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It had happened in Gadam, right outside of the vilzone. A villain had appeared, wildly shooting beams of light. Civilians had quickly left the area, running away at the sight of the rampaging villain. Both Cassian and Driver were on the scene, having been nearby when the commotion started, and were attacking the villain who kept managing to slip away from them.
“Dammit,” Cassian swore under his breath as he narrowly dodged another beam of white light aimed towards him. The sight and smell of his singed sleeve reminded him to stay vigilant.
“Careful!” Driver yelled at him as he swung his giant weapon around, shooting his own purple beam of light at the villain, “We don’t know what that will do if it hits us!”
The villain dodged their attacks with ease, teleporting instantaneously out of the way. They mocked them both, cackling as they flashed in and out of view.
The villain was dressed like any other, though the one thing that had stood out was the old, shiny pocket watch that they held onto tightly in one hand. Cassian and Driver had quickly come to the conclusion that it was an artifact—and a powerful one, judging by Driver’s quick analysis of it and Moros’ comments. They needed to get it off them, but any time they approached the villain and got too close, they simply pressed the button on the watch and teleported away with a bright flash of light or created a beam aimed towards them. It was a pain, but they couldn’t risk getting hit with the unknown artifact.
Eventually, the villain grew tired. They clicked their tongue and landed on the rooftop across from Driver and Cassian.
“This has been dragged out for far too long,” the villain huffed as they fiddled with the watch, turning the dial slowly.
Cassian and Driver took the moment to catch their breath while both preparing themselves for whatever was to come next.
The villain let out a laugh as they pointed the watch’s face towards them, “I think it’s time for a little timeout.”
They both tensed up, carefully observing the villain's next move, prepared to leap out of the way of another beam.
It happened in a flash: one moment, the villain was standing across from them on the nearby rooftop; the next, they were behind them both, aiming the pocket watch at them and pressing the button.
Cassian let out a yell as blinding white light engulfed his vision.
After what felt like hours, the light subsided, quickly fading away.
He fell to his knees, gasping for air as a piercing pain suddenly bloomed in his left side. His eyes darted around, blinking rapidly as they adjusted to the sudden change of lighting.
Where was he? It had been daytime—why was it suddenly night?
He could hear waves nearby, sloshing around in the large expanse of water. But he hadn’t been near the ocean. In fact, the last time he had been by the ocean it was when—
“Surrender, Cassian!”
He stiffened. Turning around and coming face to face with who could only be his murderers, his mind going a million miles a second.
How was he—? No—better question, when was he?
He grit his teeth. The burning, raw rage that had been building up in his chest over the past months roared—but no, he stops himself—what was this? A nightmare? A sick joke? It felt too real though. The pain in his side quelled his rage, grounding himself to reality.
Had the artifact been so powerful that it had taken him back to this night the moment he was killed? Or was this some sort of powerful illusion? He didn’t want to take that chance, however, if it were real he would take every chance he could.
“If you refuse to cooperate, we’ll aim for your head next.”
He spat towards Jack and Lyra, glaring at both of them, “Eat shit.”
He summoned as much of his power as he could—and oh, how he missed the familiar feeling of his own flames at his fingertips. He created a barrier of fire between himself and his enemies, before using another burst of power, shooting it towards where he knew the sniper was hiding.
He wasn’t going to be fooled twice and die because of it.
He needed to get out of there—and fast. He ran, diving into the ocean and using the cover of night to hide himself. He kept going and didn’t stop until he was sure he was in the clear and far, far away from them. Only then did he let himself slump down onto the ground and catch his breath, the adrenaline slowly wearing off and the pain in his left side becoming apparent. He moves his clothing to the side and grits his teeth as he cauterises the wound, halting the bleeding.
He leans his head back, taking deep breaths and squeezing his eyes shut, the pain slowly subsiding.
So much had happened in just the past few hours, and nothing felt like it was making sense.
He sat up suddenly. Quickly, his hand shot up to his chest, feeling for the familiar necklace that hung around his neck, patting down his pants and checking his pockets. He let out a sigh of relief when his hand grabbed onto the familiar cold metal. He pulls the necklace out and rubs his thumb against the symbol.
“Moros?” He whispers, unsure.
“Yeah, I’m here, kid,” the spirit appeared in front of him, looking both worried and almost unimpressed with his situation.
“Do you—Did you also—?”
“Get hit with that time-travel artifact? Yeah,” he confirms.
“Shit, time-travel?”
Moros’ form bobbed in the air, replicating a nod from the spirit.
“Can we go back?”
The spirit hummed in thought, “We’ll need that artifact to see. Otherwise, it looks like you have a second chance at life.”
“Right.”
Cassian didn’t know if he should be relieved or worried about that. Being ripped away from life to the next, and then back again. It all felt surreal; Unfamiliar again. He didn’t like it. He had grown used to the shadows. His chest ached at the thought of a past life and future friends that never happened.
“So, what are you going to do now that you’ve escaped your death this time?”
Cassian frowns, his thoughts coming back to the present. After being brought back to this moment, he still knew what he wanted—he wanted revenge. He wanted to go back and kill them the same way they killed Jeff. He wanted to watch them burn until they were nothing but a pile of ash that he would kick into the sea. And they were right there. They were so close!
But he was injured, and the two top psykers and the hidden sniper would likely overpower him if he went back to confront them and get his revenge, no matter the second chance. He would probably die again. As much as it pains him to say, he couldn’t get his revenge—not today, at least. He grits his teeth and looks down at his hand, stained red. He stares at it for a moment before wiping it on his jacket.
Jeff was dead, again. There was no time to mourn his loss; he had to get out of here.
He was no longer safe with LAMPAS. It was likely that they were already working on a story for the media about his treason and framing him for murdering Jeff. The thought made him sick with anger, but he quickly squashed the feeling down with a deep breath. This was no time to be acting rashly. He needed to lie low for a little while. He frowned before the corner of his lip twitched upwards into a smirk.
What better place to lay low than Gadam Vilzone?
Cassian trudged through the dirty, desolate streets of Gadam Vilzone, weaving around buildings as he made his way closer towards where he knew the vilzone base was.
As he’d predicted, his face was plastered all over the media, talking about his awful crimes, with offers and rewards for anyone with any information or sightings of him. He, however, managed to quickly slip away from Rhodes and make his way to Korea and was now on the outskirts of the vilzone territory. It wasn’t easy travelling under the radar to get to an entirely different continent. He had to call in some favours for that. But who knew how long it would be before somebody decided to slip his location.
He pulls his hood further down to hide his face as he continues further in. While the vilzone was familiar to him, that was then, when he was a villain and not a wanted S-rank psyker with a known reputation for being violent to villains. So he continues, cautiously walking with his head down and hood up.
It didn’t take long before he was stopped.
A familiar whirring noise of a weapon sounding off from behind him makes him pause.
He doesn’t move.
“What’s a top-class psyker like you doing here?” The presence behind him asks.
Cassian makes no effort to move, “Driver.”
“Cassian Lee.”
Slowly, he lifts his hand, pulling the hood down and turning towards the other. Light brown eyes meet purple visor as the two engage in a silent stare down, with Cassian’s arms raised in the air in mock surrender and Driver’s giant screwdriver weapon aimed directly at him.
Neither of them speak.
He considers telling him the truth, as wild as it might seem, though he wasn’t confident Driver would believe him. Perhaps coming to Gadam was a bad idea. Maybe he should just summon his flame and make a quick getaway before anything bad happens. Maybe it was best not to involve them with himself.
But before he could decide, Driver’s face breaks out into a grin, “I didn’t realise our vilzone boss was actually the Cassian Lee.”
The weapon aimed at him suddenly bursts with light as a large flower blooms from it. He’s suddenly hit with a sense of deja vu from their original first meeting and feels, admittingly, a little shocked that his head wasn’t just blasted off.
Cassian’s eyes widen, “You know?”
“’course I do!” He withdraws his weapon away and it shrinks back into the palm of his hand, “We both got hit with that villain’s little trinket, remember?”
Cassian lets out a small sigh of relief, dropping his hands back down to his sides, well that makes things much easier, he thinks.
“How did you know it was me, though?” He gestures to himself and his appearance.
Driver laughs, “Give me some credit, Cassian. I’m not that dumb. I had some theories but this only confirms it,” he says, as he twirls the screwdriver in his hands, “I mean, Cassian Lee, who’s meant to be dead in Rhodes at this point in time, ends up in Gadam Vilzone at the same time our little dark duckling Cassian is meant to appear?”
Cassian smirks, grateful that his friend still had his memories and was smart enough to piece that together.
“You have to explain that to me later, by the way,” the villain adds on, pointing the small screwdriver at him.
“Fine,” was all he said in response. Body-swapping or reincarnating was a weird and wild topic, but it couldn’t be that much weirder than time travelling.
“Anyways, let’s get going, I’ve already explained the time travel situation to the others. Can’t wait to see their faces when you walk in though!” Driver laughs to himself, saying something about recording their reaction, as he leads the pysker to their base.
Cassian feels a weight lifted from his shoulders as Driver laughs, feeling the most at ease since time-travelling.
Revenge could always wait. He was finally back home.