2013.09.12 - Of Time Travel and Immortals...

It has been roughly fifteen years since the running started. Since Hope Summers was nearly killed as a baby. Since she was sent into the time stream with her protector, a version of Nathan Summers. In that time, the two of them have experienced a lot. Things that no one could ever imagine, and then some.

But more recently, the two of them have been split from each other. They were split in a time jump.

For Hope, that was almost a year and a half ago. For a year and a half ago she ended up appearing alone, in the ruins of a city. She ended up wandering into one of a pair of other, neighboring cities, the so called 'clean' city, where she has lived in secret, with only one other person in the entire city knowing who she is, or having had more than a brief momentary glimpse of her.

Unfortunately by this future time, the Earth is also dying. Those two cities are all that remains of humanity. Every continent besides North America is now a barren wasteland of one sort or another, and even the remaining continent is in bad shape. We're talking so bad, that the inhabitants of these two cities know they can barely survive on what little land they have, thus they are in a sort of cold war regarding resources, while also preparing to escape to the stars...

Millenia had passed since the First Great Cataclysm. Civilizations had risen and fallen. Mesopotamiam, Roman, Britian, American, Chinese, United Earth... thousands of years of wars and battles and fighting...

And at the twilight of mankind, with the oceans risened and engulfing much of the continents, the fallout from countless wars having devastated the wastelands, the Earth gasps, once more, valiantly trying to preserve itself...

Footsteps echoes through the street, disconcordant among the silence of the city, before suddenly disappearing. Strain as one may to hear it, it is simply gone.

And then, suddenly, as though emerged from the swirling dust that echoes through the city, the stranger is suddenly before Hope. "Girl."

Cloaked in a tattered robe, the figure slowly removes the hood, one arm covered with spent magazines and covered in a spiked glove. Dark eyes, parly covered by claw scars and other scratches of wars long past, search Hope's face, before a derisive snort, all the louder in the quiet mournful air. "You. You're supposed to be the -hope- of mankind?" a gruff voice says. "Sometimes I think Aram has taken leave of his senses, ever since he became the Eternal Geomancer."

A strong hand reaches out quickly, before Hope decides to run -again-, firmer than anything that Hope might have encountered in so long. "Listen well, girl. This is not the time to run and retreat. This is the time to listen. Do you understand me, Hope?"

The fact that she was found so quickly....

All right, so she'd been living in this part of the city for at least a few months..

Or so easily (?) show that despite everything Nathan taught her, Hope let her guard down. That point is especially driven home by how before she even begins to have a real chance to run, she's grabbed.

"Let go of me!' is said in a low tone that is almost a snarl. A brave face at best, but if she's learned anything, if one looks like they're more trouble than they're worth, their chances of escape and survival are increased.

Even if in this case that effort is probably futile.

"Let go of me!"

"If I did not think you would turn and run the minute I let go, I would," the unhooded man in the cloak replies, his grim voice suddenly tired and weary, as he looks at Hope's attempt at a brave face. So much like a kitten attempting to snarl. A faint almost-smile crosses his expression briefly, before the man tightens his grip with each attempt until he's almost crushing her wrist with superhuman intensity. "Stop -squirming-, girl. I mean no harm. For whatever reason, you are -here-, and you do not belong -here-." The grip shows no signs of relenting until Hope stops... and then the man releases the grip... although if she tries to run again, she -will- find herself with an implacable grip around her neck.

Does not belong...?

There's a bit of a glare at the cloaked man, even as he lets go. Fortunately though, she doesn't turn and start to run, just yet. After all, that exact choice of phrasing does cause her to wonder just a little...

"Oh really? And how would you know? Did someone send you? Nathan? The Clone? My would be killer? The others?"

Yes, with every question asked, Hope still looks at the mystery man in a way that is definitely defiant.

The kitten bares its fangs again, and the dark mien around the scarred stranger almost lightens. "Good, there -is- fight in you, then. There is a time to retreat, but there is also time to stand your ground."

A slight faraway gaze fixes on... some point beyond Hope's face, as though he were addressing something beyond Hope's vision, before the man's face focuses once again.

"No one you mention sent me, unless you consider my brother Aram one of the 'others'." Almost, there was a faint, fond smile, a shared in-joke known only t ohimself, but the man's smile is fleeting, his voice harsh once again.

"Listen well, and listen. Here, mankind's final retreat from Earth is to the stars. But you... the stars are not for you. You belong to the past. Your would-be killer will -not- find you here, but that is simply because you should not be here at all. When the final meeting comes, it will not be here, not at the end of the world."

And if only Gilad or Hope knew just how disastrous that retreat will end up being, for everyone involved.

But that is something for another time, and in the stars...

"Oh really?" the redheaded girl says, sounding more than a little sarcastic. Sure, Aram, who ever that is doesn't sound like one of those other time travelers from the past that Hope met a few years ago, but still...

"Right. Considering how long it's been without a sign of him or Nathan, I don't doubt that. But without him or Nathan, here is where I'm probably gonna end up staying for now."

"For now, perhaps." The cloaked man turns, cloth brushing against the crumbling decayed building. Not all the dust that flies is from the cloak, and the man steps away. "But you have perhaps... not very long before your time at the end of the world ends. When you return to the past, and you will, there comes a point when you need to stop running. You will not find rest at the -Institute-. When you stop running, and you will, you had best be prepared to stand and fight."

And as... Who ever that is turns, Hope just stares at him, sort of dumbfounded. That is before finally, she does nod ever so slightly, and slowly.

"Oooooookay." is said in a tone that makes it clear that she either disbelieves, or isn't sure if she should believe whoever this is.

"Whatever you say Mr. Weirdo in a cloak."

A faint glimmer of a smile again. "Hh. Aram would indeed like you. He would also tell you that my head is full of onger dung. And the Earth would laugh with him."

Tilting his head, the stranger inclines his head, scarred features set in stone. "We have met, in the past, though this would be your first meeting with me now. So many thousands of years later. I am Gilad. Men called me the Eternal Warrior."

Met?

In the past?

That causes Hope to not just blink, but also to stare. For after a fashion it gives her a new sort of... Hope.

"I see...." is muttered before she inclines her head a little.

"I guess when we meet then, things are gonna get interesting..."

PRESENT DAY: ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER.

In the wake of a day the world would never forget, a quiet war was being fought.

It'd been put together slowly. Little bits of things that would slip through security, but put together slowly by an inside man at One World Trade Center. Assembling little by little, all it required was a tipping point. But not on the -same- day. Oh no, that was too obvious. With too many people on their guards.

And so the day after was when the Null put together the last component...

BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA

Only to be interrupted as a jetski comes flying through the bay, taking advantage of a small ramp to come bursting through the harbor door as seemingly innoculous sailboat people break out heavy weaponry. The man riding the jetski unleashes rounds of bullets at the sailors, and then as the jetski crashes into a dock pole, goes flying off and coming crashing onto the dock...

And as bullets fly...

As that jetski goes airborne...

As it skids to a stop...

It stops just mere feet from a table where a girl is having a smoothly. This redheaded girl just blinks as all of that chaos breaks loose, and then blinks again at the man on the jet ski. That is as she rushes forwards towards him, so she can grab his gun, and start shooting at who ever it is that was shooting at him.

"Hey! Onger Dung Head!" is shouted, as she just tests something. After all she did only get one glance at the guy before. "Why the heck are you being shot at! If it's about the 'bomb', I can tell you it's being dealt with!"

"It's not the -bomb-, it's the Last Enemy!" Gilad growls.

The gun snatched by Hope, Gilad grabs for another gun, this one a shotgun. Taking careful aim, the time-defiant warrior shoots at the sailboat.

From the sailboat, one last defiant yell:

"Curse you, Eternal Warrior! _Nothing_ is forever!"

And then the sailboat blows.

And Gilad turns back, reaching to grab the gun away from Hope.

A dark glare softens, as Gilad watches Hope carefully, before nodding. "Good, you've not been taken by the Last Enemy. Now then... who are -you-? You're not the Geomancer."

With a slight grin, Hope engages the safety on the gun, sets it on the ground, and kicks it over towards Gilad, before blinking at the mention of 'The Last Enemy' and being 'taken'....?!?

"Call me Hope, Gilad." is said in a rather matter of fact manner. "And I don't know anything about a Geomancer. Or a 'Last Enemy'. All though if those guys were after me? I have a few guesses."

Of course with that said, she motions towards a spot down the line, and mutters, "Run. The cops have a response time in /seconds/ here, not minutes."

The Eternal Warrior nods in agreement, well aware of the scenario at hand. And it seemed the girl was well practiced at -running-, from the way she fled.

Moving quickly, hopping over various obstacles in the way, the man runs down, pausing to grab the girl and yank into a vent, pushing her up, and then leaping up to climb in. "Keep moving!"

And at the end of the escape route, Gilad cants his head to listen, before nodding. "There's no pursuit. Now then... you're not the Null. You're not Sect. You're not a Geomancer. So what -are- you, Hope?" Brusque and right to the point now that the battle is over.

"Time traveler." Hope supplies as they reach a 'safe spot' (or what's at least safe for the moment).

"Mutant." is then added as the redhead glances at the 'Eternal Warrior'. Heck, she just stares at him for more than a bit, as if she's studying him.

"And possibly a few more things than that, Gilad. But odds are I'm in good company there, since it looks like you won't age a day in the next thousand plus years."

"Time traveller." Gilad takes the little bit of news with equanimity. Like Ivar the Timewalker, then. "Well, that certainly explains something. Either you've met Aram, or a Geomancer, in your past."

Eyebrows arched, Gilad nods. "And my future."

If Hope was expecting a reaction out of 'mutant', she wasn't getting it, as Gilad crosses his arms. "So, since you have met me in the future, I assume there's a message involved. Otherwise, we would hardly be talking."

Message?

"I don't about that. You told me I wasn't suppose to go to the stars or something like that, but I did anyways. And you told me to be careful of 'The Institute', which I am. And I didn't meet any Geomancer that I know of. All though you did mention a brother... I think."

She shrugs.

"And you told me to be ready to stand and fight and stop running. Aside from that... You were vague, cryptic, and didn't tell me anything to tell you, aside from making it clear you had met me before. Which I'm guessing is now, sine you have no clue who I am, and the world isn't almost dead and all that..."

"To stand and fight. Hhh. That sounds like something I -would- say. Well then. The world is very much alive, and I intend to make certain it stays that way. The Null will -not- turn this world into nothingless so long as the Eternal Warrior draws breath." He regards Hope briefly. "The Geomancer is elsewhere, attending to her affairs." The last word is accented by something that -might- be sarcasm, looking at his face, one gets the impression Gilad was simply stating things in a harsh fashion.

"Well then," Gilad comments. "Since apparently my future self seems to have been talking to a Geomancer involving you, which would explain all the crypticness... and you seem to know exactly what Aram calls me, I will presume that -something- will happen involving you in the future that you will need me for, Hope."

If The Sentry were out and about, thus people remember him, and in turn his 'big villain' a joke could be made here about maybe getting The Null to fight The Void so that everything would be 'Null and Void'.


 * COUGH*

Anyways....

"Maybe." Hope admits as she continues to watch Gilad.

"But until then, if you need to contact me..." a small scrap of paper with an abstract string of letters and numbers that ends with @lexmail.com is handed over.

"Here you go."

"Who knows. Maybe you were sent to me, so I could encounter you to help /stop/ that future from happening. Which would be nice since not even Nathan is willing to help with that."

"Perhaps," Ancient eyes searches Hope's gaze. "Certainly if the Null ended the world in the future you saw, then something will have to be done."

There was a pause as Gilad studies the scrap of paper, before nodding. Computer electronics were not his forte, but it could certainly be shared with others to do this for him.

"We shall talk," Gilad says brusquely. "And then we shall discuss just what is chasing you and what you must be standing and fighting against."

Eyes dart towards the way they had come in. "But I must return. There are still Null -slaves- out there to be taken care of."

The Null?

Hope isn't sure if it (Them? He? She?) had anything to do with it. But then again she wouldn't put it past her persuer to work with who... Or whatever this 'Null' is, just to get at her.

Thus as Gilad mentions taking off and dealing with those 'Null slaves', all Hope can mutter is 'Good luck. And good hunting."