The Second Time Around
Pegasus was on monitor duty. She hated monitor duty. Still, she could imagine worse assignments, and (more importantly), she was sure Zemo could as well. The leader of the Scourge of the BZL had been rather testy ever since they had lost the bowling tournament to Jarvis' Lair Legion, and that was weeks ago. So, she stretched her wings and settled in for a quiet night with a trashy novel. Besides, her shift ended in an hour and a half, at which time she thought she might hit the SoBZL's sauna and hot tub. 'Membership does have it's privileges' she thought as she flipped a page. That was when the alarm started blaring. She checked the computer screens to see if it was some kind of malfunction. Zemo's $250,000,000 castle had been rebuilt, but there were still plenty of bugs to work out of the state-of-the-art electrical and security systems. You'd be amazed how much a contractor could screw up, even at those prices. The computer showed an intruder in the laboratory. Some two-bit prowler was rustling through the Baron's technological what-nots. That'd be sure to piss off Zemo. He didn't even like anybody touching the remote control to his television. Pegasus turned and bolted for the door. Halfway down the hall, she went equine, her hooves rapping loudly against the stone floor. She burst through the half-open Laboratory door with a snort, spreading her wings and rearing up on her hind legs. That maneuver never failed to impress the rubes. In the back of the room, a figure whirled around to face her. He was tall, with a polished steel mask, complete with two very sharp and nasty horns rising from the top of his helmet. Pegasus briefly wondered if he managed to drive while wearing that thing. Maybe he owned a convertible, or at least had a sunroof. "Who are you?" she demanded. The figure returned her cold stare. "Someone who was never here." he said as he reached his hand for a control panel to his right. Too late, she recognized the gizmo that he was standing on: Zemo's time machine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Yo awoke with a splitting headache. This was quite odd, mainly because Yo didn't think that he should have a headache. Yet he did. Something was decidedly wrong. He (Yo was in a 'he' kind of mood today) rolled out of bed and got dressed. The Pure Thought Energy part of him always found the human's concern over clothing to be rather silly, but 'when on Earth...', as the old saying went. Besides, he had the feeling Lisa would never get any work done if everyone were to go around nude, so perhaps this 'clothing' thing did indeed serve a purpose. He selected his best hat and mask. While he was too polite to say so, he firmly believed that Zorro was the only person on this planet with any fashion sense what-so-ever. He was in a hurry to tie his mask, as today was Thursday, and that meant waffles for breakfast. Despite his mysterious headache, Yo was happy. How could one not be when waffles were imminent? That happiness was replaced with thoughtful concern as he entered the kitchen. No waffles, as far as the eye could see. This just wouldn't do. What was going on here? "It's about time you got up..." Starseed said as he stuck his head in the doorway. "Come on, Jarvis is calling an emergency meeting." Yo nodded happily and followed Starseed. All in all, Starseed looked quite good for someone who had just been buried the day before. Yo decided not to mention to his fellow Legionnaire that he was, in fact, supposed to be dead. Such minor details often caused his friends distress, and besides, it always took too long to try to explain such things to them. Yo noted that the conference room had been redecorated as he entered and took his seat. "Now that we're all here" Jarvis said icily, looking at Yo, "let's get down to business." "All here?" Yo asked, looking around the table. Only Lisa, Jarvis, Starseed, spiffy and himself were in attendance. "Space Ghost was captured last night by Zemo for the Apostate." spiffy explained. "That's kind of the point to this whole meeting." "Ah" said Yo. While he didn't always understand all the nuances of their crude language, he thought that there must be another reason that spiffy's clarification didn't clarify things. "What of Fin Fang Foom?" "What about him?" Jarvis snapped irritably. "Where is he currently being?" Yo inquired politely. "Still dead, last I heard." Starseed answered. "Of course, I haven't really been checking up on him. Not since we buried him, anyway." "Ah" Yo answered. "What of NTU-150?" "My secretary?" Lisa asked, surprised. "I suppose he's filling or collating or faxing or some-such-thing." "Ah" Yo answered again. "What of Visionary?" The all looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. Yo didn't think that he had. "Visionary?" Jarvis asked acidly. "Who the hell is Visionary?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheryl surveyed the scene before her. "This isn't right" she commented thoughtfully. "This isn't right at all." "How so, my wife?" The Apostate asked curiously, his dark eyes watching her with a mix of admiration and amusement. "The damn fool's got the rack stretched too far, too fast" she replied with her usual impatience. "The Legionnaire will pass out in minutes. A proper torturing should last hours, if not days." "Quite right, my dear. You always were an apt pupil. I shall have a talk with our malevolent 'physical therapist', and correct the problem." The Apostate strode across the room to where Space Ghost was receiving the inept attentions of the rookie torturer. Cheryl turned and trudged back up the stairs of their $250,000,000 castle. Being Queen of the Parodyverse was all well and good, but somehow she was just was never satisfied. She was instantly given anything her heart desired, anything in the entire world. Why, then, did it feel like she was missing something? "Perhaps I should conquer France today" she mused thoughtfully. "That always seems to put a smile on my face." "I beg my lady's forgiveness..." Hallie, attendant to the queen, said nervously. "But you normally conquer France on Saturdays. This being only Thursday, the French will not have finished rebuilding from last week. They might by Friday, but not as of yet." "Just as well" Cheryl noted, heading for the war room. "This way the street mimes won't have any buildings to hide in once the ground assault begins. Flushing mimes out of basements and sewers can grow tedious." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It was time travel, obviously. Yo wondered why it had taken him so long to realize it. The headache was the definative sign. His subconscious had picked up the shift in the space-time continuum. The implications of poorly conceived time-travel plots were enough to give anyone a headache, even a being of Pure Thought Energy. From what Yo could tell, this plot was particularly poor. The fact that Yo had no good reason to remember the original time-line was a clear indication of this. The first step to correcting the problem would be to find out precisely where this time-line diverged from the original. Luckily, it never occurred to Yo that this would be a near-impossible task. He thought he knew where it had begun, and so, of course, he did. Yo took a deep breath, and, as easily as one might think of going to the corner store, he thought himself to be back in late August of the Year 1990. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "All right," Visionary's roommate, Brian, said. "You're up." Visionary took the ball and gave it an experimental toss into the late summer air. It had been a while since he had played volleyball, and his main concern was simply not making a total fool out of himself. Just get it over the net... Just get it over the net. He threw the ball up above his head (one had to serve overhand, anything else would just be rather wussy) and smacked it with the heal of his palm. The Fates smiled upon him, and it was a particularly decent serve. The blonde girl in the back row of the other team casually advanced towards the net, and the ball went over her head to bounce with a satisfying 'thud' in the grass. "Oops, that's out, I'm afraid." The blonde said, retrieving the ball. "Wha-? What are you talking about?" Visionary stammered. "That wasn't even close to out!" "Weren't you paying attention when we made the rules?" she asked innocently. "Since we don't have any backlines, anything over the heads of all the players is out." "But you moved up!" Visionary said indignantly. "Really? How peculiar." she noted. "I'm sure I must have had a good reason. Anyway, I believe that it's now my serve." She flashed him a pleasant smile. Visionary considered arguing some more, but ultimately decided to let it go. This was just a friendly game, after all. Simply a way for freshmen to get to know each other before classes started. Considering that, out of the entire dorm, only three women had shown up, Visionary figured his chances of getting a date out of this game were slim enough. Calling one of them a weasel to her face was probably not going to drastically improve his odds. The blonde girl swung her arm in a great underhand blow, and the ball went sailing high in the air towards Visionary. Slyly, Visionary took a giant step forward. The ball reached its zenith, disappearing in the sun, then came plummeting back down to land squarely on top of Visionary's head, creating what the blonde girl must have found to be a very satisfying 'thud'. "Smooth" Brian observed as their teammates ran after the lost ball. "I thoughth tho" Visionary replied, having bitten his tongue. "Are you all right?" the blonde girl asked, her teenage face split into a some-what sympathetic smile. "I think I'll live" Visionary answered, forcing his tongue to work. "You wouldn't have been moving up to force the shot out-of-bounds, would you?" she asked innocently. "I am shocked, *shocked* that you would suggest such a thing." Visionary answered haughtily. "So then you meant to do that?" "Well, uh... I'm really not in the habit of purposely taking blows to the head." Visionary admitted. "Don't worry," she reassured him thoughtfully, "it didn't show. You made it look quite professional." "Cheryl, get back over here and serve!" one of the woman's teammates, presumably her roommate, called out. Visionary's blonde assailant returned to her side of the net and prepared to launch the ball again. "Do me a favor and see if you can whack a cute one this time" her roommate suggested, "I could use a date for tonight." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Atop a nearby hill, unnoticed, a dark figure watched, the sunlight reflecting off his polished steel mask as his menacing horns were outlined against the crisp blue sky. Soon... very soon, he would have everything he had ever desired. What was more, he would soon have everything his hated rival ever held dear... It was just a matter of time.
Part II
The Apostate arrived late in the day outside of the correct dormitory. He quickly proceeded through the doors to the front desk. "I require access to your residence hall directory" he stated imperiously to the clerk. "Uh..." the student behind the desk replied, looking warily at the Apostate's antique armor and horned helmet. "like... are you a parent?" The Apostate reached out with his mind and latched onto the students beliefs, then subtly began to twist them. "I am Mr. Douglas S. Weisburg, Dean of Student Affairs, and it is imperative that I find a certain student so that I may confer upon her a full scholarship. You will be happy to help in any way, being the boot-licking toady that you are." "Yes, sir! Right away sir!" the desk clerk replied, believing every word. Beneath his mask, the Apostate smiled. Soon he would have what was rightfully his... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheryl and her roommate headed back to their room to change. They were going to join a bunch of people to watch movies in Brian and Visionary's room. It was nice to have met some people already, and those two lived right downstairs from them. Admittedly, Visionary was a little strange (although with a name like that, he'd almost have to be), but he seemed to be a nice enough guy. Just outside of her room, Cheryl noticed her Resident Advisor waving to her. She walked down the hall to meet her. "What's up?" she asked curiously. "Your boyfriend from back home stopped by to see you" her RA answered. I told him he could wait in the lounge until you came back, since I didn't know where you were." "Boyfriend?" Cheryl asked. She tried to think of who it could be, but even though she had dated plenty of guys her senior year in High School, she couldn't easily think of any one that rated that title. She was rather pleased to be starting college unattached. "Uh-huh, and let me just say... He's quite a catch." her RA whispered conspiratorially. "If it weren't so obvious how much you two are in love, I just might have tried to steal him away, myself!" "Ooookay" Cheryl said dubiously. Now she knew what the RA's did with all the illegal substances they confiscated. Still, her curiosity was piqued. She wandered down the hall to the lounge and poked her head in. "Hello, Cheryl" A tall, armored, masked man said. "I am the Apostate, your one true love, and everything you could ever want in a man." Cheryl suddenly felt dizzy, and there was an odd tingling in the back of her head. She shook it off and when she looked up, her loving boyfriend was watching her curiously. "Of course you are, silly." She said as she wrapped him in an embrace. "Who else would you be?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "So..." Brian said as they hastily picked all the dirty laundry up off the floor. "That girl who clocked you was pretty cute." "So was her roommate" Visionary observed with a grin as he stuffed some clothes under the bed. They could now see the rug that lined the center of their room, which meant that they were ready for company. Visionary hung the 'movie-night' sign on their front door, proudly advertising tonight's feature, Bob and Doug Mckenzie's "Strange Brew". A variety of guys from the volleyball game showed up in short time, but none of the women had by the time they started the flick. About fifteen minute into it, there was a polite knock at the door. Visionary rose and looked out the open door to find a pretty brunette with green eyes in the hall. "Uh... Yes?" he asked. "It is good to be seeing you again." she responded. "Oh, ummm..." Visionary said, trying to place her face. "I'm sorry, have we met?" "No" she answered happily. "Not yet. I was wondering if I could be seeing the movie?" "Oh! Of course! Um... come on in..." Visionary said to the odd woman. "That's my roommate Brian, I'm Visionary and, uh... I really can't remember the names of anybody else." He admitted. "Two is impressive enough, for you" she answered cryptically. "I am Yo." "Come again?" Visionary asked. "Yo." Yo repeated. "It is my name." "Is that short for Yolanda?" Brian asked curiously. "If you like" Yo replied, looking around. "Where is Cheryl? Why is she not here?" "You know Cheryl?" Brian replied, trying to make conversation. Visionary didn't mind. Frankly, he thought that there was something rather strange about this Yo woman. Still, since he and Brian were both male college freshmen, she could be as odd as she liked. There was no way they were going to throw an attractive woman out of their room. Visionary went back to watching the movie as his roommate tried to engage Yo in witty banter. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that this woman was not only staring at him, but silently laughing at him as well. He couldn't help but think that she somehow found his very existence amusing. It was rather unsettling. When there was another knock at the door, it was with relief that Visionary rose to answer it. Outside was the blonde woman who had clobbered him with the volleyball, Cheryl, arm in arm with an extremely tall, muscular man in archaic armor and a horned helmet. "I am the Apostate" the man declared imperiously. "Aside from being your superior in every way, I am only an ordinary college student, not a powerful arch-villain. The woman with me is mine, and you will never have a chance with her. You are beneath us both." With that, the two of them turned and walked away. "Ummm... okay." Visionary said. Campus life was obviously much weirder than he had been lead to believe. "Well, thanks for stopping by and clearing that up" he said wryly as he turned to go back inside. Instead, he found himself face to face with that Yo woman. "No" she said simply. "This will not do." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Uh-huh" Visionary said again. "So where's your DeLorean, future-girl?" Yo-woman sighed. Explaining things to Visionary was never an easy task, even under normal circumstances. Considering that he hadn't yet experienced the Parodyverse, he was having a hard time coming to grips with what was, in Yo's opinion, a rather routine adventure. She smiled happily and tried again. "Such things are not necessary" she said patiently. "It is the thought that counts." "Uh-huh" he repeated. Yo was not the violent type, but she could see the value of giving him a good slap. Still, she thought she'd try another tactic first, and so she did. With a thought, she shifted back into her androgynous state and smiled at him once more. "WAUGH!" Visionary cried, (Gah! had yet to catch on as an exclamation), and nearly fell over the chairs in the small lounge where they were talking. "Wha-- howdid--- whatare--" "Yes" Yo said happily. "Now you are getting it" This was closer to the Visionary that he remembered. He explained it all to him once more. "So... you're for real? You're from this... Parodyverse... and so am I? Er... eventually, any way?" "Yes" Yo answered, nodding. "And I'm really that important?" he asked with a bit of awed pride. "The whole place goes to hell if I'm not a part of it?" "No, you're not really very important" Yo answered enthusiastically. He was finally accepting things! "Mostly, you just do monitor duty... and sing very badly" Yo added. "I sing just fine!" Visionary insisted woundedly. "No" Yo answered. "You do not. But it is entertaining, also." Visionary crossed his arms and looked at Yo. "So if I'm a nobody, then why does it matter what happens to me?" "Because" Yo said, "You are harmless, mostly. Not so for this 'Apostate'. We'd rather have you, provided you are not singing." "You mean that jerk in the hall?" Visionary asked. "The one with that Cheryl girl?" "Your wife" Yo replied, nodding. "HER?!" Visionary said, shocked. "The one who clobbered me with the ball? But... but... she... that is..." he sputtered, pacing like a caged animal. "... I've always preferred brunettes" he finished lamely. "She is surprisingly good for you" Yo reassured him. "Besides, Lisa is saying always that Cheryl could have done better than you by far. I have not heard that you could have done better than her yet." Yo explained. "The feeling is that you were mostly quite lucky." "Uh-huh" Visionary said moodily. "So if she's so great, why is she hanging all over that fashion disabled prick?" Yo once more had to remind himself that these beings tended to miss the obvious. Any child on Yo-planet could recognize the mental sway the Apostate held over Cheryl. "She is not herself." He answered. Visionary sat down heavily on one of the chairs and sighed. "So... What are we supposed to do about it?" he finally asked. "I mean, to correct this future? I have to win my 'future wife' back from that armored goon? Is that why you've come back, to play matchmaker?" It should be noted that Yo was running out of time, and that he believed that he would need Visionary's help, and also that, should things work out, Visionary would stand to benefit greatly from his actions. With all this in mind, Yo decided to do something to Visionary that he had never done before. "Yes" Yo lied to him, "exactly."
Part III
"Um, Yo?" Visionary asked apprehensively. He had already put on the yellow overcoat, as well as the green sweatshirt with the yellow diamond on it that Yo had provided. Still, this was getting drastic... "Are you sure this will even work?" "No" Yo admitted happily. "Ummmm... okay." Visionary watched in the mirror as Yo raised the electric razor. "People in 1998 really wear their hair this short?" "Not really" Yo answered. "But your hairline is in retreat." "What?! What are you talking about?" Visionary demanded. "I'm losing my hair already? I'm only supposed to be... what, 26?" Yo shrugged. "Too much stress. Either that or too much blows to the head." he explained. "Friction, I think." It occurred to Visionary that he didn't have a lot to look forward too. It was bad enough that he was to become a bit player confined to 'monitor duty', whatever the hell that was, not to mention that he apparently had a mortal enemy willing to travel back into time just to screw with his life. Did he have to have receding hair as well? "What else?" Yo looked at him critically, then whapped him in the left temple. "Oww!!!" Visionary complained. "What the hell was that for?!" "You are usually having a bump on your head." Yo explained cheerfully. "And I had one the last time you saw me?" Visionary asked moodily, rubbing his temple. "No" Yo said simply. "But you were due." Visionary glared at his future teammate. "If you're on my side, I'd hate to see what this 'Apostate' would do to me." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- All the waiting, all the research... It had all paid off. The Apostate grinned beneath his steel mask. For weeks he had lurked around the Parodyverse, studying his prey, biding his time... The Apostate was rather proud of himself. Not only had he made it into the past unopposed, but he now had a clear page on which to rewrite history. He had come into being specifically to be Visionary's successor, but why stop there? Why follow when he could simply replace? Visionary had squandered his time in the Parodyverse. Given the chance, the Apostate would not do the same. He would remake the Parodyverse to suit his needs, and it all started here with this woman. He watched Cheryl as she walked to the cafeteria for lunch. Currently, he was exerting his influence over everyone in his presence, causing them to believe that he wasn't even there. Another example of his superiority over the powerless Visionary. He could have taken on his adversary back in the future, in fact, he had strongly considered it. It could have been fun to watch as he made the man's fellow Legionnaires tear him apart, believing him to be Zemo, the Anti-Jarvis, Blofish... anything the Apostate wished them to believe. Hell, that 'Lisa' woman probably wouldn't have even needed a reason at all... But there was one major drawback to this plan. While those with strong ties to his predecessor might be able to resist his powers, he did not fear facing any Legionnaire. But the captivating Cheryl... that was another matter entirely. He had studied her endlessly, and she had haunted his every waking moment. As perfect as she was in every other way, she had one major flaw: her misguided feelings for her pathetic fool of a husband. She would oppose him and that he could not bear. So he had come here, to this time. Here, she could be his, having no feelings for anyone else to interfere with his influence. What's more, by choosing this exact time, he could still steal her away from his hated rival. That would be the ultimate joy, watching Visionary miss his destiny and fade into obscurity. There was no one to come to his aid, no League of Regulars, no Lair Legion... "So!" a voice called out in contempt from behind him. "You're the one trying to destroy my past, you horned freak." The Apostate turned and froze in shock. There, in front of him, stood Visionary as he should have existed in the future, flanked by his fellow Legionnaire, Yo! "Impossible!" he snarled. "I've erased you!" "Not yet, apparently." Visionary replied. "I'm still here, in any event. Maybe your skill with the ladies isn't all you think it is, hmm? I guess Cheryl ends up wanting someone more competent. You were pathetically easy to follow through time, after all." "You dare?!" The Apostate turned the full force of his powers on Visionary. "Your chest is one fire... Your heart is bursting! As is every blood vessel in your brain!!!" "No" Visionary answered calmly. "I believe you are mistaken. In fact, I feel just fine. Well, aside from a bruise on the head, that is." Visionary gave Yo a pointed glance. He was immune! The damn fool was immune to the Apostate's powers! "Very well" the Apostate hissed, drawing himself up to his full height. "We do this the hard way..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- So far, so good, Visionary thought. Not only had the armored doofus apparently bought into the idea that Visionary was from the future, Yo had been right in guessing that the Apostate's powers wouldn't work on either of them. Apparently, being made of Pure Thought Energy protected Yo, simply because he thought it would. Yo had a reason Visionary wouldn't be affected as well, but frankly, Visionary didn't understand a word of it. Of course, nothing that came out of Yo's mouth made sense to him, so that was nothing new. Still, Yo had assured him that the only way to win Cheryl back (even though he had never had her in the first place) was to face down the Apostate. Maybe she was the kind of girl easily swayed by heroic acts. Once freed of the villain's belief-altering abilities, she 'd probably be *very* grateful. Visionary had to admit, for a blonde, she was very attractive... and if they were destined to get married anyway... "I'll hit him high, you hit him low..." Visionary said. "Ready, Yo?" There was no answer, mainly because Yo was no longer there. The Apostate grabbed Visionary by his sweatshirt and lifted him completely off the ground. "Aw, crap" Visionary said, wincing in anticipation. "This is gonna hurt, isn't it?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hello" a pretty brunette with green eyes said, taking a seat across the table. "May I be sitting here?" "Certainly" Cheryl replied politely, moving her cafeteria tray so that there was more room. She held out her hand. "I'm Cheryl" "I know" The woman replied. "I am Yo. May I question you?" "Um, I suppose so..." Cheryl answered. There was something peculiar about this Yo woman. "What the hell is being the matter with you?" "I beg your pardon?" Cheryl asked crisply. "The Cheryl I am remembering wouldn't put up with such things as are going on." Yo answered happily. "She is patient, yes, but to a point..." "Now wait just one minute!" Cheryl began, her annoyance inflamed by a buzzing in the back of her skull. Sure, she was new here, but she didn't have to put up with this... "She is certainly not going to be controlled by a man she hardly knows, not by anyone, actually" Yo continued calmly. "Tell me, why do you like this Apostate?" The buzzing in her head grew louder. "He's everything I could want in a man" she stated defensively, through clenched teeth. "Is he respectful to you?" "Well..." Her head was throbbing now... "Does he treat you as equal?" "It's not... not like..." Cheryl was wincing. "Does he care for you, or is just using you?" Yo continued relentlessly. "I.. I..." Cheryl clutched both sides of her head as the buzzing became nearly deafening. "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY MIND!!!!!" she screamed. She threw the force of her will against the maddening pain, breaking the Apostate's hold on her. The entire cafeteria fell silent as everyone turned to stare at her. "She was being possessed by a dork from the future" Yo explained happily. "But she is feeling better now. Nothing more to be seeing." "The... future?" Cheryl asked quietly, still wincing from pain. "Yes" Yo answered with a smile. "I will tell you all about it. But first, do you think I am resembling you?" She leaned in close to Cheryl. "I am thinking so." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Visionary was right. It did hurt. The Apostate lifted him into the air once again and slammed him back down to the floor. "You managed to follow me through time, and this is the best you could do?" He sneered. "What did you think, you would simply beat me up and take me back? You are already far too late to save your world... the past has already been altered." "Huurfff" Visionary wheezed. Sure, it wasn't the best rebuttal, but then spewing off snappy comebacks was considerably more difficult with no air in one's lungs. Frankly, snappy comebacks weren't exactly the first thing he was likely to spew in his present condition. The Apostate eyed him speculatively. "How did you manage to follow me back at all?" he demanded. His eyes grew wide as a possibility occurred to him. "Tell me," he hissed, lifting Visionary off the ground so that his feet dangled in the air, "...who is President of the United States in 1998?" "Go... to... Heurk!!!" Visionary answered as the Apostate squeezed his throat. At this point he had to trust in Yo, and buy him time to do whatever the hell he was doing. Unfortunately, this Apostate fellow didn't seem to be in the mood for stalling tactics. "Wrong answer, care to try again?" "Go ahead and squeeze" Visionary managed through clenched teeth. "The fact that I'm here is proof that you've already lost..." "Perhaps" the Apostate answered. "But perhaps not." He turned to look at the students entering the cafeteria, blissfully unaware of the ongoing combat, thanks to the Apostate's power. "You may be the type to selflessly give your life, but how many of these people are you willing to sacrifice? How many should I make believe they are dying? How many should I kill before you answer my question politely?" He pulled Visionary's face close to his. "Now, once more... who is President of the United States in 1998?" Visionary had to guess, and pray that he was right... for his sake more than for the country's. "Uh..." he rasped, "Dan Quayle?" From the way the Apostate smashed his head into the wall, he figured he guessed wrong. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Idiot!" The Apostate screamed, more at himself than at his battered enemy. Visionary wasn't the time traveler at all! He was merely the pathetic, harmless, college student! It was Yo who was the danger... Yo had fed him a facsimile of his hated rival, and the Apostate had taken the bait completely! He was about to discard the useless Visionary and storm after the Legionnaire, when he regained control of his emotions. Cheryl had been Yo's target all along... Somehow, Cheryl held the key to restoring the future. Like a fool, the Apostate had let her out of his sight, all too eager to deal with her future husband. However, she was only part of the equation. He held the bloodied other half of that future in his hands. He had always planned to watch Visionary live out his life in obscurity, always under the Apostate's heel... his life a plaything for the Apostate's amusement. Sadly now, he realized this could never be. Too much was at stake. "I may loose her, I may loose it all..." he hissed to the barely conscious man, "but I guarantee you this... Your future ends now!" With that, he slowly, and with great pleasure, snapped Visionary's neck. The dead man's body hit the floor with a hollow thud. With cold deliberation, The Apostate stepped over the remains of the man he was destined to replace and entered the cafeteria. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheryl had crept out the kitchen entrance of the cafeteria as Yo had instructed. Maybe her parents had been right... there was a good chance that none of this would be happening if she had taken their advice and gone to Ohio State, but then, this wasn't exactly the kind of situation one foresaw when filling out college applications... She had originally planned to head for the front doors and get outside, then put as much distance between herself and the Apostate as possible. Something within her, however, made her circle back towards the student entrance of the cafeteria. Running just didn't seem right, somehow. She cautiously crept back up the stairs... It was then that she saw the body. She felt a chill go over her. It was the boy from the volleyball game, Visionary. Yo had said that he was standing up to the Apostate. Why? He hardly knew her... Had he done it for himself? For some future he was supposed to have? Had he done it for a girl he had only met once? Had he done it simply because, somewhere inside, he felt it was the right thing to do? Cheryl realized sadly that she would never know, and that, in some way, not knowing him made his loss all the more painful. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Apostate strode into the cafeteria and quickly spotted Cheryl dining by herself at a back table. The Legionnaire, Yo, was no where in sight. He marched across the room to confront her. "Has he been here? Has he been talking to you?" he demanded. "Has who, dear?" she answered. "Nevermind, we must leave at once." he commanded. "Not yet, dear" she answered. "I'm not done." The Apostate practically snarled. Yo had gotten to her! Still, he could repair whatever damage the meddling Legionnaire had done. He focused his mind and reached out to touch on her beliefs. That's when he realized what had happened. "You're not Cheryl!" he roared. Yo-cheryl smiled happily. "I believe you are correct" she answered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Once the Apostate had latched onto his mind, Yo refused to let go. While Yo was made of Pure Thought Energy, he was not actually telepathic. However, the Apostate had generously provided the mind link. Now Yo just had to find what he was looking for. As previously mentioned, time travel could cause even PTE beings severe headaches while trying to figure out the mechanics involved. Yo knew that if he were to travel back to the future from this point, he would be traveling to the future as dictated by the events in the present. That simply wouldn't do. However, as all being who have evolved into Pure Thought Energy know, memories link different time periods. The benefits of time travel by way of Thought Energy was that one could use one's memories as road-maps. Therefore, one could travel to any specific time as long as one remembered it, regardless of how screwed up the space-time continuum became. Thankfully, because Yo already knew all this, he felt no need to dwell on it, and thus his head did not explode. The truth of the matter was that the entire reason Yo had come back into the past was to find this one memory, his one path back to where this whole mess began. Thankfully, the Apostate had been nice enough to provide the mind-link necessary for Yo to find what he was looking for. With the destination of the proper moment in the proper reality in mind, Yo thought himself back to 1998. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pegasus burst through the half-open Laboratory door with a snort, spreading her wings and rearing up on her hind legs. That maneuver never failed to impress the rubes. In the back of the room, a figure whirled around to face her. He was tall, with a polished steel mask, complete with two very sharp and nasty horns rising from the top of his helmet. Pegasus briefly wondered if he managed to drive while wearing that thing. Maybe he owned a convertible, or at least had a sunroof. "Who are you?" she demanded. Suddenly, the room was filled with a flash of light. Pegasus instinctively wrapped her wings around herself to shield her eyes. "He is the Apostate," a voice answered. "And he will be hurting my friends..." Pegasus peered out from behind her feathers to see Yo holding the struggling armored man off the floor. Lightning arched off of Yo, and it was apparent that he was thinking some very angry thoughts. "Let go of me!!!" The Apostate demanded. Yo brought him down so that they were face to face. "I saw your memory of what you had done to Visionary" he said quietly. "Be glad that I know you have not yet done it." With that, Yo sent a jolt of Thought Energy through him, knocking him unconscious. Pegasus stared at the two of them for a few moments. "Do I even want to know what this was all about?" she finally asked. "No" Yo admitted. "Okay, then get your asses out of here before Zemo comes back." she said, changing back to her human form. "I do *not* want to spend the next eight hours filling out the appropriate Scourge of the BZL paperwork for an unauthorized break-in." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, you let him beat me to death?" Visionary asked for the fifth time. "Yes" Yo answered happily, once again. "And this really happened?" "No" Yo replied. "Not anymore." Visionary gave a weary sigh and tried again. "Okay... let me ask you this... Why couldn't you just use your own memories to go back to the original timeline, seeing as how you remembered it yourself?" Yo shook his head. "I needed to be remembering where exactly it diverged, but I could not, only that it was one way, then the other." Yo supplied helpfully. "I could not change things without knowing when I was to be acting, where I was to be, and who I was to be stopping." Visionary held his throbbing head in his hands. "Do you understand any of that?" he asked Fleabot. "Absolutely, you see..." "Nevermind" Visionary answered. "I'll take your word for it." He looked at Yo. "So what happened to the Apostate?" "He is in the mental care facility" Yo said happily. "He was needing help." "So..." Visionary said slowly, "you let him beat me to death?" "Yes" Yo answered for the sixth time. Visionary stared at him. "Why?" he finally asked. Yo shrugged. "I know you." Just then Cheryl and Lisa returned to the Lair from their shopping trip. Visionary studied his wife thoughtfully as she sorted through her bags. She caught him watching her and flashed him a warm smile. "You let him beat me to death..." Visionary repeated, "so that you could get to Cheryl, and make sure that our lives together would be restored?" "Yes" Yo said happily. Visionary sat looking at Yo for a long time. "Thank you." he finally said. ----------------------------------------------------------------------