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Story actually provided this time... er... sorry. Tuesday, 18-Jan-2000 14:28:07
“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 in this Parodyverse, constantly 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 a receding hairline 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. Yet 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. Ah, 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 simply 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 rang 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 wasn't particularly surprising. 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 quite 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… 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 viciously. 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. Of course, 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. “Never-mind, 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 Pure Thought Energy 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 benefit of time travel by way of Thought Energy was that one could use one’s own memories as a road-map. 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 done it yet.” 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...” “Never-mind” 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. Visionary |
| The Second Time Around the conclusion (n/t) (Visionary) (18-Jan-2000 14:27:02) |
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