The End

Ms. Justice:

I feel myself choking. My throat tightens and I can't breathe.

"The OutCasts disbanded. We broke up. QuickShot and SpeedBlade. They're gone. They're gone!"

As the words keep repeating over and over, everything around me starts to get blurry. The floor is tilting and fuzzy. The walls are blurry. The lights appear to be very bright, almost blinding.

"Justice," I hear JumpStart screams. I shake my head and blink my eyes.

"What," I say, looking around. "What? What happened?"

For some reason, I was in JumpStart's arms. As I regain my senses, I realize JumpStart is gently putting me back in the chair.

"Justice," JumpStart screams again. "Are you okay?"

"I," I start, trying to find the right words. "I can't believe any of this."

JumpStart sighs as he lowers his head.

"As much as I hate to say it," he says. "It's the truth."

"Well, can't we do anything? You and me? Can't we go out there and find the others?"

"How?"

I turn my head and eye the OutPost's computer. Despite how rusted it is, it still looks in one piece.

"Can't you use the OutPost's computer?"

"The OutPost's computer. That thing stopped working years ago."

"Well, can't you fix it?"

I shout and get up from the chair.

"Can't you fix the computer and use it to track QuickShot and SpeedBlade? I mean, come on, JumpStart! Help me out here!"

"I can't fix the computer," JumpStart answers. "You think I haven't tried! I tried! I tried and tried many times but nothing! A lot of the parts have either broken down or were destroyed! And to this day, I still haven't found the right parts!"

"Well, can you still help me? Come on. Let's go."

I grab JumpStart's hand to pull him toward the exit but JumpStart pulls back.

"I'm not going out there," JumpStart says. He steps back. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because again, I'm a wood elf."

"So," I ask. "What does being a wood elf have to do with anything?"

"I don't belong out there," JumpStart says. He spreads out his arms and spins around. "This is where I belong."

"In the dark," I ask. "Just sitting around? Waiting for nothing to happen?"

"It's better than what happened when I go out there. I'm sorry, Ms. Justice, I really am, but I'm alone you're going have to go by yourself."

I reach out my hand and open my mouth to say something but before I could, JumpStart turns around and disappears back into the darkness.

"JumpStart," I say. JumpStart doesn't answer me. I try to find him but in the dark, with his black jumpsuit, it's impossible. "JumpStart? JumpStart. JumpStart! JumpStart."

I say his name a few more times but JumpStart doesn't answer.

"Fine," I say, grabbing my shield and heading for the door. "I'm leaving then! Enjoy living in the shadow, Wood Elf!"

As I stomp out the OutPost, I stop. I freeze with my foot in mid-air.

"JumpStart," I say one last time. I look into the pitch-black OutPost. "I--I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you. And thank you for everything you've done for us. For QuickShot. For SpeedBlade For me. I really appreciate it."

With those last words, I seal the door shut and leave. I then pick a random direction and walk down it. As I walk down the sewer pathway, I keep thinking about where QuickShot and SpeedBlade could have gone.

"There's no way they could have left the city, right? I know QuickShot and SpeedBlade. At least, I think I do. Then again, I thought I knew JumpStart, but I guess I was wrong."

I rack my brain, trying to think of places the two could have gone when they left the OutPost. However, no matter how hard I think, I can't think of any places.

"Even since we built the OutPost," I say to my accompanying shadow. "That had always been our home. Our home. Mine. JumpStart. SpeedBlade. QuickShot. From the moment we all met each other and decided to stay together."

I sigh as I stop walking. I look around for a bit and see a ladder leading up. As I take the first step, I feel an intense pain shoots through my leg. My teeth grind against each other as I fall down. I scream and shake as I hold my leg.

"Ahh," I cry. I bite my tongue as I grab a step and pull myself up. Fighting through both the tears and pain, I inhale deeply before hopping up the ladder. With one arm around the side, I push the cover off and climb up.

Climbing out of the sewer and onto the empty street, I give myself a few seconds to catch my breath before closing the sewer. As I push the manhole cover back into place, I hear the sound of a blaster warming up.

"I finally found you," a familiar voice says. I turn around and the moment I do, someone shoots a blaster. They hit and knock me to the street. I scream and cry as I hit the street.

I look up and see the same man from before. The one from the museum. The one that somehow brought me here.

"You," I say. I try to push myself up but I can't. I fall back down holding my chest.

"Fast-Forward," I moan.

"Ms. Justice," Fast-Forward answers. He stands over me, aiming a wrist-mounted blaster at my head. "Where is it?"

"Where's what," I ask. As I stare back at Fast-Forward, I notice something. "Wait, what happened to you? You look...older?"

Before, at the museum, Fast-Forward looks only a little older than QuickShot. His skin was smooth and he didn't have any facial hairs. Now, standing over me is an elderly man with wrinkled skin and thick stubble.

Fast-Forward's smirk is turned upside-down. He growls before moving his blaster close toward me.

"Of course, I've aged," Fast-Forward yells. "Do you have any idea what you did? You tempered with my chrono-suit! You ripped my time regulator right off!"

Fast-Forward grabs my chest and pulls me up.

"Where is it! Where is my time regulator! Without my regulator, I can't control the flow of time! Where is it!"

Fast-Forward shakes me as he screams.

"Get lost," I answer. "I have my own problem. Because of you, because of your 'time suit' or whatever, my friends are gone! They're gone and I'm all alone again!"

As I scream back at Fast-Forward, I look down and see the thing I ripped from his wrist.

"The regulator," I think. Still distracted by me, I quickly push the regulator deeper into my pocket.

"What have you done," I yell. "Whatever it is, fix it now! Or you'll never find your regulator."

"What I've done," Fast-Forward repeats. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything."

"But my friends," I say. "The OutCasts. They're, we're no more."

"Of course, you're no more," Fast-Forward says. "That's how is supposed to be. Don't you remember anything, you foolish little girl? In the future, in my present, the OutCasts are nothing but bedtime stories. And do you know how the stories end? Do you? It ends with all four of you splitting up. Leaving each other, never to be seen again."

I freeze the second I hear those words. I feel the blood in my body turns to ice. I can see my own breath as a white mist.

"That's how our stories end," I repeat. "We leave each other? We're supposed to leave each other in the end?"

While frozen by Fast-Forward's words, Fast-Forward gets back on his feet. He carries me up and then blasts me. I scream as I fly through the air and fall back on the street.

"Oh," Fast-Forward says. "There you are. My time regulator, and even better. The Clock of Eternity."

"What?"

I look back at Fast-Forward and see him with both the regulator and the clock in his hands. I check my own pockets, patting them and turning them inside out, only to see them empty.

"Oh no," I say. I try to get up. I try to push myself up but I can't. Everything hurts. I can't move with my whole body stinging and setting on fire. I can't hold up my shield because my fingers are still frozen.

"Well, now that I have these two," Fast-Forward says, pocketing both the clock and his regulator. "I can go now. Of course, I will have to fix the regulator, but one thing first."

Fast-Forward smiles as he aims his blaster at me.

"In your current state, this should destroy you. Oh well. I'm sure my time can live without those bedtime stories."

All I can do is frown as I watch the blaster on Fast-Forward's wrist warms up. Energy gathers in the barrel and in a few seconds, it would fire. However, just before it could, I hear a familiar sound. A second later, I see an arrow sticking through Fast-Forward's blaster. The blaster is now sparking, and the energy in the barrel is disappearing.

"What," Fast-Forward shouts. He pulls back his hand and looks at the broken blaster. It's less than a second after he pulls the arrow out that we both hear someone screaming.

"Head up," QuickShot says, running toward us. Pulling arrows from her quiver, QuickShot drops to her knee and fires them. The arrows fly toward Fast-Forward. They stick to his chest plate and explode. Fast-Forward screams as he launches back.

Moaning as he pushes himself up, he sees QuickShot preparing more arrows. She fires them quickly, and they explode. A combination of slime and net arrows, they hit and capture Fast-Forward.

QuickShot pushes herself back onto her feet. She charges toward Fast-Forward, but strangely, he doesn't seem worried.

"Another time," Fast-Forward says. He pulls a small disc from behind himself and throws it on the street. A few seconds later, the street turns into dust. It crumbles away and Fast-Forward jumps down it, disappearing from view.

With Fast-Forward gone, QuickShot stops running. She turns her head and looks at me.

"Hey Ms. Justice," she starts. "Long time no see."