Edward Graves: Temporal Detective
Chapter 14: Unfair Trade

Jessica was in a state of shock as she emerged from Timespace, only to be blasted by a torrential downpour of icy water. She made a gasp that was very close to becoming a scream and it felt like a million needles were being simultaneously pressed into her skin.

“Edward!” she screamed over the pelting rain, doing her best to shield her head with her satchel, her clothes clinging uncomfortably to her body. She peered through the icy sheets of water, trying to scan the environment for Edward. Finally she found him, hunched over with his coat pulled tightly round his body and the brim of his top hat overflowing with water. It seemed that he was looking for her too.

Their eyes met in a matter of seconds and Edward leapt into action immediately. He splashed through the marshy ground towards Jessica, pulling his coat off as he went. In the blink of an eye he had wrapped his coat around her and pulled her in close to him.

“Back to Timespace!” he yelled.

Jessica didn’t need to be told twice. In less than fifteen seconds she was back in the translucent blue light. Remarkably she was no longer cold or wet. The only shivering that she was doing was the usual resonance that occurred in Timespace. Edward appeared next to her suddenly, holding two large umbrellas. One was black, the other was rainbow coloured.

“I have a feeling that we might need these,” he said. A smile that said, ‘I’m sorry for not checking the weather and consequently getting you soaked to the bone,’ spread across his face.

For the second time, they emerged from Timespace and onto the soft, wet grass of Excelsior Hill. This time thankfully, Jessica was protected by her black umbrella. Edward, unsurprisingly, had taken the rainbow one.

“Hey, I’m still dry,” she said as she examined her arms.

“Oh yes, of the many functions and effects of Timespace, clothes dryer/heater is one of its most amazing.”

Jessica was about to say something but she stopped when she saw a group of indistinct shapes moving through the rain, across the other side of the hill.

“Edward,” she pointed, “it looks like they’re here.” She was feeling a little nervous.

“Well of course they’re here, it wouldn’t be much of an exchange if only one party turned up now, would it?”

Edward took a step forward. “It’s customary for the two parties to meet midway.”

Jessica grabbed his arm, exposing her own to the freezing rain. She bit her lip to keep a gasp from escaping.

“Are you really sure about this Edward?”

He turned to her and smiled. “Keep faith Jessica.”

Reluctantly, she followed him as they trudged across the muddy, grassy hill. She almost slipped three times, but managed to regain her balance in each instance. She tried to look around but there wasn’t much to see. The clouds had completely eclipsed the midnight moon and the thick curtain of rain made it impossible to see more than a few metres in any direction, with any sense of clarity at least.

The whole place smelled damp and grassy and it reminded Jessica of her High School P.E. classes and being forced to play soccer in the ‘light’ rain. Running around a muddy field, slipping and being pushed over, getting covered in mud; mud up her shorts, in her socks and through her hair. Those were some of her worst memories and it didn’t bode well that they were being dredged up now.

She turned her attention back to the black-clad group in front of them. There were four of them, all wearing black raincoats and they had come to a stop. Edward stopped as well and Jessica did likewise. She tried to look for Dr. Churchill among the group, but they all had their hoods pulled low over their faces.

One of the group stepped forward until they were close enough for Jessica to see the face beneath the hood. Surprisingly, it was a woman. She had long blonde hair that bordered on white, which flowed gracefully around her face, which was tight, like all of her features were being pulled towards the centre. A pair of sleek goggles protected her eyes from the rain. She opened the front of her coat and pulled it back behind her shoulders like a cape. Beneath it she wore a sleeveless black leather cat suit with fur trim around the collar as well as a utility belt of sorts, covered with bags and pouches, the contents of which only she knew. Additionally, Jessica could see what appeared to be the hilt of a sword protruding from the belt.

“Well, well, well, Ivanna Baskov! Crawlfield spared no expense, I see.” Edward twirled his cane, slicing a path through the rain. “Though it is curious that he should hire an assassin to oversee a hostage exchange.”

The crashing of the rain continued, the only sound to hear. A flash of silent lightening flickered shadows across Ivanna’s features. She held up a hand and Jessica tensed. Suddenly one of the other raincoat-covered figures was hurled to the ground; Jessica recoiled in shock and held an arm up in defence as mud splashed over her. Edward remained still.

Without taking his eyes off of Ivanna, he crouched down to roll over the body. It was Dr. Churchill, bound, gagged and beaten. Jessica drew her hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp.

“He’s alive,” said Edward, “how civil of you.”

“We kept our end of the arrangement. Now, the Stone.” Ivanna spat her words out filled with bile and a smooth Eastern European accent sharpened them to a point.

Edward pulled his coat over Dr. Churchill to protect him from the rain and then he rose slowly, never once taking his steely gaze off of the woman in front of him. Jessica didn’t even think that she’d seen him blink.

He unscrewed the top off his cane and tipped out the Eternity Stone, letting it spill into his hand. Its blue light shone brightly, even through the rain, casting everyone in shades of blue.

He let the stone daggle from its chain and held it out in front of him. “Here, take it and leave. But be warned that whatever it is that you’re planning, I will stop you. That’s a promise.”

“Oh undoubtedly Mr. Graves,” said Ivanna. She took the Stone from Edward and held it to her face, the light reflecting off her goggles. “But that is why we have to take precautions.”

There was flash of steel and the sound of something sharp slicing through water and then there was a long, thin blade pointed at Edward’s throat, right on his Adam ’s apple.

“Ah, straight to the point I see.”

“I wouldn’t speak if I were you Mr. Graves. Any movement of your throat could be disastrous for you. It’d be a shame if you were to be killed by a bad joke.”

“Well, live by the bad joke, die by the bad joke. Seems fitting to me.”

Jessica thought she saw an opportunity. While Edward was distracting her, she could Flux into Timespace and grab him. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the flow of time all around her...

“Don’t even think about it,” said Ivanna, like she’d just caught a naughty child reaching for the cookie jar. “I can sense you reaching out through time. If you Flux I’ll kill him instantly.”

“Jessica, please listen to the lovely psychopath and don’t do anything that could get me, or yourself, killed.”

Reluctantly, Jessica stopped and let her shoulders slump. She felt useless.

“Speaking of killing me,” said Edward. “Why haven’t you done it already anyway?”

Ivanna remained silent and her lips actually tightened. Though Jessica couldn’t be sure whether it was to avoid speaking or because she was angry. Probably both.

The rain slowed to a steady drizzle, creating a pleasant and steady pitter-patter of raindrops falling and collecting in the large puddles and small ponds that had spread across the hillside. But above all else, the most deafening sound was that of the silence that now hung thick in the air between Edward and Ivanna.

Finally Edward broke the silence. “You don’t think you can, do you? You’re not sure whether you can kill me or not and you’re not game to try. Oh now that is flattering! The big, bad killer with the big, bad reputation is scared!” His voice fell low. “I guess that I’ve got somewhat of a reputation of my own, eh?”

Finally the leather-clad assassin broke her silence. “I may not know whether it is possible to kill you Mr. Graves, but it would be very, very easy for me to replace out.”

She deliberately let the tension from that last sentence hang in the air for a moment.

“However, that being said, my employer does not want you dead; not yet anyway.” Edward was clearly intrigued by this. Jessica found it odd that he could manage to be anything other the petrified in his current situation.

“Ah so you need me for something then,” he said casually. He gently moved the blade away from his throat then straightened his cravat and smoothed out his waistcoat. “That means that you can’t really hurt me now, can you?”

“No.”

“Ha!”

“But fortunately for us, you brought your new pet along with you.”

“Oh.”

“Wait,” said Jessica as two men advanced towards her, “did she just call me a pet?”

“I believe she did, yes.”

“Who do you think you are lady?” she yelled, then punched one of the men hard across the jaw. He stumbled back a bit and then fell over, but in fairness, that wasn’t so much a result of the punch as it was a result of the mud and wet grass. “Ouch!” she yelled as she shook her hand. “I thought punching was supposed to hurt the punchee, not the puncher!”

“That’s showing ’em Jess!” said Edward.

“You shut up,” said Jessica.

The other man helped his comrade up off of the ground and then they both just stood there in front of her with their arms up and their hands opened towards her.

“Don’t worry little girl,” said Ivanna, “we won’t hurt you, as long as your friend here comes along with us peacefully.”

“Oh that old chestnut,” said Edward. “Well I suppose that I’m going to have to cooperate now, aren’t I?”

Suddenly Jessica got a crazy and desperate idea that almost certainly wasn’t going to work. But hey, desperate times and all that.

“No you don’t Edward, because you’re forgetting about this!” She thrust her satchel outwards like it was the most important thing in the universe.

Edward cocked his head to the side. “I forgot about your bag? I know that it’s nice and all and I’m sure it’s quite useful, but forgive me Jess if I can’t quite see its relevance at this present point in time.”

“I’m talking about what’s inside the bag,” she said, making odd and altogether non-specific movements with her eyebrows and mouth, as if this would somehow convey greater meaning.

Edward inhaled slowly and then exhaled. “Again, I’m not quite sure where you’re going with this. What, are you going to offer them a sandwich or throw some eye liner at them?”

“I’m talking about the bomb you dolt and I don’t wear eye liner!”

“Sorry, my mistake.”

“Now,” said Jessica, “let us both leave, with the Stone or else I’ll blow us all sky high.”

“Where’d you get a bomb from anyway?” said Edward.

Jessica grunted in frustration. “Edward would it kill you just to shut up and play along?”

“Well there’s no need to get snappy.”

“Enough!” yelled Ivanna. “We are going now Mr. Graves and I suggest you, Miss Lazarus, don’t try anything foolish unless you want your hair to be dyed blood-red.”

Jessica lowered her bluff of a bomb and slung it back over her shoulder. Ivanna walked up to her and stared down into her eyes. Jessica did her best maintain her gaze, but she relented and ended up looking at her feet.

“Don’t feel bad little girl,” said Ivanna. “Even if you did have a weapon, you wouldn’t have used it. I’ve seen cold-blooded killers before and I’ve seen people who can kill out of necessity. You are neither.”

Jessica just looked at the ground as she strutted back over to Edward and slapped a pair of cuffs onto Edward’s wrists.

“That’s not a bad thing,” said Edward, “remember that.”

She looked at him and said, “I’m so sorry.”

He just smiled and tipped his head forward, letting the water poor out of the brim of his hat.

“You’ve nothing to apologise for Jess. Take care of him,” he indicated Dr. Churchill, still on the ground, covered in Edward’s coat, “take him to Archie. Remember, you’re not a killer, you’re something better. You’re a Temporal Detective.”

She felt a tear run down her cheek and ran up towards him, but the two men stepped towards her and Edward raised his shackled hands, telling her to stop. He shook his head, still smiling.

“But what do I do now, how do I help you?”

“Keep faith, Jess.”

Then Ivana grabbed him violently and said, “That’s enough.”

Without further warning, they all began to vibrate with blue light, until they al vanished into an intense blue flash. Jessica had to shield her eyes from the light and when she looked again they were all gone.

Slowly, she picked up his cane, which had fallen by the wayside amidst all the commotion. She held it firmly in her grasp and she swore. She swore that she would get Edward back. Then she just stood there and the only sound left was the gentle dripping of the rain. And the falling of her tears.