bode well for this future."
Alex grew visibly angry, folding her hands into fists. "You're asking me... To help him- Him!"
"So that we can be here, young one," Dylan smiled. "It is thanks to him that I'm here at the top."
"Which means nothing to me considering you kept it all confidential!" Alex's face went light red in her rage. "There are classified files not even accessible to the Primers, Blood!"
"Yes, but that is for me to know, and only me," Dylan addressed. "Back to the mission, these two scouts themselves are members of the surviving Loud family tree, assuming you haven't heard it from Chang and Mercer-"
Alex toned down on her anger, but hadn't relieved of it yet. "The blonde and the brunette, I hear."
"Yes, they are both zoomers with the reptilian tendencies just like Mercer, but they're rookie enemy agents that couldn't even dream of treading water in comparison to you."
"Zoomers, huh? Protecting him, fending off a pair of zoomers... You need all five Primers for this, not just me-"
"Letenko, Mercer and Chang have been deployed to the eastern coast as we speak. The Chinese have sent a battalion of their own in a stealth attack, emphasis on the stealth."
"My sister's not with them, is she?"
Dylan shook his head. "Not at all, she opted to sit it out, and that's my personal recommendation."
"Good..." Alex rubbed at the bottom of her nose. "I don't think she's ready yet."
"I don't suppose you would think it a good idea for me to put her on this mission, do you?"
"No, not a chance in hell, sir," Alex decided. "I'd rather be kicking rocks, but you can't spare anyone, it seems. And knowing you, the average simps of the regular foot soldiers could never make the cut."
"Alejandra, this is a special mission that requires a Primer, you're the only one I know I can choose. I just need you to keep a clear head the rest of the way. I do understand the certain hatred you have for him, for your father-"
"No," Alex rebuked. "That man is not my father, he never will be, not the way Roberto Santiago was."
"Right, I'm sorry about that-" Dylan turned in his chair, back to Alex. "Do You remember that such things are necessary in times of war?"
"Y-yeah..." Alex felt herself having cooled down to the bone. "Everything and anything that can be done to hurt the enemy is always to be done, as you've said."
"Yes, and believe me, young one-" Dylan Blood stood up, circling the desk. "Should Lyra and Lynnette, those pheno wretches, succeed in killing Lincoln, I automatically lose all footing I've got! The Prime Federation will cease to exist, and I'll know true defeat at the hands of the Patriots, the Junior Patriots and the Retaliation Corps. "In this game of endless chess, there can be no wrong move. Now... Sending my own Primers to the past... That's the risky wildcard I'm not sure I can afford. What say you, Alex? Care to share your input?"
"You'd need up to eight perfect Primers to have them all back, but your other pheno soldiers- The defected from Grimmtown- can be put in the front lines."
"Yes, I suppose I can, but that gives away my secret surprises- And considering World War III is also the ground of phenos versus their own kind-"
"Dude, you can't be expecting yourself to come up with the perfect strategy to win, even when you want to, when you want to ensure nothing is lost. There's always a loss somewhere, no matter which direction and what tactics are applied."
"It has to be perfect-"
"Yes, but it can only be as perfect as we make it..." Alex took a deep breath. "If you ever think of doing that- Deploying all Primers to the past, fortify the current PF fleet. I know you know this well, but you should stomach the fact that you're going to lose tens of hundreds of your own- And I've also accepted that I'm not invincible, sir. I've got just as high a chance at dying like Laika, Bethany and Lissandra do. They've been at it longer than I have, but don't be fooled when only two of them do."
Dylan merely sneered away at Alex for the truth she imposed onto him. But the Mexican youngling wasn't wrong at all.
"I resent you..." Alex dropped, the bombshell stunning him. "The very idea of you making artificial life out of me just for you-"
"I didn't create Liberty to turn her into expendable cannon fodder."
"Dare you lie to me, sir!" Alex accused. "You just denied it and in exact words-"
"Alejandra, please see reason- You are a perfect combatant here, I chose you because of your skill set over the other Primers. None of them got cloned, not even Letenko-"
"There's no way you could have looked at me and decided I was superior to Laika, there is no way!"
"But there is..." Dylan nodded to, cementing the fact. "You, over her. You."
"Will you ever give me the reason for that?" Alex insisted to know. "I don't feel like I've earned it the way you let in on, and I know I shouldn't complain, b-but if it was for another reason- Not what I've been able to do, nor because of the training here- Then it'll only tell me that I've been imperfect. It's almost basic gaslighting-"
"None of that..."
"You've only used me to perfect a human clone... Didn't you? And one... One that doesn't even look like me! Liberty's genetics are like his... Her white hair and her cold skin, and those blue eyes... All of the cells that come from my mother's side, you incinerated purposefully so that she looked like that."
"Yes, I confirm that is the case..."
"What did you need of her? What was the point-?" She had already begun wondering it when there was indeed a connection to be made. "The past... Deploying the Primers... Liberty- Liberty is not the first albino clone to come out- What is it, sir? What are you truly planning for Liberty?"
"I need to ask you... Do you or don't you care for your clone, the very daughter that has come out of a hole in your arm?"
"D-daughter?" Alex shook her head. "I can't call that thing my child, sir."
"So, that is a no... No, you do not want her to become the sixth Primer."
"Sixth Pri- Liberty, the sixth Primer?!"
"I do need more, but eight, as you've considered... Yes, I wanted to keep it sizeable but small... I've had to have known I'd have more than three eventually."
"And all of them are females- What, are you trying to build your personal harem this way?"
"Harem?" Dylan pondered it, not having realized that the Primers were only consisting of ladies. "No, that's not it, you girls have some potential, a fiery anger that I've helped exploit and direct to the right targets, that means you included."
"I get that, I do..." Alex hadn't noticed it, but she, without any patience, had been scratching her nails around the desk in a random pattern. "It all feels unfair, is what bothers me. Didn't ask for Liberty, nor do I want my sister to be associated with them, down to be on the front lines. All of your- Well, the Federarion's enemies knows about the Primers at this point, when word gets out that the number increased, added by three non-phenos-"
"Foolish thoughts! No one has ever come this close to reaching my original trio. Letenko has proven herself to be a great leader, guiding Chang and Mercer swiftly through the battle. They've become blood sisters in that sense, mean I expected you and your sister to receive mixed opinions about the expansion."
"They're great, I get it-"
"No, they're not great all the time, but teamwork-" Dylan sat back down in his chair. "That is important."
"Teamwork... Alongside the clone and my sister-" Alex gulped at the thought of it. "It's scary., seeing them be shot at- I don't want to picture it."
"It's no beautiful image, no... But that's how real war is. The machine of death."
"The clone doesn't have to be a Primer. You have her among the regulars already-"
"Well... I'll give the decision to her, I have something planned to test her willingness to be one."
"A trial?" She didn't need ask, she knew him this much to know. "I see..."
Now
It's not that I hated you, Liberty... Alex knew what was coming, right as Liberty pressed the button. She was terribly hurt, in both failing the objective and never letting Liberty know what she now knew she felt. The albino clone, the Linka to her Lincoln, another Alex in a different color palette- the mere reminder that if harmed, only reinforced Alex's mortality. It was this, and that Liberty was fine where she was- no need for Dylan fucking Blood to force her into the Primers regiment. Maybe I did care about what happens to you. It's- It isn't everyday that I get a clone, someone who understands me and my thoughts- But, it's you-
There was always that resemblance she had to Lincoln.
Of all the things in this world, you are modeled after the cursed man who left my mother. He didn't even know- He'll never know who I am...
"Long live the Primers," Liberty exclaimed at the final second.
"L-LIBERTY, I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO BE A PRIMER-!" Alex confessed to the top of her lungs.
Earlier
"Fuck you, faaaaaaaaaaag!" Liberty shouted at her mother, running away, chip in tow. "You fucking Mexican! Beanerschnitzel! Wetback bitch! I'll get that chip back, and I'll deliver it to my master! Fuck you and goodbye!"
The very second the white light had come and gone, Liberty stopped running and looked back. Chad, Meli and Darcy, still under her control, were on the verge of coming into contact with the Primer Prisoners. The albino clone jabbed her finger over the earpiece that controlled the trio. "Stand down, stand down!"
The three X-Elite phenos froze in place, staying still before the rival group. Alex had circled the group, confused. "What are you thinking now?"
Liberty pointed towards the woods, right where she had encountered Lynn and Luna. "Two bogies inbound, thataway!"
"...What?"
"Tell them to stand down, Alex!" Liberty requested. "Here-" Instantly, Liberty tossed her earpiece device at Alex's feet. "You can control them, I forfeit my team!"
Alex... I've heard what you've said, Liberty thought, feeling hurt. Why, mom? Wh-why don't you...-?
"You're playing me, I know it..." Alex believed, picking up the earpiece. "This controls them, right?"
"What are you two squabbling about?" Lincoln cut in, eager to lay his law upon the hostile around. "We were in the middle of a fight."
"Your fight is not with me," Liberty stated. "Alex, I propose a team-up."
"No..." Alex coldly answered. "Return to base, now."
"But I-"
"I don't know what just changed your mind, but I don't like this, and I don't want you around interfering in my mission, damn it!" Alex let her presence be known, and then slapped Liberty in front of everyone, the slap being heard for up to five miles in the quiet place. "You were wrong to come here, you were wrong to take his trial, and you were wrong to have existed in the first place."
"No..." To Liberty, it was words that turned into a cold, steel hand that punched and penetrated right through her ribcage to grab and rip the poor lass' heart out. "Y-you don't mean that-"
"Return to base..." Lincoln reworded. "Does that mean what I think it means?"
"Alex, are you-?" Lori also began to piece it herself. "You two are from-?"
"Take off your mask, girl, I have to see it myself-" Lincoln made the connection of the girl's physique, questioning why this albino looked like this "Alejandra Santiago." And then, when Lincoln had already begun to go deeper, Alex had totally started looking like that young Ronnie Anne back in the day; he questioned the validity of the Mexican woman's claims.
"Maybe we are!" Alex chortled. "We came from the same place, does not make us allies!"
"What the hell is she doing being an enemy then?" Lincoln had pointed his hand onto Liberty. "Why shouldn't we decide to kill you where you stand?"
"I needed something..." Liberty let out. "Alex and I were-"
Were? Alex shuddered.
"-Playing a little game of acquiring a special piece of software-"
"Liberty!" Alex warned, telling her to keep her trap shut. "This does not concern them!"
"What kind of... Software?"
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Alex roared.
Liberty shot her eyes to the woods. The clones should soon be running into Luna and Lynn right about now.
"Hey-" Liberty shut Alex down by throwing her hand up into the air, showing off the watch-shaped device to Alex and the gang. "No! Is that-?!"
"The majestic Silverhead Element is the best thing I've ever used!"
"Get her!" Alex shrieked, her voice flaring up in fear. "GET HER NOW!"
"NOT EVEN IN YOUR DREAMS!" Liberty used the device again, only this time, no flash of blinding light came about. She stood there, as she was- with all the others frozen in place. Frozen in time. Lincoln had started running, only becoming a statue standing on one leg. Lori and Dylan hadn't moved to act behind him, but Alex was there, pointing at Liberty, being bothered and angry. The look of hers that never changed.
Liberty moved around them and the bucketheads the X-Elites had become. Victory was hers again... But at what cost? What could she gain here, knowing what Alex had truly felt for her. Trash. Liberty was trash, mothers approval to never exist...
Never exist...
I need you to know... Liberty came up to Alex as she was, then fixating the Silverhead Element to the latter's body. "Unfreeze."
"DO IT BEFORE SHE-!" Alex shivered to a halt, seeing Liberty move without having moved, quickly catching on. "Fuck!"
"Too late, time is frozen," Liberty circled around her cell mother. "Actually, we went further ahead than this, but I came back here because you messed up and got these guys all killed by a crazed Luna."
"What-?!" Alex went around, glazing upon the others. "You've come from ahead?"
"Yeah, your suit gets damaged if you go further down there-" Liberty pointed out to Luna and Lynn's locations. "Gotta leave, gotta take Lincoln and them far from here."
"Wait, I don't understand- You're helping me, but what about-?" Alex then checked herself for the chip, which had disappeared from her. "What the-?"
"Looking for this?" Liberty revealed her hand and the chip in between her fingers.
"How-?"
"I saved your ass for this, now you've lost it."
"B-bullshit! I wouldn't!"
"And you did! You're here now, and you should be grateful... You've lost it, there won't be takebacks."
Alex had other ideas. "No! No, I can still get it back!" She went invisible again, going after Liberty. "You aren't supposed to win here! Never!"
"So..." Liberty did nothing but utilize the knowledge she gained from the other Alex. "Why don't you want me to be a Primer?"
Alex stopped dead in her tracks. That very single sentence, derived right out of her thoughts, had come to light, and it had to have been true. Alex, the one head, had indeed surrendered her chip willingly to Liberty. "I did... Didn't I?"
She deactivated her cloaking and removed her mask, showing off reddened eyes, the pre-state of crying. "Why the tears?"
"You and I have the lowest rate of survival among the Primers, you know!"
"Well... Yeah, but-"
"But nothing!' Alex moved in to slap the sense into her clone, but Liberty dodged this time. "Hold still!"
"I have to know why!"
"No! No, you don't!" Alex then started running from the clone. "Go away!"
"You-" Liberty gave chase. "Back here! Back here, La Tropicana!"
"I said go!"
"Never, meine freulein!"
"Enough with the German!"
Liberty caught up to the woman and made a leap at her feet, managing to bring her down. Then, the albino girl jumped right over Alex's whole body. "Dude! Dude, you beaner fuckwit! Don't you knl!"
"G-get the hell off me!"
Liberty grabbed Alex by her ears and tugged her head up. "Dude, no! I love you and I've gotta be right beside you! Surely we share the same thoughts and ideas! Teamwork! We can be a tag-team!"
"No, that's not what I wanted! Not what I want!"
"But... M-mom- Alex- Mother-"
"I didn't give birth to you, you annoying fucking albino!" There it was. "I hate you, I hate that you resemble him, okay?! And-" Alex felt Liberty loosen up on her grip, allowing her to crawl away from her, then standing upright. "I'm not a fool, I know I could die serving Dylan Blood and his Federation, but you-"
Liberty reached her hand out to Alex, making contact with her shoulder, and Alex didn't push away this time. "Mom-"
"Why do you dare label me as if I am just that?" Alex asked, back still turned to her. "I'm not-"
"B-because..." The albino faced it for what it was. "You're the closest thing I have to one..."
Alex never bothered to wipe the tears away. "Trying- Trying to replace her?"
"No, no- I'd never do that, I know how you've felt, but to me... Knowing who and what I am to you..." Liberty shoved her eyes away from Alex. "I chose this because I don't want to feel alone. It was never about being a Primer, but about being close to you, seeing you as a parental figure."
"Parental figure... We've had those-"
"Had... Nor anymore."
"I'm not fit for that, I can't be-" Alex told the clone. "But you can save yourself by not being one. You can still change that, and you can carry on my memory if I should die-"
"You need me-" Liberty got it. "So, you want me to be the platonic next of kin..."
"I need you to fill in for me, you're all that remains-"
"If you cared so had, you'd find yourself a husband and marry him! Have kids, for God's sake!"
The Mexican woman went silent for a second. "You know I can't."
Liberty let out another exasperated sigh, nodding in agreement. "I do... I do know that, so..."
"You use me as an excuse, Liberty," Alex theorized. "You just want to justify dying for them by saying you want to be by my side. This mother shit, I don't know if it's real or mere bullshit, but I don't fancy it."
Liberty moved to the woman's side. "How about this, then? You're the only person who I feel understands me- Not just because we're the same person... You know what hurts me, I thought you'd change and give me this one thing."
"Playing this role?" Alex scoffed. "You're forcing it on me-"
"I'm desperate."
"You are," Alex wiped her face away. "It shows."
"I'm sorry... I just want his, I really do."
"You're an idiot..." Alex berated again. "Obviously, I can't stop you, but this life-"
Hypocrite.
"-isn't for you."
Good going, Alex, you're a hypocrite and Liberty can see it!
And then, Alex received a backhand slap from Liberty. "You mean us! Now..."
It stung her like crazy. "Ouch."
"I'm leaving..." The albino had made up her mind. "Your hypocrisy, I can't believe you pulled that out. I hate you... So I'll leave with the chip and you can focus on your father here. You know, the one I've been modeled after."
"Go fuck yourself, you!" Liberty turned back time as it was. "I'm heading back to the present, meet you back there!"
"Just as soon as my assignment here is finished!" Alex replied. "Any advice?"
"Take them away from here!" Liberty advised. "The further away from Lynn and Luna, they've beaten the likes out of you guys! My giving you the three bucketheads should be advantageous, but still!"
"Thanks for the warning!" Alex left Liberty alone on that note, scampering away to the Primer Prisoners. Liberty allowed it, accepting the win-lose situation this was. It could have been better, but it wasn't, it could never be so simple. It wasn't meant to be.
2062
Liberty jumped right back into Dylan Blood's office, feet sliding against the smooth floor. "Heeeeeere's Liby!"
"Oh, done already?" The overlord himself was present in the room, not surprised of her timing. "Return the Silverhead Element to me, if you please."
"Oh, yes, this watch thingy!" Liberty unstrapped it off of her wrist without a second thought, gently placing it on the desktop. "I really love it, sir."
"I can imagine," Dylan sympathized. "It's my most prized possession that not even I use. For all that I know, you might just be the only person to use it in all of history."
"You lie!" Liberty yelped in high pitch. "You've had to have used it!"
"No, I haven't- Not yet, at least."
"I have trouble believing you!"
"And the SCX, it is in your possession, correct?"
"Ah!" Liberty dug into her pocket and pinched on the tiny device, taking it out slowly. "Yeah, I've got it."
But then, she froze. Right before she could set it down and make it official, she had a slight moment of hesitation. A Primer... I get to be one of the top dogs, that was what I had to go out and prove...
The silence that surrounded her turned into hell. She heard and felt her own heartbeat. The heat of her body, spiking up and making her uncomfortable. The respiration through her nose, audible on both ears.
Am I only giving the real Alex grief?
"Well, are you going to do it, or not?" Alex was behind Liberty, back leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "Go on, prove your authenticity and devote your life to endless death."
"M-mom-"
"Tsk..." Alex turned the other way. "Still on that, I assume? Hurry it up, I've gotta talk to the Prime Supreme here."
"Alex, I can only assume that you have protected Lincoln Loud?" Dylan clapped a few times. "Congratulations are in order."
"No, no, sir- I messed up, sir," Alex revealed. "Lincoln- He found himself a time machine and he went back to 2015. I don't know what or why but-"
"He... Time traveled?" Dylan stood up in alarm.
"My apologies, Prime Supreme, sir, but I lost him. If there's any repercussions, or anything actionable intelligence you need to inform me-"
"Hold that thought..." Dylan pondered it, hand pressed to his chin. I've sent you to the time before the Nexus Point. This must be it, this must be the galactic law they've said he broke.
"Sir?"
"Do nothing, he is not your mission anymore. You've done well."
"Yeah, but- But he went back in time!" Alex cried. "What if he changes something?!"
Liberty tugged at her white hair, her expression reading poker face.
"Aren't you scared that he will change that he'll change everything?!"
"I would be terrified, but I know what that brings about." Dylan took out the sheet of paper he used to try and explain Alex about the timelines. "Remember this? Look back here again, I've sent you back before the timeline splits-"
"Oh, my God, I don't understand this... Not really."
"This is the outcome, Alex. What do you think made the timeline break away into another one?"
Alex leaned herself closer to the desk, carefully observing the design. She thought, and gave it more thought. Lincoln- Time traveling back- And then she made sense of it at long last. Lincoln had to be alive to make a change, and she saw it. She saw him take his exit so that- "YOU MEAN THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN?! HE CHANGED THE-?!"
Liberty was confused.
Dylan smiled and nodded, happy to see Alex finally comprehend it. "This one is now certain, and so it is that the Prime Federation wins, unless an unforeseeable consequence occurs... But yes, you've cemented the timeline's guarantee. However... The Domicile wretches have that card, too, so things are still in danger of changing. I have to believe that we've won but that might not be completely true."
"You're not sending me back to that other timeline, are you?"
"No, not there again," he confirmed. "Liberty, the SCX, if you please!"
"R-right!" The albino coughed it up on the Prime Supreme's desk. "I have what it takes."
"You do, little one, you very much do."
"Sir?' Alex sensed another special mission coming. "What will be the next move for the both of us?"
"The next one?" Dylan approached Liberty. "Welcome aboard the Primers, young clone. How do you feel about taking another trip?"
"Another? Uh, sure, but where?"
"Grimmtown is where," Dylan answered. "I'll go over the details."
AN: The adventures of Grimmtown will come down the line. Hope you enjoyed. Final arc chapter drops the next day.