Author's Notes: This is based off of the Champions Online universe, but was mainly inspired by the "Fallout" video game series. The story and history of the protagonist & other characters eventually took inspiration from other sources of Science Fiction.
PROLOGUE
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Born Gordon Francis Haaken, A man hailing from the future, or at least a different one. This man was referred to by the U.S. Government as Citizen 13 when they prepared him and others for evacuation to an underground safehouse from a heavy Bombing attack by an unknown enemy force. The evac came suddenly one day. The bombing sirens sounded, but not everyone got to the shelters. Some thought it was a false alarm, others tried to run, only to be caught in the blasts.
Gordon got his wife and daughter into the car and drove to the evac point. When they arrived and carried their bags to the entrance, the military stopped them and cleared him first for entry into the shelter due to his VIP status as a Military Scientist.
The wife and daughter were taking longer to be cleared.
He turned and watched as his family and other civilians were impatiently waiting in lines to be cleared. The sirens screeched louder, irritating him and he began to worry when there seemed to be a problem with processing his relatives. A voice came over the intercom, "INCOMING ENEMY SQUADRONS, ALL TROOPS ARE ORDERED TO CLEAR THE WALKWAY AND PREPARE TO SEAL THE DOOR!" The soldiers all walked quickly into the Safehouse, leaving everyone left outside behind.
Gordon began shaking and sweating in fear. He looked around and asked "W-what's going on? Why are... what about the others??" but nobody answered. A soldier walked up to Gordon and told him to move back. Gordon refused and the soldier began to push him back. He struggled and another soldier came up and began pushing him back.
"You can't leave my family out there!! You must do SOMETHING!!!" shouted Gordon. As the door shut, he looked on in horror as his daughter began to cry and his wife shaking, knowing that it was the end.
He softly yelled "I love you!" to his family. His wife wiped her tears and said "I love you, too." She then hugged her daughter, who was screaming with terror as the door shut. He collapsed to the floor with tears in his eyes, muttering "My daughter.. She.. she was only 4..." and heard the bombs go off. It was too late.
Gordon had made it safely to the shelter that day, but his safety came with a great price. A price so heavy, he would be haunted by it for years to come.
ACT 1
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4 years have passed since the bombs fell. The group of survivors in Safehouse 42 became used to life in the vault and had began to advance their knowledge of the technology. They had repaired the Water Purifiers and Food Replicators and even juiced them up to last much longer and provide more pristine supplies for the dwellers.
Gordon was appointed Senior Engineering Officer over the Safehouse. He had helped invent better machines & devices that kept the place going.
People had much appreciation for him and their children often aspired to become just like him some day. But Gordon remained humble and always said "My job isn't the most important of all. In fact, without a Leader, I would have no idea what to fix first!"
A few weeks passed since Gordon was promoted. The Praetor, Dr. Jacoren Breen, was in the command center when he recieved a distress signal from a nearby shelter. Knowing that something had to be done, he contacted the senior staff for a meeting.
"ALL SENIOR STAFF, PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEETING ROOM FOR AN URGENT DISCUSSION. REPEAT, ALL SENIOR STAFF PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEETING ROOM. OVER AND OUT."
Gordon was in his room reading "The Lost World" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he heard the announcement over the intercom. He sat up in bed, put a marker in the book, laid it down on the computer desk next to his bed and got up.
He arrived at the meeting and saw that a few more Senior Staff members were already there. He took his seat as more arrived and patiently waited for the overseer to begin the discussion. "Welcome. I apologize for interrupting your activities but this is an important matter. I received a distress signal coming from Shelter 47. The signal was not clear but it had indicated that it was in need of help."
Everyone became worried and started whispering amongst themselves. The Praetor cleared his throat and everyone stopped talking. He began to speak again. "That is why I believe it is time we sent some people out to check on them. This is why all of you are here. I need volunteers for this expedition. I believe a small group of able men would be enough to check on them. Who is willing to go?"
The room was quiet for a moment until someone raised their hand and stood up. The man was Frank Dillinger, Chief Security Officer of Safehouse 42. He said, "I will go, sir. I believe that a team of 4 others will be enough."
The Praetor liked what he heard. "I agree. What do you have in mind?"
The man replied back. "I, along with 2 other members of the Shelter's Security force, a member of the medical staff and an Engineer should be good enough."
Jacoren liked the idea and began asking who he wanted to bring along with him. Frank was open to anyone in the room. Frank began with the Engineer position. Gordon stood in anticipation and said "I will go." The Praetor was a little unsure of letting him go along. "What makes you believe you are up for the job, Gordon?" asked the Praetor. Gordon replied "I have been in this vault for so long, as have everyone, and I am eager to see the outside world!"
"I highly doubt that!" said another man, who stood up. It was Nicholas Hart, a rival Engineer of Gordon's. They once competed for the spot of Senior Engineer Officer, but Gordon won by gaining the confidence of the dwellers.
"You've been filled with guilt and sadness since the bombs dropped, and I believe it has slowed your progress of repairs and the progress of this entire Vault!" said Nicholas.
Gordon remembered that Nicholas was more charismatic, but Gordon won the promotion due to having more advanced skills in Engineering than his rival.
"That's not true!!" shouted Gordon. Nicholas laughed and asked "Surely you don't believe him, sir?" to the Praetor.
Jacoren began to think for a little bit and had believed Nicholas' lies. "You do have a point, Nicholas. Mr. Dillinger, what do you think?" asked the Praetor.
Frank answered "I believe so. Very well, you're on the team, Nicholas." Nicholas had a happy expression on his face. He looked to Gordon and gave him a "I'm better than you" type of look to him. Gordon sat back down and thought about what will happen.
The next evening, the team gathered at the entrance to the shelter and geared up. The Praetor wished them luck and gave them the waypoint to Shelter 47 on their Datapads.
The entrance opened and the team left. Gordon walked back to his room, hoping for the best but wished that he had gone instead. As he walked, he thought he heard voices whispering near him. He simply thought it was just his imagination getting the best of him, since he's been feeling quite worried as of late.
But he ignored them and went along to his room.
ACT 2
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2 weeks have passed since the Expedition Team set out to assist the neighboring Safehouse. Shelter 42 received no contact from them at all and the Praetor, among many others, began to worry.
Gordon was eating with the rest of the citizens in the cafeteria when a man came over and sat at the same table as him. Gordon didn't recognize him, but decided to be peaceful rather than shooing him away from the table.
The man looked at Gordon and said "Hello. I came from the table over there, where my family usually sits. But I left the table when the conversations got boring. Mind if I take a seat?"
"Sure, go ahead." said Gordon. He took a bite of his Corn Chex cereal from a bowl of milk. The man took a bite of his own food and attempted to strike up a conversation with Gordon. "Hey, I heard the team hasn't reported back in a few weeks. I wonder if something bad happened to them. What do you think?" asked the man.
Gordon swallowed and said "Hhmm... I hope they're all right. They probably ran into a small obstacle on their journey and are returning in a few days. But who knows." The other man nodded and took another bite. "I just hope God's looking out for them." said the man. Gordon didn't exactly like what he heard, but went on with it.
The man thought of something good to say and asked "Hey, may I ask you a personal question? I know it's odd and a little rude to ask these things shortly after meeting someone the first time, but..."
Gordon grunted and stubbornly said "Go ahead".
And so he asked "Do you believe in God?" Gordon felt like that was the sign to make an escape, since the topic has always bugged him.
Gordon said "I'm a Scientist. I'm very open to any explanation to the Universe and skeptical about many things but, no. I don't believe in a single Religion." He noticed the time on his watch and pretended to be shocked when he said "Oh, looks like my next shift has started. Uh, gotta get back to cleaning the Oxygen Recycling Filters."
The man looked a little confused when Gordon stood up from the table. "Uh, oh. Ah. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you from your job." Gordon said "No, it's okay. It was nice meeting you" and began to walk away. "Nice meeting you, too..." said the man, faintly as Gordon left.
Gordon pretended to be walking to his work station, but quickly snuck back into his quarters. On the way there, he thought he heard voices again. He once again dismissed them and entered his room. He finished reading "The Lost World" 3 days ago, so he put in a copy of "Back To The Future" from the Safehouse's public video archive and watched it since a friend suggested he see it.
An hour had passed and he was enjoying the film.
He saw that Marty's actions in the Time Continuum had not made a typical Teenage boy's immature dream come true, but had changed his family's poor and crummy lifestyle to a pleasant and respectable future. This made Gordon think: "Maybe if I could build a stable Time Machine, maybe someone from the Safehouse could go back and change all of this?"
He began to collect data on how Time Machines were built in popular media and tried to make it a realistic possibility. He stayed up quite late putting his plans together so he could present it to the Praetor, but all the work made him tired so he slept.
Gordon felt as if he was floating on his back in the middle of an ocean. He opened his eyes, feeling a lot of pain coming from his entire body and noticed he was in a sea of darkness. He felt intense fear and saw a light in the distance. It became larger over time. It was approaching him.
As it drew near, he heard a voice saying "Embrace him! Return... through Aether!" He was soon covered with the light, the pain leaving and suddenly woke up the next morning. He felt very warm and almost stayed in his room for the entire day, but he was persistent. He got up, took his plans and data from his desk and left the room.
There were some people in the cafeteria talking to each other. They were talking mostly about everyday things like their job, an upcoming birthday and such. But he heard one group of people talking something about the Praetor planning to send another team out into the world. Like always, he dismissed it as mere gossip and continued to the Safehouse's command center.
When he arrived, he saw the Praetor finishing a conversation with another man. Gordon approached him and said "Praetor, I would like to present to you some ideas I have for-" but the Praetor interrupted him and said in surprise "Gordon! Just the man I was looking for!"
Gordon was rather confused and asked "I am... ?" "Why, yes! I was discussing some plans to send another person out to check on the team with another one of our chiefs." Thinking that this might be his chance to see the outside world, Gordon continued to listen. "We need someone who is experienced. Someone who can brave the dangers of the wastelands and find the missing team all by himself!
And when you walked in, it was like a Godsend! You're just the man! You fit what we're looking for!" said the Praetor, as if he was absolutely sure of Gordon's success.
"Sir, I'm... I don't know exactly what you mean for me to do" said Gordon, still a little weirded-out by the welcome that the Praetor gave to him. "We're going to be putting you in an environmental suit to protect you from any Radiation that still remains after the nuclear fallout. And, of course, any thing still living after the bombs fell.
It's going to be pretty hefty armor and equipment for one man to wear but seeing as how you're the only Hazardous Materials Expert in this entire bunker, it shouldn't be much of a problem for you!" He gave him a book called "Nuclear Radiation & Other Disastrous Effects: A how-to guide on Survival" by author C.T. Mesin. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a dinner I promised my grand kids to" said the Praetor. As he walked away, he wished Gordon good luck.
Gordon began thinking to himself. Why had the Praetor immediately choose him before having a community vote? Why did the Praetor seem so rushed? And most importantly, what did the Praetor mean by 'We'?
Gordon walked back to his room with the book in hand. He knew that there was something strange going on.
ACT 3
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The next day, Gordon arrived at the large, round door that's very similar to the money vaults you see at banks, but this was thicker and made of a mixture of Questionite and Steel. The Praetor saw Gordon and approached him. "Good morning, Dr. Haaken! I assume you finished the book I gave you?" asked the Praetor with a smile of excitement on his face.
Gordon nodded and was taken to a small dark room with a big screen at the opposite side from the door, as well as chairs and a desk in the middle. The desk had a laptop and a notepad next to it.
Gordon took a seat with his eyes at the screen. He heard the Praetor come in and asked him "What exactly am I in this room for?" "For this" replied the Praetor.
He typed on the laptop and a movie played on the screen. It was a training video, a rather old one, about handling the "new" armor with care and making sure it stays in a decent shape.
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An hour went by and the video was over. Gordon went into the locker room and was introduced to a set of armor that they wanted him to wear.
It was similar to Defender's Battle Armor, making Gordon believe that James Harmon IV must have copied the armor and sold it to the U.S. Government before the catastrophe occurred.
The armor was a mix of Red, Orange and Silver. He didn't like the color scheme of it, but decided not to complain. He assumed the armor was made for local Firemen in mind, thus the "Cheeto Bag" colors. They took it out of the special small chamber they had it in and laid it against a few lockers so Gordon could begin to equip it.
On his way back to the door, he heard voices. The same voices that whispered things that he noticed a few days before. He heard one voice clear enough to know what it said. "He's the one...." He was sure that's what he heard.
Creeped out, He arrived at the door and the Praetor filled him in on what he needed to do. "I've marked your Portable SOCRATES Device with the waypoint to the next Safehouse and where the last team was believed to have vanished" said the Praetor as the large door was being prepared to open.
The engineers began the countdown sequence. "Good Luck out there, Dr. Haaken!" yelled the Praetor as the door was closing behind Gordon. He was now in a long hallway with another door at the other end.
He had a deep feeling that this was the beginning of something very big for him. He took a few steps towards the opposite door and closed his eyes when the door began to open. As the light from the morning sky flooded the hall, he opened his eyes and was in awe at how the world had drastically changed.
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He saw skeletons of animals and humans. He noticed a pair of humanoid skeleton remains and he instantly recognized them. They were most likely the remains of his Wife & Daughter. Gordon began to tear up as he was reminded of how it would have been their 10th Anniversary of their marriage. He picked up his Wife's rusted necklace with a picture of them together locked inside and added it to his backpack. He moved on towards the waypoint.
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When Gordon arrived at the waypoint, he saw that Safehouse 47 was in ruins and there were burnt bodies lying on the ground and between the crumbled walls.
He began calling out for any survivors and heard moaning. He ran to a moving body and knew that it was Frank Dillinger. Frank was a little frightened by Gordon's appearance and warned him not to come any closer. "Frank? Frank, it's me! Gordon!"
"Gordon...?" asked Frank, unsure of what he saw and weak from his severe wounds. "Frank, what happened? Where's the rest of your team?" asked Gordon, with much concern for his fallen friend. "We arrived here... and.. saw the wreckage... we scanned the area for survivors and our... SOCRATES Pad had detected a foreign energy signature."
Gordon came to Frank's side and crouched down. Frank was covered in burns and smoke. He had Gunfire wounds a little bit above his waist and in his legs. Blood was slipping down the back and right side of Frank's head.
Gordon said "Here, let me treat your wounds. The Praetor gave me a few Advanced Hyper-Stimulants. I can..." but was interrupted by Frank. "No!... The wounds.. they..." Frank coughed up blood, which splattered on his chest and ran down from his mouth to the bottom of his neck. He began to speak again.
"We were ambushed by several unseen hostiles... They.. they did well keeping themselves hidden from us... Whoever they were, they took out... our... entire group. They... stripped us of our armor and weapons... and... left me for death..." Gordon was shocked and confused. He attempted to inject a healing serum into Frank but he stopped him.
"No, you... you're wasting your time with... me..." said Frank. He continued, "That energy... source we detected... it's new to us. We've... never seen anything like it. The.. only way... we found it is be.... because it was a str... strong signature in... a small... area."
Gordon held up Frank's head. "Gordon..." said Frank, "Whatever was used... to annihilate the.... place... it's... it's not of this world!" Gordon had a feeling about what happened. He told Frank to hang on and the Praetor will send a small Medical team to pick him up.
But Frank was hopeless. His breathing began to rapidly slow down and as he laid his head on the ground, he was dead. Shaking, Gordon stood up and took a deep breath. He knew the so-called "radiation" had done too much damage for Frank to survive. There was nothing he could have done.
For the first time in his life, he felt the need to hunt the culprits down and punish them for the murder of his friend, his family and possibly the entire continent.
ACT 4
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"Who could be responsible for all this? VIPER? Maybe they obtained the Serpent Lantern without any Heroes intervening? Could it have been Dr. Destroyer? All these years I've heard rumors of his return, but never saw any solid evidence. ARGENT? No, they're too small of a company to be a threat. They're more of a nuisance than anything.
Frank said 'not of this world' so could he mean that it was an interplanetary force like the Qularr, or an unseen inter-dimensional threat from the Qliphothic Realm or another reality?"
Gordon thought about who it possibly could be that is responsible for all this turmoil, but decided to stop and focus on finding a good enough shelter to rest in before any major bestial threats come out looking for something, or someone, to satisfy their hunger.
He saw a small cave and cautiously walked towards it and stopped. Thinking it was safe, he let his guard down and continued to walk towards it when suddenly, a large 3-fingered arm grabbed him by the legs and hung him upside-down!
Gordon was scared and saw that an adult Grondling with four arms had caught him. But this was no ordinary Grondling like the ones that wondered the Burning Sands. This one was green and had a few pulsating red tumors and bumps on it's body.
GGGRRRRAAAAAA!!!!
The Grondling flung Gordon backwards behind him. Gordon flew head-first into the sand, his armor scraping against small rocks until he eventually stopped. A few pieces of his armor had fallen off and landed nearby. Gordon tried to get his head out of his helmet before the Grondling could attack once again. He got out, ran to the Grondling who was moving slowly and smacked him in the head!
The Grondling appeared to be slightly stunned, but shook it off and flung Gordon into a large rock wall. Gordon landed on his stomach and the Grondling lifted its' arm to strike! Gordon rolled and dodged the first pound. The creature's other arm lifted to smash! Gordon dodged again. And another until he got up when the Grondling attempted to lift it's fist from the ground and ran. He soon realized that he was cornered between a few large rocks!
GGOOORDDDOOONN!!!!
He was shocked that the creature knew his name. He tried not to think of it and focus on the fight. As the Grondling approached, it grabbed a rock spire and jammed it into Gordon's right elbow! Gordon let out a weak scream of pain and the Grondling seemed amused by it.
As it began to push harder into the wound, Gordon suddenly remembered that he had his gun with him. He reached for it with his left hand as the armor covering his elbow shattered! The Grondling stopped and was dumbfounded by the noise of a click coming from Gordon.
"Sucker..."
Two shots were fired at the creature's belly. It let out a groan of pain. As soon as it began to fall forward, Gordon quickly fired another shot at it's shoulder and it reversed backwards and fell to the ground.
Gordon took a sigh of relief that he had defeated the creature. It called out his name and Gordon walked over to it's head. He recognized the facial features of it. He realized that the Grondling he had defeated was in fact his old rival, Nicholas Hart.
"What happened to you? How did..." asked Gordon, but was interrupted by Nicholas. "I ran from... the fight... that.. broke out.. at the... ruins of... of Shelter... 47. Some crea... creatures... surrounded me and... they... *cough*... they armed some... devices and bombarded me... with... with... an energy signature... that we've... never seen before."
"Did you see what they looked like? Could you make them out for me?" asked Gordon, anxious to know more about the culprits. "No, it... was night... they did this to me... over night.." said Nicholas.
Gordon thought to himself for a moment before Nicholas spoke again. "I know that... I can't be cured.. of this." He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. "Go on, Gordon... kill me" said Nicholas. But Gordon replied and said "No.. No no no! I can't!"
Gordon began to walk away, leaving Nicholas for dead. As he walked, Nicholas swore at him. Before he disappeared into the desert heat, Nicholas shouted "Even YOU know that it is cruel... to prolong an animal's SUFFERING!!"
Gordon stopped and turned around. He walked back to Nicholas and pulled out his gun. "Come on, man... what's one body... amongst nations?" rhetorically asked Nicholas.
Gordon saw tears run down from Nicholas' eyes. They were red and looked slightly like blood, but were more transparent. He put the gun to Nicholas' head. "Well... what are you waiting for? ...Do it!" Gordon put his finger on the trigger.
DO IT!!!!!
A loud bang had gone off and suddenly, there was silence. Nicholas was dead. Gordon sat down next to a rock and began to cry. "I should have been the one to go on the team!" said Gordon. He put his hands on his eyes as tears rolled down. "I should have been the one to die!"
A beeping noise went off and Gordon heard it. He reached in one of the side pockets of his travel pack and took out the Portable SOCRATES Device. The Praetor was calling to check in on Gordon. He wiped the tears off his face and filled the Praetor in on the details.
"Well, I am sorry to hear that, Dr. Haaken" said the Praetor. "You've done all you can. Return to base for further instructions." Gordon suddenly had an epiphany and said "No..."
The Praetor was shocked at Gordon's response. "What do you mean 'No'? You are to return to Shelter 42! That's an ORDER!!" shouted The Praetor. Gordon detached the Communications Unit from the device and dropped it on the hot desert sand. Gordon pulled his helmet out of the sand. As he walked away, The Praetor continued to shout at him.
Gordon examined his armor and utilities after taking a beating from Nicholas and patched up his wounded arm. He noticed that the battle had taken off a lot of the paint job on his armor, which wasn't a big deal to him.
He marked a waypoint to Vibora Bay on the map and headed there to look for any survivors and technology to undo all of the destruction.
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Arriving there, Gordon saw that a large majority of the city was in ruins. There were skeletal remains of humans, animals & humanoid beings all along the streets. Unnatural blue lightning struck every now and then, making a loud boom. Gordon was horrified of it all, but held on to hope. He looked around for any buildings that seemed intact and had anything of interest in them.
He noticed Juryrig's Garage. It still had power and took less damage than the surrounding buildings did. As Gordon approached it, he noticed that there were robotic remains around the building. Some were Destroids, UNTIL Power Armor Guards, Hunter-Patriot Cyborgs & empty VIPER Power Armor Suits.
Suddenly, a body rose from the piles of inactive robots! A broken Annihilator Bot had been reactivated! It attempted to fire an energy burst at Gordon, missing him and hitting an explosive barrel.
It then began limping towards Gordon, slowly getting faster and faster. Gordon ran through the piles to reach the front door, but there were so much around his feet, he was quite slow.
It tried to say some of it's automated megalomaniacal messages it was programmed to say by Dr. Destroyer, but it's speakers and hardrives were damaged, garbling most of them into creepy, mechanical gibberish.
The Annihilator Bot got closer and closer. Gordon took out his gun and tried to shoot at it, but the bullets did very little damage. Gordon got closer to the door, when his foot got stuck in the middle of several robotic heads! He swore and tried to get his foot out, but the Annihilator Bot got close enough to pick him up and tossed him. As he flew, he was rolling in mid-air into a stack of barrels. The Annihilator Bot stood still and watched the pile, to see if Gordon had survived.
Gordon rose from the pile and stumbled against the wall. The Annihilator Bot began to walk, closing in on his position. Gordon noticed there were steam pipes and a shelf full of machines in the alley that the Annihilator Bot walked down.
Quickly thinking, Gordon whipped out his pistol and from just the right angle, shot at the steam pipe. It began to leak and the quick change of pressure made the pipe explode! The Annihilator Bot was thrust into the shelf of machines on the opposite wall and the shelf fell forward, crushing the Destroid.
Being unaffected by the recent event, Gordon remained determined to check out the warehouse and continued towards the door. He slid the door open and quietly walked in.
He saw that a little bit of the roof in the main room had caved in. Gordon faintly heard the 'lightning' from outside, due to the warehouse having thick walls. He then saw Juryrig's Time Machine and began to walk down the ramp into the room, when he heard someone talking.
He knew he wasn't alone. He crouched and snuck into the room, hiding behind some buckets of paint and a large roll of wires. He saw that there were two groups. One was a group of Gadroon Troops, the other of Qularr, with both having a Squad Leader.
The Squad Leaders were in a heated argument over something, probably the Time Machine. He then noticed Juryrig's body lying on the Time Machine's ramp. See saw blood stains and burnt holes in his clothes, leading Gordon to believe that the aliens had gunned him down when they discovered his garage.
Gordon noticed that the Time Machine had recently been fitted with a new generator. He scanned the Generator and found out it was powered by Element 115.
This peaked his interest and he suddenly remembered the ending of Back To The Future. He realized this to be his only chance to go back and prevent the devastating events from occurring.
So he turned on his Portable SOCRATES Device and input commands to scan the Time Machine and the Generator. After the scans had concluded and proved that the machines could be returned to normal function, he made it to where at the press of a button, the machines would turn back on. He knew that they could only stay on for a maximum of 8 seconds. He then calculated his risks and chances of success for a minute. Though slim, he decided to take the chance to travel back in time.
He activated the Generator, powering the Time Machine and he input his coordinates into the machine. The Gadroon Squad Leader noticed it turning on and looked at it. The Qularr Squad Leader was angry and pushed the Gadroon's shoulder to get his attention. They began to argue once again and Gordon took the opportunity to run into the portal.
A Qularr trooper saw Gordon and opened fire at him. Then the rest of the aliens opened fire at Gordon. As he ran up the ramp, his armor was torn apart by the laser bolts and had made his arms and legs start to bleed.
Through sheer willpower, Gordon shouted in pain and threw himself into the portal, sending him through Time.
Gordon fell out of the other end of the portal and hit the ground. The portal rippled and dissipated. Though in a lot of pain, he looked up and saw the end of the tunnel he was in. At the end of the tunnel, he saw huge skyscrapers. He was in Millenium City. He had successfully traveled back in time. He made it.
EPILOGUE
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Four days had passed since he arrived in Millenium City. He came back from attending the local Westside Church for Sunday Service. He was in an auto shop, repairing and repainting his armor. He recolored it all Black & Dark Brown. He tried to think of a name to use when joining up in the Superhero Community.
He remembered Christa, the woman that found him, and what she described of him when she stumbled upon him lying in the sewers. He remembered her saying that he looked like a mess of "Blood and Steel" and liked the name.
Gordon thought that the name was a way of showing all he'd been through to get to where he is now. He put on the armor and walked out onto the sidewalk. As the sun rose above the buildings, he knew it was a new day. It was a new beginning.
