Race Through Time

Chapter 4: A Blast from the Past

    When Kara came to, she was tied up in a wooden chair and surrounded by darkness. It took her a minute to remember what had occurred and how she ended up in this chair. 

    ‘Why did I let my guard down?’ Kara thought as she began trying to mess with her bindings. They were soft cotton ropes, but they were strong and extremely difficult to break. She also noticed that the chair had been drilled into the floor.

    “Well, well, well. Look who’s finally awake. I must’ve hit you harder than I originally thought.” A female voice came from the deep shadows of the room. It was the same voice that had surprised Kara back in town.  It also happened to stir memories from a long, long, time ago.

    “Who are you?” Kara demanded, working her arms around trying to loosen her bonds. At least she wasn’t going to get rope burn from these ropes. 

    The mystery woman laughed. “Well, it looks like the high and mighty Kara Michael isn’t as perfect as she lead everyone to believe she was.” She stepped out of the darkness, revealing her face to Kara.

    “Marissa!” Kara exclaimed. Stunned at the sight of her best friend from junior high, Kara stopped fighting against her bonds.

    “I guess you’re not as dumb as you look!” Marissa scoffed and turned away from Kara She walked over to a table laden with the tools of her trade. Marissa ran her hand lovingly over every instrument. 

    “What are you going to do to me?” Kara questioned, trying to keep Marissa busy and distracted as she resumed trying to wriggle free of her bonds.

    Marissa laughed, the sound bring ice to Kara’s veins, “Well  I would torture you, but then the boss wouldn’t be very happy with me and he’d take his anger out on me.” Marissa sounded almost as if she was scared of whoever her boss is.

    “Who is your boss, Ris?” Kara used the old nickname she had come up with for Marissa. Hoping that she could gain some sympathy and perhaps get some more information out of her captor. 

    “Oh you mean the man who is too weak to bring you down in that little podunk town?” Marissa asked mockingly. “Pfft, Jason may be the ‘man in charge’ but he will never be the brains of the operation. However, to answer your question, Jason Michael is my boss.

    “Michael?” Kara quit her struggles. The last name of her nemesis is peaked her interest. “Jason’s last name is Michael?”

    “Hahaha yes it is!” Marissa cackled. She knew something that Kara didn’t and Kara was dying to find out. “Why do you care?” Marissa suddenly sobered up and moved to stand directly above Kara.

    “Just want to know his full name so I know what to put on his headstone after I bury him!” Kara had managed to work free from her bonds and she lunged for Marissa. The force of Kara’s body knocked Marissa to the ground. 

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    As Kara and Johnathan neared the camp, the sounds of fighting could be heard. Looking at her father’s look of resignation, Kara knew what had happened; Jason and Hawk had found them, the last of the resistance was about to fall.

    “Agent Meyer, over here.” someone called softly from the trees to their right. Kara and Johnathan whipped around stopping in a crouch, both were on guard and fully prepared to fight until their last breath.

    “Who are you?” Johnathan demanded. He was tired of fighting, tired of running, tired of the battle he knew they could never in a million years win. This whole time travel thing was just a preposterous dream that Whisp had concocted to give everyone a false sense of hope. 

    Kara looked over at her father and could see the torment in his eyes. He was thinking what she’d known since Hawk had first launched their attack: they were fighting a losing battle and not many people had much left to fight for. Heck even her and her father, they were fighting for each other, but they both knew they were fighting together just so they could die together.

    A sudden movement caught the corner of Kara’s eye. The movement had come from the direction of the remains of the resistance camp.  Kara slowly turned so she was standing back to back with Johnathan, something she should’ve done earlier had she truly been following her training.  The figure was dressed all in black tactical gear, meaning they most likely were a member of Hawk.

    ‘Dad we’ve got one behind us as well,’ Kara found Johnathan’s mind. She knew she could take on the one in front of her and he could take on the one in front of him, but if there was more hiding in the woods, waiting to pounce, her and Johnathan wouldn’t last very long.

    “Agent Meyer you and your daughter need to come with me now. I have orders from Whisp to escort you two to the portal.” the mystery man addressed Johnathan. While he was talking, the man that Kara had been keeping her eye on crept forward, still thinking his cover was still in tact. 

    ‘Kara, what should we do?’ she was still linked to Johnathan’s mind, but was surprised that he was asking her what to do.

    Kara contemplated their situation for a minute: Johnathan’s guy had blatantly ignored his inquiry into his identity, but said he had been sent by Whisp while Kara’s guy was continuing to slip up on them. ‘Do you know the location of the portal?’ Kara asked.

    ‘Yes’

    ‘Then let's take on these two and we’ll head for the portal. If Whisp is still alive and a half competent general, then he’ll be there.’ Kara didn’t wait for Johnathan’s response, she started quietly moving herself  around until she was beside the Hawk soldier that had been sneaking up on them. Johnathan walked up to the man who had called out to them earlier.

    “Of course you can take me to General Whisp, but first I’m gonna need your name,” Johnathan held his hand out to the supposed rebellion messenger. The messenger eyed it skeptically, not really trusting what Johnathan was going to do.

    ‘Smart guy,’ Johnathan thought as he closed his hand and returned it to his side. ‘but perhaps he isn’t as smart as I originally thought.” Johnathan noted as the man turned his back to Johnathan. That’s when he made his move; jumping on the man’s back, and wrapping his arms around the man’s throat. His goal was to hold the man until he passed out and then move to help his daughter, except this man wasn’t as frail and incompetent as Johnathan shortly discovered. He was flipped over the man’s shoulder and found himself looking up at him from the ground.

    “Just give up Johnathan. You’re not Kara’s real father, that title belongs to me. You’ve been putting all this foolishness of time travel and stopping me into my little girl’s head!” the man snarled at Johnathan. He was keeping his voice low as if he didn’t want Kara to hear the lies coming from his mouth. That made Johnathan so furious; Kara was his daughter, she’d accepted him into her life and quite literally asked him to be her father.

    “Who are you really?” Johnathan demanded as he stood up and glared at the man across from him.

    “Why you naïve man, I my name is Greg Michael.”

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    “Arrrghhh!!” Marissa cried out as she hit the ground. She was trying to get her hands up in a defensive position, but Kara was too fast and she had the advantage. Kara and Marissa rolled across the floor, neither able to gain a continuous advantage of the other. 

    “Marissa! You have to…” Kara started as she ended up with Marissa pinned, but quickly lost the upper hand as Marissa broke free from Kara grasp and rolled, reversing their roles. 

    “ I have to what, Kara?” Marissa mocked Kara, as she held her down. Kara struggled but to no avail she was beat, but hopefully not for long. Kara ignored Marissa’s question and began to use her power. She searched through the emptiness for a hint of Marissa mind, but found nothing.

    “Wait what?!” Kara exclaimed as her searching failed.

    “Haha! I know what you were doing and well, someone with stronger telepathic abilities than you is helping me,” the smug look on Marissa’s face only enraged Kara further and Kara delved deeper into her powers, releasing more tendrils of her mind; this time not looking for Marissa’s mind, but looking for the mind of the telepath protecting her. Even the strongest telepath couldn’t protect someone’s mind from too far away and to make the presence of their mind disappear completely was impossible from long distances so, Marissa’s “helper” had to be nearby.

    “Gotcha!” Kara exclaimed as she found the mind of her fellow telepath. His walls were weak as he was overtaxing himself shielding Marissa. “You’re mine now!” Kara linked all but one of the tendrils together and formed a wedge that would break the already faltering barriers. Marissa screamed as the mind protecting hers shattered and Kara gained access to both minds.

    “I’m going to kill you!” she shrieked, but it was too late. Kara already had a firm grasp on Marissa’s mind and there was nothing to be done about that.

    “Kara you need to let her go!” A strangled voice came from behind Kara. A voice that dredged up memories from a different life time. It almost sounded like Greg, her biological father, but that couldn’t be because he was dead. However the distraction was just enough for Marissa to break free. Kara cursed herself for losing focus  and returned to the matter at hand, escaping this compound and getting to Washington D.C. to warn Whisp.

    “Night, night, Kara,” Marissa sneered just as something, or more accurately someone, hit Kara on the back of the head knocking her out again.