Head of the resistance.

So, back to the plot. We looked to the sky, trying to see where the man had fallen from, and saw a Helicopter hovering above us. It was behaving erratically, jerking around and tilting from side to side. We heard a scream, and the pilot was thrown out. A blast of energy shot from inside and hit him in the back, tossing him further his screams fading as, smoking, he vanished over the edge of the hill.
More helicopters closed in, guns protruding from the open sides.

'Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!'

Letting out a battle cry, a woman leapt from the Helicopter above us. She had smaller, cooler versions of the laser weapons HG's men had, and, spinning in the air, she let off a barrage of shots, like a Catherine Wheel of death, bursts of energy striking every gun and propeller, denting the Helicopters and making them spin wildly.

Suddenly, she yelled 'Forcefield!' and stopped twirling, now falling backwards as she raised both arms and fired a double shot at the one she'd just left, and did a backflip, bringing her closer to us and further from it. Me and Future Tempest both put up forcefields as the Helicopter exploded in a huge ball of flame. The fireball engulfed the other Helicopters as the woman landed in front of me, small jets on the sides of her boots slowing her at the last second to ease the landing.

She had black hair, holsters on her belt, and a samurai sword slung over her shoulder. There was a small scar above one eye, and her long black coat flowed out behind her.
'Wow.' I said, staring at her. 'That was.......impressive.'
'Impressive? What happened to SO COOL?'
'Well, you killed a LOT of people...'
'Yeah she did!' Future me grinned and ran to her, giving her a hug of welcome. 'I've missed you doing that. It's good to see you too, obviously.'
'She stuck her tongue out at him and turned to me. 'Name's Doom. You are?'
Before I could answer, she held up a finger for silence and stared at my face. 'Oh....Bloody hell, we're at this bit are we? Not that I was there when you went, but I heard about it pretty soon after you got back.'
'What?'
'You're from the past, aren't you?' She turned abruptly to Playwrite. 'Right, catch me up will you? What happened since he' She jabbed a thumb at me ' arrived. I need to what state we're in.'
Playwrite rolled his eyes, and Doom nodded. 'Ok, not bad' turning back to me: 'You did alright, didn't you? Shame about Cleo though, I liked her.'
'Wait wait wait, slow down, I have questions. How come you know about me? How come, considering you shouldn't know about me, and my future self has spent the last few years as a tree, you knew we were here to make you a forcefield? and what the hell happened to me that means the only thing that can make me smile is somebody making it rain corpes?! And don't go all 'oooh, spoilers on me, I've had enough, and if I succeed when I get back, this future will cease to exist, meaning they aren't spoilers at all!'
'Pfft, Spoilers be damned! Basically: Hana told me, I have super sight so I could see all of you perfectly clearly from up there, and this War has done a lot of damage to a lot of people, everyone's a lot harder now. And not in a good way.'
'Huh. That actually helps a lot thanks.'

We're preparing the final attack now, so I'll have to go. Bye!

You're the only one left.

Glutton, this is a message for you. You can still help us, and I think we'll need you to.

Me and Hana have talked, and asked the others a few bits, and we think we know what Future me was on about.

So, Parallel times.

What it boils down to is this: I am currently posting these to you through a connection that was created when I was 'time-napped' by Moira and Diffy. I was using technopathy to post a live, direct thought-to-blog post. This went from me, through my phone and Hana, and then to the main computer. When the time-napping happened, it opened a hole to pull me through, causing the two times to connect. The sudden transfer snapped me out of it, so I assume the blog will have uploaded that one unfinished. The connection between the main computer and my phone however, boosted by both Hana and my ability, remained fairly firmly intact. Now, while this does allow me to send these blog posts back through time to pop up randomly back in my time, where you're reading this now. However, it ALSO means that the join between the two times is being kept open. The link is only maintained by, and can only manage, the datastream between the two devices, I can't use it to get home, but it does mean that the future and the past are still touching, forcing when I left and when I am to run alongside each other.

Parallel Times. It's not too late Glutton. Your actions can directly affect the future, and not in the normal way. Normally, your actions in the past would have happened a long time ago, and you wouldn't be able to affect things that had already happened to us. They would be fixed events, and trying to mess with them would probably wipe me from existence along with the future I'm in. But because of the link, you merely alter the same future, changing it instead of replacing it with a new one. Things will actually change before my eyes, and I'll remember how it used to be.

Use this Glutton. Do what you can to change the future. Get jump, and fight for us. Help us get where we need to be.

Go to the VHS base, pray it's intact, and use the main computer to log your phone into the VHS mainframe. I programmed SOLAR into it's files, so it should grant you first level access. That's all you'll need if my plan works. Hopefully, someone will be in contact soon.

Parallel times?!

Future me. Is a Git. Let me explain.

A lot's happened in the last half hour. A reunion, some shouting, and some planning.
As I said, I went over to the huge tree and placed a hand on it. I felt the tree grow warm, and begin to glow faintly. I could tell at once that this tree was using a lot of power, with Plant manipulation shooting out from a point in the middle of the trunk and looping back in on itself, creating layers and layers of ability piling in on itself, and whatever was in the middle had been drowned by the tree long ago, and lost control, and was now barely aware of what was happening around them.
I sent a blast of raw plant manipulation deep into the tree, expecting resistance from the storm of power, but it seemed to accept it, respond, even...merge with it? The abilities were the same! They had to be, or there'd be no way I could have affected it so easily! At some point in my future, I must have made this tree.
The tree suddenly exploded in a shower of bark and leaves, throwing me backwards. I put up a hand to cover my eyes as green light blazed, lighting up the hill. Everybody gasped as we all stared. There was a tree made of writhing tendrils of energy, that were slowly shrinking and fading, withdrawing to reveal a blurred shape in the centre. As more and more layers faded away, the blur became a human shape. The figure became clearer, and my eyes widened as I started to recognise it. I heard FDiffy mutter 'You found him...you actually bloody found him...'
'Wow, is that? But it can't..this is Wierd! I do NOT look good with a beard...'
Future Me fell to the ground, and groaned. I ran over and turned him over, checking he was ok.
'Are you...? I mean...me and you, we're.....you alright?'
He shoved me away, dusting himself off as he got to his feet, scowling round at everybody. 'Of course I'm alright you moron! That was the point! I was a tree, it's not like I'm missing any limbs!'
'Yeah, you actually had MORE limbs...'
'Oh very clever Playwrite. Where were you and your telepathy when I got stuck? I get taken over by my own power, everyone's looking for me, couldn't you hear me yelling inside my head?!'
'One, I was imprisoned in a lab being forced to control HG's armies of flipbrains with a hivemind, and two, I don't speak tree!'
Bickering broke out, and I stood awkwardly at the side, watching the group I used to know so well hurl insults at each other.

'Excuse me? What do we do next? Track down HG? What?'
Future Me looked over, and sighed. 'WE don't do anything. YOU go back to your own time. You've done what you needed to, you've set me free, and god knows you took long enough...'
'......I'm sorry, I think I was fooled by the branches.....'
He scowled. 'You fool, can't you even recognize yourself when you're a tree? You've done all you can, as soon as the final member of the team arrives, we will take on HG together. You are too young and weak to win this.'
'I beg your pardon!? You do realize we're the same person!? What other member?'
'No. We aren't. I'm more experienced, I have more abilities, I've taken on more enemies, I can tell that Helicopters have nearly arrived with guards that want to kill us. I remember being where you are now, and trust me, we are not ready!'
I felt like hitting him, but decided that would just be too weird. 'Ok, when you were me, did you rescue you quicker than I did?'
'What?'
'Did you manage to save Cleo, did you kill HG already? Did you, in fact, do anything better than me? No, you can't have done, because you're me, and if you'd done it differently, I'd have done it differently, and we wouldn't be here!'
'Huh?'
'Oh good, all those years of wood for brains has slowed you down.'
This was infuriating, and confusing, I should have left him as a tree!
'Don't speak to me like that! Go home, and leave the rest to us! I admit, the parallel times you have set up might prove useful, but you? It's safer for us both if you just go home!'
'I can't go home until this is all over, as you should know! and what do you mean parallel times?'
I could hear helicopters overhead as Hana called 'I think he means the link we have because of the blog.'
We were all distracted by a scream, and a sort of 'PEW!' noise. A guard fell from the sky and landed in front of us, a smoking hole in his back.
'Ah.' Future me grinned at last. 'She's here.'

Sorry this isn't the best of posts, but as you can see, I'm in in a very weird and tense situation.
Parallel times however? That could be useful....

Reunions and Revelations.

I landed next to FDiffy, who was waving up at me. There was a group of people I recognised nearby, and I scanned the faces as they ran towards me. Future me was clearly still MIA, and there was no sign of Healthbar, no members of SOLAR (not even Ragnarok!) but Broadcast, Centaur, Jingle, Jump, Scorch and the rest of VHS were all there. Everyone looked older, battleworn, with a few scars and bruises, but it was great to see them all again. Well, everyone that was there anyway.

So, after a lot of hellos, hugs, and catching up, we discussed what to do next. Getting past patrols would be easier now, because HG had been using a machine to boost Playwrite's power to give all the flip-brains a sort of hive mind, and without it they wouldn't react, they were blank, empty shells, so now we only had regular guards to deal with. As well as any super powered lackeys sent to stop us. And whatever the shadow figures were. And HG himself. Yay.

I still had a few questions. 'So where's Healthbar? She'll have survived surely? She has that whole Captain Scarlet thing going, she always got better.....'
Everyone looked really awkward, and Doolittle choked back a sob.
'What? What is it? Tell me!'
Silence. FDiffy looked away when I glanced at him.
'What's wrong? Where is she?! Diffy, you called me here to help rescue everyone. If you know something, you have to tell me. It's not a spoiler, it's important information!'
FDiffy grimaced, but he decided to tell me. 'You said you had a weird feeling about the sudden switch from day to night?'
'Yeah....Oh god! No.......'
'And you said it sent a faint shiver through you? Like someone, far away, was screaming?'
I sank to the floor, feeling sick.
'You can't be serious......please, no......'
'HG wanted complete control of everything. When he got rid of the stars, he wiped out the sun too. Then of course, he needed something to put in it's place, to keep the planet alive. And there she was, a girl with the power of the sun itself flowing out of her. So she was thrown into space, and he controls her with a collar. He has the power to turn the sun on and off. And every time he does, it kills one of our best friends.'
'...........He's dead. I'm going to turn him to dust. Then I'm going to back to my time, and do it again. I can't believe..........but she.........how? I mean, How? With no real sun, how does she survive out there? The lack of air, food, water, sunlight, heat? How the hell does she live out there?'
'She IS the sun. The power it takes to do that every day, it's immensley painful. It's so strong, that even though it's her power making it, the energy, the fire blazes through her. Every morning, she's torn apart and burnt to a crisp by her own ability. But, her ability takes all the sunlight, and heals her again in the same moment. In a single second, she is destroyed and restored. Her dark side of her ability keeps her alive overnight, and then next morning, she explodes again. It's sent her into a sort of coma, she barely notices anymore. We think that's better.'
'.........How do you know all this?'
She thought out a while ago, and Playwrite found her. He opened the channel to everyone that hadn't been stuck in machines yet. We got a flash of what it was like for her, and then....her mind shut down. We...we felt it happen.'
He was crying now, and from the blurring in my eyes I discovered I was too. I stood up, wiped my eyes., and looked at the others.
'And me? What's the latest news about me?'
Playwrite took over for FDiffy. 'Last we heard from you, you were escaping from an attack you made on one of his factories. You were badly injured, and said that you were going into hiding to recover, and that you knew someday, you would be called back to join the fight again.'
'Oooooooooooooooooook. What had I been up to before that?'
'We can't give too much away.....'
'Urgh, that again. Aren't I supposed to be changing this timeline? So, surely it doesn't matter? Please, at least tell me, did I try and rescue you guys at all?'
'Of course you did. When HG came for you, you vanished for ages. He'd caught all of us. Diffy was sure HG had won. We tried to send you every clue we could on how to fight him, and Diffy kept looking for you, hoping you'd got away, before starting the fight alone. Glutton kept going for a while, but he was found in the end. Next thing anyone knows, you're breaking us out of the fortress we were being held in. From the inside. Apparently, Hana helped you out of whatever was holding you, then you broke us out. Doolittle fled to the rainforest and gained an army of beasts, Broadcast created his own mini group, Some of us went to help Diffy, etc. Then HG caught us all again, and you kept running, fighting him when you could. You'd learnt from the first round, and kept dodging, fighting him on the move. Then, after blowing up one of his factories, you vanished again, like we said.'
'Why couldn't you just have run in the first place?'
FDiffy looked at me, distressed. 'I NEEDED you. I needed someone to help. You promised my parents you'd always be there to look after me, and then you just...weren't! Do you have ANY idea what that does to a person?!'
'Hey, I'm sorry! Really, I am! This was all out of my control you know! It's not my fault I did something I haven't done yet!'
'But we grabbed you after you freed everyone. That way they could keep everything going until you got back. Hopefully your second dissappearance won't be as bad this time round as it was for us.'
'.....right. But, I got timesnatched just after I found out everybody else had been got. HG was coming for me, he was reaching out towards me. Then.......shwoolp! I was here.'
FDiffy looked shocked. 'No.....no no...we took you from later on.'
'That's what I was trying to tell you.'
'No...dear god...oh hell, then it was all my fault. I.....I caused you to vanish. I talked to Moira. I asked her to get you. It's because of me that I was alone. because of this, everything went so wrong that I needed to call you here in the first place!'
He sank to the floor, his head in his hands. 'I've done one of those self-fulfilling things haven't I? Oh man, Precog was always on about stuff like that. Oh what have I done?'
I didn't know what to say. I tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, tried to point out that Moira had claerly messed up, but he wouldn't hear it. He needed to be alone for a bit. FVHS crowded round him to help, trying to comfort him. I was feeling lost, with no idea what to do next, when I felt the pull of the tree again. It had set off so many alarms with my powers, but there was more. It called out, not just to my nature control, but every power I had, drawing anybody with an ability in towards it, like a lighthouse, or a huge ability magnet. No, there was still more. It seemed to be calling to me on a personal level, like, I don't know, as if I'd met it before? But that made no sense! I started to walk towards it, my hand outstretched. The tree began to glow.

The forest.

A lot of flying and dodging of patrols later, and I finally make it to the Forest of Dean. Looking down, I saw the trees stretch ahead of me, Impossibly huge, and seemingly unaffected by all the chaos around the rest of the world. I saw slight movements under the trees, and caught glimpses of animals, and even the odd human darting through the woods. A few of the figures looked up and saw me, and either looked confused or cheered. I saw a squirrel leap from a branch, and in a flash of light it became a bird, letting out a shrill cry as it circled me a few times, before diving, becoming a monkey to grab a branch and clamber down from a tree, becoming human as he landed. As I flew a little lower, I heard him say to the woman beside him: 'Does he have RCR? Looks a little young. I think it's him though.'
I flew up, and over a stretch of a lake. There was huge splash, and shiny, webbed man with fins shot up from the water.
'I knew it! I never gave up! I knew you'd be back! Everyone's waiting, they arrived a little while ago. Bear a little to the left, it's not far now!'
With that he sank back underwater.
The first half of what he said I had no idea about. The second half? I knew exactly where I was going. It was pulling me in.
FDiffy was right. I could feel the tree he wanted us to meet at. But not through plant manipulation. Sure, that was helping track it down, and told me it was a particularly large Oak tree that I was heading for, but I could feel the power of the tree itself with every fibre of my being.
It became clear to me, looking down, that the forest was some sort of safehaven for equinoxes. The sheer sense of power, and safety, and comfort coming from that tree, and gathered them, gradually, steadily, with people not knowing where they were going at first and then feeling the tree calling to them, until the whole forest was alive with power. I could feel that, without a power, it would be really hard to find this place now, and that any attempt to attack or trespass inside would be fought of by the forest itself.
I could see the tree now, on top of a tall hill. I have vague memories of visiting the area before, and loving the view from that hill, but it all seems so long ago now.
I looked around again as I closed in, and saw figures everywhere, some glowing, some floating, others helping injured, or powerless people they had brought to the forest. I swear I saw a unicorn galloping towards the hill, but it vanished behind a tree, and was replaced by an aged figure with long white hair. Everyone, be they powered, injured, old, young, powerless, or in one guys case, dead, was heading for the hill, and the huge shining tree at it's top.
Just paused to concentrate on this, but I need to do some catching up with the others. More soon. Or not, it depends how the connection holds out.

Cleo and a Clue.

After a long trip, we eventually made it to Cambridge. We screeched to a halt, sending up a cloud of dust, and leapt off the bike, looking around. The base looked the same as it had the last time I'd been there, just as run down and depressing as before.
'So where are we looking?'
'Kings College chapel, I think the post said.....'
'Yeah, tell me about the stuff I've missed, all these posts...'
'Oh right, we got cut off rather, didn't we? Hell, Diffy should have told you by now. So, where did you last 'touch base', as it were?'
'Well, HG had just taken over, and so I-'
We heard a hum from over head, and far away, at the end of the street, figures in soldier uniform were appearing, on motorbikes of their own.
'Oh blast, they've found me! Quick, get inside, I'll hold them off! Try not to use your powers, or their sensors will pick you up.'
I ran, as Cleo unhooked a couple of huge guns from her bike, and fired at both ends of the street at once.

I heard yells and the screech and crash of bikes as I vanished through the remains of the chapel doorway. There was a small pile of rubble in the doorway to the towers, but a quick glance round told me there weren't any messages in the main area. Besides, Glutton had apparently hidden it where other people wouldn't find it easily. A quick bit of clambering, and I was on the stairs. A fallen away chunk of wall showed me that Cleo was having to back towards the entrance, but she seemed to be holding off HG's forces fairly well.
I reached the top of the stairs, and looked through an archway. On the far wall, I could see 'TEMPEST!' burnt into the wall in odd, blotchy straight lines.
'Is that...spit burn? Eew. Inventive, but, eew. Oh great.'
The rest of the wall was obscured by a huge chunk of ceiling that had collapsed, and was lying at an angle, touching the ceiling and a remnant of floor.

Yes, remnants. Bits of the floor were intact, but a lot of it was just jagged chunks, attached to still standing bits of wall from the floor below, or hanging of other bits at an angle. To my left, where the exterior wall should be, there was just a massive open space, through which I could see Cleo discarding one of her guns by throwing it at a soldier's head.

'Right, no powers. I'm going to die.'
I started slowly across the floor, testing each bit before standing on it and moving on. Ahead, somebody had clearly tried to repair the building, and the remains of the scaffolding was lying across various fragments of floor, making an almost complete path round the collapsed ceiling.

I edged along a thin bit of beam, jagged stone on one side, a huge drop on the other. Below, there were more yells, and Cleo had vanished. I felt the end of the beam quiver, and leapt from it as it broke, falling down towards the guards. They looked up and yelled, seeing me, and started running inside.
Everything shook suddenly, and I had to jump again as scaffolding poles rolled away from under me. More bits of floor fell away, and I heard footsteps on the stairs. I started jumping across a sort of stepping stone area of floor pieces, making my way towards a safer part of scaffolding path.
'Hey!'
I stumbled, and had to grab a bit of pillar to stop myself plummeting to the ground.
'Cleo!'
'Sorry! They saw you, and followed me up. You'll have to power us down, I blew up the stairs on my way.'
We heard bangs from below, and a bullet narrowly missed my ear.
'Oh hell, they couldn't get up here, so they're trying to shoot us down. Use your powers now, they already know you're here. I'll cover you.'
She ran up the collapsed roof onto a flattish ledge above, and I saw a grenade fall past the gap beside me.
I put up a forcefield to stop the bullets, and flew round the slope to finally read the rest of the message.
It was co-ordinates for where everyone was originally stored, and where HG was a lot of stuff taken to when he first took control. It must be where his main base is, and when I get back to my time, I know where to go. It's a good bet for where he is now, aswell.

I was brought out of my concentration by a huge explosion. My forcefield shattered, and I fell onto a quivering bit of floor. Scrambling desperately onto a more secure piece, I saw Cleo's head pop down from the hole in the ceiling. I sent a huge gust of wind to hold the forces back for a moment.
'Get the info you needed?'
'Yep.'
'Know where you're going next?'
'Yep.'
'See the remaining guards down there?'
'Yep...'
'See the helicopter heading right for us?'
'Yeeep.........'
'Forcefield shatter because of it's energy weapon?'
'Yep...'
'I've only got two close range weapons left. Now, when all this is over, and you go back to your own time, you make sure you rescue everyone. I mean everyone. While you're dealing with HG, my attempts to stop him expanding his control while finding Ali are going to cause more trouble than you'd think. But not if you stop HG. If I find I did all this for nothing, past me will be REALLY pissed. Trust me. Protect her.'
'What? Yeah, of course I will. But this sounds awfully final.....
'As I say, all I have left is close range....'
'......? Oh no. Don't, really, you mustn't-'
'Yes. I really must.'
I sighed. 'Cleo, you keep saving me. All of us, so many times. I promise, I will make this up to you. I won't let you down.'
She managed a grin. 'I don't know the score at your end, but me and future you were at 47 me saving you, to 43 you saving me, before you vanished. Trust me, saving each other is kind of a thing we do. Now, four words: WHEN I JUMP, FLEE.'
She vanished again.
'Wait Cleo!'
She popped her head back down. 'What?'
'Thank you.'
She pulled a face, and vanished once more. I heard something being unsheathed, and a buzzing.

I turned to the missing wall. The helicopter rose into view, and the barrel of an energy weapon glowed.

Cleo descended from above, with a long knife, and a strange looking rod, that crackled with power. She stabbed both into the windscreen, crashing through and attacking the pilots. The rod struck the console, and sparks flew. I put up a forcefield and took to the air inside it, as the whole machine exploded, and fell, flaming, towards the remaining soldiers on the floor. I shot away from the devastation, trying not to look back as the flames lit up the darkness.

Too many people have died. Friends, innocent civilians, even flip-brains and soldiers. I've had enough. This ends now.

Forest of Dean, here I come.

A message for Cleo.

I know I can't read past posts, but you can read these, so please, Cleo, I hope you see this.
Whatever you do, make sure you keep your powers. You need your powers. Please, I'm begging you, don't trust anyone. You can't. Unless HG is stopped, somebody takes your powers. Soon.

And you need them, more than ever, or, I'm sorry, but you won't last. I couldn't save you.

Please, stay safe.