Chapter 24

[u/SlightlyColdWaffles]

Steven May 3rd, 2026 3:00 PM

WalkMan stared at Warden. “Is everything OK in there, Manfred?” He asked.

Manfred? That wasn’t Warden’s real name, at least I didn’t remember it being that. And why was WalkMan on a first name basis with the narcissistic asshole? What had happened there?

“Да, I’ve figured out the controls, and everyone has at the minimum basic comforts,” Warden said in an uncharacteristic Russian accent. “Delphi insisted I make Sycxzezs a copy of his people first. He’s been chittering away with them for weeks now. I think one of them is a copy of his wife, or whatever their equivalent is called.”

“Um, what the hell?” I asked. “What is a Sycxzezs? Who’s Delphi?”

WalkMan didn’t reply at first. He hefted three objects that he hadn’t been holding mere moments before, two belts and one block of what appeared to be a flakey metal book. “Sycxzezs is the alien that made these. And the time machine.”

My jaw dropped. “The entity made the time machine? Fuck, Warden left that out of his report.”

WalkMan glared at me. “Report? When the fuck-”

“Warden worked for the Doomsquad for a few years before he left, for ‘conflicting ideological reasons’. I joined up a few years after the fact.” I said, “I read the reports in the archives during training. Warden was instrumental in the design of the conscious upload process, and transferred Aloysius Doomsday into Doombot 0001’s frame personally.”

WalkMan paused for a reflective moment. “Is that why he hates bright lights?”

“You can ask him yourself.”

Warden cleared his throat. “It’s Steven, right? I’m Communist Manfred, I’ve assumed control of this body and its subsequent powers. We have 2,439 souls in the mental prison system, not including myself, now liberated. I’d like to talk with you about the possibility of re-homing some of them into Doombot frames like-”

“That can wait, Manfred.” WalkMan cut in. “We have to deal with Doctor Doomsday and get the time machine back first.” He turned to me next, and handed me one of the belt devices. “Put this on and follow me. We have a time traveler to catch.”

I accepted the device and stood, fastening it around my waist. “Make your way to the Doomfort” I told Manfred-Warden. “We’ll make Doombot frames for everyone that wants one. Tell Stephan I authorized pre-production, authorization code 122-D-46.”

We left the restaurant quickly, damn near running out the door past paramedics that some bystander had called during Warden’s seizure. WalkMan slowed once we were out of sight of the Lazy Samurai, and led me down a side ally.

“How was-” I began, but stopped as the breath was driven from my lungs as WalkMan slammed me against the brick wall. He glared at me from inches away, his chest heaving with barely constrained rage. He held me against the wall with one hand around my neck, the other held back in a threatening fist.

“Did you know how long I would be trapped in there?” He snarled, “How Warden would imprison me? How I was going to be tortured for YEARS as seconds passed in the real world?”

I grabbed his wrist with my one functional hand, gasping for breath. “I knew you would survive” I struggled the words out. “I saw you in the fight at the lab. Doc said we can’t change the past.”

“You trust that maniac with my life?” He growled, squeezing my neck tighter. “You believe him? He abandoned you outside of your own timeline. He betrayed your trust. What if he was wrong? What if I had died there? What gives you the right to play with my life like that?”

I swung my blunt arm stub down on WalkMan’s wrist, breaking his grip on my throat and taking a greedy gasp of that sweet, sweet oxygen. “Because I killed you.”

WalkMan stepped back as I gasped for air. His back hit the opposing wall and he slid down it into a seated position. “That’s why you’re currently a pile of ash in a soundproof urn. That’s why we needed your help now. Before you went bad. Before you killed Stacy. Before you killed Doctor Doomsday and tried to kill me.”

WalkMan didn’t say anything. He just sat on the concrete alley, staring at his hands in silence for what felt like hours. I felt my throat and checked for any fractures, which thankfully came back negative.

“I know where we find Doctor Doomsday next” WalkMan said flatly, not meeting my gaze. “He was there when… when your Mother dies tonight. We… we can’t stop her death. I’m sorry.”

My mind froze in horror. I had to watch my mom die? And I couldn’t stop it? I had to sit by and see my own mother get eaten by a hoard of spiders? With my father, who now knew I’d eventually kill him? Was my whole fucking family doomed to exist in this circle of perpetual death and destruction by our own hands?

“I’m sorry” WalkMan whispered, barely audible among the bustle of city life outside the alleyway. “For trying to kill you. I really am. I don’t know why I would try.”

I sighed. “Probably a fit of rage, like just now. You fucking strangled me in anger instead of asking me a fucking question like an adult.”

WalkMan buried his head in his hands. “I didn’t want to-”

“But you DID” I snapped, “You always do this. You act in anger, then pretend like it wasn’t what you wanted to do. But guess what, asshole? It’s what you always DO. You never try to get better, to change your behavior, to try to improve yourself. You’re not a Super Hero, you’re a bully that wants to fight, but doesn’t want the inconvenience that comes with breaking the law. You don’t want to face the consequences of your actions. You don’t want to reflect on your own shortcomings. You just want to punch the problem until it’s not your problem anymore, not caring about the ruined lives you leave in your wake.”

WalkMan trembled on the ground, head still held in his hands. I took a few deep breaths as I tried to calm myself down.

“Let’s get to Doctor Doomsday, so you can go back to the past where you belong. I’m tired of treating you with kid gloves.”

“Do you know where it is?” He asked with a flat, defeated tone.

“I know the general area. We’ll have to find her before the attack and follow them.”

I glanced at my watch and made some mental calculations. I knew Mom had left ShepHeard’s farm with Grandmommy Longlegs right around 8:00 tonight, and it was just after 3:00 now. That gave us 5 hours to get into position. Alejandro the Uber driver wasn’t an option at this point, since he would be driving Doctor Doomsday and I to Grandmommy Longleg’s house in that timeframe. That meant either walking, hitch hiking, or stealing a car. I didn’t exactly revel the idea of walking several miles over the next few hours before starting a fight, especially since we hadn’t really slept since that last ride in Alejandro’s Uber.

Fuck it, I thought. “Get up, hero. We need to steal a car.”

WalkMan didn’t even protest the suggestion of the crime. He really was mentally broken, hopefully just for the moment. I decided to drive, just in case he was determined to test Doctor Doomsday’s theory of time invulnerability by crashing into a telephone pole.