TSotFH Ch.3

"W…Wh…What?" Daniel said, choking his words out in shock. "Yes. This is Los Angeles. Or, its future, anyway." Alfred said in a grim tone. "But….how?!" Daniel responded, still in awe how this could be possible. "Los Angeles is fine! I mean, all three of us are–" "Are not going to be here much longer if we don’t calm down." Maxwell interrupted. Maxwell was normally a skiddish man, who normally doesn’t resort to conflict, but there was danger dripping on his words. Daniel could feel it.

"Ahem…If I may recapture your attention, This picture is a look into the future, as far-fetched as it sounds." Alfred said to them both. "We don’t know where it came from, or who, but this photograph was found inside Maxwell’s briefcase early this morning. "But, how can you know that this is in thirteen days?" Daniel said, panicked. "If you look closely, there’s a billboard that’s still intact in the background of the photo." Alfred responded, and enlarged the section he was referring to.

"Come see the Apollo Circus – Today Only!" The sign advertised in bright yellow letters. There was a charred happy clown juggling bowling pins while balancing on a unicycle. Half of it was missing from the destruction. In the corner of he billboard, there was a date – "November 25th, 20–the rest of it was cut off." Daniel remembered what day it was, and his heart dropped a few stories. November 12th. He desperately searched for any type of excuse for this nightmarish event.

"Perhaps the photo had been manually edited in some manner? I mean…surely with the right software.." He tapped his fingers together, hoping this was plausible, though Alfred just shook his head. "We’ve already thought of that possibility, unfortunately. We’ve run the photograph through several tests, and it’s clean. No manipulation, no tampering, no nothing. This only makes the situation more dire. You’ve always had your job, Maxwell has always had his, and I’ve always had mine. If the city is destroyed…well, I don’t think I need to start listing the repercussions. So, that’s why this meeting’s been called. As two of the highest ranking members of the Faenworth Council, we must find why this set to happen, and stop it….somehow.

Daniel sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned back in his chair. "This is suddenly seeming very…stressful." He said, while running his fingers through his hair, wondering where to even possibly begin stopping something like this. "Well, we have thirteen days, all of Faenworth at our disposal. I’ll leave you two to brainstorm – I’ve got some other matters to take care of." Alfred said. There was a bright flash of blue light as Daniel watched dematerialize away to wherever it was he was going. He turned to Maxwell, who had his head resting on his hand, looking both bored and stressed. "Shall we get to business?"