1 Time Travel
It was the year 2200.
During the last few centuries, humanity has slowly regressed back from its glory all the way to a dark age. Although their technologies have advanced way more than ever, their social situations had become considerably worse.
The people had become very sensitive, that even the slightest hint of racism, sexism, and other wrongdoings would set them off into a fit of rage. The government themselves aren't any better as they slowly became corrupt and distanced itself from common people.
As time goes, these differences started to make themselves obvious.
At first, some people would either rant about it on social media and their friends, but as time passes, they could no longer stand with the government.
Massive rebellions occur everywhere across the world as if they were wildfires and the government also could no longer stand them as they decreed martial law. It was a chaotic time.
Gunfire along with bombs occurred everywhere and rivers of blood were formed from the civilian corpses as fear was spread among the people. Eventually, in 2098, peaceful countries and cities had become ruins.
However, five great heroes appeared among this chaos, they were called the Five Rulers.
Each of them united the people across each of their continents and overthrow everything, including the government and the people who oppose them. They were unstoppable as they wiped out all powerhouses with a sweep in that era. Eventually, each of them established their own empire and signed peace treaties among themselves.
They were hailed as heroes, admired by the people and almost no one dared to oppose them.
And with so, world peace was achieved. No more wars, no more fighting, everyone had enough.
The world then slowly recovered with the help of these five empires. Destroyed natural resources were recovered, those who lost their nations seek refuge among the five empires, technologies slowly improved, and social politics and economics were simplified.
These eras are called the golden eras, as the people live happily in their new society.
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2209, Western Empire.
Deep inside the slums along an abandoned alley, a man can be seen sitting on a steel chair, eyeing the five different people who are currently bowing to him. His stare was like that of an eagle looking at its prey.
The man looks like he's in his late thirties with short ragged hair and fair skin. He was wearing a loose leather coat and pants full of holes. Through the holes, one can see that every part of his body except for his face is covered in metal since most of his body has been replaced with robotic parts.
His name was Vincent Doyle, an underworld drug dealing boss.
"Number two, how is the situation in Louisiana?" he asked with a low voice.
"Nothing to note, sir. The new drug has been selling like usual."
"Alright, how about you, number three?"
"Uh, I'm sorry, sir. It seems like it won't do good in Alabama."
"Number five, have you erased all of our traces?"
"Yes, sir. Not a single dust was left on the scene."
"Number four, Have..."
"Number..."
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After checking up on all of his underlings, he breathed out a sigh of relief as his body relaxed on the metal chair.
Over the past few days, he has been making many bold moves to spread his illegal products further across other cities in hopes of his association growing big.
Ever since he first started dabbling in the underworld seventeen years ago, he has never had any opportunity to expand his business due to the city's foolproof security system. Even the slightest touch that feels criminal was immediately detected by the advanced technology of today's era.
Due to this, he was forced to play safe and keep on moving as a small figure. Obscure to the eyes of the underworld and the outside. Even now after making all sorts of moves, his business still went as usual.
Nothing changed. It's just like every other day.
He stared into the nothingness as tiredness can be seen in his eyes. He has been growing his business for the past twenty years but still has not grown big at all.
"Even after all these years, all my efforts in this business were all for nothing, huh?"
His brows suddenly started to furrow. The tiredness in his eyes suddenly changed into a burning fury as he slammed his hand into his chair.
A loud sound of metal clashing against each other was heard as his subordinates flinched in fear.
'It was all because this goddamn era is way too advanced! Every figure who stood at the top of this era were genius monsters that managed to manipulate everyone in the palm of their hands. Every move they make would turn the table for everyone who went against them!'
Hells, even the laws and security around the cities were improved like crazy. Complemented by the current era's insanely advanced technology, there was almost nothing that he could exploit to evade the eyes of the government.
It was also because of this that he was forced to play safe and let his business grow small in the slums.
But then, his mouth curled into a smile,
'However, this won't continue for far longer. After all these years, I've been saving money to buy all kinds of robotic parts. If this plan were to work, then I might be able to conquer the lands... The item I requested should arrive soon...' he thought in his head.
After a few minutes, a man came down from the corner, carrying a massive box in his hands. As soon as Vincent saw him, he got up from his chair and cheered loudly.
"Number six, there you are!"
"Yes, sir. Here are the items that you have requested" said the man as he placed the box on the ground.
"Good, very good..." he smiled as he glanced at the robotic parts.
Most of them look dirty and broken, but that won't pose any problems. All he needs to do was to bring these parts back home and his plan will succeed smoothly. He nodded after a while and asked,
"How much do these costs?" he asked as he glanced toward Number 6.
"These cost us a year's worth of income, sir," he replied smoothly with his face covered under his dark hood.
Vincent nodded slowly.
The other crew members did not react, their boss had done a lot of these expensive transactions for robotic parts in the past two years.
The first time he had done it, they were completely flabbergasted by Vincent's horrible decision of putting a lot of his group's hard-earned network into something as trivial as robotic parts, but as time goes, they became quite used to it.
He then got up slowly and walked towards the box of goods with a smile. These were the last parts he needed to execute his grand plan.
tap... tap... tap...
He walked slowly as the surroundings went quiet. Vincent could even hear the dripping sounds of water droplets in the distance...
However, a strange uneasiness was weighing on his mind. It was the kind of feeling that can only be felt after years of experience he had in this kind of business, indicating that something was truly wrong.
He glanced around the alley. From his surroundings to his underlings, before landing his eyes on the recently arrived Number 6.
He stared at Number 6 with a cold glare,
'He is suspicious...'
In the past, Number 6 was someone that he hired out of force. He had put his family hostage to force Number 6 to work for him due to his incredible expertise.
Usually, when he ordered him to do something, Number 6's body would shake subtly and he would clutch his hand to indicate his hate toward Vincent. But right now, he replied very smoothly without hesitation, showing his calmness as if everything was under his control.
The more Vincent thought about it the more suspicious he became. Eventually, his eyes widen as he came to a realization,
'This bastard... He's with the police!!'
Number 6 smiled faintly as he realized that his boss has noticed something. He then laughed loudly as he opened his coat, revealing a humongous amount of explosives inside!
"Die you bastard!!" he screamed as he lunged himself toward Vincent.
'Not good!' Vincent thought as he jumped behind his metal chair and used it as a shield.
BOOM!
A massive explosion occurred in the alley as the shockwave spread out for hundreds of meters. Everything within the area was destroyed, and Vincent's underlings were also obliterated by the blast since they didn't react in time. Vincent himself was sent flying into a nearby wall as his metal chair couldn't handle the explosion.
Thankfully, the walls were made out of reinforced metal, it barely managed to survive that blast.
'"Ugh..." he muttered, checking his body for injuries.
There were some burns on his face and his bones felt like it cracked slightly. The rest of his body was made out of robotic parts so it did not sustain much damage. However, it would still take some time to completely recover it. He then got up and walked to the robotic parts that Number 6 placed on the ground.
It was also slightly damaged, but it was mostly fine. It seems like the parts were made out of a strong material. He breathed a sigh of relief and picked them up. After that, he walked slowly through the alley toward his secret home.
The bright moon hangs in the night sky, shining through the messy surroundings.
The scenery was filled with dust and rubble. Corpses of his underlings littered the ground around him, forming blood marks around the street and walls, but Vincent was indifferent to it. He continued to walk...
'Their sacrifices are not in vain... Everything will change after I succeed in my plan after all...'
Bang!
"The bomb has gone off! Quick, surround the alley and find the criminals!" someone shouted from the darkness.
Groups of heavily armored law enforcers suddenly rush out from the covers into the alley like a flood. Each of them carried rifles and electric batons in their hand as they scan the area around the alley.
Vincent's heart jolted as he jumped high up in the sky.
Due to his cyber-enhanced legs, he had enough power to jump for about ten meters before landing at the top of an old building. He then turned around and looked down as he saw the groups of law enforcers heavily scavenging his base.
'Well, there goes my base and business...'
Without much care, he turned around casually and leaped across the buildings to leave this place.
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After hours of continuous leaping, he arrived at the city's main street. It was bustling with people as floating cars traveled through the streets. However, he did not have time to mess around as he immediately headed into another alley.
Inside the small alley was a small sewer entrance that looks quite ordinary. But when Vincent stood in front of it, the entrance reacted and opened by itself, revealing a long stairway that descended down into a dark room.
[ House master detected. Welcome home, Sir Vincent. ]
A robotic voice sounded from all directions as he descended down the stairs carrying his robotic parts. He then entered a room.
The room was medium-sized and looked like a garage. However, in the middle of the room, lay a man tied up into a chair.
The man wore a suit that looked like it belong to the 19th century. Even the watch that he wore looked like something that was released since god knows when.
Vincent put the box of robotic parts on top of a table and he smiled,
"Are these enough to make the time machine that you told me about?"
The man then looked at Vincent with fury as he took the box with force.
"Yes, it is. Though, wouldn't it be better if you had released me first?"
Vincent chuckled as he unbind the ropes around the man. Although the man was quite rude to him, Vincent still looked at him with bright eyes as if he valued him greatly.
This man was a time traveler that came from a distant future.
Vincent stumbled upon him two years ago when the man accidentally landed in one of the alleys near his base. He was tattered in the wreckage of his old time machine and was very confused about which era he was in. If he had met someone else, he might have gotten the help he needed and continued his time-traveling adventure without problems.
Unfortunately, he met Vincent.
Vincent saw his confusion and thought of it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He tricked the time traveler into thinking he was trying to help him before kidnapping him inside his house. After this, Vincent forced him into making a brand new time machine for himself.
He was kept here every day rebuilding the time machine while Vincent gathers the parts through his business, and now, all that's left is a small touch before it was done.
Clang! Clang!
Sziiiiiiing!
The sound of machinery echoes throughout the room while Vincent watched the time traveler finish the time machine. After hours of continuous work, it was finally done.
The machine looked like a small shack of wood that looks very out of place in the room. It was made looking like this on purpose so it would inconspicuous whenever he went to another era. He could always change the machine's appearance whenever he wants.
Both Vincent and the time traveler stared at it with a smile. All of their hard work during the last two years will finally bore fruit!
"Should I test the machine for you, sir?" the time traveler said with a faint smile.
However, Vincent glared at him with suspicion.
"Do you think I'm so stupid as to let you escape using this time machine?"
The time traveler's smile froze as he sat back in his chair. He was really powerless against this kidnapper of his. Vincent has both brains and brawns, and he was having a rough time wracking his brain on how to escape his grasp.
Without much thought, Vincent went inside the time machine and saw all sorts of buttons placed in many places. He quickly took a small manual from his pocket. If not for this manual that the time traveler gave him on how to operate these, he would have had no clue what each of these does.
Speaking of which, the walls were completely transparent from the inside, so he could clearly see everything going on in the room outside of this machine.
The time traveler was still sulking in his chair as if his plan had failed, thus Vincent has no suspicion against him.
Beep beep beep...
Vincent quickly followed the instructions in the manual and pressed all sorts of buttons around him. Lights started to shine around him as the time machine started shaking, letting out a loud eerie sound.
'Now, the last step is to put that helmet on...'
In the middle of the machine lies a helmet that is strapped onto the ceiling. He quickly stood at the center and put on the helmet.
Click.
The helmet fit in his head perfectly as if it was made exactly for him.
"And now the final part..." he muttered slowly.
He lifted his hand above his helmet and pressed the final button. All of a sudden, four glowing ropes suddenly appeared out of nowhere and bind all of Vincent's limbs!
Vincent's eyes went wide open,
'What? This was not how things were supposed to go in the manual!'
FWIIIING
The eerie sound intensified as Vincent's head was suddenly assaulted with pain.
"AAAAARGH! W-What is this!? This thing doesn't send me into the past, it is damaging my brain!"
He then glanced back outside the 'time machine' and saw the time traveler. He no longer had a sulking face, but a wide smile instead.
"You damn fool, you actually fell for it!" he screamed towards Vincent.
The time traveler was laughing like a madman, completely amused seeing Vincent's suffering.
"This bastard...!" Vincent muttered as he tried to move his body.
However, the restraint that bind him was so strong that even his cyborg body was unable to budge it by even a bit.
At this time, the time traveler slowly walked inside the time machine before appearing in front of Vincent.
Bam!
He jabbed Vincent's throat as hard as he could as Vincent screamed in pain.
"That's what you get for torturing me for two years!" he laughed maniacally.
He kept on jabbing his throat again and again without mercy until he was panting with exhaustion.
"I shall tell you something about this machine... Although it's true that it is a time machine, I have tampered with the manual that I gave you just a little bit..."
He then pointed towards the helmet that was slowly torturing Vincent.
"That helmet, it was not part of the original time machine... It was something that is used to send every single one of your memories and consciousness into the tunnel of time! Without them, your brain would shut down and you will die eventually..."
Vincent jolted at the mention of the word 'die' and started thrashing around even more, in hopes that his metal arm could somewhat this unbreakable chain that bind him, but to no avail.
The time traveler then sighs as he put his palm on his face,
"It's a shame I couldn't electrocute your brain and kill you directly. You were so adept in technology that if I happen to put something like that, you would have noticed something off about it. Due to this, I had no choice but to do something different to kill you indirectly. Oh well, there's no way one could survive in the tunnel of time with no protection, let alone fragile memories..."
'This... Bastard...'
His vision started to blur as time goes on, until everything turned completely black.
