THE WATCHMAN

The Tracer

The door creaked open and the image of a tall well built, a young man emerged at the door.

The days of light his long blond hair, and showed a part of his face.

His eyes glittered in the darkness of the room as he confidently walked into the room

His face was familiar to the old man, but he could quite place where he had seen this face.

"How did you get in here?" The old man asked.

He was surprised that anyone knew he existed talkless of knowing his location.

"Or don't you know it's rude to barge into someone's house at this time of the night without prior notice?" He asked the young man defiantly.

"Who allowed you into my house? And what can I do for you?"

"You ask too many questions, old man!" The young man replied casually.

"It makes me a little confused and I don't know which one to answer first. But I think I will answer the last question. That is what you can do for me".

"It's a little favor I need from you. I need the names and locations of all the Barons for the League of Watchmen and Timekeepers alive, as well as their families!"

"I have no idea about what you are talking about!" The old man denied as he turned to walk to his seat.

"I know nothing about a League of Watchmen or Timekeepers. I'm sure you have the wrong person". He said.

"Oh yes you do! And you will tell me! Because you're the Tracer and you have all info about the Leagues".

"For your good, I ask that you give me what I need or else, you won't like my next course of action".

The old man laughed hysterically and then looked at the young man and said.

"What makes you think you can' come into my house and give me such orders?"

"The issue with this younger generation is that you all think it's all about talk and bravado. I suggest you return home to your family and take care of them. These are very hard times in the world and there is no need to add more problems to the ones we already have". The old man said to the young man.

Suddenly the lights in the room automatically switched on and the young man started seeing different shadows moving along the windows.

Not long after, the room was filled with so many Watchmen with their guns pointed directly at the young man.

He could now see the whole room properly. It was wider than he thought and was painted all white with black leather seats with a table at the far corner with a chair behind it.

There were several antique weapons placed at different strategic places.

"For someone who says he knows nothing about the League of Watchmen or Timekeepers, you sure do have a lot of their weapons lying around in your office!" The young man said mockingly.

The Tracer got up from his seated position and walked up to the young man and looked him square in the face and said... "I warned you to leave when you had the chance but you kept on spewing rubbish from that wide mouth of yours and now you will suffer the consequences!"

He then stepped back and disappeared behind the crowd of Watchmen.

It was a large room, so about twenty to thirty Watchmen had crowded themselves into the room just to fight the young man.

"Hello, guys!" The young man said casually to the approaching Watchmen.

"How do you want this?" He asked casually

"We could do this the quick and easy or slow and hard..."

None of them gave him a response as they kept approaching his position.

"Okay then, slow and hard it is! And I will add painful on top of it for you guys".

"And I promise you that my sword will not taste any one of your blood today, neither will my bullet penetrate any one of your skins". You will kill fall on your own swords and die by your own bullets. He said confidently.

On hearing this, they all charged at him in anger.

Suddenly he disappeared from their sight then reappeared behind them.

" I told you this was going to be slow and painful he said to them they turned around and pointed their guns at him.

But just as they were about to pull the trigger, he suddenly dashed towards them with lightning speed.

He could move faster than a bullet. He got to them just before anyone of them was about to pull his trigger.

Then he would within a split second move one of their fellow Watchmen in front of the barrel of the gun, so that once the trigger is pulled it will shoot a fellow Watchmen.

He did this for most of them before running back to his normal position and they ended up shooting themselves.

He ran towards those who had swords and prepared to fight them but just as they swung at him, he would move out of the spot where he was standing and then pull one of their fellow men to the within a second so that when his attacker landed the blow, he will land it on his own man.

The young man continued playing these games with them until they had mostly killed themselves and were badly wounded leaving him to be the only man standing.

The Tracer had realized that his men were doomed from the very first seconds of the battle and took to his heels even before the young man had killed half of his men.

He took the back door and ran down the stairs in fear.

As he was running down the stairs he heard the young man call out to him from above saying...

"I am not chasing after you Mr tracer, come back let us have normal communication like adults!. Hahahahaha! The young man laughed hysterically.

The Tracer didn't pay heed to whatever the young man was requesting he simply headed down the stairs and straight into the parking lot, where he parked his car.

On getting to the car he opened the door and entered the driver seat.

Just as it was about to switch on the ignition he looked behind him and saw his wife and his two kids seated in the back seat, their hands and their feet were tied and their mouths were gagged.

Suddenly he saw the young man who was upstairs just a few moments ago appear in front of the car smiling at him.

He was about to put the keys into the ignition and switch on the car when he heard the young man scream.

"Wait!" The young man said to him. "I advise that you do not do that as it will be drastic for both you and those whom you care about". The young man said referring to his wife and kids.

He ignored the young mans' warnings and switched on the ignition, albeit nervously and carefully.

The car engine came on and he left it to run for some seconds.

He smiled because he had called the young man's bluff. He then revved the engine to scare the young man so he could get out of the way, but the young stood his ground, still smiling and unperturbed that he was about to be run over by a car.

Meanwhile, his family and children were screaming behind him.

The Tracer stepped on the acceleration and the car let out a loud hiss... The next moment he was ejected out of the car and the car exploded and burst into flames.

He screamed as he watched his whole family burn to ashes. He tried to run towards to car to save them but it was too late.

He turned towards the young man, only to find him laughing hysterically at what had just transpired.

"I warned you!" The young man said through bursts of laughter.

"If only you would listen to me, your family would still be alive".

The Tracer was fuming with anger and charged at him. But he was no match for the young man.

The young man kept evading his blows until he wore the Tracer out.

"So you think I would help you after you murdered my whole family?" The Tracer asked the young man in anger.

"Of course not, but I would give you a second chance to save them".

Suddenly the Tracer saw himself back in the room before he ran down the stairs.

The young man had rewound time a few minutes to the moment he entered the darkroom.

It was then that it dawned on the old man, who he was with.

So you're a Timekeeper! The tracer screamed.

"How come your powers are active? The Tracer asked. It's been a long time since anyone exhibited their powers, both from the side of the League of watchmen and on the side of the Timekeepers".

"How come you are doing this right now?" The Tracer asked in curiosity.

"I believe the question you should be asking is where are the Barons and where are they located?"

"Don't forget three precious people are waiting for you to take them out of here in one piece". The young man reminded him.

"It's not as easy as you think!" The Tracer Said nervously.

"The Barons are continually moving around the globe so that they cannot be easily tracked".

"It's part of a defense mechanism design to keep them save in case of issues like this!" The Tracer Said.

"Well, that's why I have you!" The young man replied cheerfully.

"Wait! I know who you are! The Tracer suddenly exclaimed.