Luz woke up to the thick smell of bacon grease in the air. Hoping that what she experienced last night was just a bad dream, she sat up too quickly to the point where she felt lightheaded. Rubbing her head, Luz felt all the fresh cuts and scars that she had fighting Belos. Belos…Luz still cannot forgive herself for teaching that wicked man on how to summon the Collector. Not only that, but she also could not forgive herself for not preventing the day of unity. "Damn him," Luz thought.
Luz got up from her bed and walk toward the source of the wonderful smell. As she entered the kitchen, Luz groaned as she realize that it was not a dream after all, but instead a reality. Her and her friends did really travel back to the 1940s. She did really meet the great Indiana Jones and his friend Marcus Brody. Sitting down, Luz saw that her friends were suspicious of the food that they were being given. It was an American Breakfast that consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. But her Boiling Isles friends did not know that. To this, they thought it was a bit strange.
"What's this?" Luz heard Guz ask.
"That's bacon," Mr. Brody answered.
"What is it made of?" Willow asked.
"From a pig," Brody answered, confused about the question.
Luz just chuckled to herself as her friends fell in love as they took their first bite of this new food experience. Sitting down, the young girl saw that Dr. Jones was reading a book. Looking closely at the spine, Luz realized that he was reading on the Tablets of Janus.
"So I see you believe me then?" Luz asked.
"No, I still have not," Indy answered.
"Then why are you reading about the tablets?" Luz asked.
"Because this is a part of the curriculum for me," Indy lied.
"Oh come on, you want to know about those tablets, to know about what they can do," Luz teased.
"Look kid, finding these tablets is like finding a needle in a very large haystack. I do not even know where to start," Indy explained, closing the book.
"What are you two talking about?" Amity asked.
"The Tablets of Janus," Luz answered.
"What is this Tablet of Janus?" Willow asked.
"Well, legend has it that long ago, in a land called Rome, Italy, there were these tablets that somehow appeared out of nowhere. The inscriptions on it presented the readers on how to travel between time, space, and worlds. Many thought these were the writings of the god, Janus. Now Janus is the god of passageways, doors, pretty much anything that has to do with traveling from beginning to the end. The only issue is that during the fall of Rome, these tablets were lost among the rubble and ruins. No one knows whatever happened to them, but legend says whoever reads from them is able to learn the ability to travel between worlds," Luz explained.
"But that is it, it is only a legend," Indy asked.
"Sometimes there are truths to these legends," Luz argued.
"So if we find these tablets, we are able to go back home?" Hunter asked.
"Supposedly yes," Luz answered.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go to this Rome place," Guz stated.
"Hold on a moment there kid, we don't even know where to start," Indy said in shocked.
"Are you sure about that? I overheard that phone call you had with your friend," Luz said
"I thought you went to sleep. Anyways, the issue is that I don't want you kids to get hurt," Indy said.
"Oh come on Dr. Jones, we've been through worse. Isn't that right?" Luz stated, looking at her girlfriend.
"Yeah, we survived the day of unity and Belos, what else could happen?" Amity asked.
"You will be surprised," Indy said. He thought for a moment and relented. "Alright, you guys can come with me on this adventure. But you will need to change out of those clothes, and you four will need to hide those ears. We don't want any unnecessary attention from anybody," Indy said, pointing at the Boiling Isles kids, "So you guys should get ready, I will be taking you guys to shop for clothes."
The boiling Isles kids were super excited to explore this human world as they went upstairs to change into something less noticeable. As her friends went to get ready, Luz was called by Indy to stay behind so he could talk to her.
"You know for a teenager, you are pretty smart for tricking me into finding this outlandish artifact that may or may not exist," Indy said, smirking at Luz, "You remind me of me when I was your age."
"Umm, thanks," Luz said, unsure if it was meant as a compliment or if Dr. Jones was berating her.
"You alright kid?" Indy asked.
"Yeah," Luz asked.
"Kid?" Indy asked, looking at Luz with a stern face.
Luz sighed. "My childhood, let's say, is interesting. I was usually the weird kid that no one ever wanted to hang out with. I tend to get in trouble at school so much that my mother wanted to send me to a normal camp. The only time when I felt normal was when I was in the Demon Realm. There I could've learned magic, there I could've been somebody. But instead, I helped an evil dictator commit mass genocide by showing him on how to summon a god. It is all my fault for what has happened to them, and each day, I…I just want to crawl into a ball and cry," Luz said, breaking into tears.
Indy walked towards Luz and allowed her into his arms. "There, there," Indy said, comforting Luz. When Luz couldn't cry anymore, Indy said, "Kid, let me tell you something. When I said you remind me of me when I was your age, I was not lying. When I was your age, I did something that my father and I could not see eye to eye on. I enlisted to fight in Europe at a young age, which my father forbade. I wanted a sense of adventure, which I have gained. But at the same time, I have seen my fellow men crying out for their mothers, sisters, and wives. Men around your age, just breaking down, men who have seen the horrors of war, men whose graves were the very grounds they were standing on. Yet, seeing you, seeing what you have gotten me into, seeing you worrying about your friends, you are much braver and tougher than the men I have met. Now we all make mistakes, but we learned from those mistakes in order to improve ourselves. People will sometimes manipulate you into doing their bidding, but it is how they get their comeuppance. Now you should get yourself ready so that we can go to the clothing shop before they close, ok."
"Thanks, Dr. Jones," Luz said, leaving the room.
"You feel bad for her, Indy, don't you?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah, just seeing a kid experiencing something like this is honestly very hard for me to see. Especially from that age, she has her life ahead of her. This kid should not feel stress like this," Indy said.
"I agree with you on that. Not only her but all of them," Marcus said.
Marcus and Indy were finishing up their breakfast when Marcus said, "Indy, the search for these tablets, this should be one of the biggest discoveries of the world. But yet, I feel like we are not the only ones looking for it. As I was taking the garbage out this morning, I noticed these weird glyphs on the ground. It is not anything I have seen in any history book or any textbooks I have ever seen. However, during my research, one of the kids told me it belongs to this Belos guy. If what they say is true, then I think their enemy is not dead at all, but just biding his time."
"Yeah, I know the feeling. When I came home last night, I felt like I was being watched. Not only that, but as I was coming here, I saw a big accident and a corpse of a deer that did not look like it was from a wild animal," Indy said, rubbing his neck, "Whatever we are dealing with, it ties back to the kids and these tablets."
"How do you like it?" Luz asked Amity, who was wearing a nice jean jacket.
"It's beautiful," Amity said, looking at the mirror. She then turned to her girlfriend and asked, "How are you feeling, Luz?"
"I'm feeling fine, why are you asking?" Luz asked.
"Luz, since we have gotten here, you have been very quiet. Not only that, but when you were having that attack, you were saying some freaky stuff like how this is not the right time. You were freaking us out right there," Amity said.
"It's nothing," Luz said, brushing it off.
"Freaking out over something like you did back in Mr. Brody house is not nothing. C'mon Luz, we both know something is not right. It's fine if you do not want to tell me, but do remember that we are here for you," Amity said, putting her arms around Luz.
"Thanks Amity," Luz said, leaning into her girlfriend's arms.
"So what does that thing do?" Gus asked Indy, pointing to his pistol.
"This is for my protection," Indy said.
"Luz said that you have discovered the Ark of the Covenant. What did she mean by that?" Willow asked.
"A few years ago, the U.S government found out that the Nazis were interested in the Ark. so they decided to hire me to find it before the Nazis did," Indy explained.
"And what is this Ark of the Covenant?" Willow asked.
"It was the placeholder of the Ten Commandments that Moses carried down to the Jews," Indy explained, "But when the Nazis captured and tried to use it, let's just say that God was not too happy."
"You are not really into the supernatural are you?" Hunter asked.
"Look kid, I have seen things that still makes me question what I have seen even to this day. But stuff like magic and time travel, there is no scientific proof that it is possible," Indy said.
"Time travel?" Willow, Gus, and Hunter asked in unison.
"Yeah, your friend Luz was telling me that you guys traveled back in time. Cute story though," Indy said.
As Indy talked to some of the Boiling Isle citizens, Amity and Luz walked out of the dressing room, with Amity wearing a nice yellow long sleeve short and short khaki pants. Luz was wearing long jean pants with a nice baby blue shirt.
"You two look amazing," Willow said, amazed at the outfits the young Blight and Noceda found.
"You guys too," Luz said, smiling. Willow was wearing something similar to a safari outfit, with Hunter wearing simple khaki shorts and a tan shirt and Gus wearing long jeans and a red shirt.
"Well, I guess you guys are ready. Let me pay for all of this and then we can stop by and get some food and discuss these tablets," Indy said. The archaeologist walked up to the register, pulling out his wallet to pay for the clothing that the kids were wearing.
As Indy was paying for the clothes, Luz was talking to Willow and the rest of her friends. "This Dr. Jones guy seems very nice," Willow said.
"Yeah, he is," Luz said.
"Though, he does seem skeptical about a few things," Willow said, "He mentioned that you talked about traveling back in time. What do you think he meant by that?"
"Ha, ha, who knows, you might've misheard him," Luz said, chuckling uncomfortably.
"Luz?" Willow said, eyeing her friend cautiously.
Luz felt the stares and took a deep breath. "We…might have traveled back in time," Luz said.
"What do you mean to travel back in time?" Amity asked.
"Well, we are not in my time, but we are in the year 1944. We are in the middle of one of the deadliest wars known to my world's history," Luz said, trying to choose her words carefully.
"We are in what?" the Boiling Isles kids all asked at once.
"In a world that is at war with each other and where we are going might have some remnants of the people this country is fighting against," Luz said, as she was backing up against a door, "Look, I honestly do not know what went wrong, but if we look for…ack!"
A robed figure snatched Luz from the door as the young Latina was kicking and screaming. "Indy! Indy!" Luz shouted.
Indy looked up to see Luz being taken away by a shadowy figure. Dropping from what he was doing, Indiana was running after the robe figure, trying to catch up to Luz. The sidewalk was crowded, as Indy was trying to catch up to the hooded he rounded the corner, he was met with gunfire as there were some more of the robed figures. Running back to cover, Indy took out his revolver and fired off a couple shots, each landing on one of the hooded men. The exchange of gunfire was short, as Indy was able to take care of the men. As he walked out of cover, he saw the hooded man who was holding Luz at gunpoint.
"Drop the gun, Dr. Jones," the man said, holding the barrel close to Luz's face.
The rest of the kids caught up to Indy as he still had the revolver pointed at the man. "Give me the girl and I drop my gun," Indy ordered.
"Don't listen to him, Indy. Shoot him," Luz shouted.
As the standoff was becoming tenser by each minute, Willow noticed that there was a small weed on the crack of the sidewalk. Hiding what she was doing, Willow was able to control the weed, creating a vine that wrapped around the man's leg.
"What the hell?" the man shouted in surprise as he felt the vine wrapping around his leg. Taking advantage of this, Luz wriggled free from the man's grasp. She dives to cover as Indy fires a shot to the man's head, killing him instantly.
Luz ran to Indy and her friends hugging them tightly. "That was scary," Luz said.
"You alright kid?" Indy asked.
"Yeah, but I feel like that is not going to be the last time we are going to be seeing of them," Luz said.
"Do you know who they were?" Indy asked.
"I don't know, but I was able to catch a glimpse of one of their arms," Luz said, "One of them had a symbol that is a part of the Witterbane's crest."
As they were talking, Gus saw that one of the hooded men was still alive, although barely. "Um guys," Gus said, pointing to the man. Indy, Luz, and the rest of the Boiling Isles looked up to see the man.
Indy walked up to the man, grabbing him by his collar. "Who are you and who sent you?" Indy demanded, shaking the man.
The man started laughing maniacally. "He is still alive. He is going to kill you Dr. Jones and those witches too," the man said with an evil grin.
"Who, who is still alive?" Indy said.
"Belos, he is still alive. He has talked to us and we have answered," the man spat out, "He is going to find you freaks and destroy you, creating a utopia for all humans."
"No, no, no, it can't be true. We…we saw Belos killed by the Collector. No way is he alive. He was turned into a puddle," Luz said in fear.
"He's alive, and coming to get you human," the hooded man said.
The man continued laughing as he bit down on something, causing his body to convulse violently. Foam was appearing in his mouth as the hooded man stopped breathing. Indy felt for a pulse, but none was there.
"Cyanide pill," Indy deduced, "Damn."
Indy turned to Luz as she finally understood the situation at hand. "Luz, kid, who is this Belos?" Indy asked.