The Rogue
T.I.M.E. Vaulter
Part III:

March 2020.
(The following has been taken from Rai Number 0)

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The Death of Archer.

The Home of Obadiah Archer and Charlene Archer (formerly Charlene Dupre) March 2020:

We see Obadiah Archer, head guru of the Archies Peace Movement, in his living room, contemplating the outside world from his window.
Archer is very worried about the man known as Harada, and how no matter how hard he and his Archies tried it was never enough to stop the growth of his Harbinger Foundation.

"Obie --you've got a visitor... an old friend of ours." Was heard coming from the hall outside.

"Show him in, Charlene" Archer said.

Geoff McHenry, the current Geomancer, the ears and eyes of The Earth, walked into the room followed by Charlene Archer, Obadiah's wife.

"Archer -- I have some disturbing news for you and Flamingo." Geoff said in desperation.

"No body calls me that anymore Geoff. Just Charlene --or Mrs. Archer shugah." Charlene told Geoff.

"Geoff -- what wrong? I've never seen you like this." Archer said as he approached Geoff.

"It's about your former partner -- Armstrong. Harada has him! He's doing - unspeakable things to him -- trying to unlock the secret of his longevity." Geoff said with anxiety in his voice.

"What are we going to do then?" Charlene fearfully asked.

"I owe my life to Armstrong many times over! If he is endangered in any way there is no question that I must help him. It will ba an honor to repay but one of the many debts I owe him." Archer said while gritting his teeth.

Gilad Anni Padda, Aram Anni Padda, Charlene Dupre-Archer and Geoff McHenry, the Earths Geomancer, are standing infront of the fallen corpse of their longtime friend and spiritual leader Obadiah Archer, who fell during battle while saving his friend Aram from Toyo Harada.

"Geoff -- I'm sorry. You know how important my mission was... Geomancer?" Gilad said to Geoff, asking for his forgiveness for not being there when he was most needed.

"The Book of Geomancers must be protected from Harada. Nobody blames you." Geoff responded, accepting Gilad's apology. Unberknowst to any of them Geoff knew before hand that Archer would die today, the Earth told him so. Over the years Geoff honed his Geomancing skills to the point of becoming one of the best Geomancers in the history of the planet. The Earth told Geoff to find ways to keep Gilad occupied so that Archer would find himself in the right place at the right time to be killed by Harada and in turn become a martyr in the eyes of his followers, The Archies, so that they would increase their efforts against Harada in Archers name.

"Speak for yourself, cleanhead!" a bitter Aram yelled at Gilad and Geoff, while Charlene stood over her husbands corpse, crying.

"Personally little body, I think you're worm-doody!" Aram said while taking a drink from his bottle.

"Aram -- please! Let's not bicker at a time like this." Gilad pleaded with his brother.

"Go ahead Charlene." Geoff told Archer's widow, who using her Harbinger ability to make fire began to ritually burn her husbands corpse.

"Goodbye shugah."

"I would have been there for you if I could. But I had a matter of honor to fulfill." Gilad said to Aram, still pleading for his forgiveness.

"Screw your honor! It isn't going to bring my friend back, is it?" Aram said as he pulled away from Gilad.

"Aram -- I..." Gilad said as he tried to plead with his brother once more.

As Aram began to pull away Solar, Man of The Atom descended from the air and landed next to Charlene and Archers burning corpse.

"Solar!" Geoff exclaimed.

"I came as soon as I heard. Now step aside." The man of the atom said as he extended his arms over Archers corpse. Solar absorbed Charlene's flames and using his miraculous powers he regenerated Archers dead cells, and in seconds he lived once more!

"What... what happened?" Archer said as he stood up from his death bed.

"You died Archer, but I was able to bring you back." Solar said as he helped Archer back up.

"But Solar, you can't do this!" Geoff said as he approached.

"The Earth told me Archer has to die today, so that the future can remain! By saving him, you have doomed us all!"

Charlene approached Geoff "What?!? You knew he would die and you still send him on that mission to rescue Aram?!? You little shit!"

Charlene's hands began to burn with fire as she approached Geoff, intend on killing him.

Gilad stood between Charlene and Geoff. "Stand down woman. Killing the seer won't change what he has done." He said as he turned around to face Geoff. "You're the one who send me to see to the books safety Geoff. You did it so I couldn't save Aram, didn't you? You did it so Archer would die."

"Yes, I did! The Earth told me that Archer has to die, by Harada's hand. His dead will be the inspiration of millions of people for a 1000 years, and that will bring the end of the Harbinger Wars. Now, with him alive, the future has become blurry. All I see is Harada's symbol, waving in the air, triumphant."

Suddenly a time arc opened in the sky above them, and Ivar and Rebecca stepped out of it, landing next to Solar.

"No, we're too late!" Ivar exclaimed.

"By Mota, it's him!" Rebecca said as she saw Solar, who in her reality is revered as a god.

"Mota?" Solar whispered.

"Ivar?" Gilad asked. "What are you doing here brother?"

"We came to stop a rogue t.i.. er, timewalker, like myself." Ivar said as he looked at Archer and Charlene hugging. "But it seems like we're too late. Archer lives."

"You too?" Charlene yelled. "What is this sudden fascination with my husband dying?"

"Charlene, honey, please calm down." Archer said. "Geoff has already explained why it most happen, why I most die. I've seen the future, remember? Back in 1992, during our battle with Mothergod Pierce." Archer said as he took a drink from a bottle of water. "Aram and I encountered one of Erica's followers, along with 2 battle bots. He told me that he was an Archie, and that he followed my teachings, all the way in 4001. The truth is that the Archie movement is dying Charlene, we're losing more and more people every day. If Geoff is right then my death will inspire all of them to remain fateful, and help defeat Harada, as well as bring things full circle and inspire that man I met in the Lost Land, who in turned gave me a glimpse of my own future, as a spiritual leader."

All Charlene could do was weep, and find comfort in her husbands arms.

"Please, do as you most, while my wife and I talk." Archer said as he and Charlene walked away from the others.

"Solar is not supposed to be here, that's for sure." Ivar said. "What brought you here?"

"A man, a blonde guy dressed in a similar outfit like your friends here." Solar said. "He told me that I had to come to Ladakh, that my friend Archer needed me and that I was the only one who could help him."

"Where did this happen?" Rebecca asked as she stared at Solar's face. It's not everyday one gets to meet god after all.

"I was at the Grand Canyon, cleaning the mess left over by one of Harada's Eggbreakers."

"How long ago did it happen?" Ivar asked.

"12 hours." Solar said.

"Thanks Phil." Ivar said as he pulled Rebecca, who was fascinated with Solar, away from the others.

"So now what do we do?" Rebecca asked.

"Well, we should go back 12 hours and try to stop Jason from contacting Solar. Archer has to die, or the Archie movement will lose momentum and the war won't go the way it should." Ivar said as he took his compass out and programmed the trip back in time.

A time arc opened and Ivar and Rebecca jumped in, leaving the others to ponder the nights events.

Over the years The Grand Canyon had been a place were families would go on vacation and enjoy the view.

In the last few years, since the Harbinger Wars started, it had become a battle field.

A day ago the US Army had its final confrontation with Harada's Eggbreakers.

It didn't go good for the Army.

An Eggbreaker called Nuke, who had the power to control radiation, exploded when a random bullet pierced the left side of his brain. The explosion killed all the Eggbreakers and all the soldiers in the Canyon, leaving nothing more then carcasses.

Solar, The Man of The Atom, came down from the heavens with the intend to clean up the left over radiation, and try to bring back the Canyon to what it used to be before Harada's madness took over the world.

As Solar went deep into the heart of the valley he extended his arms and emitted a beam of rainbow lights, which began to absorb the radiation in the valley, bringing it from the dangerous level it was at down to zero.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, a door made of energy opened, and Jason Simms, Dr. Tomorrow, stepped out.

He had just been to the year 1993, where he planted a seed that would help bring the Harbinger Wars into the world, and he came to 2020 to view the results of his work.

Just as Jason's fold gate closed a time arc formed over his head, and Ivar and Rebecca stepped out of it.

"Great idea using your compass to open at the same time as any other time anomaly did." Rebecca said as she landed, feet first, on Jason's face.

"Jason, I don't know why you're doing this, but it's not too late. You can still stop." Ivar said as he landed on the floor.

"No! You ruined my life! You killed my mother, and you want to destroy my world. That's what he said." Jason said as he punched Rebecca in the head.

"He?" Ivar thought as he stood up. "This wacko is under someone else's control. Damn."

"You won't stop me. I'll make sure that your precious future doesn't come to pass, and that you live in the same hell as she did." Jason said as he took out his holster gun and fired at ivar, who evaded the bullets.

"We have to stop this or we'll call attention to ourselves, and that's what we don't want." Rebecca said as she jumped and kicked Jason's gun off his hand.

"I have an idea." Ivar said as he took his time compass out of his pocket. He punched in the the year 2028 and a red circle. A time arc opened a few inches off the ledge of the cliff.

"Jason." Ivar yelled. "I can't allow you to mess with my friends life, so please don't make me do this." Ivar said. He knew that Jason wouldn't survive entering a time arc, and that pushing him in would kill him.

"You're bluffing. You're a coward, nothing like the Ivar in my reality. He'd have the guts to do what it takes. You're too... lighthearted." Jason said as he straighten up and walked towards the ledge, daring Ivar to push him in.

Ivar knew that Jason was right, that he wasn't a killer like the VH 2 Ivar, but he also knew that he couldn't let Jason go and save Archer. As much as Ivar would like Archer to live he knows that his dead is too important for the future.

Ivar looked at Rebecca, making her understand that he intended to enter the arc. Rebecca slowly moved towards Jason, as did Ivar.

Ivar and Rebecca, to Jason's surprise, both charged him and pushed him into the arc. Before they fell in Jason activated a force field in his uniform.

The 3 of them entered the arc, which then closed behind them.

As the arc closed Solar flew by the site of the battle.

"For a minute there I sensed something... out of place. Guess it was nothing." Solar said as he flew off.

Gilad Anni Padda, Aram Anni Padda, Charlene Dupre-Archer and Geoff McHenry, the Earths Geomancer, are standing infront of the fallen corpse of their longtime friend and spiritual leader Obadiah Archer, who fell during battle while saving his friend Aram from Toyo Harada.

"Geoff -- I'm sorry. You know how important my mission was... Geomancer?" Gilad said to Geoff, asking for his forgiveness for not being there when he was most needed.

"The Book of Geomancers must be protected from Harada. Nobody blames you." Geoff responded, accepting Gilad's apology. Unberknowst to any of them Geoff knew before hand that Archer would die today, the Earth told him so. Over the years Geoff honed his Geomancing skills to the point of becoming one of the best Geomancers in the history of the planet. The Earth told Geoff to find ways to keep Gilad occupied so that Archer would find himself in the right place at the right time to be killed by Harada and in turn become a martyr in the eyes of his followers, The Archies, so that they would increase their efforts against Harada in Archers name.

"Speak for yourself, cleanhead!" a bitter Aram yelled at Gilad and Geoff, while Charlene stood over her husbands corpse, crying.

"Personally little body, I think you're worm-doody!" Aram said while taking a drink from his bottle.

"Aram -- please! Let's not bicker at a time like this." Gilad pleaded with his brother.

"Go ahead Charlene." Geoff told Archer's widow, who using her Harbinger ability to make fire began to ritually burn her husbands corpse.

"Goodbye shugah."

"I would have been there for you if I could. But I had a matter of honor to fulfill." Gilad said to Aram, still pleading for his forgiveness.

"Screw your honor! It isn't going to bring my friend back, is it?" Aram said as he pulled away from Gilad.

"Aram -- I..." Gilad said as he tried to plead with his brother once more.

As Aram began to pull away Ivar and Rebecca walked out from behind a giant boulder, making sure that the others wouldn't see them.

"It happened like it had to. Archer dies and the war against Harada goes on. Now the Archies have a symbol to look up to." Ivar whispered to Rebecca as a tear came down his right eye.

"It's not like he's really dead, at least not for you." Rebecca said. "You can visit him any time you want to, at any time in his life as you may want to."

"Yes, but, it's not the same... You wouldn't understand. Now come, lets go home." Ivar said as he took a fold map out of his pocket and opened a fold gate.

As the 2 of them walked in and the gate closed, Geoff looked in their direction.

"Gilad, there's something you should know." Geoff said as he walked towards Gilad.

Welcome to Rogue T.I.M.E. Vaulter: Archer & Armstrong.

I know that the final issue may not be what some of you may have been expecting: The final adventure of Archer & Armstrong, starring Archer & Armstrong.

Instead I've left you with an adventure starring Solar and Timewalker.

That's a theme that you'll find to be a constant throughout this series.

The idea behind this story is to show events in the life of the title characters but without those characters actually behind part of the story since it might change history.

As you noticed the story opened and closed relatively the same as pages 9 and 10 of Rai 0, the inspiration for this event.

The ending might confuse you a bit, so in case it does I'll clear it up for you.

That last scene with Ivar and Rebecca takes place after the last Ivar story arc that'll feature the T.I.M.E. Vaulter, Fall of The Time Shapers, which will take place in Timewalker 26 and 27 and The Fall of The Time Shapers Special.

This series will start shortly after Rogue T.I.M.E. Vaulter ends.

Hope you're liking this story so far.

Michael Sacal

Monday, March 19, 2001.

Mike, just wanted to say, that after reading your previous goodies, I'm stoked to see you'll be writing my favorite duo!

Eric Gill

I hope you liked this issue Eric, even though it may not have been the story you might have been expecting.

If case that it wasn't I apologize for that.

Mike Sacal