Dr. Snip Ch. 11

The His Royal Majesty Richard the Seventh King of 26th Century Britain had been kidnapped by terrorists, and the government was furious.

The PM had ordered all agencies to concentrate on his safe return.

As the two eye witnesses to the actual kidnapping, Steve and Omega the Kings special Storm trooper bodyguard, had been called to No. 10 for a private meeting with the PM.

The Prime Minister Marcus Armstrong was a very clever man, he had considered sending in every Time Agent and Storm trooper available to rescue the King.

However he realised that sometimes it was more efficient to use a small team.

He therefore asked Steve if he would accompany Omega, in his mission to rescue the King and punish the perpetrators of such a heinous crime.

He assured them that all the help they required would be freely given. Steve immediately asked the PM for a QT device to be loaned to Omega, so he could follow Steve in his investigations.

Omega looked at Steve when he asked this, his black visor couldn't show any emotions, but if it could have it would have shown puzzlement.

Omega was the only Storm trooper that knew the QT device could transport more than one person at a time.

However he chose to say nothing; and simply stood there, allowing Steve to do all the talking.

Marcus had to agree, and instructed the B.T.O. to loan a QT device to Omega immediately.

Marcus had reason to trust Steve, as it was because of him that Marcus was still PM of Great Britain.

Within a few seconds, a Time agent materialised in the PM's office and handed over his QT to Omega.

Steve would have thought the agent would resent doing this, but he didn't realise the respect that the British people had for their King.

Steve communed with Merlin, and had Omega's QT synchronised with his own.

Now whenever or wherever Steve jumped, Omega would automatically follow.

Saying a polite goodbye to the PM and assuring him of their best efforts, Steve jumped himself and Omega to his kitchen in the 20th Century for a pre-mission briefing.

Omega stood alertly in a corner of the room, whilst Steve made himself a cup of tea.

'I don't suppose you drink tea do you Omega?' he asked politely.

'Yes Sir I do occasionally, my human brain needs a minimal amount of food and liquid to stay at optimum performance. My body however has a small fusion reactor as a power source and requires nothing else,' Omega answered in a deep melodious voice.

'Would you like a cup of tea?' Steve offered.

'Yes Sir I would like a cup of tea,' said Omega.

'There is no need to call me Sir' said Steve, handing the Storm trooper a cup of tea.

'You are a Knight of the British Empire, Sir Steven Steele, and I respect that' replied Omega.

'Right, but as a personal favour to me could you please call me Steve when we are alone?'

'As you command,' agreed Omega.

'I don't suppose you can sit down?' queried Steve looking up at the blank face visor of Omega.

'My weight is such that I would smash any chair you possess,' he replied factually. 'I prefer to stand, my body is synthetic and cannot tire.'

'I must admit I am surprised that you can talk, I got the impression that Storm troopers were basically robots with human brains.'

'We are Steve, but we have to be able to talk to communicate.'

'If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to be a Storm trooper?'

'The same way that we all became Storm troopers; it was a better alternative than death. My human body was very badly injured in a police action, and the government offered me a chance to live as a Storm trooper. It was a great honour, Britain only has Ten Storm troopers and I jumped at the opportunity.'

'Do you miss being totally human?' asked Steve.

'I did at first but now that I am used to this body, I would not want to be simply human again. This body is tireless, and immensely strong and fast, I can see in various wavelengths including infrared. Plus I am able to do a job I love. As a bonus barring violent death, I have a life expectancy of hundreds of years.'

'I never expected to hear a Storm trooper talk about love.'

'I am still a human Steve, I have just been transplanted into a better body.'

'I wouldn't ask this of a 20th Century man but as you are of the 26th Century I will ask. Do storm troopers have any kind of sex life?'

'Certainly Steve, it is of course Virtual, but we can and do meet people on the World web and can pursue a relationship if we choose.'

Steve was pleasantly surprised at Omegas forthrightness, and began to relax in the Storm troopers company.

'Why didn't you say something when I asked for another QT device for you, when you know I could take us both using just mine?' Steve asked.

'I believe it will increase out chances of rescuing the King if we can both jump independently of each other, if the situation demands it. I also deduced that this unknown capability of the QT was your secret, and so decided to respect your reasons for not divulging it,' explained Omega.

'However,' he continued 'I also noticed that before you grabbed the first bomber, your body seemingly turned to glass, is it permitted to ask what that was?'

'It appears that I am going to have to divulge all my secrets to you Omega, the transparent effect that you observed is something I call Phasing. My QT pushes me a nanosecond out of synchronicity with this timeline, and makes me invulnerable to weapons.'

'I am impressed Steve, you seem to have pushed the limits of Time travel further than our 26th Century scientists,' said Omega respectfully.

'Necessity is the mother of invention,' replied Steve modestly.

'Would it be asking too much of you Omega, to keep these modifications to yourself?'

'My mission is to rescue the King, I need every advantage possible to do this, and I will keep them secret unless directly ordered to reveal them by my superiors,' said Omega.

'That's the best I could hope for,' replied Steve.

Omega seemed to freeze for a second, as he received an encrypted message from his superiors.

'We have a problem Steve; the Home Office has just received a message from the kidnappers. They say they have wired the King with explosives. If they see any attempt to rescue him by Storm troopers or Time Agents, they will detonate the explosive belt he is now wearing and he will be killed.'

'Damn it, I will have to show you how to use the Phase shift, it will make us invisible to all detection systems except the human eye. As you have seen yourself it seems to turn those phased into transparent glass. As long as you don't move no one notices you. I was planning on simply jumping to the last known location of the terrorists QT and simply observing what they do. I still intend to do this but it will have to be when we are phased. Once we have reconnoitred the scene we can make our plans,' said Steve to the attentive Omega.

Without further ado Steve jumped them both to a location where they could observe the terrorists.

Merlin had informed Steve of the location of the terrorists QT.

This enabled them to watch, as the terrorists captured the King when he materialised in the predetermined landing spot.

Standing perfectly still they were all but invisible, and would have had a clear view of the terrorists and their ingenious plan had there not been a large tent pitched over the co-ordinates.

The King was unconscious when he materialised, as this was his first QT jump.

He materialised inside a large tent that hid him and his captors from view. As soon as he appeared he was fitted with an explosive belt, and covered in a white hooded cloak.

He was then apparently taken outside and loaded into a helicopter.

The clever part of this plan was that five other identically cloaked and hooded figures, were loaded into five other helicopters simultaneously. To the casual observer it would be impossible to pick the real King from the decoys.

All six helicopters took off in different directions, leaving Steve staring at a big cloud of dust and having no clue in which helicopter the King was.

'Fuck it,' Steve swore 'we have no idea where they are taking the King, or in which helicopter they are transporting him.'

'Smoke and Mirrors Steve,' said Omega ' the King is not aboard any of those helicopters.

He is secreted in a tunnel under that tent, and is no doubt being taken somewhere underground as we speak.'

'How can you possibly know that?' asked Steve in amazement.

In reply Omega tapped his face visor, ' I can see in various frequencies including Infrared. I can see heat signatures through the tent walls. The King has his own unique heat signature, as do we all. None of those decoys had the correct heat signature of the King therefore he must still be inside the tent. There is no heat signature from inside the tent so it is logical to assume that he is now under the tent and out of my sight,' explained Omega confidently.

'Just call me Dr. Watson why don't you' muttered Steve, impressed despite himself. 'The terrorists will expect any rescuers to split into six groups, and chase after the fleeing helicopters. Instead of which we will jump into the tent and see what we see' said Steve, ' are you sure the tent is empty?'

'Yes Steve, there is no one in it at the moment.'

Still phased they jumped into the large tent, and surveyed the scene.

The tent was empty with a smooth sandy floor; there was no trace of the King or any kind of trapdoor.

Steve looked at Omega questioningly.

Omega scanned the sandy floor, until his heat vision detected a warm square hidden under a thin covering of sand.

Walking over to it he knelt down and brushed away the camouflaging sand.

A trapdoor was revealed; it was made from steel and had been bolted from the inside.

'Allow me,' said Steve drawing Excalibur.

Omega stepped back in alarm, as the razor sharp edges of the sword annihilated the air molecules.

'I wasn't informed that you owned a Mono-filament Blade Steve,' said Omega.

'This isn't a Mono-filament Blade Omega, it just looks like one and acts like one. I will explain later on if you don't mind,' said Steve concentrating on opening the trapdoor.

Excalibur cut into the steel door like it was butter.

Steve cut a round hole in the trapdoor, leaving just a small piece of metal to act as a hinge.

This was to stop the disc from falling into the tunnel, and perhaps alerting any guards.

Omega's strength enabled him to bend the disc upwards, to allow them to climb down into the tunnel.

The terrorists had such confidence in their plan; that they hadn't bothered to leave any guards in the tunnel.

The long tunnel ended at a steel door, which luckily had a small window in it.

Through the window Steve could see the King, he was strapped to a chair wearing a belt of explosives.

Six guards were in the room, and any one of them could have the detonating trigger.

Steve had avoided jumping via his QT up until now, because he couldn't see where he would be arriving.

Now he could see the King, and told Omega of his plan.

'Do you know this will work?' asked Omega concerned about the King's life.

'It worked against a Storm trooper on Boost, so it should work against humans,' replied Steve confidently.

Steve consulted with Merlin and concentrating on the King's exact co-ordinates, jumped into the room and materialised beside the bound King.

The terrorists jumped in alarm as they saw him materialise, and one of them screamed an alarm and pressed the trigger to detonate the explosive belt attached to the King.

Steve had realised that there was no way he could remove the belt, before the electromagnetic signal from the terrorists trigger set off the bomb.

He chose instead to extend his phase field over the King, cutting them off from this universe and any signals generated in it.

However with the King tied to a chair, Steve had to stay beside him to protect him.

This left Omega to do what he did best, Kill.

Steve had never really seen a storm trooper in action; he had been too busy trying to stop the rogue trooper from killing him to appreciate its deadly grace.

As the terrorist frantically pressed the trigger of the bomb; Omega appeared in the centre of the room.

He didn't bother boosting, as the terrorists had nowhere to run.

He walked across to the man with the inoperative trigger, and rammed his steel hand completely through his chest until it emerged from his back.

The remaining five men had time to pick up their guns, and fire them at point blank range.

Omega ignored the rain of small arms fire; that simply bounced off his synthetic armoured body.

He ripped the head off the nearest man and threw it at another, causing him to scream in fear and try to run towards the door.

Using his enormously powerful legs, Omega jumped at the fleeing man and his great weight smeared the man's body onto the steel door.

One of the terrorists accepted that they were all going to be killed, and decided to take the Storm trooper with them.

He pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it at Omega, knowing that the blast would kill them all.

Omega phased as the grenade exploded, and after a few seconds he switched it off again.

He was standing in a Sea of blood; all six of the terrorist's bodies had been shredded by the enclosed blast.

Once the echoes of the blast had completely dissipated, Steve switched off his phase shield and revealed the King.

Richard was safe and well and had a big grin on his face.

'Omega old friend, good to see you again,' he said to the Impassive Storm trooper.

'You too Sir Steele, said the King, it seems that you spend a lot of your time rescuing Aristocrats and Kings.'

Steve stood back, and allowed Omega to free the King.

The smell of blood and guts was nauseating, and Steve warned Omega to support the King whilst he jumped them all to his kitchen.

This time Richard was just a bit dizzy from the jump, and Omega sat him down at the kitchen table while Steve made the tea.

'I thought you would want to get tidied up first before returning to your own century,' said Steve handing the King a cup of tea.

'Very thoughtful of you Lord Steele,' replied the king beaming at Steve.

Steve looked in puzzlement at Richard, as he understood what he had just said.

'I'm not a Lord, Richard, to tell the truth I'm not really sure I'm a Knight,' he said.

'I am Richard the Seventh, King of Great Britain, and I say you are a Knight and a Lord of the British Empire.

Do you defy me sir?' said Richard in full Regal mode.

'No Sire, I wouldn't dare, Gloria would have my balls if I upset you.'

'Ha, my little Glory will probably have your balls anyway, in her mouth if I know her,' laughed Richard.

After tea the King tried out Steve's shower, and borrowed some jeans and a tee shirt.

Steve was a big man, but the Kings body strained the material of his clothes.

'I have really enjoyed myself Steve, this has been the best day of my entire life.' enthused the King. I have never been in such danger before, it is most exhilarating.'

Something was bothering Steve, in all the excitement of having the King and Omega in his kitchen, it had been put to the back of his mind.

Now that he had calmed down and relaxed, he realised what was wrong. His kitchen smelt of coffee, who the fuck had been making coffee in his kitchen?

He had to put that niggling question on a back burner because he realised that in order to jump the king back to the 26th Century, he would have to reveal the fact that he could carry more than one person using his QT.

To his surprise it was Omega who broached the subject to the King.

'Your Majesty, in order to save your life, Sir Steven Steele was forced to reveal two of his secrets to me. Had he not chosen to trust me to keep his secrets you would undoubtedly be still held captive? It is a matter of Honour that I keep my word to him, and say nothing to anyone else about these secrets.'

'What secrets are these Lord Steele?' asked Richard.

'I have discovered that the QT can be used to transport more than one person at any one time,' answered Steve. ' Also I have discovered that the QT field can be pushed out of synchronicity with our time line. I call this effect Phasing and when Phased I am invulnerable to any weapons.'

'I must admit that I was concerned when I saw that grenade explode,' said Richard. 'I assume it was this Phase field that saved my life?'

'Yes your Majesty, Sir Steven extended his field to include you,' clarified Omega.

Richard was very quiet for a minute as he digested this news.

His IQ was off the scale, so he realised what a fantastic weapon these two secrets would be for Britain.

However he also realised that Steve had rescued him from a life threatening danger.

Richard the man wanted to agree with Omega, but Richard the King wanted to be able to use these properties of the QT for the benefit of Britain.

Steve watched the King struggling with his conscience, and decided to help him.

'Richard, I realise how hard it is for you as a King to deprive your country of such powerful knowledge. I hereby offer this knowledge to you to use as you see fit. I am after all a Briton as you are, and I also want us to be powerful.'

Richard was so relieved that he wanted to hug Steve. This generous offer allowed Richard to come to a honourable compromise.

'Britain owes you a great debt Lord Steele; you have the word of the King that your secrets shall be kept safe. I will only inform my most trusted scientists if Britain is in mortal danger,' announced Richard holding out his hand to Steve.

'Thank you Richard, that was all I could hope for,' said Steve shaking the King's hand.

Steve found that he needed a rest from the 26th Century, so stayed where he was and watched as Omega and the King vanished from his kitchen.

He was very tired and decided to go to bed for a few hours. It would be a change to go to bed alone and actually get some sleep.

Within moments of his head hitting the pillow he was asleep.

He was so deeply asleep, that he had no knowledge of the big man in the black coat standing by the side of the bed, studying him with great interest.

'Hello Me,' said Stephen Steel quietly.

At last he could see his twin of this dimension, the body was identical but this sleeping version of himself had no disfiguring scar on his face.

Stephen remembered getting his scar from a thug in Thailand.

The man had surprised him by pretending to be friendly, and then producing a knife.

If Stephen hadn't moved, the man's slash would have cut his throat.

As it was the tip of the knife had cut across his face leaving a big scar.

He had gone berserk and cut off the thug's head along with all the other men in the gang.

When some of them tried to run away, he had jumped ahead of them and slaughtered every one.

Luckily for Stephen, Dr. Fairweather, the doctor in charge of the Orphanage, had stitched his face for him, and the scar wasn't too bad in a dim light.

She had seemed a friendly enough woman but he had been in no mood to chat, and had jumped back home to nurse his wounds.

'You were quicker than me old pal,' he mused to himself.

Stephen had just finished his list, and had slaughtered all those on it.

Including a few ordinary prisoners that hadn't got out of the way quickly enough.

The good thing about fighting when Phased; was that the blood couldn't stick to you.

His coat was nice and clean, he himself was very tired and decided to go and lie down in the spare bedroom.

Perhaps he would finally be able to introduce himself, to himself later.

Gloria was squealing with joy, her King had returned safe and sound, and he had just told her that he was going to elevate Steve to the Peerage.