Chronos Shift

C: The Awakening

    The chatter that once made the place serene, turned into bloodcurdling screams that were being silenced by the masked men. The first man pointed his gun to the people left to me, shouting at them to put their hands behind their heads. They were shaking in fright and the third guy barked the same orders to those at my right. My heartbeat quicken as the guy in the front walked near me, pointing a gun at my forehead. 

    "You know what to do." He pushed the cold barrel of his gun and my leg froze. 

    Move dammit 

    I was frozen in place and my heart lurched back and forth in my throat.

    "f*****g move!" He hits the butt of his across my face, and I fell to the floor. A thick liquid flowed from my nose and I touched it with my fingertips, it was blood, along with a cheek that sting. Wincing in pain, I put my hands above my head and crouched to the group of people  huddled over in the middle of the coffee shop. The baristas were huddled together along with the other customers, their faces pale and lips trembling. I can't help but do the same as two of the men pointed guns towards us. I tried to look for Mike but to no avail. 

    Mike where the hell is you!

    "Everyone!" The first guy paced so that everybody can hear "Now we don't want to hurt you, but you all know how life is, we just need some money, so let's coordinate people!" He laughed and looked at the window. 

    "But" He trailed off. "We're not afraid to get our hands dirty if you make one f*****g move." 

    He fired the gun into the air and everyone screamed, others wailing.

    "Stay quiet!" one of the captors shouted while pointing his gun at us. 

    I dare not to scream as my insides were like liquid right now, my heartbeat too fast and my paleness increased ten-fold. 

    "Well, well, well, what a role model we have here." One of the captors met eyes with mine and I felt my soul reel. 

NO NO NO NO NO     

    He clutched my shoulder and dragged me up to stand. I can't do anything but be held like a ragdoll. 

    "Now this is what you should do, stay f*****g quiet! Now you buddy will have the honors of being our voice to the outside world!" The other guy said like he's enjoying every moment of this horror, he motioned to the one holding me and now I'm getting dragged to the back of the Starbucks. 

    As the door opens, he threw me to the hard and cold tiled floor and as I struggled to stand up, but he positioned a gun so close to my head. 

    "Move and I'll blow your brains out." 

    I gulped and a cold sweat trickled from my temple. 

    The guy produced a video camera from his bag and threw a piece of paper at me with something written on it. He grabbed a chair behind him and slid it towards me, all while a gun pointed at my head.

    "Read." He said sternly as he readied the video camera. The lens  pointing right at me. 

    My mouth was wired shut, my throat felt dry and only breaths of air are only able to pass through.

    "Read!" He shouted and my whole body jerked from the loudness of his voice. 

    I fumbled with the paper while I was shaking, my stutter was evident as I read the note. 

    As soon as I was done reading, he grabbed me by the arm again, making me drop the piece of note. He dragged me outside and the first thing I heard was a plea for help.

    "NO! PLEASE NO!" a guy's voice pleaded but was met with the butt of a gun, knocking him unconscious.

    "THEO NO!" the lady clutching a baby to her shouted as he struggles to break free from the captor's grasp but to no avail. She was made to stand up in between the two captors, holding her baby for dear life. 

    The others were crying, screaming, and begging to let them go but was just shouted on to shut up. 

    The baby was crying hard and the mother was trying to shush him all with a cracking voice.

    "Can somebody shut that baby up!" The masked-man snatched the baby from the woman and she screamed for dear life, running towards the man only to be hit with the butt of a gun. 

    "Now, now, shh, shh." The captor rocked the baby but the baby only cried louder. The annoyance in the man's face was evident. 

    "If you aren't going to keep quiet then you're gonna end up like your mom and dad over there." The man mocked with a small voice that just made the baby cry louder. 

    The man protruded a gleaming military knife from his military boots and slowly brought it to the baby's mouth.

    "Maybe this'll shut you up." The man muttered to himself. 

    As the knife touched the tongue of the baby, I felt my body go light, and my eyes heavy, dragging my head along with it. 

    "Hey, what the f**k's wrong with you?" The guy's voice was trailing like it was an echo in a tunnel. My eyes followed the darkness of the tunnel I'm going into...

"Today is March 7th, 2004, and it is going to be a revolutionary step for science"

A radio-like voice blared from the speaker at top of a large glass wall, filled with different machinery that I can't name of. I was lying down on an operation table, strapped with leather. Surgical equipment sprawled on a metal tray beside me. I squirmed to let go but to no avail. 

"Now what you see in front of  you is Patient Chronos, the future of genetic engineering." 

The other side of the glass wall was filled with applause, then, I heard footsteps get nearer to me. Donning surgical scrubs, with a scalpel in hand. The person drew near but their face was all blurry. The scalpel draws near to my eyes, its gleaming reflection was the last thing I saw as the sound of flesh tearing was all I could hear. I screamed but there was no sound, I moved from the intense pain I'm feeling, yet, all I could hear was the applause of the people. 

"Now, watch as the seeds of our labor take fruit!" 

I laid there lifeless, I couldn't move, blood trickled down my slaughtered eyeball. 

"Ehem, do something now Patient Chronos" 

The room went quiet but another gleaming scalpel was jabbed into my other eyeball, I violently shook my body, trying to break free from the restraints. 

But nothing. 

"Do something!" 

"Do something!"

"Do something!"

    "...do something!" The man holding the baby raised his hands to hit the unconscious body of C

    A gust of wind emanated from C, the assailant's tight grip vanished and the other captors were sent flying. Chairs and tables flew through the glass wall, shards of glass litter the street of the coffee shop was built. The people, along with the once-unconscious couple, desperately clutching onto each other as to not be blown away by the wind.

    The man clutching the baby was knocked out with the strong force of the wind, the baby safely removed from the captor's grasp by a blue flame. All while the captors were down, the people raced to get out of the establishment through the broken glass walls. The couple grabbed the baby and mouthed a thank-you to C. 

    "Hey! Get back here!" One of the captors pointed his gun at the people and the trigger was pulled. 

    "Custodio~" C whispered

    C stretched his hand and a blue light engulfed his hand. He snapped his fingers and as the bullets are about to pierce the frightened customers and baristas, the shells all fell to the ground with its metallic clink. The customers ducked their heads and cried from the sudden sound. As the screams were getting distant, one of the men let out a deep sigh. 

    All of them pointed their guns to C, with the knocked out man lying down, c*****g his firearm. 

    A hail of bullets was discharged from the metal slingers towards C, a cascade of flashing lights from the firings of the assailants. And the sound of bullets firing were insistent.Their fingers never leaving the trigger, eyes fixated on C all wearing a scowl on their faces.

    Suddenly, everything went quiet and as the smoke dissipated, C raised his glowing blue palm outwards and the cluster of bullets stopped one meter away from him. As he brought down his palm, the bullets all fell to the ground. 

    The captors were dumbfounded, clutching their guns close to them, noticing that they were out of ammunition.

    The assailant that was knocked out awhile ago unsheathe a military knife from his boots and threw it with great precision to C. 

    "Impetus~" C whispered

    Only to be flicked away with the glowing red hand of  C, stabbing the attacker in the head and blood trickled down from his wound as the knife formed a kind of horn on his forehead. 

    A charging yell was let out by one of the captors as his fist was readying for a powerful punch. 

    C closed his eyes as the captor went closer. The captor readied his fist into a punch, his fist up in the air as his fist was an inch away from C. He opened his eyes, now glowing green.

    "Perversio~" C whispered

    The once-proud fist shook and dropped on the floor as a pile of bones, along with the assailant's skull. 

    C looks behind him and saw the last of the assailant running for his dear life. His shoes hitting the concrete pavement with high frequency. A whoosh sound that was familiar to C signaled the arrival of Mike. The two met eyes with each other and Mike smirked.

    C starts to drop on the floor, but Mike shifts and just in time he grabs C in a bridal hold. Police start to invade the scene with guns c****d. They saw Mike carrying C like a deer in headlights. The paramedics took them in and draped a towel behind him. 

    Mike and C were escorted towards the array of ambulances, other customers were crying and on their phones. Mike sat on the step of the ambulance, with C still in his arms.

    He sighed.

    "And so it begins." 

Somewhere...

The man pulled the hem of the ski mask off as he ran in the dark alleyway. His boots splashed the small puddles that formed in the tracks of the concrete pavement. He threw the mask in the nearby dumpster, along with his empty gun. 

The sound of running faded and the man halted to a stop. He now faced a run-down building with its walls old and crummy. The once-bright red bricks turned dark and ridden with moss. The windows were merely shards of glass ready to give a trespasser a gash. Graffiti painted the walls of the old structure of different shapes, colors, and sizes but with a reoccurring hourglass symbol on it. The man let out a weak sigh and opened the door and took a look inside. He had a questioning look on his face as he grabbed a piece of paper from his jacket. 

"Thought it would be more sciencey than this." 

The man saw pieces of furniture scattered on the wet wooden floor, dripping sounds from pipes that were hanging down from the ceiling formed small puddles. It was a dark room and fungi were starting to grow in every corner of the brown dilapidated walls. 

As he went inside and closed the door, what the man saw was like turning the page of a book. The room turned into a hallway in just a blink of an eye. The walls turned a bright white with monitors displaying various data in a green font. Metal squares filled the walls in a pattern that glowed white. The wet wooden floor turned into one big bright white tile that clacked the man's boots as he walked through the now transformed hallway. 

He reached the end of the hallway with a big circular latch with an hourglass symbol. As the man stood there, a small white drone with metal wings flew down and pointed its lens-like body at the man. A beep sound echoed in the hallway and the sounds of machines signaled the opening of the latch. The man went inside and saw an office. A big desk with blue streaks along with a white executive chair facing the other direction was the first thing that caught the man's eye. 

"Sit." A stern female voice commanded from the chair, the man walked to the white circular chair and sat up. 

The chair turned in his direction, revealing a woman with platinum-hair donning a black masquerade mask covering one of her icy blue eyes, and a dark brown fur coat that extends into a cape. Her clothes revealed her pale skin on her shoulders that gleamed from the office's brightness. A dominant white color covered her breast while the black color covered her sides. Arms were covered in a fishnet-like cloth with alternating hourglass symbols. The shoulders of her clothes had silver daggers hanging from each side bringing out the maroon color of it. 

"As promised, your compensation." 

The woman pointed her slender fingers to her left, showing a compartment in one of the pillars of the office that revealed a white duffel bag. The man stood up and grabbed the bag and sat once again, checking the contents. It had stacks and stacks of paper money wrapped in metal bands. The man ogled at the amount of money the bag held. He smelled each stack and a smile crept across his face.

"Now dear, could you be a sweetie and stand over there." The woman flashed a comforting smile and the man followed. He stood in the middle of a room, on top of a tile that had an hourglass symbol. 

The woman stood up, her flashing red heels clacked at each step. Her cape looking like she made a maroon path. She walked near the man and traced her fingers on his chin, a faint red glow forming on her fingertips that as soon as she ceased contact, vanished. 

"What a dashing youthful man, with so much to live for," 

The man chuckled and blushed slightly. 

"With the money that you have, you could afford a life elsewhere in this shithole."

The man felt the change in the atmosphere from the tone of her voice that ended in a slight shriek. 

"However...I just can't let you go that easy...now that you have caught wind of what I'm orchestrating."

The man's eyes widen as the situation became clear to him. He gripped the bag and thought to make a run for it. 

But a bright red glow surrounded him in a death-like grip. His arms and legs were unable to move, the bag dropped with a slight thud on the floor. The man looked at the woman and saw a bright red glow on the masked eye. 

"I promise, I won't tell anyone!" The man begged, struggling to breathe as the grip went tighter.

She walked back to her desk and sat on the chair, and turned it in the other direction

"I can't be having loose ends." She uttered.

She reached her hand out and snapped her fingers. The sound of the slicing of flesh echoed in the room, along with a faint thud shortly after. Sounds of machinery filled the woman's ears and as she looked back to the man. He was nowhere to be seen. The white duffel bag sits on the hourglass symbol.

The woman smirked and pressed a white button on the armrest of her chair. A wine glass appeared with red wine aged to perfection.

The woman took a sip and chuckled.