Continuum

[Nigawatts]

2077 A.D.
Hengsha Financial Towers, Shanghai Megacity

Crawling through the ventilation ducts were for video games, or at least Omicron had liked to believe. When his Operator told him that the vent shafts leading to the Hengsha penthouse was the most viable entrance, he fought the urge to laugh in Olou's elongated face. Unfortunately here he was, crawling through heated ducts, sweating his ass off. His stealth suit was designed to keep him from leaving any traces of his presence. This lead to the feeling that he was swimming in his own sweat by the time he finally got to the heat register that would lead toward the desired office. Pulling out his TVM, he pointed it toward the metal grate and set the Sonic Laser to vaporize. In a quick and nearly silent motion the metal bars of the register disappeared like they were never there. Pulling himself out of the vents he was greeted by the screeching of a dozen birds that filled up the office penthouse. He wondered if they had picked up on the sonic frequency the TVM had used to pick up the bar...or perhaps they were simply surprised to see someone crawling out of the wall.

Omicron dragged himself to his feet just in time to see a pair of flashlights flickering through the glass window. He guessed the guards must have heard the birds cries, and had come to investigate. Lucky for him he had a trick for that too. In his minds eye, the list of apps available to him were presented via small icons with symbols on them. Choosing the Chameleon Circuit from the grid of choices, he activated the full cloak function. All this took place in the span of a few seconds. He could feel his skin shifting as the biology of his flesh changed in the blink of an eye. What used to be his dark skin, was now covered in small reflective plates that made him appear transparent. A good eye could see the distortion along the edges if he moved, but if he stayed completely still, it was almost like he wasn't even there.

The two guards entered the Penthouse with guns drawn. They both stayed at the door and waved their flash lights around the room, looking for anything suspicious. The birds could still sense Omicron, so they kept squawking. One of the guards moved into the room and began searching around more thoroughly. Looking behind art displays and furniture located around the room. At one point he shined his light directly onto Omicron, and for a second the Sentinel wondered if he had noticed the distortion on the edge of his body. After a few excruciating seconds though, the guard simply turned back to his partner and motioned for them to leave. Omicron let out a small sigh of relief before heading toward the large desk in the center of the room.

Commanding the Chameleon Circuit to revert him back to his natural form, he began playing with the computer terminal on the desk. He was still in the 21st Century, and they still used keyboards this early. In order to operate it properly it would be better if he could see his own hands. Not only that, but the full cloak always felt heavier than normal skin, and made him clumsier. Activating the computer terminal was simple, but he felt kind of exposed now with the dull computer light illuminating his part of the room. He looked up cautiously to see the two guard lights moving further away from the office. He hopefully had enough time to get this done. Taking out his TMV he placed it on the side of the mini-tower next to the monitor. Immediately the device began interfacing with the Penthouse's computer. It knew which files to look for as well, and after cracking through the user password it brought up what the Sentinels had been looking for.

'This is Omicron, it appears Mr. Zhao is using a scroll from over 2000 years ago as the basis for his Time Window project.' He used his internal voice to communicate, in order to keep his sound to a minimum.

'It says here that the scroll is located somewhere down in the vault of the Hengsha Towers. Should I move to retrieve it?'

'Negative Omicron, the damage has already been done. No you need to go to the source of this temporal disturbance. We've analyzed the documents only possible origin. It will take you a few jumps, but you will definitely find it eventually. Operative out.' Olou's calm voice replied from the other end.


********

212 B.C.
Shenzhen, Qin Dynasty

"Surround the temple, if anyone tries to enter or exit, you are to kill them."

"Yes, your Excellency."

It had been a long week. After several misleads and a few dead ends, Omicron finally narrowed down the likely locations of the scroll. Taking on the form of a high ranking Emissary to the Emperor, Omicron lead a force of thirty men in locating forbidden texts. It had been a rough ride, and his hands were dirty with the blood of a few hundred peasants. Hopefully this would end here, although he was not going to get his hopes up. He still had half a dozen more temples to check.

"Your Excellency, we were not expecting you to arrive today. Our temple has already responded to the Emperors commands, and have turned over all of the forbidden texts he demanded."

"Not all of them monk, I have it on good authority that this Temple was home to a very rare and puzzling scroll. I did not find anything remotely like that during my review of your inventory at the Capital. My suspicions make me believe you are hiding something."

"Ah, you are correct Emissary. It was merely a misunderstanding I assure you. The text you speak of is not a threat to the sanctity of the Empire, simply a mad mans scribbles. They are barely legible and don't make any sense."

"I'll be the judge of that, have all your monks brought here immediately, and bring the scroll in question for me to see."

After a few painful minutes, a small groups of monks filled the main hall of the Temple and bowed before Omicron in respect. One handed him the Scroll, before bowing like the rest of his brothers. The Temple master continued to speak in platitudes while Omicron went over the contents of the scroll. It would see like gibberish to these people, who wouldn't understand the basics of Quantum Mechanics. The scroll talked about manipulating sub-atomic particles to achieve what would eventually be a very basic and very dangerous version of what his TVM accomplished via a simple application.

"Did you read it?"

"Of course my lord, I have studied nearly every scroll in this Temple multiple times. While the selection has been somewhat diminished after the Emperor's new law passed, it has by no means diminished the effort it takes to truly understand these marvelous works."

"Did your monks study it?"

"A few have, yes my lord. None of them could begin to understand it, just as I was unable to decipher it's meaning."

"Do you know which ones studied it?"

"I'm afraid no, the Monks are free to study any text they desire."

"...That is unfortunate."

"I'm sorry, your Excellency?"

"I am too."

Walking out of temple swiftly, with the scroll clenched hard in his fist, Omicron was greeted with salutes from his men. Knowing that it would be impossible to separate the bad apples from the good ones, and already knowing that these men would have very little consequence in the scheme of the Continuum in the long run, he gave the order.

"Burn the temple to the ground, and kill all the monks inside."

Finding a place to escape during the ensuing chaos, Omicron contacted his Operator. 'I have the scroll, and all witnesses have been dealt with.'

'Good to hear Sentinel, make a jump back to Terminus Station, your double will be transported back in your place with modified memories of what took place.'

[FoxSVK]

6th August 1945, Northern Mariana Islands, Tinian

Tau appeared in the rear of the hangar without any sound or anything else that would give away his arrival. The moment he was entirely out of the vortex, he activated his Chameleon Circuit and took on the appearance of a World War II officer in the Pacific theater. He appeared beyond the plane that will write history in a matter of hours. The Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress bomber that will deliver the first atomic strike in the history of mankind, only to be followed three days later by the second bombing. The event that played a crucial role in ending World War II and setting the stage for the Cold War, both events necessity to ensure the Continuum of time will not be disturbed, otherwise the consequences could be grave. Both events happened for a very good reason, and they had to happen. That´s when Tau stepped in, to make sure that the ending of the darkest chapter of the 20th century will happen as it has to happen. Upon looking around, he left the hangar, taking another long look at Enola Gay. After that, he contacted his operator. Routine thing, but important for them.

" This is Tau. Jump completed as planned, I am at Enola Gay. Requesting further intelligence. " he finished. Seconds later, his Operator, Kriil, responded. " The target will try and sabotage the Hiroshima bombing by unknown means. All we can provide is the image of the man you will need to look after. Kriil out. "

The image appeared in Tau´s mind. A man with mixed American - Japanese features. Kriil stated that the approximate time of his origin is somewhere in the late 21st century. That will save Tau some time, as he disliked being sent on a wild goose chases, despite the fact he completed all of them so far. The man could show up at any minute, but so could the crew of the bomber that will take of in less then an hour. And so it happened. A minute or two later, people started to appear and started the final preparations for the take off. The plane was being fueled for the flight and service crews checked every inch of the plane for anything that might cause trouble. " If I would be him, I place the bomb after they finish. " Tau told for himself and kept on watching the events around the plane. After forty minutes, the crews finished the checking of the plane, but one man remained near the wing section. " Too obvious. " Tau told to himself and started to walk towards him. He passed by the other personal without any suspicion, nodding them as short greetings. He did the same with the saboteur, asking him about the wing element he was inspecting. Upon careful look, he stated that the bomb was not placed yet, and it never will be placed. He patted the man´s shoulder as a gesture of approval and told him to follow him, pointing at the back of the plane. The man nervously walked with him, confirming Tau´s suspicion. As they were at the tail of the plane, out of everyone´s sight, Tau reached out with his hand and placed it on the insurgent´s mouth to prevent him from screaming, while his second hand, the TVM in it was on the back of the man. He then burned through his heart with his Sonic Laser.

Usually, he would have do that with his head, but not now. He needed the man´s brain intact to remove his memory implant and get an exact date. He looked around himself but saw nobody near. He then proceeded to retrieve the memory implant. A messy, yet important work. After two minutes of work, he find it, together with the information he was looking for. After carefully hiding the body, he started to analyze the data from the chip, placing it next to his TVM. The data was straight, but he was unable to point out the exact dates and places where he would have to eliminate the " Rising Sun " movement which tried to prevent the downfall of Japan in and following the World War II. Not that Tau would let them succeed. He prepared the coordinates for the new jump to the late 21st century. Looking back at Enolay Gay once more to confirm it is safe, he was about to disappear. As he was about to do that, Paul W. Tibbets, the man who will pilot the plane walked around him with the rest of the crew. He saluted them and immediately after he was out of sight again, he opened a vortex and headed back to the late 21st century.

21st March 2094, Japan, Hokkaido Prefecture, City of Obihiro

" Finally. "

These were Tau´s words as he left the vortex that brought him to his destination. The case turned out to be a goose chase as Tau suspected. It took him a week to figure out where he will have to strike to remove the beasts head, instead of struggling with every single arm. He decided to strike at a meeting where the three base members of the Rising Sun will meet for the first time, a meeting that will eventually lead to the creation of a group that achieved time travel by means unknown to Tau. But he guessed they had the money they needed to achieve that. Those three people were among the richest persons on Earth, so they had an enormous amount of wealth to spend. They will be meeting in one of the most expensive restaurants in Obihiro. The restaurant´s location was well suited to make it look like an accident, though accidents of this kind were a rarity in the late 21st century. Regardless, these men have to be removed. For the sake of the Continuum. The vortex he used this time placed him near the supporting pillars that held the restaurant on top of one of the city´s skyscrapers. An expensive restaurant, indeed. It will cause civilian casualties, that´s for sure, but to Tau, completing the mission was the top priority, that was before everything.

A few minutes later, he saw the elevator coming from the bottom of the tower into the restaurant. Through the glass floor of the restaurant, he confirmed the identities of his targets. He waited for them to take their seats, and after that, he reached for his TVM and pointed it at the restaurant. Using his Sonic Laser, he cut through the pillars would have been much more easier, but it would not look like an accident. So he instead activated his Gravity Manipulator and applied a stronger gravity of the field on the restaurant. A few seconds later, the supporting pillars were overwhelmed by the irresistible pull of the gravity created by Tau´s TVM. The steel gave up to the gravity with loud creaking, and the restaurant itself started it´s descend, damaging the side of the building, only to land another few seconds later with a loud bang, raising a cloud of dust. Panic erupted, and Tau decided to leave, once his work was done, but not before reporting.

" This is Tau. Mission completed, targets eliminated. Requesting further orders. " was his brief report. A few seconds later, Kriil´s voice responded. " Good work, Tau. Make the jump back to the Terminus Station. Kriil out. "

Tau looked at the accident once more. People started to gather around it and authorities started to arrive as well. Most likely, he will receive his next mission, regarding with covering up the accident. But that would be a cake walk. Thinking that to himself, he opened another vortex, heading back to the Terminus Station.