Breaking Time Read online

  “I am Mastermind,” he said, smiling. “Your new god. Bow down and worship me.” He was serious. “I am creating a new world with a new image. Humanity is a disgusting plague on this planet. You are all monsters. Cruel, selfish, bitter, angry, repulsive, worthless bags of puss and shit. You talk of peace – and yet you demand wars. You speak of equality – and then you shun those different than you. You pray for forgiveness – but seldom offer it whenever you’ve been wronged. Humanity’s day is ending. A new world is coming to pass. I, Mastermind, your new god, am re-creating you now – transforming you, mutating you, changing all of you – into the monsters you really are.”

  Wow, this guy was intense. Luke was kinda glad he was working for – and not against – his lord Mastermind.

  “But do not be afraid. I have come not to kill you. I, as your god, am re-creating you. You are being reborn, my children. Soon, you will be adopting your new forms. Beginning your new lives. Some of you will be animals. Creatures and monsters of all kinds. Others will not be so lucky. The mutations, I’m afraid, are somewhat random and unpredictable. But rest assured, my slaves, you have all been infected. By the time this video has been released, all the world’s major water supplies have been contaminated with my BioGen X, the chemical I created, that has already begun transforming you from the inside out. While you sleep. While you eat. While you work. While you make love. It’s happening even now, as you watch this. It’s too late for all of you. There’s no escaping your fate. You are mine. Bow down. Worship me. Honor me as your god. Follow me. Obey me.” His eyes grew more intense, staring directly into the camera. “OBEY ME! OBEY ME NOW! OBEY ME ALWAYS! I AM YOUR NEW AND ONLY GOD – YOU WILL DO WHATEVER I COMMAND.” He smiled. And then added: “Share this video with everyone you know.”

  Luke’s eyes didn’t blink. He was already under Mastermind’s mind control from before. But now – his resolve, his loyalty, felt a thousand times deeper and stronger.

  He wanted to worship Mastermind as his creator and God.

  Doctor Troyd returned with a vial of the glowing green chemical. He hadn’t seen the news yet. Didn’t plan to, either. “Come,” he said, pulling Luke away from the television. “The President will want this.”

  Mastermind was still on Eden, but not for long.

  He pulled out his pink crystal. “Amazing piece of technology, don’t you think?” he said, examining it.

  His six mutants gathered around him.

  “Simple, small, portable. And programmable.”

  He drew a large circle on the ground. The crystal left a trail of sparkling pink light wherever it touched. Then in the middle of that circle, Mastermind drew a unique symbol.

  He made an “M” shape, followed by the number “1”.

  The portal opened.

  The mutants leaned in to look through. They saw the Taj Mahal on the other side, in the distance, in the middle of the night. The portal had opened into India.

  Mastermind looked at his mutants. He picked one. “You,” he said to Venom. “Go through, start killing random people. Make sure you’re seen doing it. Wake everyone up. Get their attention. Be as public as you can. Your job is to spread fear and chaos. Got it?”

  Venom nodded.

  “Now go!” Mastermind commanded.

  Venom jumped into the portal – and landed in India. Everyone was asleep in their beds. But not for long…

  She revealed her fangs.

  Mastermind X-ed out the portal, closing it. He began drawing another circle on the ground. This time, he marked the symbol “M2” in the center. Another portal opened, this time to Tokyo, Japan.

  A very densely populated city. Full of lights, advertisements, crowded buildings, and a growing crowd of curious on-lookers. It was early morning there. People were just getting up for work. Mastermind looked to Shadow. “You’re up next. They think cat girls are cute? Show them your true nature.”

  Shadow smiled. “Okay boss.” And she jumped in.

  Mastermind closed that portal. Opened another one, this one with symbol “M3”. Saint Petersburg, Russia. Middle of the night. It was dark. Hmm. Who next? Mastermind turned to Arachnus, a black spider mutant. A true terror of the night. “Do your worst,” he said. The spider guy nodded and jumped in.

  The fourth portal, “M4”, opened to the City of Angeles. Middle of the day. Smoggy, but the sun got through. The famous Hollywood sign in the distance. Endless traffic. Air pollution so thick you could cut it with a knife. Mastermind turned to Rhino-Man. “Give Los Angeles some earthquakes they’ll never forget. And make sure you get on camera.”

  Rhino-Man nodded.

  “Now,” Mastermind ordered.

  Rhino-Man jumped into the portal.

  Only two remained: Slimer and Kraken. The sticky girl of gross goop and the hideous sea monster of horrific disgustingness.

  Mastermind opened the next portal. He drew the symbol “M6”. The “M5” symbol went to LaGuardia Airport in New York City, where Doctor Troyd and Luke went. But Mastermind had another destination in mind. “M6” opened up to the beautiful and historic remains of the ancient Parthenon – in Athens, Greece.

  Lots of beautiful stars filled the night sky. The same stars and constellations that were studied by the ancient Greeks and Romans centuries ago. The origin of many of the world’s ancient mythologies.

  Hmm. Mythology…

  Mastermind turned to Kraken. “I want you to make the monsters from their ancient myths feel like cozy domesticated pets.” He smiled. “And have fun.”

  Kraken dove into the portal.

  Mastermind closed it. “And last but not least,” he said to Slimer as he drew the perimeter of the final portal, “use your power to make them believe it’s the End of Days.”

  The “M7” portal opened to a densely-populated desert city. It was the middle of the night, but in the distance, she could see a temple with a gold dome top. Better known as the Dome of the Rock. The famous Muslim shrine in Old Jerusalem.

  “The desert?” she complained. “I hate the desert.”

  “Take it out on them, honey.” Mastermind looked at her, giving her an order. “Now go. And do your worst.”

  She sighed and jumped through.

  Mastermind closed that portal too. He took one last good look at Eden. Took a nice deep breath of their fresh, clean air. Then opened a portal for himself.

  He marked the triangle symbol.

  He was going back to the desert planet again.

  Doctor Troyd and the mind-controlled Luke once again found themselves in the back seat of a fearless taxi driver. And this driver clearly didn’t speak much English, either.

  Luke held tightly onto the seat as they took another hazardous turn just a little too fast around the corner.

  Finally they pulled up to the front of a very famous building, coming to an abrupt stop. The building was tall and slender, rising high into the air. Countless flags from nearly every country in the world lined up side by side, each waving proudly in the wind.

  “The United Nations?” Luke asked, recognizing it.

  “We have our appointment here.”

  “Is the president expecting us?”

  “He should be,” said Doctor Troyd, looking out the window. But he didn’t sound so sure. “If that hacker Mastermind hired did his job, he will be.”

  “The hacker?” asked Luke.

  “Let’s go.”

  Inside the United Nations lobby, Doctor Troyd checked in with the security guard at the main desk.

  Doctor Troyd asked to see the President of the United States.

  The guard sized him up. Doctor Troyd was wild-eyed, eccentric-looking, and clearly at least somewhat insane. Not the typical class of people to the enter these hallowed halls. And definitely not the type to have an appointment with the president.

  But sure enough, there it was in the computer. An appointment with Doctor Troyd right around this time.

  “He should be expecting me,” the doctor said.

  Ap
pointment or not, the security guard trusted his instincts over anything the computer said. Something was up with this guy.

  “And what’s your business here, sir?”

  “I have the cure,” he said.

  “The cure?”

  “That’s right. The cure. You’ve heard about Mastermind’s contamination of the water supply. His ‘dangerous’ chemical that’s going to mutate us all?”

  “I heard about that. It’s real?”

  Doctor Troyd nodded. Luke watched curiously.

  “I’m going to need to see some ID,” said the guard.

  Doctor Troyd nodded. “Very well.” He reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He loaded up the pre-recorded message – one Mastermind had recorded for him previously in the hotel lobby.

  “Your ID, sir?”

  “It’s right here,” he said. He showed him the cell phone and pressed play.

  Mastermind’s face appeared, intensely staring into the camera. “You will grant this man access to anywhere and anyone.”

  It was a small screen. But it was enough. The guard had looked into Mastermind’s eyes, and heard his voice, and suddenly felt compelled to allow Doctor Troyd access anywhere, and to anyone.

  “Oh, right. Of course. Sorry to delay you.” He swiped a special access key card, handed it to Doctor Troyd, and gave him directions to the proper room and floor.

  Doctor Troyd smiled.

  Doctor Troyd walked in to the meeting room. He stood in front of the President of the United States. The scientist never thought this day would come. But Mastermind had the vision. Mastermind had seen all this through, long before it came to pass.

  It all started months ago, when he approached Doctor Troyd to hire him for a “special project.” Several test batches later, and BioGen X had been perfected. Phase 1, complete.

  Then he recruited his team of mutants. Phase 2, complete.

  Gave them all super powers. Phase 3, complete.

  “Tell me, Mr. President,” asked Doctor Troyd, “have you seen the news?”

  “I have,” said the president. It was hard to miss.

  Also present in this meeting room were several top military advisors, leading scientists, secret service agents, and a few others neither Luke nor Doctor Troyd could identify. They had all seen the news. They had all seen and heard Mastermind’s public message.

  “What do you think of Mastermind?” asked Doctor Troyd.

  “I will obey,” the president chanted, without giving it a second thought.

  Doctor Troyd smiled, wild-eyed. Perfect.

  This was going to be really easy.

  “Good.” Doctor Troyd pulled out the vial of glowing green chemical. “Mastermind wants this mass produced and given to everyone in the world. You’re to give the formula to political leaders in every nation. Those that can mass produce it, will. Those that can’t, will receive shipments from those that can.”

  “What is it?”

  “BioGen X,” Doctor Troyd said. “The thing that’s going to turn everyone into Mastermind’s mutant. But you’re going to tell them it’s actually the cure.”

  “What about the water supply?”

  “A lie,” said Doctor Troyd. “To scare the people into taking this.”

  “I see. This is Mastermind’s command?”

  “It is.”

  The president held the green glowing vial in his hand.

  Phase 4, complete.

  To Be Concluded

  Read Part 3: Journey’s End in the

  “Mastermind’s Mutants” Special Event Trilogy

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