“Absolutely not,” Bruce hissed. “I’m not doing something like that! I heard him yell at you, Erica. You’re not going, end of story.”
“Bruce, please. I need this job!” Erica begged. “You know how to do this. You’re experienced. I’ll do all the stealth, you do the mechanics. Bruce, we work so well as a team, you know this would work. You know.”
Erica knew Bruce would be difficult to convince, but she hadn’t realized that it would be this hard. Bruce was vehemently shaking his head no at her when she grabbed his arm. Her ocean eyes pleaded with his shamrock ones as she mouthed a small please, and he found himself giving in. Erica rejoiced inwardly; this small victory was only one stepping stone to her ultimate goal.
“Bruce, no matter what you’re thinking now, we need to do this right away.” Erica grabbed his hand, and they took off down the dark corridor to the machine. Erica knew Bruce’s resolve wouldn’t slip once he was involved, but at the moment, he was still relatively unconvinced. They rushed down the stairs to get to the machine. Bruce stopped her before they could reach the door.
“Erica, why is this so important to you? Like honestly, tell me. You’ve disobeyed orders before, but not like this. What’s so important to you?” Erica waved her hands wildly as she tried to explain.
“This opportunity, Bruce! It’s amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it. You know what this would do for me? I’d be so far ahead, I’d get promoted, and I could explain more, but Bruce, I’ve got a meeting tomorrow that I’m supposed to get briefed on in 5 minutes, and if Dr. Anderson finds us down here we’re toast!” Erica dragged Bruce into the room and locked the door. Bruce stood indecisively next to the machine that was about to transport Erica to another world.
“I hate to be that guy, Erica, but won’t he realize you’re gone if he doesn’t find you in 5 minutes?” Erica looked at Bruce like he was an idiot before deciding her fate.
“Oh, but Brucey, you’ll cover for me, won’t you?” she asked in a saccharine voice. Bruce shook his head.
“Ah, Erica, sweetheart, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m coming with you. If it’s truly as bad as it seems, you’ve got to have cover. Don’t even argue with me on this,” he glared. “You need cover, I’m gonna provide it. Now get in, we’ve got to get out of here in less than 3.” Erica grinned at him hugely; Bruce just shook his head. He pressed the button, the machine whizzed to life. Erica mouthed the year to him, and he punched it in accordingly. Erica’s hair began to blow around her and she screamed “Come on!!” but it got lost in the wind. Bruce hopped in the machine. Erica grabbed his arm as they began to get lost in space and time.
She hung onto Bruce, and he clung to her. They felt a bit disjointed from one another and their own bodies, but soon they were hurtling through a tunnel, flying through the folds of history. And all of a sudden, they were on a wet patch of grass, water sloshing around them. The rain was coming down lightly; it was only belatedly that Erica realized they looked out of the time period. Bruce stood above her, extending a hand to help her up. Erica stood, and they stared at their surroundings. No skyscrapers, no cell phones, no streets. She was about ready to regret her decision when she heard a voice cry out “Hello! You over there!” She turned around to see a young man of about 18 walking quickly towards them. She and Bruce turned to each other and began to walk the opposite direction.
“I said hey?” He spoke a little louder. Suddenly, they were stuck in their spots as if their limbs had mysteriously stopped working. Once he had caught up to them, the paralysis left them, and he grabbed Erica’s elbow and spun her around to face him. His dark hair stood out at once, and he was taller-and bigger-than she expected when viewing him far away. Bruce tried to pry Erica from his grasp discreetly, but Erica stopped him with a look.
“Who are you?” she asked the man. He looked at her oddly, but saw fit to answer her.
“I’m Merlin, manservant to the prince. And you are?” Erica’s eyes widened. She’d found Arthur’s wizard without even trying! This was so exciting for her, she knew. She was so close to finding the Prince, so close to getting this job done. He glanced at her, both impatiently and expectantly. She shook her head of any thoughts.
“Erica,” she stated slowly. She heard Bruce slap a hand to his forehead, and she saw Merlin’s face twist into a confused expression.
“Erica,” he repeated. Erica quickly realized that her name hadn’t been in common use until at least the 18th century, if even later. His eyes widened as he took in her appearance once more. “What year do you come from?”
“Year?” Erica’s voice reached shrillness as her panic bubbled. If she was found out by anyone, she was toast in M16’s eyes.
“Yes, year,” Merlin’s eyes narrowed at her. “I’ve met one of you before, if I’m correct, but he disappeared before I learnt much about him.”
Erica racked her brain. “What year” he had said, as if he understood time travel to an extent. He was supposedly magic, but time travel was a bit beyond what magic could have done, even with the power Merlin was supposed to have. “One of you” as if he understood her job to an extent as well. As if he’d met someone, he’d said. As if…
“Dr. Anderson,” she breathed, eyes widening. Merlin’s eyes narrowed even further.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, Erica, but I’m quite sure years involve numbers, not names,” Merlin deadpanned. She cracked a smile at him, but Bruce took over before she could get her thoughts together.
“My name is Bruce, her name is Erica, and we’re from the year 2014. We’re not here to hurt you, we’re just here to do our job,” he rattled off, his voice almost in falsetto with panic. Erica eyes became round as moons.
“Bruce, shut up,” she stage-whispered. Merlin rolled his eyes at the pair.
“So I have met one of you before,” Merlin mused. “He claimed his name was Rémy, but I found a piece of...parchment of sorts which stated his name as Joshua in very strange handwriting that I’m having trouble understanding...” Joshua, Merlin had said. Dr. Joshua Anderson. Erica was now truly wondering what her boss could have gotten mixed up in.
“Merlin.” She snapped him out of his reverie, and he looked at her. “Could you explain more, please?”
“About Joshua?” She nodded. “Well, on the parchment, it stated the year as 1999 AD, I’m guessing?” She and Bruce nodded fervently. “And he was about my age, 19 years old. His paper spoke in interesting English; there were certain words I didn’t understand. What I got from the piece of paper was he needed to eliminate a target. But I’m not entirely sure what that meant, because there was no target to be eliminated? I’m not sure, but Joshua, or Rémy, disappeared before I could ask him about it.”
“Do you still have this piece of paper, er, parchment?” Erica questioned. Merlin nodded.
“I’ll take you to it. Come on Bruce. Let’s think of some better names for you two and get you some better clothes, yeah?” Erica grinned at Bruce, who just looked back at her with some mixture of panic and calmness. She liked Merlin, and once she found out what this mission could be, she’d be ready for it.
************************
“Gaius?” Merlin called to the physician’s room. Erica looked around. It was...strange. There was actual parchment, not paper. And vials and chemical tools filled the shelves and benches. There was tehcnology fit for the time, but no computers, which Erica was accustomed to seeing after working in M16 for the better part of the last 3 years.
“Erica,” Bruce whispered. “This could be bad. Merlin knows. If he finds out what we have to do-”
“And he won’t,” Erica snapped. “The job can’t be that bad. We stay here for a bit, get it done, and leave. What’s the big deal?”
“Don’t you know what the job is, Erica?” Bruce rolled his eyes. Erica looked straight at him, daring him to answer before Merlin came back into the room. Bruce looked at her, about to answer, when Merlin came back with the piece of paper that detailed the mission.
“Ah, here you are!” Merlin jumped down the two stairs that lead to what Erica assumed must have been his room. He produced the piece of paper from behind his back handed it to me. “Is this what you were looking for?” Bruce nodded quietly.
“Yes, thank you,” Erica responded. “This is perfect.”
“Well then, I’ll be not shirking my duties any longer!” Merlin smiled at them. “I’ve got to get to the prince!”
“Ah, yes, and, er, who exactly is the prince?” Bruce questioned. Erica rolled her eyes.
“Oh, Prince Arthur,” Merlin said offhandedly. “I’ll be out most of the day, but I’ll be back later, yeah? Try not to get into any trouble.”
Erica’s eyes widened and Bruce sighed as Merlin exited the room. Erica took the piece of paper and turned it over in her hand.
Mission Statement: Agent Joshua Anderson
Objective: Travel back to Medieval England, reach and eliminate target.
Target: King Arthur Pendragon
Means of Elimination: Battle wound by Sir Mordred of Camelot
Place of Elimination: Camlann
As Erica read the paper, her eyes widened. So this was what Dr. Anderson had to do, and he’d disappeared without making it happen? Did that mean it had happened? Would Erica ever know? She’d been standing so long didn’t know what to do, so Bruce lead her by the hand and sat her down on a bench.
“Erica. do you see what I mean now?” Bruce gently touched her shoulder. “If Dr. Anderson says no, there must be a reason. I know you always want to be righ--”
“So we do it,” Erica stood up, knocking Bruce over a bit. “We eliminate the target.”
“Yes, Erica, except that who knows how long that’s supposed to take. If we stay here--”
“You know full well that time isn’t an issue. So here’s what we do,” Erica threatened. “We eliminate the target and get the hell out of dodge. Doesn’t matter if the King’s a nice guy, now does it? We gotta do what we gotta do.” Erica’s head was raised defiantly at Bruce’s grimace. Finally, Bruce sighed.
“Fine,” he said. Erica’s eyes widened.
“I knew I’d get you!” she celebrated. “Now, let’s go find some clothes.”
**********************************************
Erica took Bruce by the hand and found a clothing shop in one of the small centres of town. She and Bruce waited until the merchant was out of sight to do their bidding. Bruce closed the door behind the merchant and stuck a cart in front of it so he couldn’t get out while Erica rummaged through clothing to find outfits for the both of them. She found a nice servants dress for herself and a nice purple shirt and black jacket for Bruce.
“I can’t find any pants!” she stage-whispeed to Bruce. She looked up to see Bruce roll his eyes at her.
“Well, keep looking, yeah? I look ridiculous in what I’m wearing now.” Erica huffed and went back to searching. As she rooted through the clothes, she pulled out a brown pair of pants. She grimaced. Brown and black absolutely did not go together. She threw the black jacket on the ground and grabbed Bruce’s forearm.
“Alright idiot, let’s go change,” she whispered, and they disappeared into an alley next door. As soon as they changed, they walked out looking like they’d always belonged, their old clothes folded neatly into Bruce’s handbag. As they walked back to the physician’s room, they began to chat about what they were going to do.
“Erica, I really don’t like this,” Bruce began, but Erica cut him off with a wave of her hand.
“We need names, Brucey,” Erica sighed. “What are good names?”
“I don’t know, Erica, but maybe we need TO LEAVE.”
“Alice? I like Alice. No, Allison. How about..Gilli?”
“Gilli? What am I, a fish? Absolutely not.”
“Aldrich!”
“Please stop.”
“Do wanna just be called Bruce, then?”
“Yeah, to be honest…?” Erica rolled her eyes.
“You’re an idiot, Bruce.”
“And just who might you be?” An old man with shoulder length white hair hobbled in the room, shock written all over his face as he stared at the two time travellers.
“Um-” “Well-” Erica and Bruce stammered at the same time. They looked at each other and tried to telepathically think of the right answer.
“We’re time travellers!” “Merlin’s friends he conveniently forgot to mention?” Erica rolled her eyes at Bruce’s truthful answer. The old man was still looking at them, but this time, his face was rather unimpressed.
“Bruce, you’re literally the worst time traveller ever,” Erica hissed and then turned her head to smile at the old man. The old man looked at Erica and Bruce suspiciously.
“You’re a bit like Rémy, aren’t you?” he said. “I’m Gaius, and you are…?”
“Erica and Bruce,” Erica offered. “He-” she jabbed her thumb at Bruce- “was actually right. We are time travellers.” Gaius just shook his head in confusion, but ultimately shrugged it off and chuckled.
“Well, just do whatever you’re here to do,” he said dismissively, and Erica and Bruce retreated to Merlin’s back room. They sat on his mattress, wondering what to do. Bruce laid down and closed his eyes, giving Erica time to think. What would she do? She knew she should do her job. Somehow she also knew it would happen no matter what. He would die, and the kingdom would fall. But what if it didn’t? What if, when the time came, Erica couldn’t ensure the prince’s death?
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