[There is a tiny paragraph of graphic gore after ‘do your worst’ and another one beginning with ‘Junior fell backwards’.]

A thin grid of metal shot from the ground and formed a dome above the group.

Immediately – even before it was fully shaped – Junior’s future reestablished. No incapacitating , no darkness. There was still the vague forty minute limit in which they had to either fight or flee, but somehow he was still alive.

It took him a moment to figure out what had happened. He was fully surrounded by a thin metal grid on all sides, merged with the ground underneath. Obviously, Aron had made it. Was that…

“A Faraday cage?”

“Yeah.” The American smiled, making him look nefarious in the sharp emergency lighting falling through the grate. “So it worked, huh?”

“Guess so, the cage blocks all electromagnetic radiation. Seems whatever causes these seizures isn’t magic at least.”

Ren and Minhyun were unchanged, spasming occasionally, but otherwise in deep slumber. He saw no chance for them to wake up anytime soon.

Unfortunately the tablet also required to be connected to the outside via electronic signal. The footage from the security camera was cut off. The headset was similarly useless. Chief Wang and her men were engaging the enemy with no superpowered knowledge to guide their tactics, possibly assuming Junior had been killed by unknown means.

At least the civilians were all gone by now, forming a massive line through the tunnel and hopefully making it out the other end unscathed.

Seconds of inactivity felt like an eternity.

“I need to help,” Junior said. “Make a hole.”

Aron looked up from his position on the ground where he held his unconscious boyfriend. “I’m not letting you out. Unless I go with you. And even then I-“

“I don’t want out. I just need a hole for the tablet.”

“Oh.”

A thin slit in the grate appeared. Just enough room for Jason to hold his arm out. The tablet took a nerve wrecking amount of time to reconnect. At long last the camera’s stream became visible and Jason adjusted the view angle.

Wang’s troop was doing well, pushing the attackers back through the narrow space between the ruins of tract B and C. Details were impossible to make out across the distance but the losses seemed to have been minimal. However-

“They’re being ambushed,” Junior said. “As soon as they’re on open ground, they will be hit by a missile. The vehicles carrying them moved closer.”

He poked the headset. No sound. Even when he held it out of the cage it refused to reconnect.

The leader folded the device and shoved it angrily in his pocket. “Were going out. Aron, when I say ‘Faraday’ you make a new cage. Stay close to me. We have to get to Wang. Jason, stay here in case Ren or Minhyun wake up. Or in case Baekho reappears, but I have no hope for that. If we two aren’t back in ten minutes you put the unconscious ones somewhere safe and escape through the tunnel yourself.”

He didn’t even wait for an answer, he simply waved Aron to speed up.

The cage burst open and the remaining superpower duo walked up to the bunker’s gate.

***

The outside was still burning. The sky had darkened with black smoke. Every single building lay in ruins. It was difficult to even find a path towards an area that would let them walk unobstructed.

“Do you think,” Aron said, “we’ll be seen by drones? We’d be too slow if we walk carefully and too obvious if I blow everything out of our way. I should tunnel us.”

Junior nodded and fell as the earth sank beneath him. Aron vaporized the rock ahead while telling the surrounding air to stay cool. Plasma burned away the granite brightly. The boys walked in a straight line underground with Junior counting the steps until they had to reemerge.

Aron even turned the earth into proper stairs when they arrived. Their new position was inside the four roofless exterior walls of Block F. Putting out the surrounding fires with a thought, Aron cleared the path ahead of debris.

From the shattered window they had a passable view across the terrain in front of the facility. The missile vehicles had indeed moved a lot closer. There were four of them. Only one had ammunition left as far as they could see.

“It will fire in one minute thirty seconds. Eighty percent chance.”

“No, it won’t,” Aron said, with a sneer. One flick of his wrist and the remaining rockets detonated simultaneously, loudly turning the truck into a rising fireball. Another flick. The outer cars of the unarmed trio smashed into the one between them with enough force to mend them together into a mangled cluster of car parts.

The wall ahead crumbled following Aron’s command and the boys made their way out into the open, towards the fighting soldiers.

“Over there,” Junior said, pointing at the horizon behind the facility. “Two enemy helicopters rising over the second mountaintop from the right. Ninety-five percent chance. Will fire at our guys.”

The moment the aircrafts became visible, Aron incinerated them.

“It’s clear that the Shadow banked on having us unconscious,” the American said. “I’m beginning to think this won’t be so bad. He’s truly short on resources. We can whittle down his tiny army in an hour or so. What do I explode next?”

“The agents,” Junior said. “Now that no missiles will be coming I suspect they stopped retreating and will engage in earnest.”

The precog led his team member along the broken road between buildings until they met the agents of the void from behind their lines.

The Shadow’s agents and the organization’s operatives had used the burning rubble for an impromptu trench war, laying siege to each other’s lines.

Nineteen men. More agents weren’t left. The Shadow had not found the time to recruit new ones and rush them through the indoctrination and mind control process. These guys were goons and mercenaries that had long been turned into cultist who would violently defend everything the Shadow held dear. Junior knew this because his senses told him so. Finally, a useful piece of information again. And great news, too.

“Those are all of them. There are no others left. Aron, do your worst.”

Nineteen blood fountains erupted out of combat uniforms. Brain matter splattered upon the barricades and ammunition crates. Red mush oozed from the clothes that dropped to the ground. The agents of the void were no more.

***

The duo reunited with Wang’s troop. Junior’s predictions had been correct. They had barely lost any men, since the agents of the void had only tried to lure them into the open.

Nothing in the immediate future was too concerning. Naturally, the ruckus on the mountain had attracted attention and sooner or later somebody would come by to inquire, but for the moment they were safe.

Turning a lone steel beam into chocolate helped the troops to gain a morale boost. As if the mere arrival of Aron the Powerful wouldn’t have been enough. The atmosphere was oddly celebratory.

Meanwhile the chief and Junior tried to plan further steps.

First, they managed to reconnect the headset. Jason reported no change in the unconscious boys' conditions. Next, they made sure every soldier who needed first aid got it. Then it was time to think of a way to escape without attracting attention.

Just as they discussed the merits of splitting up, the future shifted in a major way.

It was only a small armored vehicle pulling into the facility's perimeter. One person was inside. A person Junior had never met personally, but knew intimately. As soon as the man came into reach, the boy was flooded with random information.

The man used many aliases. But one name stood out.

“The Shadow!” Junior yelled. “He’s here. He has some kind of weap-“

An enormous beam hit the lose cluster of resting people. Aron couldn’t react in time and a handful of soldiers were disintegrated by unimaginable heat. Anyone standing too close to the beam suffered severe burns, including Wang.

Finally, Aron managed to block the unceasing fire.

A figure emerged from the truck. It was too far away to make out details but one thing was unmistakable. The Shadow was carrying an eldritch device – no, he was merged with it. The disturbing tentacles and antennae running over the dirty white-ish construction gave him an inhuman, asymmetrical appearance. All features were obscured by the eldritch-suit.

He took to the air. He flew at insane speed, approaching their location but not descending.

Junior heard his companion whisper “So unfair.”

“Listen Aron, you have to keep him away from the bunker. I can’t see what he’s going to do. Maybe it’s the device. Maybe he has a random number generator integrated into the suit. We have to keep him away from Ren and-”

The Shadow had come close enough to grab a huge pipe sticking out of a roof’s remains. He pulled it from its mounting and threw it at the boys. Aron reacted in time, turning it to dust. Then he countered with plasma. It showed no effect.

“I think he’s wearing the shield I can’t penetrate or an even more upgraded version. I’d have to get much closer to him to-“

More debris came their way. Aron did his best but some made it to the ground and broke the asphalt. Junior tumbled. Dust was everywhere. He had no idea if he was in Aron’s protective range. He took a step into the other boy’s direction and the ground shook.

Junior fell backwards. The moment he lost control of his stance he already knew what was going to happen. He landed on a thin pole, burying it in his head. Right away he lost all feeling below the neck. Either his spine was severed or his skull was cracked. He couldn’t tell. If the blood was any indication the pole had made it out the other end, going through the whole brain.

Every future truncated.

And so did the present.