Psalm could hear the panic growing in Bobbi’s voice. She knew if they had any chance of getting out of this alive, she needed to calm her friend down. But she couldn’t bring herself to lie to Bobbi. “I think this is the future, the one from my visions. I don’t know how, but we’re living it.”

“Oh God—”

“Stay calm, girl. We’re tough. We will find a way out of this. I promise.”

“But—”

“We’re going to make it, but I need your help. Are you with me?”

Bobbi nodded. “I’m just scared. But you’re right.” She gave a weak smile. “We can do this.”

“That’s the spirit.” Psalm pointed to the remains of the school. “I know that there’s some kind of computer under all this mess. Can we get to it?”

“Mainframe? I think so. I-I know the access codes, even though I’m not supposed to.”

“Bad girl, huh? How did you get them?”

“Flint isn’t exactly the best at keeping his thoughts to himself. I just kind of picked it up from him one day.”

“Can we get in without going inside?”

“There’s an access hatch on the south lawn, hidden beneath the rose bushes. You need an access code to enter, but I have that too.”

“Well, aren’t you just the little spy? Come on then, lead the way.”

Psalm followed Bobbi around the smoking crater that was once the Eastman Academy. She tried not to shutter at the sight of her vision come true.

They reached the rear side of the school in only a few seconds. The rose bushes were gone along with most of the vegetation. But Bobbi took them right to a patch of loose dirt. She quickly cleared the dirt away to reveal the access panel just below the surface. She keyed a code in to the pad and another patch of dirt a couple feet farther ahead shifted skyward. It rose just over three feet before coming to a stop. It exposed a narrow hatch and a ladder leading down in to a dimly lit tunnel.

“Come on. Let’s get down there and see what Mainframe has to say.”

Bobbi crawled down in to the hatch and descended the ladder. Psalm followed seconds behind her. The hatch opened to a short tunnel that ended in another door and another keypad. Bobbi walked up to it and keyed in Mainframe’s access code. Nothing happened.

“You sure you have the right code?” Psalm said.

“Yes, I’m sure. Someone must have changed it.”

“Come on. We might as well head back topside. We’re not going to find anything else here.”

“Damn right you’re not, apostles!”

Psalm and Bobbi both turned to see a liquid form coalesce in to human shape before them.

“No,” Bobbi said. “It can’t be. You’re dead.”

Wave stood before them. No matter how much she might wish it, she couldn’t deny it. He looked just as he did when he died, and Bobbi had to fight back tears on the sight of him.

“I’m not dead, but you will be if you don’t’ tell me what I want to know. Why are you here, apostles?”

“Apostles?” Psalm said. She stepped towards Wave. “Look, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but if you’re who you say you are, you should at least recognize my chica over here.”

“You fool no one. Your friend, apostle, is an ignoramus. Mindset has changed much in the past decade. Obviously your photo references are out of date.” He raised his hands in an attack stance, and each hand formed in to a blade-like construct of hardened water. “Now surrender or die.”

“I’ve had enough of this.” Psalm unleashed a burst of eldritch energy. Wave went liquid, but the blast of magical energy operated on both the physical and spiritual plane. It hit him like a jackhammer and splattered his liquid form against the wall.

“Psalm, why—”

“Get up the ladder! He won’t stay down long!”

Bobbi scrambled for the ladder, and Psalm followed only a moment behind. They fell out on to the barren school grounds, just as a jet of water shot up the hatch. It quickly formed back in to human shape. Wave sneered at them. “You just made a big mistake, apostles!”

“We’re not fucking apostles!” Psalm yelled. She threw up a shield just in time to block daggers of ice flying her way.

“You are fools to come here, apostles or no,” a new voice said. Their vision went skyward as a gorgeous black woman floated down from the sky. She wore only boots and loose fitting white garments over her chest and waist. A golden jewel glistened around her neck as she touched down beside Wave.

She gestured and a cradle of energy rose from her hands. “Wave does not stand alone. Today you face all of Epsilon.”

A pair of green feet caught Psalm in the side. She tumbled to the ground as a green-skinned epsilon pounced on top of her. He looked like an oversized frog, and the long tongue that slithered from his mouth did little to change that view. She fought to unleash another eldritch blast, but his foot whipped out and in to her arm. The mystic energy shot harmlessly away.

Bobbi found she had her own problems as the dark, glassy form of Solid hurdled her way. She ducked under Solid’s swing and scrambled away from her.

Solid looked older than Bobbi remembered. Years older. It was the confirmation she needed that they were indeed in the future.

“Solid, stop!”

The deaf girl stopped in her tracks at the words appearing in her head. She looked at Bobbi quizzically. She raised an eyebrow and signed, “Mindset?”

Bobbi nodded. “It’s me, Heather. I don’t know how I got here, but it’s really me and Psalm.”

Solid raised her hand up and waved. She drew the frog degen and Wave’s attention to her. She signed, “Stop. Friends.”

The other two stopped and turned to the black woman. “Are you sure?” she said to Solid.

Solid nodded.

“We will trust Heather on this. We all know her intuition borders on super-human.”

The others nodded as the woman turned to Bobbi and Psalm. “I am called Isis. I lead what remains of Epsilon in this war. I know not how you came to be here but you are welcome to join us. Come, follow us to the levels below.”

Isis gestured towards the smoldering ruin of the academy. Energy flashed from her hands and the wreckage shifted to reveal an entrance in to the sub-levels.

Several minutes later they were securely locked in to the former academy’s sub-level. Psalm and Bobbi saw that the training area had been refurbished in to makeshift living quarters. The door to Mainframe stood open, and the frog-like degen took a chair at the computer terminal.

“Ribbit, let us know if anything else moves in on the sensors.”

Ribbit’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “Yes, ma’am.”

Isis turned to Psalm and Bobbi. “Come with me, both of you.”

They followed her in silence to a ramshackle living room set. Isis gestured to the couch as she took a seat on a tall stool. “Now, I want to know who you are and why you are here.”

“We’re who we always have been. I’m Bobbi Kwok, or Mindset, I guess. And she’s Psalm. We’re just who we say we are. As to how we got here…well your guess is as good as ours.”

“Bobbi, or whoever you are, Mindset hasn’t looked like that for nearly a decade.” She gestured at Psalm. “And I don’t even know who you’re supposed to be.”

Psalm couldn’t stand the constant doubting any longer. “We’re time travelers, damn it! I don’t know how, but me and Bobbi are from a decade ago.” She proceeded to explain her visions of the future, this future, to Isis. Lost in the story, she didn’t notice Wave and Solid enter the room.

“So what’s the verdict?” Wave said as Psalm finished.

Isis shook her head. “Their story is utterly preposterous. So preposterous that I can’t help but believe it. A mole wouldn’t try such a ridiculous cover story nor would they try to disguise themselves as Mindset from so long ago.”

“Unless the Apostles thought we might buy in to this,” Wave said.

“Hello,” Bobbi said. “Right here still. And I promise Psalm isn’t lying. We don’t even know who these damn Apostles you keep talking about are. Apostles of what?”

Isis sighed as her eyes turned to her compatriots. After a moment, she nodded and turned back to the girls. “All right. I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version. It started nine years ago.

“An ancient entity known as Nephthys awoke somewhere in Egypt. She claimed to be a goddess, but was in fact just an ancient and supremely powerful metahuman. First she formed a group of metas and degens she called her Apostles. She sent them out to destroy her enemies, and the Eastman Academy was one of her first targets.

“At the same time, she took control of a series of government-created cyber-soldiers. She was able to reprogram them to do her bidding, and her bidding alone. That’s when the conquest began.

“A tactical nuke to Champion City removed most of the major threats. After that it was just a matter of time.

“It took six months.

“Nephthys rules all of North America now, and her conquest shows no sign of stopping. No government can stop her. We and a few other rebels continue to fight her, but the odds against us are overwhelming.”

Bobbi turned to Psalm and whispered as she spoke. “Is this why we’re here?”

“What?” Psalm said.

Bobbi stood up. The excitement showed in her voice. “Don’t you see? We’re here to stop this. We can go back in time and beat this Nephthys chick before she can do all of this…. This madness.”

“We don’t even know where this Nephthys could be, Bobbi. All I know of the name is from that freakish order Flint and the others went to stop.”

Wave’s eyes went to Isis. “It’s already too late. By the time Epsilon defeated her Order, Nephthys had already risen.”

“No, it can’t be,” Bobbi said. “We’re here for a reason. We’ve got to get back and stop this!”

“The girl’s right. That is why she’s here. Both of them.”

All eyes went to the room’s entrance and the new arrival. The man’s features and accent was African, but his skin was a deep green. He wore a suit of black armor that looked very similar to how Bobbi remembered the cyber-soldiers, but his was covered by a dark cloak. He leaned on a massive brown staff that stretched from the floor to nearly a foot above his head.

He stumbled as he entered the room, and Wave rushed to keep him from falling. “Set, are you all right?” The concern showed on the water-man’s face as he spoke.

As he leaned against Wave, the gathered metahumans and degens could see the hole torn in to the cloak and the bloody wound beneath.

“I am nowhere close to all right, my friend, but it no longer matters. Mindset and Psalm are our final hope.”

Isis looked irate. “What are you talking about? We’re not giving up now!”

“It’s over, Isis. We did our best to hide the time travelers, but Nephthys has been tracking them ever since their arrival. We need to get them out and back to their own time where they can do the most to help us out of all of this. They can stop our world before it ever has a chance to begin. Just tem being here is already altering the time stream.”

“Nephthys is coming?” Wave said.

“She’s already here. I’m sorry.”

Ribbit sprung in to the room. Multiple bogies on their way, all meta-active. It’s the Apostles.”

“Prep for battle,” Isis said. “This may be our last fight, but we’re going to take these bastards with us. Are you with me?”

If she expected an enthusiastic response, she did not receive it. Wave and Solid gave solemn nods, but Ribbit only took a deep gulp of air.

The bunker rocked as something struck the grounds above. Isis quickly turned to the frog-shaped degen. Ribbit nodded furiously as she spoke to him. “Blow the hatch and activate the remaining defenses. We’re going to burn them down where they stand.

Ribbit rushed to Mainframe to complete her order. Isis, Wave, and Solid rushed to the entry gantry as the access hatch exploded upwards.

Psalm moved to follow the, but Set threw up a hand to bring her to a halt. “You can’t go out there,” he said. “It’s a suicide mission, and they all know it. But you two are the key. You can stop all of this. The cyber-soldiers, the Apostles, everything. But first you have to get out of here.”

Bobbi looked up through the opening to the surface. She could see flame and energy blasts fly as this future Epsilon battled the superior numbers of their foe. She turned to Set. “How, huh? How in the hell do we get past that?”

“That’s where our final member comes in.” Set stepped aside as Bobbi saw a man in his eighties walk in to the room.

“Hello again, young lady.”

She didn’t know the face, but she recognized the voice. She had only heard it second hand before, but she knew it nonetheless. And she recognized the crimson costume as well. But even so, the old man’s face made her doubt her other senses.

Psalm did not share Bobbi’s doubt. “You bastard!” She ran towards him and sung a fist towards his face.

A wall of solidified air stopped her hand mid-swing. “We don’t have time for past conflicts, Psalm. The time for enmities between epsilons ended nine years ago. I am here to aid your escape, whether you like it or not.”

“You are,” Bobbi said. She paused for a moment, not quite able to say the word. She still gawked at him as she spoke his name.

Rubicon smiled. “Come girls. We must make our escape.”

Epsilon, Athena, Bagheera, Flint, Beauty, Air Raid, Thief, Devil Boy, Rubicon, and all related characters, and Metahuman Press are © and ™ 2005-2008 Nicholas Ahlhelm.