Chapter One: Agents Of Travel...

[zarathrustra_ink]

“Hello… Hello?" A hand waved in front of my face, breaking my concentration. "Earth to Z…”

“Nope. You will not.” 

“Oh, come on.”

I swung my attention to the left of me. A tattered piece of fabric, which I was certain began its life as a white tee shirt full of hopes and dreams of a productive life was going over the head of Toilyn, my best friend. She tugged at the brownish, grayish, slightly white fabric. “I don’t have an assignment today. You don’t have an assignment… I think. Do you?” Her voice was a hair above the sound of whining. “It’s 1967. Don’t you want to see what’s out there?”

I groaned. “I swear, the only thing I remember happening this year was interracial marriage became legal. What do you want to do? Go watch both sides protest?” To be fair, the last time I had an assignment in 1967, it was to stop a Noir agent from killing some guy whose untimely demise would have directly affected Thurgood Marshall becoming the first African American Supreme Court Justice. I chased him from 1945 and finally around 1967, he got sloppy. Luminous takes a “whatever it takes” approach to stopping Noir’s agents but they didn’t like my report on how I stopped the guy. I didn’t get hauled into headquarters but “putting a high heel through his eye” is on my record. Blood was everywhere. It was a mess. I was new to the job and didn’t know that removing a sharp object after stabbing it through something is a bad idea. Write that down. It could prove to be useful someday. 

Luminous had a clean up crew tasked with prettying up whatever messes we could possibly make but, the messier it was, the more likely it would appear on your record. They were finicky with even the tiniest specks of blood. To be fair, my mess wasn't nearly as bad as some of Toilyn's. Hers were legendary. Her record was as long as she was tall. All she heard was “Whatever it takes” and never looked back. Partners weren’t allowed in Luminous but our paths had crossed enough times in the field for us to become buddies and over time, buddies to damn near inseparable. 

"Come on, we can go throw rocks at Stonewall. That always makes you smile."

The hotel we were holed up in was a dump. Each surface was covered in almost an inch of dust. Toilyn loved it. She hated when I would get us what she deemed as "fancy housing."

"We're here for a good time." She would balk. "Not for a long time." I would always finish. 

"That's two years away." I groaned, throwing myself back on the pillows. Dust swirled around my head, sending me into a coughing fit. 

1969 wasn't my favorite year but it was my go to year for just about everything. Having a bad day? Stonewall. Having a good day? Stonewall. Got my ass handed to me? Stonewall. The sun set at just the right angle? Stonewall. 

I've hugged Marsha P. Johnson so many times that it's a shame she'll never remember me. I tended to either hug or shake hands with as many people as I could before WHACK! That first brick goes flying. Sometimes I just sat on the sidelines to watch. If I'm having a particularly bad day, I would join in. Nothing says blowing off steam like joining a riot. 

"Z… You're blinking."

"I am not." I said, pointing my eyes at the paint peeling from the wall to the right of her.

She picked up my goggles from the floor. "Um… Yes you are." She dangled them above my head so that I could see. 

I groaned. Did I mention I'm not exactly the biggest fan of my job? "1999." I read the flash from the left side and instantly bolted straight up. 

"What? Did they give you an offline?" 

I shook my head. On a mental rolodex of words that she was constantly adding to, was the term "offline". Basically, a person unassociated with Luminous or Noir. Overtime, like with most of her made up terms, it had somehow weaved its way through my vocabulary as well.

Confused, green eyes met my gaze. She dropped the goggles in my lap. "Then what? What could be more annoying than following around some offline?"

What I was looking at had nothing to do a simple babysitting job. "What's the one thing you remember the most about 1999?"

She tilted her head in thought. I almost smacked my forehead. She had to be kidding me! 

"Y2K… Toy. Y2K, remember? Everybody thought the world was going to end. How could you forget that? There were even people who thought when the clock struck midnight, the computers were going to rise up and take over."

"I remember now." She nodded. 

"Holy shit. Shit. SHIT." Timeline change: Coronavirus. Covid-99. I tossed the goggles back to her.

"Wait a minute. No, no, no. Covid happened in 2020 and it was called Covid-19 not 99."

"Apparently, not anymore." I ran to grab my boots. "This cannot be happening."

"The entire world was changed forever because of it… Lives were lost. There was an economic crisis. Wait. Z, wait!"

I snatched the other boot over my knee. "What?"

"How are you supposed to stop a virus by yourself?"

"I'm not. You're coming with me. Where are your shoes?"

She shrugged. "I think I left them in 1888."

"I'm not even going to ask." I shook my head. "We'll grab you a pair when we get there." 

"You know Luminous hates team ups, right?" 

Says the woman who somehow materializes on almost all of my assignments. "Since when has that ever bothered you?"

"1999, huh?" 

Exactly. I slid the goggles over my head and pushed the button on the side. "Yes Toy, 1999."