Time Trap: Rinse and Repeat

Knowing the carnage the Vinto ship above Newton Abbot could cause, and knowing that whatever they do from the moment when every other Protector disappeared will be permanent, Tom, Geoff and Emma decided that it would be better for them to take out the Vinto ship and see if they could perhaps find out what was causing the disappearances.

The Vinto ship hadn’t moved from its position in which it destroyed the school. Which was probably not the smartest choice, however the Protectors never existed so they needn’t be worried about counterattacks since the Earth’s military was nothing compared to their weapons and shields.

However three Protectors still remained, even if one of them was on her final legs.

They had managed to fight their way through the Vinto ground forces to the gravity lift, which they quickly high jacked to get up to the ship before they shut it off. Once in the ship they attempted to take out the opposition but suddenly found themselves in a slump as they adjusted to fighting with only their ability to control time.

Tom suddenly realised he did not have the ability to create force fields or move at superhuman speeds, while Emma discovered that her air and animal transformation powers. Meanwhile Geoff discovered that his multitude of powers deserted him when he needed them most.

Of the three of them, Tom had the most practice with using only time, as such he was quickest to re-adapt and de-formed his sword, instead resorting to utilising a bow made of temporal energy and launching a barrage of arrows at the soldiers who was firing their disintegration ammunition at them.

The majority of them turned to dust as the arrows struck their hearts. Three of them appeared to implode however, their bodies become distorted as they shrunk into the tiniest of dots, after which three large holographic clocks appeared with their centres where the dots shrunk to. They each began to chime causing Tom to stop and stare as it sounded five times like Big Ben.

            “Five O’clock?” Tom asked himself as he watched the clocks slowly vanish.

            “What?” Emma asked before throwing a knife of temporal energy at a Vinto’s head.

            “Doesn’t matter,” Tom shook his head as his eyes settled upon a Vinto who had avoided the detection of Geoff, and was now in the perfect flanking position.

Without thinking, Tom ran down the corridor towards his father and got between him and the disintegration bullet with his sword in the air in the perfect position to catch the bullet and age it to dust, all the while Emma snuck up behind the shooter and stabbed him in the back.

            “Thanks,” Geoff stated shocked that his son had saved him, and only after all of the remaining two Vintos had been taken care of. “We should get moving.”

            “I need you alive,” Tom noted. “If we don’t stop this then it will be up to you for almost an entire day in which you can fix it.”

            “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Geoff agreed as they pressed on further down the corridor, Tom remember the way nearly perfectly since his last visit to the ship.