[ chapter two ] snowball effect

( 2041 ... Bleecker Playground, New York )

THE CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER RESONATED ON THE PLAYGROUND, as the tiny souls were swinging on the seesaw that was in the middle of a huge sandbox. It didn't seem like that but it was a busy place. The children arrived with their parents, exploring the messy places with toys buried in the sand.

"Nicky! Look!" A redhead shouted as she was expressing her happiness, waving her hands to draw attention to herself. Maya Gabrielle Parker was talking to her uncle who looked more like her brother due to the age difference. Nicholas was almost eighteen at the time, patiently waiting for his birthday, which was in January.

He managed to lock eyes with his niece, joyfully playing with the sand and forming mud pies. Maya managed to build a whole sandcastle earlier but thanks to her clumsiness she sat right to it, making it her throne, so only the castle's ruins remained.

"And you said you can't bake, now I don't know what to believe," Nicholas noted loudly since the voices of other families were getting noisily rather than quieter.

Maya smirked as she heard Nicholas' response to her mud pies, which reminded her of cupcakes since they were small and had a sprinkling at the top created from tiny stones planted inside the sandy deserts to give them some texture and crispiness.

"My mommy taught me that," Maya explained, sticking her tongue out as she was focused on putting the sand to the bright turquoise sand mold that had the shape of a scallop.

"How to lie properly? I bet she did. You're both talented," Nick laughed when Maya mentioned her mother who lied about her identity almost every day, making sure that nobody will know that she was still working for the Avengers, even though it was so obvious, the only other redhead beside Nicholas' sister was Natasha Romanoff.

Maya put the scallop sand mold aside when she was done, as she was frowning her ginger eyebrows she jumped back to her feet, walking to her uncle. Her tiny hand clutched in a fist hit him in the shoulder.

"Ouch! Okay! I'm taking that back! Also, what was it for exactly?" Nick wondered. Even though the arm wasn't hurting he was so surprised that Maya decided to do something like that. He gazed at her with expectation as he was rubbing his shoulder.

"Mommy said I should hit you whenever you do or say something stupid, so I did. Also, you underestimate my power," Maya answered while she was having fun since she giggled and her eyes widened with glinting sparks in them.

Nick shook his head with a pleased expression on his face since this incident made his little niece laugh and intentionally use a Star Wars reference. They binge-watched the entire series in a week last summer holiday when she was at her grandparents' house.

"I was the one who helped mom with the m&m's cookies she gave you yesterday," Maya declared with a frown on her face since she expected him to take her words seriously.

"Okay, okay! I give up, you got me. Either way, you can't hit people whenever you like... They might get offended," He clarified, wanting to describe how wrong it was.

"But you didn't," Maya argued as she folded her arms on her chest, raising one eyebrow, looking at her uncle's curly yet messy hair.

"That's a different kind of story," Nick stated, a crinkles appeared on his nose, noticing how much she was fascinated as she was looking at him. He managed to conjure a smile on his lips since the sun reflected the fire tones in Maya's hair, transforming them in a wrathful eruption as few of the strands were obviously sticking out, trying to reach the heavens.

"Can you please join me, Nicky? I need an assistant. I want to make a cake," Maya suggested as she was walking back to the sandbox where she left her toys. Her pigtails and the bow's ribbon were playfully swinging from side to side due to small but brisk steps.

"Sure! After that we might finally open the bakery your mom was always talking about," Nick fantasized, playing a role in her story that she created before, claiming that she can't bake even though her mommy taught her how to do that.

He stood up sharply, as the strong glow from the sun radiance blinded him, needing to cover his eyes with his hand.

Nick thought that the gleam would fade away but it was even stronger with a deafening sound echoing through the city. 

His ears started ringing as the sound reverberated as the whole world was collapsing, later it dissipated, as something heavy hit the ground nearby, causing an alley of buildings to explode.

Nicholas staggered as the airwave forced him to stumble back. When his body was released from the force's captivity, everything suddenly turned in slow motion.

Seeing the horror in children's and passerby's faces was heartbreaking, they left everything behind and ran for their life. Nicholas was shocked how he managed to stay on his feet, when the whole ground, Earth's surface was trembling, shivering in fright as it was its ending.

"Maya? Maya!" Nick was calling out her name as he was looking around since he noticed that she wasn't near the sandbox where she was sitting on the wooden bench.

For him, it was only a second but it could be more than a minute he wasn't persevering a single thing.

"No no no," He was mumbling as he was scanning the playground that suddenly became a place full of rubble, the epicenter of panic.

His vision sharpened as he observed a redhead girl that was trying to push away a man that was holding her tightly.

"Maya!" Nick shouted and ran in the same direction as the man was trying to get away as the other bunch of scared people.

He felt like a movie reel went off inside his head, unable to make quick decisions. In his mind, there was a flash of an image, memories of the girl's laughter and how she hit him in the shoulder, suggesting to him indirectly not to do the absurd.

He didn't have time to apologize to the passersby, even though he felt sorry for them, he had to act.

Nick pushed the bystander that was looking up at the skies, as he was moving ahead, wanting to save his niece.

When the others also looked up, Nicholas knew that something wasn't right, so in a second he observed the skies that were disintegrating into little fragments that were turning into particles that reminded him of the most sterling snow, as if clouds were falling, slowly shredding and ascending to the ground, colliding into another teen who wanted to save their own life. 

He stopped with a weird feeling.

The hysteria got under Nick's skin, crawling inside his veins, raising his heartbeat. He noticed a three-year-old who was looking up at their parents, fascinated by the gleaming specks, attempting to catch it on their tongue as the innocent snowflakes.

But these particles were the embodiment of evil.

Nicholas' eyes widened as he regarded one of the adults, hissing in pain as the fluorescing traces touched their exposed skin, absorbing it entirely and ripping it apart - completely erasing them from others' sight.

He wasn't the only one who saw the homicide in his own eyes. People were gasping, muting their screams with hands.

The particles were falling with incredible speed, drifting in the air as the light breeze was pounding to them, pushing them forward

. Another unidentified object hit the nearest building that collapsed as the ones before, blocking one of the ways out, escalating a surge of chaos, changing their directions in realization this might be their end.

People started panicking even more.

Nicholas wanted to continue running but he tripped over as he bumped into a woman that was shrieking as her sweatshirt was catching on fire thanks to the falling glimmers. This made him lose track of the man who took Maya.

He remembered there was a weird symbol on the man's jacket.

His chest rose at tremendous speed, seeing the youngest thinking that this was just a game with special effects, reaching for the igniting specks.

Nick knew that rescuing his niece was more important to him yet he decided to save the precious lives of those who were trying to escape the park across the roads.

Nicholas made a gesture with his hands which summoned his abilities, sending up a tide that radiated blackness that swallowed the fiery bits like a ravenous dark beast.

The skies darkened, calming his senses, finally feeling the man's way as he noticed the reflection of the emblem on the back of his jacket. The man forced the girl to get in the armored car.

The darkness was spreading as colored smoke, blocking the eyesight of the survivors and most importantly blocking Nicholas' vision, losing the car in the gloaming.

He regretted every minute he spent in confusion as his mind was predestined to not work the right way as it was supposed to.

The jolting of the earth's surface made him weak, shrouding in fatigue, caving in.

The pitch-black fog enfeebled as the last souls vanished, crumbled to dust. The dark coating shimmered with gloomy starry night tones and finally uncovered the cruel reality of being a burden.

Nicholas was looking down, covering his face as he was scared to death, shaking like a leaf, quivering as an incoming avalanche. When he looked up a strong light blinded him, eventually perceiving the consequences.

The New York was eradicated, and the heavens were scattered revealing the monstrous spaceship that looked a lot like a planet. A fresh zephyr blew in his face, ruffling his dark hair covered in dust.

"How in the hell is he still alive?" A woman's voice questioned, gazing at a bronze gadget, called tempad. Hunter B-15 scanned the boy's portrait that the appliance analyzed.

"I don't know," Ravonna responded grumpily since she was back in the field after a long time back in the field. "The world ended like a minute ago," she proceeded.

"No shit, Sherlock," Mobius stated in annoyance, since Renslayer was acting like she was the smartest one here, even though everyone had the tempad to check information about this variant and the time branch.

"Speaking of that, who's even Sherlock? Isn't it like a fictional character or something?" Mobius queried, even though he stated the information himself. He frowned his eyebrows, how the confusion overtook his facial expression.

"Gosh! Can you not?! We have a case," Ravonna expressed angrily. By nodding her head, she navigated one of the hunters to approach the boy.

Nicholas managed to sit down at least, squinting because of the dazzling sunlight of the burning sun that was cleaving. 

His mind was lost in a loop of unanswered questions, not realizing that four figures were already examining the place, setting their eyes on the target — him.

( Time Variance Authority )

A FLICKERING TANGERINE DOOR CLOSED as a group of hunters and agents came out from it. 

"Hey!" The boy revealed the fear that was evoked in him thanks to this place. The sepia colors, the rounded hallways, the circular decorations on the walls. Everything looked so old school yet so uncharted, up-to-the-minute.

One of the hunters was holding Nicholas by the arm if he wanted to escape since he expressed his strength when they pulled him to the glinting portal, noticing thanks to the corner of his eye, another person who tried to break free but was caught up because of the little apparatus.

 Just as soon as the minutemen pressed something on it, the neck collar started to peal, making the one vanish and reappear on the place they tried to break free from.

"You can't do this! No! Stay back!" Nicholas managed to slip out of the grasp of the armed kidnappers, trying to use his abilities, the darkness manipulation. The only thing he did was a gesture with his hands and his pupils expanded as he registered that nothing happened.

"Wait what?" He questioned himself rather than the minutemen, looking at his hands that were trembling from his failure.

"Yup, I just wanted to mention that! Magic is no good in the TVA," B-15 mentioned unimpressed as it was one of the things she was explaining to everyone.

"But— But, that's not magic!" Nick complained as he shook his hands on purpose as if his powers were switched off.

"Everyone says that," Hunter B-15 sighed, trying to take the boy by the arm one more time, but he slipped. She took him by his arm again, holding it more tightly.

In the meantime, Mobius was hitting the receptionist's ring bell several times until a welcoming and cheerful voice approached them.

"Hello, my fellow colleagues!" With a name tag that had Casey on it, a receptionist welcomed the cavalry with a beam on his lips as he was handing a paper clipboard.

"On the instructions of the Headmistress, we managed to close the timeline," Hunter B-15 uttered at the reception of the Time Variance Authority, leaning over the counter to Casey who was currently on duty, refusing the clipboard that he was handing to her.

She didn't have time for chit-chat so she took Nicholas to the elevator.

"You meant you reset the timeline, right? Either way, it was lovely meeting you, B-15!" Casey raised his voice, revealing his teeth, which were shining as the most radiant diamond.

He watched the hunter B-15 leave and just as soon as she was out of his sight, he turned to the others.

"I'm pretty sure, she likes me," he smirked, shaking his head at the thought of someone liking him that much.

"How was your day so far?" Casey proceeds to interrogate them, glancing at Agent Mobius since he was the only one who was talkative among these four.

"Pretty draining. To be honest? I don't really know what was scarier... Seeing Miss Minutes playing chess or watching the world's ending," Mobius laughed, lowkey whispering that some information was top secret since the irritating clock could appear anytime on any occasion.

"Both!" Casey chuckled yet his laughter stopped as he observed Ravonna's rigorous glance.

At the moment Hunter B-15 pulled the lever that called the multipurpose elevator, Nick broke free from her grip by punching her, as he was softly apologizing since he didn't want to do any harm but he needed to if he wanted to get away from this place.

She hissed in pain since her leg received a sharp hit that made her trip a bit, needing to lean against the metal elevator door. 

When she perceived that the boy carried on running away, she reached for the Time Twister that was attached to her belt but there wasn't anything on it.

B-15's upper lids were wide open, as her lips pressed against each other that later exposed her teeth due to losing her temper. 

"That juvenile delinquent," She uttered through her teeth. 

"Besides that... Don't you happen to know someone named Sherlock?" Mobius questioned, leaning over the receptionist desk, demanding an answer, completely ignoring the fact that one of their Variants was on the run.

"Yeah!" Casey said enthusiastically as he was looking around for the bearded old man, unfortunately, he observed only Nicholas that escaped.

Casey's jaw dropped.

"You should probably continue in your welcoming work, Casey," The judge Renslayer smiled since he understood that he should probably be quiet than sharing gossip with others, even with Mobius.

"No, ma'am! I mean yes, ma'am! But.. I think the variant just ran away," Casey apprised them as he was putting the clipboard back on the counter since no one needed it. 

Usually, the document work was disorganized, so others were skipping it rather than filling the form precisely.

"Who?" Ravonna asked as she was fixing the ringlet strands tied up in a messy bun. The curls were playfully swaying due to her sharp movements since she suddenly turned in the direction that Casey was pointing out.

"You gotta be kidding me!" she breathed in ire. Ravonna already knew that whoever was responsible for his breakout was in big trouble.

"What are you waiting for?! Go catch that little prick!" Renslayer cross-examined B-15 since she all of the sudden started to stride forward, slowly speeding.

Hunter B-15 gathered the rest of her strength and started to run after him.

author's note: 

FINALLY MEMES!! This chapter was supposed to be published right on the first day I published this book as a double feature, but I decided not to because I noticed some irregularities in the plot, so I rewrite it multiple times! But here we are! Anyways, I am soo excited for you to meet one of my fav original characters of all time, my boy Nicky 🥺

The ending of this chapter was heavily inspired by "What you waiting for" by Gwen Stefani, I really liked the dynamic of the song that I wanted to include it in some sort of way so I manage to do something with it 😏  Hope you liked this chapter, see ya!

The sign off gif was made by silksenses