The Timeservers

Chapter 3

New York City, New York

The Spire

December 2, 227 P.F.E

0207 hours

The Spire looms in the distance, towering at its full height of one hundred and twenty above ground floors. It's a cone, with a wrapping portion going up to the seventieth floor. The Spire sits on an island, what used to be Liberty Island. The Guardians added two docks, each stretching out for a few hundred feet on opposite ends of the building.
Leo hits a button on the lit-up control panel, and a communications line opens. "Shuttle control, this is Guardian shuttle 315, permission to dock?"
A crackle comes over the line. "Shuttle 315, you are clear for a landing- dock 103 on the west side. You'll be going in on the left. Welcome home."
Leo maneuvers the shuttle into its spot, then pops the hatch, and Hound is already there, ready to leap out of the thing. The sea air hits quickly, and Leo breathes it in as he steps behind Hound on the dock, the wind ruffling his black hair and Hound's salt-and-pepper. It's a chilly night, but the sky is clear, letting moonlight reflect off the rows of white shuttles. Leo wraps his jacket tight around him and waits for the shuttle door to close before following Hound to the Spire.
"I'm disappointed. You're lucky I went in there and found your sorry arse. I thought I'd trained you better than this."
Leo has to bite his tongue to keep from saying, 'what training?' Leo is okay with taking the flack. The people had gotten away, and he'd given them enough of a head start that they had a shot. If they do get caught or the higher-ups look at what went down, they'll just see a specter fighting off two men and missing a diversion. They'll see a mistake, not sympathy.
The two men walk along the dock, stopping at the small checkpoint at the end. The officers at the checkpoint scan their irises and hands. A cadet goes buggy-eyed at seeing the black jackets identifying the men as specters.
"Calm down, rookie," the other agent, Standard Chambers, warns. "Though, you are looking at the best of the best." Chambers is the most welcoming of the shuttle controllers. He's in his fifties, got a little bit of gray through his light brown hair, and a scruffy beard which, according to his wife, needs to be shaved far more often than it is. His green eyes are always smiling and match his green uniform. He was nice to Leo when he first arrived, and Leo stopped by to talk to him whenever he could. "You got all your systems shut down?"
"I might have left the control panel on," Leo admits.
Chambers nods and pulls up the information on shuttle 315. "Yup, don't worry, I've got you. Turning it off manually. Crazy mission, huh?"
"Pretty crazy. The 'Historian smuggler' was a Historian who smuggled people. He got away, and I got this." Leo lifts the edge of his shirt, revealing the bruise already forming there from where the dart hit. It's worse than he thought it would be, black and purple, and it's also bigger, about the size of his palm.
Chambers sucks in a breath. "Every time you go out, you come back with some unfriendly souvenir. You're going to use the infirmary?"
"Nope," Leo grins. "I'm going to use an old Historian remedy; dirt."
"You've been to Historian territory?" The newbie pales a little bit, and Leo half expects him to start squealing like a teen girl seeing a boy band. He ignores the newbie, giving a nod to Chambers before walking down the rest of the dock to the island. Hound can deal with the paperwork for once.
The newbie leans out of the checkpoint to call out to Leo. "Does the dirt thing work?" Leo smiles and shakes his head, looking up at the Spire in front of him.
The Spire is primarily glass, and since it's nighttime, the operating floors are lit, lighting it up like a beacon. The glass doors slide open for Mythos, and the standards on shift nod to him. The Spire has a hollowed-out middle for Lady Liberty to sit in, and rings of balconies and rooms make up the floors. Not terrible as far as headquarters go.
The colors of the different branches are spread out on the floors, making a bizarre and ever-moving rainbow. Each floor is specific to a branch and lit up by its color on the inside. The people who make up that branch move around the floors in circles. The specters occupy a black-light-lit floor, and the chancellors around it glow. They must like it since they're always hovering around and giving themselves a bright aura-like glow.
Leo walks up to one of the glass elevators and calls out his passcode and floor number. He rocks on his heels and hopes the elevator closes before someone joins him. He doesn't make it, and an analyst clad in their gray uniform walks in. They pretend not to notice him but keep sneaking glances from the corner of their eye. "Yes, I'm a specter; no, I've never killed someone," Leo tells them, looking over his shoulder at them. "Are those the questions you were going to ask?"
The analyst shifts awkwardly. "Yeah. Are you really, you know, them?"
"The Historian specter, yes."
"You're not what I thought a Historian would look like."
"You thought I'd be wearing a top hat and cravat?"
The analyst smiles and shrugs. "I don't know what those words mean."
The door to the sixth training floor finally opens, and Mythos steps out of the elevator. The analyst steps forward to follow him before realizing what they're doing and covering it with an awkward wave and a wide grin. The elevator shoots up, forcing them to brace themselves. Leo gives them a curt salute before walking into the gym part of the floor.
He approaches an elite who is lifting weights in the corner, his pale blue uniform turning dark blue with sweat. "Hey, have you seen Phoenix?" Leo asks. Phoenix, whose real name is Kelly, is only one of the two people he's looking for, but asking for one might as well be asking for the other.
"I think I saw him over by the climbing wall. Just follow the line of swooning girls, right?" the elite says.
Leo shrugs, berating himself internally for not thinking of that. He bids the elite good luck and 'follows the line of swooning girls.' They've gathered in a clump to ogle the handsome Kelly.
Maybe it's because he's a guy, but Leo doesn't see it. Kelly is just some eighteen-year-old with silky black hair that's longer in the front, perfect white teeth, and mischievous brown eyes. He's got a smile that will melt even the most battle-hardened Guardian, high cheekbones to frame that smile, flawlessly bronzed skin, and the job requirement of being ripped. There's a bonus of built-in mysteriousness from that same job and a reputation as a player.
Kelly spots Mythos trying to work his way through the group of girls, climbers, and belayers at the bottom of the climbing wall and waves to him. Leo waves back and flashes his black jacket to expedite his way through the crowd. They part, and Leo walks easily up to Phoenix.
"Heard about the mission. How're you doing?"
"My head is throbbing like I just had to reread the law book, but that's pretty normal. I'm going to head up to our floor right after this. I know that Sophia would have my head if I didn't stop by first. Where is she?"
Kelly juts his chin up, and Leo follows his gaze. There's Sophia, almost to the top of the climbing wall. Mythos can't help but smile, and Phoenix rolls his eyes.
"Seriously? They'd be sparkling if you didn't already have gold in your eyes."
"Then it's a good thing I was in that tear." A tear of tomorrow, some weird anomaly that can freeze time and that trapped Leo for who knows how long. That's the thing that stole every memory he had of his past and left him running through the woods in Alberta, alone, scared, and at the mercy of Hound and a shield called Barkley. That's the thing that severed his connection to what should have been his home. He'd never thought of it as a blessing before.
"Careful. People are gawking that you're a Historian again."
"Why would I do that to myself? The student debt alone."
"It's good she likes your jokes because they're just getting worse."
Sophia makes it to the top of the climbing wall, ringing the bell there. She begins bouncing down, and Leo starts tapping his toes in anticipation.
"And guess who just stopped existing?" Kelly quips.
"We all know what that's like. See you once Sophia's out of the room?"
"Tomorrow. It was a long mission today."
Sophia hits the ground, and Phoenix drops her rope and heads out. Sophia takes a minute to get unhooked and out of her harness. She removes her helmet, revealing her brown hair wrapped around her head in a braid. She turns around, dark blue eyes twinkling. Leo takes every chance he gets to look at her eyes. Most of the time, they're glued to a screen because of her position as the specter analyst. Even now, she's reaching for her bag and the screen within it.
"Can't go five minutes without that thing?"
Sophia grins at him, shrugging. "My work is never done."
"We Historians call someone like you a workaholic."
"I can stop working whenever I want."
"Would a job fair be like taking you to a bar?"
Sophia laughs the great bell-sounding laugh that makes Leo's heart go crazy. "You know those are illegal."
"I wasn't aware that we outlawed job fairs."
And there's the laugh again.