Outskirts of Sainte Mère Église – June 12, 1944 | 04:17 Hours
Dawn bled grey light over shattered Normandy. The church tower loomed like a broken finger pointing at God's indifference. Hank slumped against a bullet pocked wall, his breath ragged. Gangrene's green black tendrils crept beneath his bandages.
"Final act approaches, M'lady," he rasped with a wry smile. "Shall I compose an elegy? 'Ode to a Sniper Felled by Festering Flesh' lacks dignity, but it scans."
PURGE MODE THREAT: 95%. Juni clenched her fists. Not now. Not like this.
"Save your breath," she said, her voice trembling with steel. "We're getting you over that bridge."
She gestured to the La Fière causeway—a slender strip over flooded fields, crawling with SS patrols. Hank's historical death site.
Sarge spat. "Bridge is suicide. Germans got it zeroed like a dentist's drill."
"Alternate route?" Doc asked, squinting through his Chronitron lens at their crumpled map. "Through the graveyard? Charming, but cramped."
Jenkins trembled, clutching his Iron Cross. "Liberty Belle's gone dark… like God's radio went out."
The Chronos Division Descends
A low HUM vibrated the air—not artillery, but something older. The bakery window beside Jenkins fractured silently into geometric shards.
FWOOOMPH!
Three figures materialised in a burst of cobalt light:
1. Agent KAIROS: Silver bodysuit, chrome mask, holding a Temporal Dampener humming with caged entropy.
2. Agent CHRONOS: Identical suit, jagged movements like a skipping film reel, wielding a Chroniton Blade flickering in and out of reality.
3. OBSERVER PRIME: A floating orb of liquid metal, its voice grinding like glaciers: "ANOMALY JUNIPER FLUX. CLASS OMEGA TEMPORAL DEVIATION. SUBMIT."
World Building: The Chronos Division
Origin: 30th Century "History Integrity Commission."
Purpose: Polices timeline breaches, excising "anomalies."
Tech: Static Suits (phasing armour), Dampeners (local time freeze), Chroniton Blades (sever causal links).
Kairos stepped forward. "Dr. Flux. Your thesis on Pre Optimized Emotional Authenticity is… quaint. Surrender. Your chaos ends here."
PURGE MODE: ACTIVATED
Juni hurled a brick. It passed through Kairos like smoke.
"Get OUT of my timeline!"
Chronos blurred—reappearing behind Doc Henderson. The Chroniton Blade whispered toward his throat.
"Organic chroniton source detected. Purging."
CRACK!
Hank's rifle fired, knocking the blade aside. His voice was raw with pain.
"Touch Sawbones, tin man, and I'll introduce you to ballistic causality!"
Sarge's Last Stand
Sarge shoved Jenkins into a cellar.
"Stay put, kid! This ain't Dick Tracy—it's Frankenstein!"
He turned to the agents, Thompson raised.
"I don't know what future crap you're sellin', but this is our war! Rigby, flank left! Henderson, distract the floaty one!"
Doc grinned, adjusting his makeshift lens.
"Fascinating. Non biological consciousness. Can you feel pain?"
He jabbed his last syringe into Observer Prime.
SCREEEECH!
The orb flickered and recoiled, light dimming.
"Primitive bioweapon. Ineffective."
Sarge's Pragmatism:
"See?" Sarge yelled, firing at Chronos. "Even time cops hate Doc's needles! MOVE!"
The Causeway & The Choice
They fled toward the bridge. Machine guns roared. Germans spotted them instantly.
"Go!" Hank shoved Juni forward as tracers ripped the air. "Get to the church! The ghost… he needs you more!"
Juni froze. Two Hanks. One dying beside her, one screaming in the White Room. Who do I save?
Kairos materialised atop a burned halftrack, Dampener raised.
"Anomaly contained. Commencing temporal stasis."
The HUM intensified. Raindrops froze mid air. Tracer rounds hung like fireflies. Sarge's shout became a stretched out groan.
Only Juni and Hank moved. Chronos Division tech reacted unpredictably with her residual temporal energy.
"Juni…" Hank gasped, collapsing to his knees. Blood soaked his leg. A sniper's bullet—real, not frozen time. "Promise me… you'll find both of us. The loudmouth… and the ghost."
Observer Prime pulsed.
"PARADOX IMMINENT. EXECUTING CLEANSE PROTOCOL."
Chronos raised its blade to sever Hank from time before his scheduled death.
PURGE MODE: COSMIC
Juni didn't fling rubble. She flung herself into the blade's path.
SHIIINK!
The Chroniton Blade passed through her and sliced Kairos' Dampener instead.
KRAKOOM!
Temporal energy exploded:
Blue static shredded frozen raindrops.
Germans screamed as their uniforms aged to dust.
The La Fière causeway rippled like liquid glass.
Observer Prime imploded, sucking Chronos into a miniature black hole with a sound like tearing silk.
Kairos staggered, mask cracked.
"You… broke time… worse…"
It flickered out of existence.
Time Resumes
Rain fell. Tracers flew. Germans gaped at their disintegrating gear.
Hank lay bleeding in the mud. The church tower clock read: 06:12. His death hour.
Juni crawled to him. His dog tags burned cold against her chest. The cracked Chronitron flared:
WHITE ROOM COORDINATES CONFIRMED: 49°24'30"N 1°19'00"W (FUTURE RELATIVE)
HE IS WAITING. HE IS SCARED.
Sarge hauled Hank up.
"Got your damn bridge, Rigby. Now RUN!"
As they staggered onto the causeway under withering fire, Hank's fading eyes met hers.
"M'lady…" he whispered, smiling weakly. "Tell the ghost… his poetry needs work."
End of Chapter 6
Bullets stitched mud at their feet. The church tower's shadow swallowed them.
Hank's blood dripped onto ancient stones—each drop a ticking second.
Ahead: the White Room's promise.
Behind: time's shattered law.
And above it all, the clock struck 06:12.