Time

Chapter 2

Gerard walked down the hallway unaware that he had left a tearful mess behind him and had a spring in his step, a dreamy look in his eyes, and a smile on his face.  At least, he was unaware until he noticed his colleagues staring at him strangely. He stopped abruptly, checking himself and replacing the look of joy on his face with a look of business-like sternness, and so it was that Gerard became Cancer and so it was Cancer who walked down the long corridors, Cancer who nodded in recognition at some of his co-workers, and Cancer who lit a cigarette as he wondered what this “very important meeting” was going to be about. He hated meetings with his boss. He always came away from his office with a headache. Time was garish and it hurt his eyes. Cancer loathed brightness which, he thought happily, was another reason why things between he and his lover were meant to be. This thought was immediately followed by a sigh of disgust with himself as he realized that he was thinking about something as ridiculous as fate.  He pushed it aside and concentrated on the matter at hand. The meeting with Time. 

He took the elevator to the top floor, reached the door to Time's office, and put his hand on the knob before abruptly stopping as he remembered the sunglasses in the inside pocket of his jacket.  He  quickly put them on before entering.  They would at least lessen the headache. 

“Good morning, Cancer. How are we today?” chirped Time's secretary, Delusion. 

“Good morning, Delusion. I am well. Yourself?” 

“Good. Great, actually! I think I lost weight! Also, that mortal youth serum must be working because I feel so much younger!” said Delusion happily. 

Cancer just stared. She didn't seem any thinner or younger to him but he said nothing except, “I believe Time has requested my presence.” 

“Yes. He did. Cancer, you do know I'm seeing Ego, right?” 

“Pardon me?” 

“Yes. Ego and I are a couple. I thought you should know since I've seen you glancing at me before.  I'm spoken for,” smiled Delusion. 

“Um... okay.” He had no idea what she was talking about. 

“Oh no.  I've broken your heart.  Well, it's okay.  Cheer up!  There's someone for everyone!” 

“Yes. I shall get over it, Delusion.  Could you please let Time know that I have arrived?” he asked, taking a seat as far away from her as possible. 

“Yes! Of course!” she said before turning towards the intercom on her desk and saying, “Sir. Cancer is here to see you. Please don't be too hard on him. He's already had bad news once today and I hate to see him sad.” 

“Send him in,” came a voice over the speaker. 

“He said send you in.” 

“Did he now?” Cancer replied. He was under the impression that most of the people here should have lost their jobs long ago as the jobs were either unnecessary or the employees inept. 

“Yes.” 

“Well, I had best be going then,” he said as he headed towards the door to Time's office. He briefly wondered if what she had told him was true and cringed at the thought of the spawn of Delusion and Ego before opening the door. 

“Come in, Mr. Cancer,” said a voice from the far end of the office. 

“Yes, sir,” he replied, crossing over to a large yellow desk and taking a seat in one of a matched set of yellow chairs. He looked around briefly while Time ruffled through some papers. Everyone was afraid of Time.  He could never understand why. “That fear would dissipate quickly if they ever saw his office,” he thought to himself as he stared at a prominently featured picture of a dancing unicorn. He stifled laughter and stared at his shoes. They were the easiest thing in the room to look at. 

“How are you this morning, Mr. Cancer?” Time asked. He was deeply tanned with dirty blond hair and teeth that were perfectly white. Abnormally so. Cancer often thought that if you turned off the light and asked Time to smile, it would look like Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat was floating there. His physical age was impossible to judge since he often messed about in the world of mortal youth surgery.

“Fine, sir.  And you?” 

“Can't complain. Well, I can but complaining is unbecoming to the young, don't you think?” responded Time. 

“I do, sir,” agreed Cancer.  He knew Time was a long way from “young” but said nothing.  Time was the oldest of them all. 

“No bad news, Mr. Cancer?  What was it that Miss Delusion was talking about then?” 

“Nothing, sir. Just Delusion being Delusion,” he said, wishing they could dispense with the pleasantries and get to the point of the meeting. He wanted to make it to breakfast. 

“Ahh. Well then,” said Time. 

“Yes.” Cancer replied. There seemed to be no other appropriate response. He sat staring at Time and wondering how he had gotten his job. Maybe he was more efficient in his day than he was now. He began to look around the room again. Pink curtains, blue rugs, orange walls. “What a mess this is,” thought Cancer, growing impatient as he waited for Time to speak. He looked at him questioningly, as if it would make him confess the purpose of their meeting, and then he stared openly. Time had fallen asleep sitting up. He was snoring! 

“You've got to be kidding,” Cancer thought, loudly clearing his throat.  Time jerked in his chair. 

“Ahh. Well, sorry about that, Mr. Cancer. Long night last night. Have you met the new girls, Heroin and Ecstasy? I met them last evening and they certainly know how to entertain. You can do worse than those two if you want to blow off some steam. This place can be stressful if you don't have some fun every once in a while.  Ahh!  There we are!” he said, turning to a small man in red and white striped spandex shorts who had just entered the room carrying a shiny red tray. “Coffee! Finally! Care for some, Mr. Cancer? I can have one of my Ravages fetch some more if you like.  Dandelion is quite the talented barista.” 

“No, sir,” Cancer said. He enjoyed coffee immensely but he didn't want to remain here any longer than he had to. Besides, he could get coffee in the cafeteria if he ever made it there. Coffee and a cigarette sounded wonderful to him right about now. 

“Well, if you're sure,” he said. “Now, what we were talking about again?” 

“You were about to tell me the purpose of this meeting,” Cancer lied. 

“Yes. Well, the purpose of this meeting. Well, to put it bluntly, Mr. Cancer, the purpose of this meeting is to inform you that, well...” he began. 

Cancer waited with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. 

“Mr. Cancer,” continued Time, “There is a man who has succeeded where all others have failed.” 

“A... a man? A mortal man, sir?” asked Cancer in astonishment. 

“Yes.” 

“But, how can this be?” asked Cancer, rising from his seat. “The cemeteries are full of failures! How can one have succeeded?” 

“I don't know.  Please remain seated, Mr. Cancer..” 

Cancer sat slowly down and asked, “What are we going to do?” 

“We are going to see to it that he joins their ranks.” 

“Their ranks?” 

“The ranks of their failures, Mr. Cancer.” 

He could only sit in shock. Such a thing had never happened before.  It was unheard of. “How?” he finally asked. 

“I've devised a plan. Look. It's all in here,” Time said, tossing a neon green folder across the desk to him. 

Cancer picked it up and scanned it, looking for the one thing that he wanted to know the most. Who had dropped the ball on this one? Who was responsible for the biggest failure ever to hit The Oblivion Corporation? The only failure, actually. Then, he saw it. In the lower right hand corner of page 3, a number and a name hastily crossed out in purple ink. It read, “#000000001 �" TIME” and he shot up from his seat like a bullet. 

“Time!” he shouted, pounding the desk with his fist so hard that it rattled jars of moisturizer to the floor. “What the f**k? It was you? You who caused this mess? How? Were you too busy playing in the Department of Debauchery to do your damn job? And now...” 

“You will watch your tone, Mr. Cancer. You would do well to remember that you are only second in command. You are my subordinate.” 

“I wonder why sometimes,” said Cancer through his rage. 

“Meaning?” 

“Meaning I have never failed.” 

“Be that as it may, you will help me and you will tell no one that I was the one who let this happen.” 

“Why should I agree to help you?” Cancer said, removing his sunglasses and leaning over to stare Time directly in the eyes with a smug grin on his face. They were pointless now, anyway. He already had a headache. 

“Because it will make us even.” 

“Even? Even how? I owe you nothing. You have done nothing for me,” said Cancer, standing up straight and crossing his arms. 

“Au contraire, my dear Mr. Cancer. You see, I have done something for you and so, you will do something for me,” said Time, flashing a blinding smile that held no humor. 

“Enlighten me,” said Cancer, sitting again. 

“Well, okay. You see, seeing as how you're only number 2 in command and I am number 1...” Time began. 

“I know you are. Don't you remember? Your name was right next to your number on that sheet of paper regarding the failure,” Cancer interrupted. He was pleased with his little jab. 

“Are you done?” 

“For now.” 

“Continuing on then,” said Time, giving Cancer a dirty look, “as head of Oblivion Corp., I am entitled to certain privileges to which others are not. My Ravages are one of many such privileges. They see many things. They saw something interesting last night. Something interesting involving you, actually.” 

“They did, did they? I did not see them which is odd. One would think a 3 foot tall replica of the boss dressed as one of those mortal holiday treats would stand out against the rest of our cohorts,” Cancer smirked. Time's Ravages had always creeped him out a bit. 

“Well, normally yes,” said Time, refusing to acknowledge Cancer's taunt, “But it would seem that last night, you were involved in more... enjoyable activities at the time.” 

Cancer stared at him. There was no way. Impossible. “You know nothing,” he said. 

“Don't I? I know your little... friend, shall we say? I know your little friend has trouble by the bucketful. It would be a shame to make things more difficult for the young one, wouldn't it? A stroke of luck, really. I had already sent for you when I found out about your encounter. But then, I've always been lucky.” Time leaned back in his chair watching this news sink in then, before he knew it was happening, Cancer was on him. 

“You son of a b***h! Try it! I f*****g dare you! Give it a shot you pretentious piece of s**t! Do it! But if i find one hair out of place, one more tear I have to wipe away, it will be your last ever breath! You dare try to blackmail me?” he shouted as he threw Time against the wall. The door quickly slammed open and when he looked, he saw Delusion standing there with her jaw to the ground surrounded by 5 Ravages, all identical to each other. He released his grip on Time and walked to the desk. Picking up the neon green folder again, he tucked it under his arm, turned back to Time, said, “We're even but this is the only piece of s**t I'll be wiping up for you,” and walked out. 

Time smiled. 

Outside, Cancer looked through the folder again. Time's plan called for the formation of a “team of elite and varied assassins” and listed the members by name. Cancer was to be the leader. He read the neatly typed list and made mental notes regarding each. Cocaine (not a bad guy but a bit jumpy), Syphilis (a complete clown), Ego (Delusion's toy?), Misdemeanor (a bit of a troublemaker) and 2 people he didn't know. Dementia and Fear. Below the name Fear was a name written in purple ink. It was obviously a last minute addition. Cancer looked at it in disbelief. “No,” he said aloud as he broke his sunglasses in his fist. He looked down at the broken piece of plastic, sighed, cursed Time, and headed to the cafeteria to grab a coffee and recruit his first member.