[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/M3SfSt4.png[/img][/center] Ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssssssssssss cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssssssss Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii lllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-- [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FEGIbzG.gif[/img][/center] [hr] [color=2E2C2C]HUH. WELL, THIS IS PRETTY EMBARRASSING, ISN'T IT? THE FAT IDIOT GOT HIMSELF ALL WORKED UP FOR A BIG CRAZY TEAM-UP, AND WHILE HE'S TRYING TO GET THE BOY SCOUT ON A TRAIN TO WHERE ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE, HIS DANCE PARTNER GOT STUCK IN A SNOWBALL FIGHT! NOW THE PRESENT IS COMPRESSING WHILE IT TRIES TO CATCH UP WITH ITSELF, AND OUR BOY HERE IS ALL DRESSED UP WITH NO-WHEN TO GO! THIS HAPPENS A LOT MORE FREQUENTLY THAN YOU'D THINK. EVER WATCH A MOVIE A THOUSAND TIMES, ONLY TO REALIZE THAT ONE SCENE IS JUST A LITTLE BIT OFF FROM HOW YOU REMEMBER IT? OR I'M SURE YOU'VE HEARD THE WHOLE THEORY ABOUT THOSE CHILDREN'S BOOKS WITH THE CARTOON BEARS AND EVERYONE KNOWS THEIR NAMES ARE SPELLED 'BERENSTEIN' AND THEN YOU LOOK AT IT AGAIN AND IT'S 'BERENSTAIN?' TIME IS MESSY, IT STRETCHES AND BENDS AND SQUASHES AND LEAKS, AND EVERY TIME IT DOES IT HAS TO WRITE OVER ITSELF, HISTORY NEVER QUITE FITTING TOGETHER THE WAY IT DID BEFORE. THE MANDELLA EFFECT, DEJA VU, REPRESSED MEMORIES. YOU EXPERIENCE THESE THINGS BECAUSE TIME IS CONSTANTLY CHURNING AND SLOSHING AROUND, AND YOU HAVE NO WAY OF EVER SENSING IT FROM YOUR PLANE OF EXISTENCE. HA! NAH, I'M MESSING WITH YOU-- YOU EXPERIENCE THESE THINGS BECAUSE YOUR BRAINS ARE UNRELIABLE TANGLES OF CHEMICAL RECEPTORS THAT STORE AND PROCESS MEMORIES BY SQUIRTING VARIOUS JUICES AROUND INSIDE YOUR SKULLS! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU EVOLVE FROM OVERACHIEVING POND SCUM AND REPRODUCE BY SLINGING GOOP AT EACH OTHER AND HOPING FOR THE BEST! I'D SAY IT'S DEPRAVED, BUT MY BABY GSPTLSNZ CAN DO THINGS THAT WOULD MAKE YOU TEAR YOUR OWN SKIN OFF IN A FATAL BOUT OF HORRIFIED ECSTACY, SO AT BEST I'D SAY YOU'RE UNSANITARY. ANYWAY, ERM, WHERE WAS I GOING WITH THIS......OH! RIGHT! TIME! SO IF YOU'RE A GUY LIKE ME WHO CAN EXPERIENCE TIME AS SOMETHING OTHER THAN A WAY TO MONITOR THE AMOUNT OF LIFE YOU'VE WASTED DOING MEANINGLESS NONSENSE AS YOUR MEAT-FORMS CONTINUALLY DECAY, YOU CAN SKIP BACK AND FORTH THROUGH CHAINS OF EVENTS ALL YOU WANT. THE PAST, THE FUTURE, ANY AND ALL PARALLEL SETS OF TIMESPACE YOU THINK OF AS A 'UNIVERSE,' LIKE SKIPPING AROUND THROUGH SCENES ON A DVD, OR MAYBE MORE LIKE A VIDEO PLAYLIST. IT'S THE COSMIC EQUIVALENT OF SPACING OUT ON YOUTUBE WHEN YOU SHOULD BE WORKING-- I'M SURE SOME OF YOU SLOBS CAN RELATE! ANYWAY, SINCE THIS ITERATION STARTED IN MEDIAS RES, I FIGURED NOW MIGHT AS WELL BE AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY TO REWIND A BIT AND SEE HOW OUR BOY MET HIS GIRL! EVERYONE LOVES SHIPPING, RIGHT? SO, LET'S SEE.....PLANE CRASH? NO, THAT'S NOT IT......FALLING OFF A ROOF? NAH, THAT'S THE OTHER ONE.......SHOWING UP IN HIS HOMETOWN AND HANGING AROUND FOR WAY TOO LONG BEFORE--.....WAIT, NO, HERE IT IS! AND AWAYYYY WEEEEE GO![/color] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FEGIbzG.gif[/img][/center] [hr] [b]Nairomi, Africa The Village of Asase Ya 30 Miles West of the capital city Nyame One Year Ago[/b] [color=RoyalBlue]""[/color] I say to the bartender over the beat of dance music playing on a beaten-up jukebox in the far corner of the village bar. Even at sundown, the heat hammers down here. The paint on the walls faded and cracked a long time ago, patches of bare plaster just as numerous as the pictures hanging from it. Pictures of smiling men and women, children, family members, friends. All people who were killed in the fighting during the past year. The bartender, a rail-thin old man with thick beads of sweat rolling down his scalp, places a bottle of beer on the bar in front of me. I nod, and start to drink. Here, the water is scarce, and most of what can be found isn't clean. Filtered water goes for a high price, so most of the locals just drink beer instead. I'm not a big drinker myself--mostly because alcohol doesn't seem to affect me much, if at all-- but I figure it'd be best to leave the water to the people who actually need it. Besides, I think I'm entitled to treat myself to a little refreshment after a hard day's work. [color=Moccasin]""[/color] the bartender says, striking up a conversation. [color=Moccasin]""[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]""[/color] The bartender chuckles, but his laugh is bitter, without a trace of mirth. [color=Moccasin]""[/color] he says, [color=Moccasin]""[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Hm,"[/color] I give a sombre nod and take another sip of beer. I've been traveling the world for about eight years, seen dozens of different cultures with vastly different ways of life. There's one thing that every culture I've seen has had in common: division. Sometimes that division is based on race, sometimes on economic class, sometimes on religion. Everywhere I've gone, I've seen people who believe truly and deeply that their particular group is superior in some way to another, and use that to justify terrible things. General Kwaku Amajagh is a militant extremist of the Ghuri tribe, a people who had been oppressed for centuries by their neighboring tribe, the Turaabas. Over the past few years, the Ghuri had been more and more vocal about breaking free from their position as subservient to the Turaabas, beginning at first with peaceful demonstrations and petitions to the local government. This more peaceful movement, led by a brilliant man named Kobe Asuru, was unfortunately largely ignored by the Nairomi Senate, until Amajagh gathered a militia of Ghuri fighters, declared himself General, and began a series of violent attacks against Turaaba-dominant towns and villages. Asuru and Amajagh found themselves at odds with each other, the one believing the two tribes could live together peacefully, the other believing their oppressors had to be destroyed. Eventually, Asuru began working with the government and the local military to rein his more violent counterpart in, and was appointed as a Minister of the Ghuri tribe in the Nairomi Senate. This appeared to be a major victory, as the Ghuri were finally getting representation, a major step to them being treated as equals. Tragically, on what was to be the day of his swearing in, Kobe Asuru was assassinated in front of the capitol building. After that, an increasingly paranoid Amajagh began butchering civilians, Ghuri and Turaaba alike. Today, he had amassed his forces to overrun the village of Asase Ya, home to about a thousand people, with the goal of wiping out everyone there. He had hundreds of men in his camp, armed with machine guns, flamethrowers, rocket-propelled grenades, artillery cannons, armored trucks, and a pair of light tanks. The villagers would have been slaughtered, down to the last child. At least, until a "red-eyed demon" stepped in. It was bitter work, but the tanks and heavy weapons were destroyed, the army scattered to the wind, and Amajagh chose to turn himself in. The Nairomi Army is picking over the remains of his camp now. In addition to the heavy weaponry Amajagh was going to use today, they'll also find missiles with biological warheads, which he had planned to use on the capital. The whole situation is a sad one, but at least the fighting's stopped now. I saved hundreds of lives today, and including the planned attack on the capital, upwards of a million. Still, I wish I had gotten involved sooner, stopped things before they got out of hand. [color=RoyalBlue]""[/color] I say to the bartender, [color=RoyalBlue]""[/color] [color=Violet]"Not one's left a description yet,"[/color] I hear a woman's voice from the doorway, answering me in English, [color=Violet]"but I've got a pretty good idea of what he might look like."[/color] Standing in the doorway is a caucasian woman, another American like myself. She's wearing a purple button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, khakis tucked into her boots, and a considerable layer of dirt and dust. Her raven-black hair is pulled back in a ponytail, barring a few stray strands that drape down across her face. Most striking, though, are her eyes. They're a deep violet, which is extraordinarily rare. I've met thousands of people in my years on the road, and I've seen probably millions of faces at this point. But I've never met anyone with violet eyes. At first I think she's wearing colored contacts, but I squint a bit, quickly focusing my vision to 'zoom in' like a telescope, and I can see it's the real deal. It's not just the eye color that catches me, but the fire in them. She's here with a purpose, and apparently that purpose is me. I stand up as she approaches, and she doesn't so much as flinch. [color=Violet]"I just got back from what's left of Amajagh's camp,"[/color] she says. [color=Violet]"The military's saying it was probably a counterattack from another cell. But they haven't explained why one of the holes in a tank's armor has marks that look like hands pulling apart Play-Dough. Similar to something I saw a few months ago when an oil tanker in the Bering Strait ran aground, and then the spill somehow mysteriously managed to contain itself."[/color] She takes a few more steps, circling me like she's going to pounce. [color=Violet]"They also said the 'demon' was so fast they could barely see him, and that fire shot from his eyes,"[/color] she continues. [color=Violet]"Which sounds like the 'blur' who allegedly pulled people to safety during that earthquake in Sokovia last year, or those trapped construction workers in Rhelaysia who said their rescuer burned through steel beams with an 'invisible cutting torch.' I could rattle off about a dozen more, each of which could be brushed off as easily as seeing Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. But I started noticing a pattern in all of them."[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"And what's that?"[/color] I ask, my arms folded as I try to get a read on her. [color=Violet]"There's always someone in the background of these stories, a friend of a friend, a new guy on the job, a quiet type who minds his own business. He shows up right around when the trouble starts, but then when it's done I can never seem to reach him for comment. Usually the same description. White male, six-foot-three or so, maybe two hundred twenty pounds, dark hair, slouches, a nice enough guy but doesn't talk much. Maybe he's a firefighter named John Clark. Or a greenhorn trucker named Archie Clayton. Or a deckhand named Joe Siegel...."[/color] She looks me dead in the eye, giving me a satisfied grin. [color=Violet]"....or an itinerant junior reporter named Clark Kent."[/color] She's got me. And she knows she's got me. I could do what I always do when people get too close, disappear and show up on the other side of the world with a new name, but sooner or later, I'd have to step in and help someone in danger, and she'd find me all over again. Better to confront it now than to just prolong the inevitable. [color=RoyalBlue]"I don't know who you are,"[/color] I say, in as calm and measured a tone as I can, [color=RoyalBlue]"but if you're trying to threaten me...."[/color] She blinks, her 'gotcha' composure breaking. [color=Violet]"[i]Threaten[/i] you? Nononono, you've got the wrong idea,"[/color] she says. [color=Violet]"Look, I've been tracking this story for ages now, trying to put together pieces that didn't make any sense. Nobody I talked to about it believed me, they thought I was crazy. [i]I[/i] thought I was going crazy for a bit! But I was finally able to catch up to you, and you're here and you're real and you're....a lot to take in, so I just thought I should make a moment of it."[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Why have you been following me, then?"[/color] [color=Violet]"Because,"[/color] she says, regaining her composure. [color=Violet]"Because I'm someone like you....."[/color] My eyes go wide. [color=RoyalBlue]".....like me?"[/color] She smiles. [color=Violet]"Yeah,"[/color] he says. [color=Violet]"I'm a reporter."[/color] [hr] [color=2E2C2C]YOU KNOW WHAT, THIS GOES ON FOR A GOOD BIT. LET'S SKIP AHEAD TO SOME OF THE MORE JUICY STUFF. LET'S SEE.....[/color] [hider][color=Violet]"Because I think you can change things, Clark, [i]really[/i] change things! You've seen the state of the world, what powerful people do to the powerless. Wouldn't it be great if the little guy knew there was finally someone on his side?"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]OKAY, THIS IS A PRETTY FUN MOMENT, LET'S--[/color] [hider][color=RoyalBlue]"Actually, now that I'm thinking about it......what about a cape?"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]WAIT, NO, I SKIPPED AHEAD TOO MUCH, LEMME JUST--[/color] [hider][color=Violet]"--scoop of the century, Perry! To quote my least favorite German philosopher, 'Behold! I reveal unto you....the [i]Superman![/i]"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]NO, THAT'S TOO FAR AHEAD, HOW DO I--[/color] [hider][color=RoyalBlue]"--don't know what Luthor's hiding in there, but if I don't come back, I want you to--"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]OKAY, PAY NO ATTENTION, PEOPLE, SPOILERS CAN REALLY MESS WITH YOUR--[/color] [hider][color=Violet]"Clark, oh God, don't stop, Clark! [i]Don't stop![/i]"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]--WHOAH, THAT ONE YOU'RE DEFINITELY NOT SUPPOSED TO--[/color] [hider][color=RoyalBlue]"--in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish--"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]SEE, NOTHING BUT GOOD AND WHOLESOME ENTERTAINMENT FROM HERE ON--[/color] [hider][color=Violet]"--not going to let him take our son! How could you even [i]think[/i] of--"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]JEEZ, HOW FAR AHEAD ARE WE NOW? HOW DO I GET BACK TO[/color] [hider][color=RoyalBlue]"--has to be this way, Lois. I'm sorry. Just know that I love you. Until the end of--"[/color][/hider] [color=2E2C2C]AHHH, SCREW IT, I'M GONNA JUST LET TIME SORT ITSELF OUT. YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO FEND FOR YOURSELVES UNTIL IT DOES. JUST REMEMBER, IN MOMENTS LIKE THIS WHEN THE FOURTH-DIMENSIONAL MEMBRANE IS IN FLUX, THE ONE THING YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NEVER DO IS--[/color] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FEGIbzG.gif[/img][/center]