Time Shenanigans

            The timeship glided effortlessly back through the hours. There’s no hurry. Torin thought. Plenty of time. Besides, what good is it being able to travel in time until you’ve decided when you want to be?

            “What if we make Mona Lisa a redhead?” Pau’lo said.

            Torin shook his head. “What are we, twelve? Come on. We need to be able to do better than that.

F3 Out of Time

           Isaac Reyes looked over the pile of material left from what used to be a patron of the theater. Isaac looked over the statements he had gotten from them while the crime unit did their thing. The scanners, no matter how advanced, still were as big as an autoincinerator can. Fairchild did his thing with the scanner while Isaac shook his head.

F3 Red 2

            They thought she was done. She was out of the woods, and Grandmother had moved far away. But now she’s back, and out for blood. Wolf blood. She doesn’t need the Woodsman to save her this time. Red Riding Hood is back, and her basket of goodies includes grenades, napalm, and one hell of a bad attitude. Coming this summer, Red 2.

F3 Roaming Charges

            The cell phone rang. There was no number for the call. Not an area code, a prefix, or even the one for long distance calls. It didn’t come from one of my contacts either. Instead the display read “Interdimensional Call”.

            I blinked and rubbed at the screen, but I hadn’t misread.

            I answered. “H-Hello?”

            “Hey, finally. You don’t know how long I’ve been dialing. Do you have pizza there?”

F3 First Interrogation

            “So, where’s your brother?”

            “He ain’t my responsibility. You want him, go look for him. He’s out with his sheep for all I know.” He leaned back, cocky. A little too cocky for his own good.

F3 Grammar Clergy

William attempted to keep himself from trembling as he approached the Confessional. His stomach churned and heaved with fear, and he licked his lips.
He walked into the space, closing the door behind him. He sat patiently, trying to order his thoughts.

F3 Engineers

     "This is going to work," Kurt said.
      "But the book says—" Rick pointed to the holo-slate indicate the emitter's tolerances.
      "I know what it says. Listen, we're out here on a station waiting weeks between supply runs. This isn't a fancy new ship of the fleet. Every other week something dies on this station, and the only reason it doesn't rip apart and empty us into vacuum is because I don't go by the book. Well, that and duct tape."

F3 The Banshee

     She screamed like she always did, filling the air with a howl that made most people cringe and cover their ears. To me the sound was encouraging, something to be relished. Today there was no one around to discourage the Banshee from screaming, so I let her go to her heart's content. The wail echoed around the inside my garage until I hit the button.

F3 ICBS

     Supervillainy, as popularized by comic books, film, and spy novels is characterized by lasers, shiny materials, and evil laughter. One out of three is a terrible ratio, but I can't give up the laugh. But, really, I have cause for the laugh. Humor is important. A plan should be both practical and humorous whenever possible, and I watched the monitor over Atlanta with child-like anticipation. This was going to be good.

F3 Exotic Tastes

     Brachiation seemed the most expedient, not to mention the most desirable, means of travel, despite the lack of anything to swing from. No trees, no jungle gym, nothing. It was a melancholy moment for which Johnny would remember until the end of his Twinkie. Unfortunately he had a Long Tom, a Twinkie three feet long. Without the cardboard support, it would break apart under its own weight.

F3 Sigmund Freud Vampire Hunter

     Germany.      Night time (ish).      Dr. Sigmund Freud strolled down on his way home, smartly tapping his cane on the cobbled stones. The good doctor thought of his recent research, and how he had helped so many patients with their recent problems. His research on psychoanalysis and dream interpretation would surely help millions of people cope with their problems. If only I could—

F3 Part of The Plan

     Dying was always part of the plan. Not the smartest part, mind, but necessary. It was one of those things that I would leave out of the plan if I could. Unfortunately I just couldn't make the math work out without dying. I didn't get to go out easy, either. No clever drugs to simulate death. No magic spells that eased my passage. No gently falling asleep and then waking up in the everafter. No, this was going to hurt.

F3 Touch of Magic

     Card tricks. Illusions. Sleight of hand. Daring escapes. Misdirection. Trapdoors. Custom-engineered rigs. All tools of the trade for a magician. So as I made the ball disappear up a sleeve, coins appear out of ears, swap places with an assistant through a door, and even more elaborate, spectacular tricks, I did nothing that a well-practiced magician on Vegas couldn't do. This was not real magic, though many claimed to have that ability.
     Magic was real, though. I never used much, and almost always on a trick most thought they could explain, or at least one that was so ordinary as to not be worth real magic. But the most ordinary circumstances required real magic.

F3 In the Shade

     The shade of the pear tree felt wonderful to Arcus. The time for the blossoms perfuming the autumn breeze had long passed, but fruit plump from the ample rain and sun bowed the smaller branches down. Arcus had liberated some of those pears, two cores lay on his right while half a dozen fruit nestled in an open burlap bag on his left. I might just stay here tonight. I can unroll my blanket, and enjoy the pears for breakfast, too.
     "Are you Arcus of Thallory?" Stewards protect me. Not again.
     Arcus pushed up

F3 Discord

     Chaos. Dissent. Anarchy. Discord. The goddess Eris would sow discord purely for her own pleasure. However, discord is a far more potent weapon to be wasted purely on entertainment. The wise conqueror did not use strength of arms to force his foes into submission. Hitler, Napoleon, Stalin, Khan, and Alexander were inelegant bludgeons. For all their efforts, they have become nothing more than names in a book of history.

F3 The Road

     One more mile.
     One more mile behind, one more mile to go.

F3 Unrestrained Power

     Power. Unyielding, wild power crackled the air around him. Through gritted teeth and clench fists he tried to wrestle the power to his will. The effort appeared to shrink the crackling aura some, but tendrils still flailed about. Like an oiled eel the power writhed and slipped away from his will.

F3 Divine Instruction

     "So, class, in the Iliad, we see the hero Diomedes, with Athena's help, is able to actually injure Ares. What conclusions can we draw from this passage?"
     Clearly, Ares is less of a man than he thinks himself to be. Athena said from off to my right, her Aegis shining too brightly in the fluorescent lighting of the classroom.
     Woman! You dare insult me? I will crush you!

F3 Choosing out the Mark

     They always says to me to go after the weak guy. The nervous guy who doesn't belong. You know the type, the real fish out of water. And there he is sittin' off by his lonesome. It's clear he don't really belong. He's sittin' straight, dressed nice, glasses. Looks like a real poindexter. Chances are I could lift him nice and easy, probably get a good bit, too, for my trouble.

F3 Last Resort

     The slow, steady hiss of the respirator made for percussion to accompany the steady beeps of the heat monitor. I continued to look at his face, hoping for something beyond the rise and fall of his chest. He lay there with tubes and wires sticking out of him, so reminiscent of the process used to create Frankenstein's monster. It was atrocious, an abomination to dignity to keep him trapped thus.