Flaw in the Plan

Synopsis
The anomalies are gone, thanks to Drauss a year ago. But when another pops up, the GDG want a word with Angeror. But when he is contacted, he truthfully says he lifted the curse. Although the GDG find it hard to believe, they realize it is the truth. Someone else is meddling with the laws of time. But they can find out who?

Plot
No paranormal activity for a year, or any disturbances for that matter. The GDG have been out of action for a year, and their purpose has been questioned by the League of States, but Drauss has persisted that they stay in action in case of future attacks. Out of practice, the GDG haven't accomplished much in that time. Ship building and troop training had ground to a halt, and Drauss was left very bored.

"I must go, and continue my exploration beyond this continent, to the very edges of the world" the Wise old man had declared, and the GDG bid their farewells as his boat sailed to the horizon.

He wasn't the only one to leave - Cratus wanted to go back to his homeland for a while, and the Prodigies went their separate ways to go on their personal journeys. This left Drauss alone at the base - the soldiers and other staff had temporarily left.

And then the anomalies came back. Two roared into life in the lab.

Roll the titles

Drauss wandered through the museum halls for entertainment. Not everything salvaged by the GDG was used for vehicles, armour and weaponry - Drauss constructed these halls to show off the victories of the GDG.

He marvelled at his compilation, which included Horridan guns, Angeror's arm, remains of the Blade, a shark tooth bullet, a dead Scorpozi, an intact (uet unusable) Deinactite starfighter, a future sword, the shedded skin of a Deathworm, a doomsday device and various alien heads.

He looked sadly at the helmet of the Master Chief - something was not right about this character. Drauss had later discovered (after the encounter) that anomalies can lead into parallel universes too, and the Master Chief was never evil in his mainstream universe.

Heroes into villains Drauss thought, as he reminised about his past. He was devoid of purpose, and now that Gielinor is at peace he had craved some action. He then heard a bang, followed by a pop and a crash. Drauss sprinted to the lab, sensing trouble. He swore aloud as he saw what he feared the most.

The anomalies returned.

Drauss was about to raise the alarm when he realised he was all alone, and no one could help him now. He wasted no time in thinking and grabbed three auto-turrets and set them up around the room, so nothing could escape or enter undetected. Soon after, he went to the surveillance room and scanned through the camera histories of today. A cybernetic monster had jumped through, ripped the room apart and jumped back through.

''That would explain the noise, but not the anomalies! Angeror lied, I should have expected no less'' Drauss silently flashed.

He watched the lab again, and noted that the anomalies were gone. Drauss had a bone to pick with Angeror, and immediately rushed through the databank files on him. All was present on the file was his history on Gielinor and powers he had used, nothing else. How is it possible to contact him?

The answer came to him, and he jogged down to the tech room and snatched a strange transmitter from the table. This device had been recovered from the undead assault a few years ago, and has been proven to be able to contact anyone.

Drauss pressed the start button, and a large telescreen appeared out of nothing in front of him. He had found Angeror's device code by trial and error, yet the screen was pitch black. Drauss was about to press reboot when a voice spoke.

"Speak mortal, for it be your last..."

"Angeror, I presume?"

"Out with the pleasantries Drauss and get to the point!"

"You lied. Two anomalies have appeared-"

"and you automatically assume it was me. Humans have such narrow minds. You are one of my greatest enemies Drauss, and yet I let you live. Although it would have a been a blast to revoke the agreement, I did not."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why shouldn't you? You wouldn't exist without me, so be thankful you still have your head."

"Look, stop messing with my mind-"

"Who's messing with anything? I'm certainly not! Fact of the matter is that I didn't do it. Ever considered the possibility of someone from another universe is experimenting with the very essence of time?"

"You speak in riddles! I-"

He was suddenly cut off, and the transmitter stopped working. It was apparent that Angeror was bored with the conversation and hung up. Drauss didn't know what to believe, for he could usually tell apart liars from their tone or body language. The darkness stopped him from seeing the body language, but the truth was in his voice.

Angeror was still a suspect in this case, and the only one. If only the team were here, the mystery would have been solved by now

But they weren't. Drauss, for the first time, realised that loneliness was a weakness. Drauss armed himself when the wall happened to explode behind him, and two futuristic soldiers stood behind him. They said nothing and opened fire immediately.

Drauss reacted quickly and dodged the heated plasma. He returned fire, but his ammo had no effect on their armour. They were still very silent, and unexpectedly decided to retreat. Drauss followed his masked assailants, continuing to fire with his E-Pistol.

They were headed for the lab, and Drauss mentally noted that the turrets had been destroyed. He glimpsed one soldier run back through, and the other paused at the sight of Drauss. The soldier threw a grenade at him before vanishing. The anomalies collapsed, as Drauss managed to catch the grenade before it detonated in his palm and instinctively lobbed it out the window, where it created a small sonic explosion.

He was exhausted, and slumped to the floor. He still could contact Cratus, the Prodigies and everyone else in case of emergency. This was considered an emergency.

Everyone, save the Wise old man, had returned immediately after hearing the anomaly crisis may not be over. Drauss had to present evidence, and it was all a long process and finally he could have some peace.

"And you say you might have seen soldiers like these before?" Cratus questioned.

"Yes, the armour was similar to future soldiers, but I just can't remember when... there's this gut feeling that we may be facing anomalies created by a new threat" Drauss replied wearily.

"New threat? Can you really trust Angeror?"

"No, but if you were there you would have said different. Anyway, the lab needs a good rebuilding and no one must leave temporarily ever again. Loneliness is a weakness the enemies exploited!"

"Then it is a new decree, no one must leave the GDG in such large quantities, even if there are no anomalies for 200 years!" Cratus exclaimed, and filed out of the room to announce the new decree.

Drauss walked over to the control panel and accessed the satellite scripts. No threats detected. Strangely, a red dot appeared on the screen, and it was heading for the Ardougne Sea. The red dot was gone, and Drauss was left perplexed. After analysing it, the satellites could only make out it was a meteorite or something small and insignificant. Drauss sighed a breath of relief and went to join the Christmas festivities.

Characters

 * Drauss
 * Angeror
 * Cratus
 * Wise Old Man