July 3, 2014. Thursday
"Who is this man?" asked July trimming a large bush, standing on a ladder.
"This impostor wanted to turn himself in," said Whiskey and pushed the captive closer towards July.
"An impostor? Why would we have one here?" July stepped down the ladder and approached the spooky man. Looking into the wide eyes he said, "Why did you come to this place?"
"To show you that one does not mess around in Crossroad and goes away unpunished."
"You're George Bottlemore's pawn, aren't you?"
"I'd choose the word 'assistance'. We have common interests."
"Interests?"
"We both want the world to exist. We want you to go home and never return."
"Such a noble cause. Sadly your wish to do harm to Alfonso, makes me upset. I cannot allow you to intervene."
"What do you mean?" Whiskey asked after coming closer, "What does he mean the world to exist?"
"Oh, Whiskey, the problems of the world are not for such pawns as us to understand," July said after stepping closer to Whiskey. He put a slender hand on the lower part of the guard's neck and after a twitch of the wrist, Whiskey fell down and closed his eyes as the knees hit the ground.
"Now,—"July asked Chester, "—tell me, why did you come to me?"
"To tell you that we have half of your men in custody and give you a chance to give up. To give you a way out of the terrible situation you find yourself in."
"Oh, we will find a way out of the situation. Just don't you worry. Now,—"He took a deep sigh "—anything else you'd like to share?"
"Why don't we go visit the park outside. It's fun."
"Thank you," said July and performed the 'put to sleep' move on Chester. He then spoke to the radio hanging on the front pocket of his colorful shirt, "Those patrolling the garden, grab your guns and go to the park outside. They got our men locked up in there. Free them. The ones in the proximity of the house stay in your positions and do your job." After putting the radio down, he climbed back on the ladder to continue craft his new piece of art. Humming an ear hurting tune, he chipped down the branches with utmost care. The two men sleeping on the grass below did not bother him one bit.
The guards who went to the park found there no personnel and no visitors. All the ice cream trucks were gone. After a thorough search was carried out, they found their colleagues banded inside the attraction called 'Fire Space Shark on Drugs'. For the record, it had no fire, no space, no shark, and no drugs, only darkness. When the squad of guards went back to the mansion, a surprise awaited them. The gates of the mansion were closed and no matter how long they shouted, how long they held the call button, it did not open.
What the men outside did not notice was that one ice-cream truck drove in through the gate right before it closed.
After the tires of the truck stopped screeching by the gate guard's booth. Max's voice came from inside it, "Get out!"
Everyone listened and reacted accordingly. Zoop teleported out. He wore the trademark black glasses and Kakamaquan shiny armor with a small upgrade: he had his arms and legs enwound in foil. The scientist held a dissaperator in his hand, three thermoses were attached to his back. Every thermos had a straw sticking out connected into a single long tube that went over his shoulder and dangled right by his mouth.
Sally jumped and rolled gracefully, she wore a backpack and held two soda bottles filled with layered fluids. Leopold walked away from the truck, clutching a baseball bat. George tried to step out, but the combined weight of the batteries on his back proved to be too much. He fell down and the pain inducing stick fell out of his hand. It took him a moment to pick up the weapon and crawl a few meters before Max gave him a helping hand.
There was a tank parked in front of the truck, a big old tank with a very long cannon. A dozen of Zoop's people was standing on its hull. Sunbeams were reflected on their shiny foil vests and helms. Half of them were wielding steel pipes and another half were holding dissaperators. They greeted the party with loud war chants and banging of steel pipes against the hull. The cannon turned slowly until it faced the truck. After a loud bang, the truck jerked back and slammed against the gate. Its pieces flew to the sides and high to the sky. Everything that was not disintegrated was on fire.
Now the cannon turned at Max and George, standing close to each other. Max picked the massive lase-gun off his back and aimed at the cannon. As the tank loaded another shell, Max's gun began to buzz and as the tank fired, the gun lashed a beam of light at the cannon, straight into its pipe. A sound of cannon firing was followed by a loud explosion. Kakamaquans flew to all sides. The cannon turned into a smoking steel flower.
The tank lid opened up. Out of it clambered an angry looking Kakamquan with a chimney sweep face. It was the minister of war himself, Gango. All shivering, he shouted, "No one goes past Gango unhurt! This is where you go." Grinning he pointed at a giant cage standing approximately twenty meters away from the tank. A huge tiger with long white teeth yawned inside it. When Gango's projectile hit George, the young businessman disappeared and reappeared inside the cage. The vicious animal roared and rushed towards its victim.
"Hahahaha," laughed Gango.
Zoop fired his dissaperator at the cage. The projectile hit George and he appeared behind Zoop.
Gango did not look pleased by Zoop's action. He fired at George again, but Zoop lifted up a foiled hand and reflected the shot.
"It iz between uz, Gango. You will let them pass." Zoop mouthed the coffee tube and took a long sip. His eyes opened wide. He whispered to George, "You go. I got this."
When George made a step forward, one of the Kakamquans teleported in front of him. The creature vanished before he could push the button on his dissapertor.
"Go!" Zoop insisted and took position to cover his friends' advance.
The four companions ran towards the mansion ignoring the fighting around them. After the team got in, the substituted guards revealed their identities and assaulted the mansion. Now, as far as eyes could see the two sides were engaged in a somewhat not lethal combat.
"Stop!" George shouted midway to the building, "Need to take a breath. That damn thing is too heavy." He took off the awkward battery, dropped it to the ground and glanced at the mansion. "I will die before I get to the entrance." He kicked the batteries.
"Want us to switch?" asked Leopold and extended the baseball bat slim end towards him.
"Cool." George accepted it.
Picking up the device from the ground, Leopold said, "I will go help my fellows." His eyes scanned the area, worryingly looking at the fighting all over the place. "And then I will try to rescue Chester, the fool."
Everyone's eyes gave him the approval.
George said, "Use the red button on everyone you don't like and you should be just fine."
Leopold turned the stick in his hand, then after finding the button he gently placed his finger on it. He turned away, and rushing to the closest brawl, panting a little, he murmured, What an idiot you are Chester, risking your hide like that.
The use of the tool for the first time did not prove to be difficult. The first two men in his way were a members of the demon worshipers and a guard. Touched by the invisible beam, screaming and moaning they went down.
Free from the confinement of gravity, George used a moment to take off Dang's belt and put it over his shoulder. He had no clue at what point in time he would face Alfonso, but it was better to be always prepared.
Ten meters further, the party paused in front of the rocket. Max lifted his heavy weapon up. When he gently touched the trigger with his finger, the weapon began to buzz. Its buzzing increased with every second. And when a half of a minute passed, he clicked the trigger. The gun continued buzzing as a thick beam of yellow light from its tip continuously lashed at the rocket.
Sally ran closer to the rocket, threw the two soda bottles and rushed back. They exploded close to the beam, yet when the smoke dissipated the party saw that their weapons did no damage. Transparent waves reflected sunlight coming from the point of Max's laser impact and the spots where Sally's bombs had exploded.
"Stupid force-field," Max explained pointing at a man-sized box placed straight under the rocket. It had a couple of lights blinking on its surface. There was a shadow standing beside it, working on its controls.
The dark shape took a step away from the device and stared at the trio. The closer the person got, the more his shape became reminiscent to that of a dandelion.
"You!" shouted Sally.
"Yess," replied a male squealing voice.
July stepped out of the shadows wearing a flowery summer shirt. His hair was prepared, as bushy and as shiny as never. Wielding a nunchaku in one hand and the trimmer in another, the lean man, who appeared to have no muscles, stood bravely in front of battle-scarred Max and combat-tempered Sally. There was determination and confidence in his eyes that coldly stared directly into Max's.
No more than a meter separated Max and July. The situation turned awkward very quickly. When Max attempted to push July away, the little man did not budge. July responded by doing the same. Pushing one another every few seconds they did not manage to force opponent to take a step backwards. Soon they gave up and only continued staring into each other's eyes, fighting an invisible battle.
"What do you see there?" asked Sally, but none of the men moved a finger. To cut off the electricity in their stares she slapped July's face with a palm. The noise the hit made could have rivaled the one of the tank firing before. His cheek rippled for a long while. A red palm mark shone brightly on his face.
"Why?" squealed July with tears in his eyes. "I did not deserve this!"
"You want to destroy the world you fool, you deserve even more," said Sally and slapped July again. Seeing that she got the villain's full attention she whispered to Max and George, "Go, I got this."
Bottlemores listened and as the emotional conversation escalated, silently stepped aside. The path to the mansion was clear now. Not a living soul could be seen between them and their goal. As they ran, they listened to the argument between Sally and July getting louder and louder. And only when they got inside the house and closed the door behind them, their squealing voices could no longer be heard.
Inside the wide entrance hall, a silent clap greeted them. When Bottlemores looked up the stairway they saw the one-eyed monster walking down, clapping hands. He was in the black tight suit, only now he wore no eye-patch, the ugly face was in its full color. Contrary to Max, Kevin's weapon was from this time. He held a heavy machinegun often used in movies and around the world, the AK-47.
"You can go now, George," said Kevin, once he stepped onto the ivory floor. "Alfonso is waiting for you."
Max nodded his head, encouraging George to listen, "Go, you can do this on your own. And remember, don't play by the rules. The times of knights are long gone."
George glanced at the lethal weapons in the hands of the two time travelers. Saying nothing more, he obeyed.
The two men behind his back stared into each other in electric silence. They perfectly knew, only one of them would walk alive and well away from this confrontation.
Every step George made got heavier and heavier. The time stretched for him and walking up turned almost infinite.
He thought about the fact that even though he was only a simple man with no particular special skills, he did not have the luxury of failure. The fate of his friends, the fate of the world depended on his success. Many images of incidents over the last few weeks after he wrote the letter to the future passed in front of his eyes. He remembered the bits of information about the concept of the time travel. He remembered that small effort meant nothing and that one needed to try hard to succeed. Then he recalled one of the stories Max had told him. He remembered the confident Alfonso's face as he sat on the chair, giving an illusion as if he was invincible. And when he placed his foot on the second floor, all the pieces of in his head came together.
He knew what was needed to be done, and the weight of the world seemed lighter. Taking a deep breath, gripping the belt of the lost king and the bat, he opened the door to Alfonso's room.