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Chapter 49: Fear the Air
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2024-10-29 19:42:56It was as if an angel had appeared. The golden light he brought washed away Emmet's fears, and a sense of relief and peace descended down upon his mind. He let himself sag a little in more in relief, then steeled himself, facing the agent who was still stood within the shadows, away from the path of light, pouring into the cupboard from the open door.
Only the faintest outline of reflected light gave away his location, and the fact that Jasper had no way of seeing him.
He had plastered himself to the wall, and Emmet was concerned to see that his plaster cast was the widest part of his body, the amount of flesh clinging onto the bones of his arms and legs looking unsubstantial and unhealthy.
Jasper hurriedly threw himself into the room, like he didn't even care what he was doing, dangerously swaying and almost cutting his arm into two, the limb just about passing it through the narrow gap between the door and wall, under
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Emmet was now firmly out of sight and out of mind of the agent. He was now cast out, completely disregarded, and recognised that, at least now, without any intruding eyes on him, analysing his every move and action, deliberating over the harm that they would potentially cause, he was free to take actions to influence the situation, and was finally given a modicum of power to hopefully save Jasper.He was the important one here. He was the one who held all the knowledge that the agent wanted. The agent would only get it if Jasper was willing to give it up.Emmet had to everything he could to prevent an altercation where it was preferable for Jasper to relinquish his position. He needed to keep himself out of danger, out of sight and out of mind, while making sure that the interrogation would proceed how he needed it to.There were only so many things he could do.Emmet knew that now most of his action
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Emmet knew that he couldn't stand still, here all alone now. He needed to do somethin else to support Jasper.The agent shifted his posture slightly, looming slightly taller over Jasper, and tilting his head slightly to look down at him, almost as if he had grown larger, and more powerful, from that mere shred of falsehood, paraded to him as legitimate information.He looked as if he was a satisfied, tyrannical, spiteful cat with claws sharper than knives, and fangs ready to tear through flesh. He wondered if this was just another act to extract more information, and wondered if the man underneath was even human. Or maybe that to become an investigative agent of the Republic, one had to have a predisposition to compulsive lying and sociopathy.Emmet could accept harm barreling towards his way, but he could not accept Jasper getting more injuries than he already had. A broken leg and a burnt back was more than enough for
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Emmet couldn't be sure that the agent was fully knocked out.He couldn't believe that he had been able to force this monster, with strength greater than Alice's, into unconsciousness. He could just be pretending to be asleep. This could be another ploy and strategy to hurt them, to hurt Jasper especially.He needed to verify that the agent wouldn't hurt them anymore. That he was truly incapacitated.He grabbed the battery that he had just placed aside, before he began his venture of knocking the agent unconscious, and slammed it into the port on the wall, next to the door, barely keeping himself from falling into the wall, and hitting his own head on the door.The pure white light of the bulb, above him, flooded the room, and he hissed slightly, squinting as he tried to block out the burning pain. He tried to blink away the dark blue and green floaters in his vision, but quickly gave up, after a few
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Jasper looked silently at Emmet for a moment, his face dawning in horror.Emmet's eyes widened at his expression, beginning to fill with tears as he realised that he had said the wrong thing. He might have even said the worst thing possible in this situation. He had messed up again."How was this the right thing to do!? You just knocked out a man! You hurt him because what! Because of me? How stupid are you?! Why are you doing this!? Why! Why! Why! I'm trying to never hurt anyone again! Why?!" Jasper screamed out at him, through a choked throat which strained with every single word, every single syllable but still capable of spewing out all of Emmet's mistakes back at him, every indictment another slap in the face at his failure.At his insensitivity.At his weakness.All Jasper continued to do was scream and cry. He let his crutches fall to the floor and clatter carelessly. He grabbed Emmet's shirt with his now free hands, the same shirt he had wo
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With a shaking but hopeful hand, Emmet handed over the purple container he had chosen to store the nanobots in. A dark, gleaming shade of purple slightly lighter than plum and deeper with bluer undertones, looking as if it could be the gem of a necklace.Jasper's hands also shook, when he received it. He turned it over, examining it from all sides, thumbing the clasp that would open and reveal the interior capsule which needed a code to release a tiny needle sized hole to the nanobots.Startling slightly as Jasper shoved the device into the waist band of trousers, Emmet startled. It would make more sense to simply not be carrying the nanobots in case they went to the future, as the device could be recognised and exploited. It really was the best place to hide it, between them, but it was still surprising.The same analytical expressions washed over Jasper's face, his eyes and nose scrunching up slightly and then replaced
The Boy who Circled Time Chapter 55: Not Enough
It wasn't enough. It couldn't be enough anymore.The first time that the agent had been knocked out by a blow to the head, it wasn't enough. He was awake in minutes and with enough fortitude to try to strangle Jasper. He wouldn't be going down now. It wasn't enough.Emmet needed to make sure that the agent would not hurt Jasper again. He needed to make sure that no more hands, lunging out of the shadows to wrap around the throats of the innocent and choke them to death, would be able to hurt Jasper. He needed to do this. He needed to.Hitting the agent on the head was not enough to knock him out. It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough anymore.Emmet reached out to one of the agent's left shoulder, bearing the hand that had dared to move itself against Jasper. The arm that had dared to hurt Jasper, threaten to extinguish his life. He needed to make sure that it would never hurt anybody ever again.
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Emmet desperately reached out to Jasper, his arms outstretched, grasping at his sleeves, his fingers lightly brushing against his gown, before leaving that white material behind.But Jasper wasn't looking at Emmet.He looked down into his hands, tears falling into them, dripping off of them into his lap and the time machine. He was stuck in his mind, completely unaware of the world around him. He couldn't see Emmet. He wasn't seeing Emmet.He wasn't seeing Emmet reaching out to him. He wasn't seeing Emmet who was so close to him. He wasn't seeing him. Jasper wasn't looking at him.He was looking at his time machine.He was looking at the big, red button on it.His fingers were moving towards it. He wasn't looking at Emmet.His hand pressed down on it. He wasn't looking up. He wasn't looking at Emmet. He wasn't looking at his outstretched
The Boy who Circled Time Chapter 57: On my Own
Emmet looked over to the agent that he so detested, almost hearing his mocking voice, grating on his nerves. If he was awake right now, he would surely be making fun of Emmet for going back on his promises to Jasper, and for getting his heart broken for some guy who had probably considered their relationship to be some couple week long fling.Even when he was unconscious, he managed to make Emmet angry.He was glad that the agent had now shut up and couldn't do any harm, but hated the fact that the bastard was now his responsibility to bear. He hated the fact that agent was such a bastard, but he needed to get him some kind of medical attention if he didn't want to be charged with manslaughter or murder.Fuck!He now had to go back to trying to salvage his life.He knew that he would be first arrested, and probably be placed in some sort of isolation while a thorough investigatio
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