Allen nodded. He had already been expecting to fight alongside Nny in this one, and he figured their chances would be better if they worked together, so he didn't even need to think about it. "If you and me are fighting together, we can win, easy." He stared at the girl, watching her closely, doing his best to size her up and anticipate her possible moves. He wasn't about to let this be a repeat of his last fight.
"You don't want to tell us a little about yourself first? You know goals, motivations, maybe a little bit of your history? Or am I the only one who respects the tradition of a villain monologue?" While he said this Allen was carefully studying her, trying to discern strengths and weaknesses. As well as putting on a bravado to fool the enemy.
Allen flashed his usual cocky grin. "Absolutely, I got to face my inner demons and see my worst fears made real. You should try it some time." He stood up and stepped away from Nny, summoning his sword. Then he got serious. "Actually, while I was in there, I saw something amazing, and I made an important decision." He laughed to mock the woman. "Maybe I should thank you. Or maybe you should just go." He readied his sword in a defensive position, just in case she attacked.
During the hours Allen was forced to repeatedly kill his family he resolved that those events would never come to pass; he would find a way to defeat the consumers, he would save Jen, and he would make sure the world never became what it now was, and he would have his happy family. "If that wasn't an illusion, then why did the same thing keep happening over and over," he said as he stood, mocking the false Raxtion. He looked at Nny, then walked over and kneeled down beside him. "Nny." He began gently shaking him in an attempt to wake him. "Nny wake up. Snap out of it. It's not real. Whatever you're going through right now, it's just an illusion."
Allen watched in horror, this illusion had shown him his greatest hope in life. And then turned it into a perversion of his greatest nightmare. He raised his sword and struck the consumer version of himself. He knew the blade would pass through, but he swung anyway. His anger gone, he was beginning to feel very clear-headed. "First you try and make me feel guilty, and then when that doesn't work, you try to torture me with dark versions of my deepest hopes. I know this isn't real, and I know you're not really Raxtion, so go on, give me everything you've got, I'm not afraid of parlor tricks." He summoned light around his blade to strengthen and sharpen it.
Allen watched the family-his family-walking. He dispelled his sword and began walking after them. Somehow the sight had caused all of his anger to melt away. "But...but you're...not dead." he said with less and less conviction as he walked. He looked at his son. The boy looked just like he had when he was young.
Allen was about to speak in his defense when Raxtion accused him of wanting to kill him, but when he brought up Jen it got to him. He summoned his sword without meaning to. "I WAS UNCONSCIOUS AND BEING SENT THROUGH TIME. I COULDN'T HAVE POSSIBLY SAVED HER!" He was entirely just trying to convince himself at this point, and his temper was beginning to get the better of him. "AND IT'S NOT LIKE YOU DID ANY BETTER WITH ALICIA!"
A part of Allen knew that this was some kind of illusion, but his reason was over powered by the guilt Raxtion was causing him. "This will do just fine to protect the group." He was attempting to resist his guilt by saying this, by reasoning with himself. "Besides, until I get something to fight, the best I can do is set up defenses."
"I think we might've walked into a trap," Allen said to the group, attempting sarcasm to hide his fear. Then to the air around them, "you think I'm scared of the dark?" He held up his hands and summoned a dome of light around them, the dome served the dual purpose of making everything within it visible, and keeping anyone outside the dome from seeing inside it. Thus forcing any potential threats to reveal themselves to the group.
Allen looked at the old man for what he figured might be the last time. "Goodbye." He then ran into the city as well, hoping it would be safe. He needed all the time he could get if he was going to get the information he wanted. As he ran into the city he was already thinking of how best he could find the information he wanted. He also thought some of if he could find any way to defeat the consumers or stop the world from becoming what it was now. Mostly though, he thought of how he could save Jen from the fate that had befallen her in the past.
Allen looked at Father. Unwilling to let him go without answers, but unable to bring him any further. For a moment he considered going with the old man. "How do you know so much about the past? And how can learn about it? Specifically about what happened to Jen and the organization that killed her."
Allen decided he would pump the man for all the information he could about Jen's death once they got there. Until then he would let it go. He still cared far more about Jen then he did about any of the situation around them, but that didn't stop him from being curious, and a few hours was a long time to walk in silence. "Station?"
Allen nearly lost it. "I want all the details on this organization, on their victims, their alliance with Eclipscion, everything." He had to struggle to keep himself under control. He had nearly raised his sword to the old man's throat and demanded details. Then he thought of another way to get information, and hoped it worked. "LEGION," he shouted in his mind. "I WANT EVERY FILE YOU HAVE RELATING TO THIS!"
"Dead now anyway? Does he mean that everyone on the planet died? Then how did he survive?" Allen had more important tings to worry about at he moment though. He put the picture back and ran to catch up with the man. "How did she die?" He didn't even know why he was asking this, it shouldn't have made any real difference to him. Some part of him compelled him to ask though.
Allen thought to himself. "Seventy two years in the future. I wonder what happened here. This place almost looks like Raxtion's world did when I went there. Whatever happened I really hope it isn't my fault. I wonder if Jen missed me. I hope nothing happened to her." He started, that thought worried him. He looked at father, almost desperately. "Do you know anything about a girl named Jen Morotoa? She'd be about eighty-nine now, used to live in a place a few dozen miles from here. Looked like this when she was younger." Allen pulled the picture of him and Jen out of his pocket and showed it to the old man.
Nny's response irritated Allen. He turned to Nny and said harshly, "I'm not asking you to hold my hand. I'm just asking to know what's going on. You'd probably do the same in my position." He turned to the old man. "Portals through time? So we time traveled? Then seventy-three years is how far we went?" He was almost talking more to himself now than to the others, but he spoke out loud so father could correct him if he was wrong. "Did we go forward or back?"
"Before we get into too much exposition, can somebody tell me what's going on. I seem to have missed something important while I was out." Allen looked at the people around him. He still couldn't guess at what was going on, and believed he had missed some important details. "First off: where are we, and what happened while I was unconscious?"
Allen slowly got up, feeling slightly light-headed. "What about seventy-three years?" He had just managed to hear a part of that one statement as he was waking up. He looked at his surroundings completely unaware of his location and how he got there; he only slightly remembered the ending to his fight with the cloaked man. "Wait, what happened? And where are we?"
After the man vanished Allen's sword struck the ground where he had been standing. It left a large gash where it had struck. As Allen's spine was pierced he fell off his feet. Rather than hitting the ground though he began hovering, light extending from his back and forming what looked like wings. He turned around. "I'm pretty sure you broke my arm too. But all of a sudden I don't feel any pain from my injuries. I have no idea how, but I think I like it." He readied himself to attack again. "Now you ready to-" Suddenly the light around his sword and coming out of his back vanished, his sword was de-summoned, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Allen's nose bled, he figured that it was broken too now. He reclaimed his sword and with an effort he used it to prop himself up. "You...you have no honor do you?" The pain throughout his body was igniting his fury, causing rage to boil up inside him. "It's a special kind of coward that'll kick a man when he's down. And I guess if you won't take the bait and heal me. Then I'll just have to fight you LIKE THIS!" For the first time in his life, Allen allowed himself to lose his temper. He could see that he was going to have to fight this man anyway, and he was already at a grievous disadvantage, so he saw no reason to restrain himself from lashing out in full force. He rushed at the man, suddenly able to ignore his pain. He took his sword in both hands and made a reckless, overhead swing at his abuser. The sword's blade was engulfed in light as Allen swung it. The light formed itself to the swords blade and extended beyond it, doubling the weapons length. And somehow, despite his injuries, Allen swung his sword with more speed and force than he ever had in his life.
