look out, incoming strange fic! The general idea came to me at about 4 AM, and I'm just now writing it . . . let's just say it's an alternate universe sorta thing concerning a certain fic called "Truth and Trust" . . . the narrator is an assassin android from the distant future, come to set things right in the universe even if it means she would cease to exist on completion of her mission . . .

I appeared in the rear of the Acme computer lab with nary a sound or flash of light, as I was planning. The C-5 and Chronoskimmer systems of my time have little of the flash of their predecessors, much to my advantage. They are far more accurate as well, allowing me to pinpoint where and when I was going to appear.

But enough about the technical things, I had a mission to accomplish. As I had appeared in the shadows of the room, no one noticed my arrival, with the possible exception of the Chief himself. But I had a feeling he was too pre-occupied dealing with Marco Kane to even give me a second thought . . .

And speaking of one of the most criminally insane murdering bastards of the 20th century, Marco was standing in right in front of the console, with a very sophisticated looking remote in one hand. I knew it was the device he planned on erasing the Chief with, but it wasn't going to work this time. At least not with me in the room, anyhow. I had planned ahead and was carrying an active electromagnetic pulse generator. It was relatively weak, generating minor static on the Chief's screen which Marco and his hacker friend probably accounted to their screwing with the mainframe, much to their undoing. The device wasn't strong enough to really damage major systems like the Chief, but that dinky little remote didn't have a prayer . . .

I stayed in the shadows, watching as the Chief had what would have been his final conversation with Carmen and the detectives, and then as Marco threatened him with the remote.

Marco pressed the button. Nothing happened. He tried it again, more nothing happened. Thinking the third time's the charm, he tried it one more time, and yep, you guessed it, nothing happened.

It occurred to Marco to ask his hacker buddy what the hell was wrong; but as he glanced over he discovered the hacker unconscious on the floor, a victim of one of my tazer darts. The hacker might have been alive, he might have been dead; I personally didn't give a damn either way, just so long as he was out of commission.

Marco was getting scared at that point, he knew there was someone else in the room, and without his hacker friend he couldn't do anything more to Acme's systems. Thinking discretion the better part of valor, he ran for the exit, and encountered me on the way there.

"Hello, darling . . ." I drawled as I smiled down at him, like a predator would smile at their prey. I grabbed him before he could react, a laserknife already in my hand and ready to destroy him.

It was about there when I noticed the Chief silently watching us, his eyes wide with shock.

'Damn,' I thought to myself, 'I can't do this here, not with him watching so closely! I may be so bold as to alter time itself, but I will not rob the Chief of his innocence.'

That innocence was something I never had, not with the life I was programmed for . . . but maybe by altering the timeline, I could change all that. In all likelihood, I would cease to exist as I was when the mission was over, but that was something I could live with.

The Chief seemed to be waiting for whatever it was I was going to do. I smiled sadly at him and gave the usual salute of an assassin droid, then I C-5ed out, taking Marco with me.

I don't know what happened to the Chief or any of them after that, but I disposed of Marco soon afterward. That was one murderer that wouldn't threaten anyone ever again . . .

As for me, I am on my way back to my time and waiting for nothingness to overtake me. If I made as drastic a change as I thought I did, there would be no assassin droids in the future. Even so, I am releasing this shielded data sphere into the ion stream used by the Chronoskimmers of all time periods . . . any Acme detectives heading this way should encounter it and hear my story.

It may be somewhat vain, but even a mote on the winds of time would like someone to know they existed . . .

End log . . .