Loan sauntered in front of X, Veronique and the prince, guiding them through the traffic. Everyone stared at their weird clothes, maybe it was some sort of cosplay? At least that's what the general public thought.

They soon reached the city slums, abandoned alleys of the New York. There were warning signs crushed into the dust. It was a homage to criminals, drug dealers, smugglers, murderers and everything bad you'd not want to be part of or be associated with.

Veronique looked around. There were some skater boys on their skateboards on the other side of the thin lane, staring at her.
"Hey cutie," One of them approached them.
"Tasty panties,"

She looked at X, "Ignore them," He told her.
"Oh, she got a sugar daddy?"
"The fuck you saying, bruh, she is cosplaying the fuck outta here,"
Coelestin stared at them and removed the bracelet from his hands.

"Oh, this looks nice." They looked at his bracelet.
"Give that shit here, pretty boy,"

"Can I kill them?" Coelestin asked X.
"I am afraid you can't, your highness," X replied, humbly.
"Yeah, I don't care,"

"What do you mean?" The punks asked.
His bracelet turned into a bow. They all were taken aback, "This place is absolute bullshit, and people are a piece of living shit," Coelestin said.

One of them took out a knife from his pockets. Coelestin smirked as the bow turned into a pistol, "You better not bore me,"

"NIGGA—"

The voice of a gunshot echoed through the tin houses. Everyone at the skateboard park turned towards the suburbs. One of them had pink dyed hair, wore a worn-out black hoodie and had a cigarette in his mouth.
"Was that a gunshot?"
"Yo, they be fighting. Let's go boys!"
They got on their skateboards and cruised towards the alley.

One of them had green and blonde dye. It was Frank. He sat down with a beer can and looked at the guy with pink dye, "You ain't going, Slaine?"
He looked at him, "Lemme first finish my ciggie real quick."

When they reached the alleys, they found two dead bodies on the streets. Four men stood before them, all dressed up weirdly.

"Did you kill Abby and Nick?" Riley asked. He stood in front of the entire crowd of boys.
"I did,"
"Why?" Riley narrowed his eyes.
"He called me the n-word, I am white as you can see" Coelestin looked at the pistols in both his hands.

They all drew out their knives, "You'll pay for it," Riley said. Coelestin smirked, "I'd love to watch you tryna make me pay,"

They all attacked at once. Veronique grabbed X's arm and ran away with Loan while Coelestin stayed back and shot them in their heads. His fingers moved fast as the trigger went on and on, the blood-covered his body but his black eyes didn't blink at all, as if they had no soul.

Within a minute, there was so much smoke between those walls that nothing was visible anymore. When the smoke cleared, everyone was dead.

The pistols turned into a bracelet and he wore it back again. He looked at the blood on his clothes, "Filth," He walked over the dead bodies to the other side.

Veronique, X and Loan walked through the alley, back to the time machine.

"That fucking idiot prince! He killed all of them!" X said, "What if one of them was Slaine!?"
"Why? Are you looking for me?" They heard and saw a boy stand before them. He looked very young, the same age as Coelestin. He had a fresh cigarette in his mouth and a skateboard right beneath his feet.

X smirked, "Slaine Benjamin,"
"That's me," He said, "What do you want?"
"I've got an interesting contract for you. The pay will be good,"

"Oh?" He lit up the cigarette with his lighter, "And? What is it?"
"I want you to kill someone," X smirked.

Slaine chuckled, "Okay, how much will I be paid,"
"Wow, you did not hesitate at all," X was amazed.

Slaine gave out smoke and looked at X, "Are you an idiot? Why would I hesitate? I am a contract killer. I take $1400 for every kill, how many people are they?"
"We can talk about that in my office,"
Slaine looked astounded. Then, he gazed at Veronique. She smiled at him and he looked at X, "Are you sure? Most people don't prefer showing their houses to criminals, you know,"

"It's okay, I trust you,"
Slaine looked into his blue eyes, "Fine,"
Coelestin reached them by then, "Shall we go?" He asked.
"Yes, your highness," X smiled. Slaine and Coelestin looked at each other.

"Who is this pauper?" Coelestin asked.
"He is just," X wrapped his arm around Slaine's shoulder, "An ally, your highness,"
They took him with them to the time machine. He looked at the giant platform.
"I've never seen anything like this," Slaine said.
"I bet you haven't," X said.

They walked inside the time machine and Loan pulled the lever back. It started and went ahead at full speed. Coelestin stood at the door and looked at Slaine.
"Siren," Loan said as he walked towards X, "Something unusual is happening,"
"What?"

The tunnel behind them was falling apart as they moved ahead.

"WE'RE GONNA GET CRUSHED!" Coelestin shouted.
"Increase the speed," X commanded and Loan turned the dials. The speed of the machine increased, and they were all pulled towards a corner. Coelestin and Slaine held the railings.
"Why is this happening?" X turned towards Veronique.

"You took a person of an alternate reality of the past back to the future, so that world is now collapsing out of existence. You broke a rule of time and so to prevent a paradox, this happens," Veronique replied.
"What if we are crushed under this turned?" X asked.
"Our reality will crash too,"
"DRIVE FASTER!"

Finally, they reached the mirror and everything turned bright white. When they opened their eyes, they were back into the future. The lights were not glowing anymore and the glass doors were locked. They tried to open them but they were all jammed. Loan tried to start the machine again but it didn't start no matter what button he pressed.

"How we gonna get out now?"
"Simple," Coelestin removed his bracelet which turned into a bow, "Move away,"
Everyone moved away from the glass door. He aimed an invisible arrow at the door and as soon as he released the string, the glass door broke apart. They walked out of the time machine.
"This was certainly something," Coelestin said and looked at the watch in his hands, "It's only been two minutes in this world,"

Slaine looked around his posh environment. Coelestin went back to his chair and sipped his tea. It was warm.

"The machine isn't working anymore. Its engine is burnt, we need to fix it," Loan shrugged his shoulders.
Coelestin took a sip of his drink, "What a waste of time,"
"Get the mechanics," X commanded.

"Mr X," Coelestin kept the glass of drink aside, "I am fairly uninterested in travelling through time right now. The time machine is obviously useless since if make any change in the past, it will make a change in an alternative universe, our world still remains the same so it's pointless. And we can't just put these for sale since I don't want idiots fiddling with something as powerful as time," Coelestin said and Veronique chuckled,

"What I am more interested in is the energy source you used. It must require a lot of energy to start a machine this big," Coelestin said.

"Yes, your majesty," X smiled.
"So, how about giving that supply to the government? You know, for the common man,"
"I'd love to do that, your Excellency,"

Coelestin signed a contract with X and thus gave Kasternergy, X's energy supplying firm, the monopoly over World energy supply. After that, the prince left since he was in a hurry. X turned towards Slaine. He looked at his worn-out attire.

"You should probably go freshen up first. I'll meet at dinner. I will give you all the details there." X smiled.
Slaine nodded.
"Veronique, guide the young man to the guest room,"

Veronique and Slaine walked through a well-lit hallway. She opened the door to a huge room, "This will be your room for a while,"
He walked in and looked at the furniture, the lighted ceiling, a warm and cosy bed, carpeted floor and a cleaning robot.

"All this..." Slaine looked around, "For me?"
"Yes, is there something you don't like?" Veronique asked.
"No," He couldn't seem to believe what he suddenly had, even if temporarily, "It's perfect,"
"Take a bath, shave and change. Your clothes are outside the bathing area. Come downstairs once you're done."

Slaine looked at her as she slowly closed the door. He walked inside the bathroom and looked at the mirror. He had a tiny orange beard on his neck and cheeks and dirty, pink hair. He looked at a trimmer and picked it up.

Veronique walked towards the halls, into X's room. He was sitting on a sofa, drinking by himself. She stood before him. He looked at her.
"What do you think of him?" He asked.
"Cannot trust him,"
"But he looks pretty, doesn't he?"

"He didn't bring him to kill someone, did you?" She said in front of him.
"Well, yeah that is a plan too,"

"He is a weapon, a killer. Don't forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature." She brought her face closer to his, "It can still kill someone,"

-To be continued

X || Veronique
5500 Rebellion