Bionic had time enough to raise his shotgun to his shoulders before he was hit by the light that had gotten the others. Now he was standing, gun raised, in the middle of a rural stretch of road, next to what appeared to be a bar.
Well, Bionic thought, best go see who’s drinkin’ tonight. He lowered his shotgun and hit part of it behind his jacket. Then he headed into the establishment.
Inside was the usual drunk lot. What struck Bionic as odd was the fact that he had been there before.
In fact, he used to work here.
Bionic walked slowly to the counter to ask some basic questions. He shouted for the female bartender, who turned around and shot him a look.
Bionic’s face shifted into a look of pure horror.
The bartender was his mother, Marilyn.
Bionic shot around so fast that he dropped his gun.
“Jack,” the bartender said, “I told you not to come here. And what did you drop?”
Jack was Bionic’s father’s name. His mother evidently thought Bionic to be his own father. The two did look very similar, after all. Bionic raced to the ground and picked up his shotgun. He contemplated shooting the woman, but instead chose to hide the weapon.
“If you’ve come here to ask me to forgive you, it’s too late.”
Bionic grunted and walked out the way he came in. He was so furious that tears were rolling down his cheeks. The nerve of that woman, he thought.
***
Marilyn watched her ex-husband walk out the door. She wondered why he would travel all this way just to walk out without saying anything. She also wondered what he was concealing behind his jacket.
Marilyn sighed and returned to her work just as her son, John Pemental, walked out of he kitchen with a tray of peanuts for the patrons. Marilyn hoped the boy wouldn’t see his father here. She looked toward the door again, but Jack was gone.
***
Agent Bionic wondered how he got here. This must’ve been one of those hallucinations. Back in the mental hospital in Florida (the sate which he was, ironically, in now), his shrink told him that his “trip” to that other world was caused by his unresolved childhood issues. This might have been something like that.
Bionic decided that if he was going to wake up, he’d have to finish something here. So, he walked back behind the bar to his mother’s old house. There he waited, peering stealthily through the window.
*** The seventeen-year-old John Pemental finished his duties for the night and walked back to the house with a hidden beer. He figured he would drink it once he rode far enough away from this house later tonight.
As he went into the house and crossed the small kitchen, his mother said, “Your father was here tonight.”
John was shocked. He missed his dad greatly, and the man didn’t even say hello to him. Unless his mother shoed the poor man out.
“I shoed him out,” his mother said. “I think he had a gun.”
John was furious at the woman’s accusation. He went into the garage and pulled the tarp off his Harley. “I’m goin’ out!” he yelled to her. He jumped on the bike and started her up. Or at least he should have. He tried the ignition again. Nothing. “What the hell!” he yelled.
His mother walked into the room. “Sorry, dear. I had to siphon the gas to go into town today.”
Bionic walked outside and took out his beer. He popped the cap off.
***
Agent Bionic looked at his younger self. He remembered this all too clearly. He even knew where he would get the length of cord.
But what he didn’t know was whether it was the beer that made him do it or if it was the culmination of his pent-up rage. Perhaps it was just his longing to see his father again.
In any case, Bionic saw his younger self drop the empty bottle. Tears were streaming down the young man’s cheeks as he stumbled into the toolshed. Bionic peered through the side window and saw himself going through dad’s old toolbox until he found a thick cord.
Then the young John returned to the house. Bionic walked up to the kitchen window and saw his younger self walk up behind the woman there. Before she could scream, the length of cord was being wrapped around her throat. In a few moments, she stopped flailing her arms.
Agent Bionic snuck around to garage. In a few minutes, he saw his younger self drag his mother’s corpse next to the heater and almost-empty oil drums. The youthful man dropped a pack of cigarettes and a match next to the corpse. Then the young Bionic unscrewed the gas valve on top of the heater, pulled his Harley outside, and closed the garage door.
Agent Bionic saw his younger self take a siphon and plug it up to the car and the motorcycle. He emptied the car’s tank in a few minutes. Then the young John took his father’s old shotgun and loaded it.
Amazing, Agent Bionic thought. His younger self was drunk, yet he could still think clearly enough to cover up his tracks.
Next, the young man started his Harley and fired in the direction of the heater. In a few moments, an explosion resounded as the young John Pemental rode his Harley toward his friend’s house. He would be able to find an alibi.
Agent Bionic knew how the young him would feel the next morning. Ridden with guilt. So much so that he would become a lawman just to repent. To find redemption.
Then Agent Bionic wondered why he hadn’t stopped his younger self from committing this crime tonight.
Before he could come up with an answer, he disappeared in a blaze of light.
***
Bionic landed on a cold stone floor next to three other figures. They were easy to identify, even in this dim light.
Agent Johnson was already beginning to stand up, and Agent Andy had landed on top of Agent Frink. Bionic remembered that Andy had tackled Frink just before they disappeared as well.
After the agents all got a good look at each other, a deep, calm voice boomed around them. “What in the name of God were you four doing?”
“Excuse me?” Agent Andy exclaimed. Bionic saw Agent Johnson reach for his holstered Berreta.
Then a figure came into the dim light. It was a finely dressed man who was fingering a golden watch. “You four tramped all over the time stream. Do you know what you could have done?”
“It wasn’t our fault!” Frink explained as he adjusted his glasses. “We were – ”
“You were zapped with a bluish light and ended up in your past,” the figure said. “You should have just waited calmly, trying to do as little as possible. Your actions could have had dire effects on the present and future. Now you must pay for your crimes.”
Bionic didn’t like the sound of that. Especially not after witnessing his young self commit murder. “Listen here, buddy! We just did what any normal person would’ve done. I, for one, didn’t even know I was back in time at first. By then, it was too late to do nothing. All I did was watch.”
The figure seemed surprised by Bionic’s sentiment. “Don’t you recognize a joke when you hear one?”
Bionic rolled his eyes and landed on Agent Johnson. The black-suited man seemed to be focusing on the man’s watch. Then the agent spoke. “You’re the Keeper of the Clock.”
The man nodded. “I am the possessor of the ultimate device of time traveling. And it’s also a damned accurate timepiece as well.”
Frink seemed to recognize something. “Oh yeah. The Bureau had a file on you. Well, quite a bit more than a single file, but anyway, you’re the guy that controls much of the time stream.”
The figure nodded again. “Don’t worry about your damages. I was able to prevent any disasters resulting from you breathing and interactions and whatnot. I’m just glad I found you four before you killed anyone. I couldn’t fix that without some heavy power-draining on my part.”
Bionic was still very confused. Andy seemed to be in his boat, but the short agent didn’t seem to care. “Um, sir,” Andy said timidly, “can we go now?”
The man laughed a booming laugh. “Of course. I’ll send you back to your apartment. I have some more cleaning up to do anyway. If that is all, toodles, gentlemen.” With that, the man flicked open the watch and flicked it shut. Then all went dark again.
***
All the members of Team 13 awoke in their beds. As soon as each of them awoke, they checked their calendars. Once the confirmed the date as the correct one, they breathed a sigh of relief. Well, all but Agent Johnson, anyway. He still had the mysteries of his past on his mind.
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