The Time Stone, Third Edition (Extended Version)

The sunny skies and winds submit to the air and the blueness of the ocean is overlooked by the Temporo Towers Hotel in the neighborhood of Wealthier Excelsior, Florida. Milton Drax stands on the veranda of the hotel suite where he is staying courtesy of his company, and he sips a margarita holding his glass firmly as he peers over the distance and smirks.

“Beautiful view” says a voice behind him echoing far ahead. Drax turns around and saw the stunning form of Elizabeth Peters, her long flowing blonde hair and voluptuous figure mesmerizing him as she stands near a table with an umbrella. She uncrossed her arms and approached. “What are you doing here?” She asks inquisitively.

“I work here don’t I?” He asks impetuously as he approached her and put his drink down on the table.

“After what you did in Turkey, I am surprised to see you here and that you have the guts to show your face, but it is also quite … fortuitous.”

“How so?” asks Drax.

“Because we won’t have to go out and find you” she snapped her fingers and out of the hotel room behind the swinging curtains came three Culto warriors who stand before her, holding their daggers out towards Drax. Two armed guards also came out and grabbed Drax by the arms and twisted them behind his back as one applied a pair of handcuffs to his wrists.

“What is this?” He exclaims.

“Poetic justice, perfect harmony for a traitor” she laughs as she turns around and marches out, followed by the two guards escorting Drax through the room and out of the hotel, the three Culto warriors following them with their daggers pointed outward, fixated on Drax as they follow.

In the darkness of a large office, the floors, walls, and ceilings lit up with red, pink, and purple lighting slightly illuminate the room. A group stands in the center with a large conference room table and chairs surrounding it, while a large gilded throne like seat occupied the far end. Broad Staffnight, Elizabeth Peters, Mark Cumberberry, and Chief of Police Brent Hightower stand near a man with a large black hood with silver emblems of stars and moons and curves around it, his face completely concealed and his clothing like the armor of a medieval knight, purely in black, and hard and metallic. They stand in the room surrounded by dark figures in the behind them and a with a monitor on the far end of the table opposite the throne with a visage of the dark figure that guided them and their predecessors in all prior meetings since the founding of the company three hundred years ago.

“I have not lived so long without knowing the risks involved in the actions I recommend. We must remember the scourge of the Last Time is upon us and we are quite frankly running out of time. Your chances to find the relic are growing slim and you must find it before it is too late.” His hoarse crinkled voice caused shockwaves throughout the room, shivering the spines of many as he pointed around them on the small screen and revealed the dark figures surrounding them.

“We cannot act alone anymore,” says Broad.

“We were never alone…The mighty Culto de la piedra tiempo.” He pointed as they came forward and all stands at attention, dozens of them in synchronistic formation. “They are proud servants always ready to lead the fight against those, known only as the five chosen ones, those who would threaten our mission, our purpose … our destiny!”

“So we would do it.” says Broad and the others stand quiet. The visage on the screen nodded and then faded out. Then two guards entered with their prisoner, Milton Drax in chains. He wore a blue jumpsuit and full leg and arm restraints.

“Unhand me!” he screams.

“Well, well, well.” says Broad. “My old protégé has fallen deep indeed.” He crossed his arms as he smiles at Elizabeth and says “good job.”

Mark quickly transformed to his true form and snarled wildly readying to charge his foe.

“Calm down Satyr” says Broad. Drax jumped back in the arms of his captors.

“You.” he says angrily.

“Well, Drax, now what do we do? We can’t use you anymore, but can’t free you. This pains me to see you like this as I was hoping to groom you for my position.”

“I could never be as cold as you.” Drax replies. “I see you even have Janus El Trefoil by your side.” gesturing to the man in the cloak, “you could groom each other.” The man in the hood turns his head slightly still concealing his face, and his hood vibrated glowing orange and white in a sudden sequence of colors.

“Our friend wishes that we do whatever is necessary.” says Broad.

“Justice will prevail. Law and order always win, even over ultimate evil like you.” Says Drax determined.

“Just tell us where the time stone is and we will spare your execution.” says Elizabeth.

“That green rock? You will never find it. I saw the harm you can bring and won’t help you succeed at it.” says Drax.

“You don’t get it, you are done, your career, and your life with Temporo, Inc., your dreams, your life in general as you know it.” Broad says.

“We’ll see about that,” says Drax.

“Damn you Milton, you leave and you are through with us. We will never rest until you are disbarred, convicted, and living in a shelter.” Broad screams at him pointing.

“Your connections may have helped you ruin others and maybe you’ll succeed in doing the same to me, but… I know things about you…” Drax’s eyes were as clear and thoroughly determined as ever, as he glazed at his former mentor proudly uttering those words. “You use people for your own personal motives; you are an abuser and a malcontent.”

“You’re wrong. We aren’t the ones who abuse people. It is about pursuing the highest ideology of success and control. The true power.” says Broad.

“Is that what you will tell those two homeless kids you set up back in Chronix Bay and the countless others who became pawns in your perverted cosmic game of chess … you are going to get yours Broad!” Drax pointed to him with a stern look.

“Well,” Broad angered, but calmed down briefly “I have taught you well, but I have not taught you all that I know. Take him out of my sight.” He lifted his hand up and turns as the guards dragged Drax out of the room.

“This isn’t over Broad. Not by a long shot. This is not over.” He yells and is heard through the hall and heavy doors slamming shut as they escorted him outside.

“Too bad this will be the last time we see one another, old friend.” Broad muttered as he looks at the empty screen before them and saw five figures standing, darkness became them, and they stared into him menacingly. “The five chosen ones, it can’t be.” He frowns looking into the darkness thinking of his own mortality and dooming past and fate, despair.

“You know we need that time stone. That is the third we lost. There are no others.” Elizabeth speaks sternly to her boss.

“That we know of, my dear,” Broad looks straight with a determined grin.

In the deep, dark dungeon basement of Central Prison in the middle of Seneca Falls, Florida, Drax sits in a solitary jail cell thinking about his life and his failures and successes, and his dilemma. He knew he was going to be killed in prison because he knew too much about Broad Staffnight’s operations, and the true purpose of Temporo, Inc., and he welcomed death. He felt he had nothing else to live for as he gently wept, with his head slumped in between his legs. All his knowledge of the law, and all his experience couldn’t save him from the conspiracy of a thousand corrupt officials, prosecutors, and judges bought off in a system owned by his former employers. He fell asleep thinking tomorrow would be his last day on Earth and forever certain of what destiny will truly have in store for him as pure and utter oblivion.

The next morning, Drax is taken up to the decks of a loading area for trucks and cargo vans. He is being prepared with the usual chains and restraints to be placed in a transport wagon to head on a long trek to a prison in the far northern part of the state. He covered his eyes in the light, having grown accustomed to the darkness of the dungeon below and in an instant he saw an image, a silhouette of a man, a shadow in the corner of his eye, like a nemesis watching and waiting for him to reach some point in his life.

“Huh?” He shakes his head and figured he is going crazy. They begin to escort him to the back of the van when suddenly the door swings open and strikes one of the guards in the face, rendering him unconscious as he drops to the ground. The other guard and Drax were suddenly in shock and as the guard reaches for his sidearm he is quickly struck and subdued in the blink of an eye though Drax saw nothing but a blur of red and yellow light. Then the light faded behind him and he felt someone materialize behind him, large hands gripped his and with one reflex action touch ripped the restraints right off his wrists and legs. They unlocked themselves and flew off of Drax’s wrists and ankles striking the ground meters away from him. “What the hell?” Says Drax as he turns around to acknowledge his benefactor, but there is no one there. Drax looks around surrounded by the empty hangar and looks again at the unconscious forms of the guards and knew he is now a fugitive. It didn’t matter what or who set him free, but it is a miraculous intervention. He has to act on his own to get as far away from here as possible. He picked up the revolvers from the floor near the guards. He shut the back doors to the transport wagon and entered the wagon that has the keys ready inside. He started the engine and drove out of the already open hangar door as he knew where he needed to go, where he stashed his emergency sleeping bag with the relic that Elizabeth and Broad prized as the time stone.

A few kilometers away from the hangar base, James, Tina, and Mercedes are continuing forward in their stolen cargo van. They ride forward along many miles and stretches of road not heading in any particular direction, but trying to get as far out of town as possible. They each think in the silence that became the tense nature of their lives now, pondering about the whimsical realities of life and time as well as the hidden purposes of men, the stretches of where their individual destinies lay and what time has in store for them. Then they approached a tall building, with tall towers on either side, turrets surrounding them, and flags fluttering in different shapes and colors, faded with weathering and wear and tear holes over the decades, as its red brick surroundings formed a miles long complex that protruded above ominously to passersby long from any signs of civilization. A long stretch of brick road made its way around the perimeter. The backdrop of the Amnesty woods, known to locals as a haunted, resided around it and behind it; shrubbery growing into the brick structure as nature slowly takes over the signs of manmade architecture unkempt and unmaintained as well as around the large lawn before it and surrounding arched portal. The van slowly came up to the long road leading up to the front door.

“Wow,” says Tina with a sense of wonder and a little fear. “It’s beautiful.”

“It looks like a medieval fairytale castle” says Mercedes.

“It looks like trouble” says James as he opens his eyes and takes control of the wheel bringing the van around the long stretch of road looming to the side of the building. The van drove up the side of the castle.

Meanwhile, Drax drove his stolen police transport across the grassy lawns and knolls nearby and he spotted the castle and recognized it. “Magnitude Fortress” he muttered angrily under his breath as he approached the narrowing brick road towards the castle entranceway and around the back way. He retrieved the time stone and knew now that he needed to get in there as the top secret projects and technologies would be kept there and he needed to get a hold of them to get out of town and leave the machinations of his former employer once and for all. They have most certainly frozen his bank accounts and credit cards and dried up his assets as is their customary standard procedure as he is familiar with it. He stops the van after pulling around the corner and saw another van pulling up near the side of the structure and stopping suddenly. “How odd,” he wondered as he figured there weren’t any deliveries at this time of day. “Who could that be?” He muttered to himself. He saw the front side passenger door open and a young woman exit the car, long dark brown flowing hair and a radiant smile of innocence that hid a more ominous composure. He saw another young woman exit from the side door also, tan complexion and knotted black hair, she pushed her rolled up sleeves higher and held her right hand to her eyes like a visor, looking around in the intense heat. The driver side door opens and a young man with tattered clothing exits the car. He looks around and joins his companions. He drove up a little closer to discern their facial expressions and identities. He stops the van as his jaw dropped. “I can’t believe this!” He parked the van and exited. He walks towards them with his hands in his jumpsuit pocket casually. He noticed the trio began to circle into the structure and were knocking on the big metal door on the side of the building. He followed them up the curving pathway near a courtyard keeping his distance to avoid detection. He saw them turn away from the door then and without warning a number of men in dark suits appeared from all sides and drew their weapons on the trio forcing them to raise their hands above their heads and lower themselves to their knees. The men in dark suits wore dark sunglasses and held long cylindrical silvery shining metallic tubes with small openings on the end and with a protruding handle resembling that of a gun. The trio did not recognize it, but knew it is a weapon and submitted to their captors. The men in dark suits gathered around them, one leader approaching and starting to pat them down when suddenly shots fired toward their direction and the men scattered. The trio rose to their feet and hid behind the van meters away.

The shots continued and the men in dark suits looks around trying to find the source , but it seemed the shots came from all sides and the leader yells out “it’s an ambush… let’s get out of here.” None of the men in dark suits were struck, but they scattered about the streets. The trio came out of their hiding spaces after seeing the last dark suited man run off into the distance.

“What the hell is that?” asks James.

“Shots fired!” says Tina.

“Are you a cop?” asks Mercedes with a curious grin.

“Ha!” laughs Tina. “We should get out of here before whoever fired those shots comes back.”

“It’s too late.” Drax emerged from his vantage point across the courtyard. “It wouldn’t be safe to run off alone in these parts, now knowing that you are wanted man and women” says Drax.

“Who are you?” asks James.

“Consider me your benefactor. Drax walks forward nonchalantly with his arms hanging by his sides, sleeves pushed up to his elbows and he stops before them with a grin.

“What?” Tina asks.

“Milton Drax, attorney at law. I noticed you guys from over there. I couldn’t believe it is you.”

“Huh?” James gasped as the three of them looks perplexedly at Drax.

“I recognized you guys from the Intel reports. We get them periodically on our handheld GREETS RD.”

“GREETS RD?” asks James curiously.

“Standard issue Generator Remote Electromagnetic Energy Telecommunications Scanning Radar Detectors,” he held up his wrist revealing a square device with a screen and knobs and, buttons. “, but this one doesn’t work as I have been officially disconnected from the network.” he says. “but I know things that can help you and I have connections and know how things operate. I noticed you guys were part of our Project Relic even though you never knew about that. I know things about you your own mothers do not know.”

“What are you?” asks Tina.

“I am one of them …or I was.” Drax says.

“Why do you need us?” asks Tina.

“Because I admit my chances of taking them down are better with help, a small army rather than solo. Also I know about your powers James as the legendary Holder of Stones.”

“That’s what Broad called you, the Holder” says Tina. “And the Awondel tribe in Brazil called you that too.”

“What do you know about that?” asks James.

“Not much, but what I do know I will share with you in time. We must go.” Drax says.

“And what do you mean you were one of them?” asks James.

“I was one of them. The men in dark suits you have been running from and just encountered. They are a very ominous organization with ties to the high echelons of government and private corporations known as the Machination. Everything about them is classified top secret and they vanish as quickly as they appear leaving no evidence of their existence. Anyone who encounters them and talks ends up looking crazy because of the lack of proof.” Drax says.

“They are part of the government?” asks Tina.

“They are an ancient order and brotherhood who banded together long ago to preserve the best kept secret in all of history and they know more and more as each time progresses.” Drax says.

“Why did they want to harm us and you as one of them also?” asks Mercedes.

“It is hard to explain, but it was just a job for me. I had no choice. Orders come and have to be followed. It is pretty militaristic in there, even for civilian personnel. I was saddened by the necessary evil that I was involved in.” Drax replies.

“And you know us?” asks Tina.

“I know more about your lives than your own mothers do. For example,” he turns to each one and addresses them without expecting a response. “James Timewalker, born and raised in Chronix Bay, high school dropout, unemployed and unemployable most of your adult life, single, no children, homeless as of recently, and fugitive from justice as of the same. I happen to know the charges against you are bogus and you were meant to be set up to accommodate a bigger cover-up that the Machination wants to employ.”

“No way!” says Tina, and Drax turns to her.

“His partner in crime, Tina Mildred Prescott, college dropout, rap sheet a mile long mostly for prostitution and petty larceny, some drug offenses, also single, no children, unemployable, and lately fugitive from justice. Ditto on the charges against you too as you both were meant to be patsies for the Machination.”

“That is incredible!” says Mercedes.

“Actually incredible literally means not credible so I beg to differ, but while we’re on the subject, Mercedes Alma Gonzalez, born and in raised in Palo Alto, California and resident in Chronix Bay for a while then went back home, worked for a pharmaceutical company named Mercan-Tech as a lab aide and recently deported south of the border to Juarez City, Mexico, but you are a natural born United States Citizen. Ever wonder how that little mix-up occurred?” Drax questioned them with a smirk.

“The Machination.” says Mercedes confidently.

“Exactly, they can be your best friend or your worst enemy if you let them and the latter is pure hell, as they control the resources of this country’s economy, politics, and social welfare so they can make people, things, even places disappear or suffer, all at their whim. They want to make someone disappear and it’s done. They can make happen whatever they want. They answer to no one. They are them, it, they, the powers that be. They are beyond good and evil, above the law, and powerful beyond all in the cores of everyday affairs and one hundred percent untouchable. They are the unstoppable ones.” Drax says.

“And you used to work for them?” asks James.

“We all have our drawbacks in life, don’t we?” “That is amazing how you know so much about us and never met us before.” says Mercedes.

“It is unexplainable!” exclaims Tina.

“Nothing is beyond explanation … or doubt.” Drax says. “Just like when you used your powers to get out of jail, right James?”

“Wow how did you know that?” asks James.

“I told you… I know more than your own mothers know about you including the fact that you each have encounters with beasts.” Drax finished his sentence at the sight of the trio’s shocked faces.

“Who are they?” asks Mercedes.

“I wish I knew. I am not privy to everything they do.” Drax says rolling his eyes.

“You knew about that though?” asks James.

“It is no accident. They were all planned by a common foe you all have, who appeared to you and continues to threaten your lives, Broad Staffnight.”

“How do you know him?” asks Tina.

“I knew him for a long time. We were classmates together and recruited by the resurgence group that precedes the Machination’s legitimate corporate face, Temporo Inc.” Broad says.

“What do they want with us now?” James asks almost knowing the answer.

“You found something, a small crystalline device that fits in the palm of your hand, a green pentagonal emerald that shines in the sunlight and has five orbs glistening within it in circular formation. It is the secret of the ages and power infinitely beyond measure, a source of great turmoil that has been battled for by forces on both sides of the good-evil controversy and historically a treasure of the infinity and power of the universe. It is more valuable than anything. It is the Time Stone!” Drax says.

“Time Stone is that what they want?” asks Tina clutching her handbag with a perplexing look.

“We do not have a lot of time. Bottom line is that if you want to live and clear your names, you have to trust me.” Drax says.

“Why should we trust one of them and why would you help us anyway?” asks James.

“Call it destiny, kid. I don’t know, but it is somehow meant for me to meet you at this point or we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I just gave you a lot of information. Consider it a gesture of good faith. You have to trust me.” Drax pleaded.

“Do we?” Tina asks with a curious gaze.

“Look… Broad Staffnight ruined each of your lives and he did the same to me. There is an old saying that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ We have a common enemy people, so let’s work together. I have resources you don’t, and can get you inside their operation.” Drax says.

“We have to trust him.” says James.

“Look” yells Tina pointing at the skyline and seeing the group of men in dark suits returning in a group of all-terrain vehicles driving towards them.

“Let’s move” yells Drax and the quartet ran into his waiting van a few meters away and haled inside. Drax and James crawled into the front driver and passenger seats respectively, and Tina and Mercedes opened up the rear sliding door and jumped in as the van pulled away.

“We need to get out of here” yells Tina.

“I know exactly where we’re going” says Drax. He drove the van up the knolls and brick quarry leading up to the complex they saw before.

“What is that?” asks Mercedes.

“That dark and scary-looking tower is the Magnitude Fortress, the secret headquarters of the Machination and the most heavily-guarded place on the planet!” It is a series of stonework that lit up bright in colors of the rainbow as a tall series of unitary buildings, spiking up at the top individually and all coalescing towards a central structure that is large and spiraling upward into the heavens, disappearing into the clouds above the pale blue skies. Above the pathway is disappearing into the air and the surrounding stonework as it is within the lights shining brightly up and into the atmosphere. All structures appeared to be interconnected by an intricacy of semi-miniature stonework pathways. The quartet in their van rode up the brick road to the tall stone quarry at the center of the structure, the central complex.

The men in dark suits in their all-terrain vehicles approached with a strange symbol on their vehicle hoods and on their jackets emblazoned as before, a circular pattern double loop formation that embroidered itself on them as if representing them in every way. The symbol has multiple patterns and loops extending outward with five orbs at the center.

“We are heading deep inside the central complex. We should be prepared for the unexpected. We may have to do battle.” says Drax.

“You could’ve explained that. Why couldn’t YOU do battle?” asks James.

“I didn’t have an army before. Four heads are better than one.” says Drax as he piloted ahead of the pack of ATVs on their tail up the stone quarry and into the heart of the central complex.

“We’re just regular folks, not soldiers” says Tina.

“You could have fooled me the way you handled those beasts. I know trained operatives who would have failed at those tasks. Trust in your instincts. There is something special about you, all of you. You accomplished a lot and now I am asking you to accomplish a whole deal more that can restore your lives and save countless others.” Drax says.

“Well…” remarked Tina as all three look at him with sincerity in their eyes and a sense of a renewed pride.

“Let’s go!” says James.