The Elias protocol.
The door opened and an older gentleman entered. He was wearing a grey suit and had a cane. Zarina looked up at him, startled.
"Excuse me, but this is employees only," she said, standing up. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"This is the Elias protocol, miss Zarina." The man's voice sounded vaguely familiar. "You and him need to come with me."
"What-?"
The well dressed gentleman stood up immediately.
"Wait a second!" Zarina jumped up to follow them.
"How long have we got?" The older man asked as they walked down the hall.
It was then that she noticed the younger man was still tapping his fingers.
"About 30 seconds," he replied. "Although, if we went into the crowds that could buy us time."
"Come along then," the older man said as he pushed a door to the outside open. "Lets get lost."
Walt and Ioan stepped into the clean hospital room. The young man in the bed was bandaged in a few places but most of his wounds had been almost magically healed. He looked up, hearing their feet tap on the tiles. Jack's face broke into a half smile.
"Walter!" He said. "You're alive!"
"And you are too," the older man said.
"What are you?" The imp slung his arms over the frame at the foot of the bed. "You've got a bunch of wires sticking outta various places."
"I'm in big trouble," Jack replied. "That's what I am."
Charlie looked out his portal boardly. Sure being a look out was an important job, but sometimes it got very dull. For reasons unknown to him at the time, his eyes were drawn to Oli's empty station. There was a dark shape nearly at the glass portal. He stared in astonishment as he realized the shape was climbing the wall.
"Wot tha?" Charlie pulled out his spyglass. "Is tha' a woman?"
"Run that past me again," Walt said, holding out a hand. "And sit back down, you're in pieces!"
Jack was attempting to get out of the hospital bed but the older man held him down. Walt had to admit, even as broken up as Jack was, the young man was rather strong.
"People are coming to kill me," he said, pushing the older man's hands away. "The longer I stay, the easier it will be for them to find me."
"Hold up, who are they, what do they want," Ioan listed them off his fingers. "And where exactly are you going to go?"
"It's complicated," he panted from his efforts.
"This is way beyond complicated!" Walt exclaimed. "Start explaining!"
"I don't know where to begin..."
"Anywhere!" The imp interjected.
Jack paused and drummed a quick pattern with his fingers.
"A man named Nickoli Karloff wants me dead. He's already killed my entire family." He said slowly. "I've been running... for a long time..."
"He killed your family?" Walt's voice was quiet. "Why?"
"I have an hour before his agent finds me." Jack rubbed his face. "Then none of this matters."
"We have to get him out of here," Ioan said.
"How?" The older man asked. "He'll fall apart if he tries to walk out of here."
"Get that mountain warrior," the imp pointed to the door. "He can carry him."
"Gentlemen, if I might interject," Jack said calmly. "All I need is my cane. Walter."
The young man held out his hand. The older man looked at him with concern. The imp simply looked confused.
"Promise you won't leave me here." Walt said seriously.
"I can't leave you here." Jack replied. "Things would get serious if I did that."
"What are you two going on about?" Ioan asked, looking at them in turn.
The older man slowly extended the cane towards Jack. The younger man grabbed the end but Walt didn't let go. Jack smirked slightly. The imp shrugged and placed his hand on the wood of the cane. The three remained quiet for a moment.
"Well, gentlemen." Jack sighed, tapping his end of the cane. "Shall we be off?"
"?-" Ioan was cut off as suddenly reality tore open.
Wind flew and lightning flashed. Suddenly everyone fell to the ground. Walt managed to remain conscious this time but felt horribly sick. Seeing a rather sleek trash can, he ran over and emptied himself into it. Ioan lay face down on the white tile floor. Jack was on all fours and had blue liquid dripping from his mouth.
"Where are we?" Walt croaked.
"Janitor closet..." Jack swayed dangerously.
Staggering slightly, the older man opened the smooth grey door. He kicked in a door jam and pulled the imp in. Jack crawled into the rather spacious room.
"Close... The door..." He gasped.
"Right," Walt pulled the door shut. "You're dying. How can I help you?"
"Go find... M-Martin," Jack's eyes rolled back. "Martin... Fox..."
Walt rubbed his face tiredly. He gripped the cane and walked out the door.
Martin Fox straightened his cashmere coat and smiled to himself. Being oldest did have its perks. With a spin on his polished leather shoes, he went to walk back to his post. Then an older gentleman caught his eye. Nothing seemed odd at first then Martin saw the cane he had.
"Where is he?" Martin asked, walking up to him.
"This way." The older gentleman said, gesturing back the way he came.
Ioan woke to find a red haired man looking pensively at Jack with blood on his hands. He tried to get up and was smacked down with a pain in his head.
'Great! He's killing Jack and I've got a flipping hangover!' Ioan gripped his throbbing head.
He forced his eyes open and saw Walt holding out a small brown square.
"He says it will help make the pain go away," the older man explained.
The imp looked at it suspiciously but ate it anyway. Dying would have been a better option at this point. To his surprise, the chocolate square began to calm the pounding in his head.
"What's he doing?" Ioan asked, staggering to his feet.
"I'm practically rebuilding Jack from scratch." The red haired man wiped some of the blood off his fingers. "I watched practically all of my brothers and sisters get put together. However, watching is very different than actually doing it."
"You're his brother?" Walt asked, surprised. "But your last name's Fox and his is Crowley."
Ioan was thinking something else entirely but felt it was best not said.
"Yes." Fox pulled out an unsaveable wire and began to run a new one. "The man who built us gave us our names. Who am I to argue with that?"
"So you're like him?" Ioan asked. "What are you?"
"We are bioengineered temporal engines." He attached a wire which then began to glow blue. "That's a good sign. At least I know he's going to live now."
"Temporal engines? Time engines?" Walt asked in astonishment.
"You can travel in time?" The imp's eyes grew wide. "For reals?"
"Of course." Fox glanced at Walt. "How else do you think Mr. Disney came to be several centuries away from home?"
Ioan turned his head so violently that had his head not been so well attached it would have simply rolled off his shoulders.
The axeman sat quietly in the waiting room. The other two had been gone awhile. He glanced up to watch the people and see if Oli was on his way back. His attention was drawn to a woman who seemed out of place for some reason. She wore dark clothes and was walking purposefully until she stopped suddenly. He watched her glance around then head towards Jack's hospital room.
Curious, the axeman got up and followed her. His instincts told him that she was trouble. However, this was not the place to confront her. Things might turn violent, there would be collateral damage and he was not in the best shape for a fight. He stopped out side the room. The woman was staring at the empty hospital bed.
"He was here." She said to something she held in front of her. "But he's gone now."
The axeman tried to hear the reply.
"Yes sir," she pulled out a device and tapped a few keys.
Without thinking, the axeman jumped at her only to find himself falling through reality.
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