Who: Chase Stein & open Where: downtown. When: evening What: Something causes the Yorkes' time machine to break; Chase fails to leave L.A. :( Status: In Progress Rating: PG
"Temporal coordinates locked in," Chase called out to no one in particular; it made him feel like he was in a movie, part of Kirk's crew or something, and not just a dork in a tin can talking to himself.
(Truth be told, it was a distraction, too. A movie, that's all this was. A movie, and he wasn't leaving behind a past version of his girlfriend to her death sentence in two years. A movie, so he had to obey Vic's crummy Butterfly Effect.)
"Flux capacitor online," he added in a murmur, hand on the dial. "Three ... two ... annnd lift-off--"
No dramatic vroop-vroop, no sparks as he hit 88 MPH. Just a shudder, a low-level vibration, and -- ERROR?
Chase stared at the display as the Yorkes' time machine whirred to a standstill. The hell? He'd read the damn manual and everything, he knew how this thing worked -- he didn't even have to program in any coordinates, just set it for a return trip and allow it to automatically make its temporal adjustments and all that technobabble bullshit and why was it giving him an error?
Maybe it was just the computer. Maybe it had worked and he was totally in New York in 1907, but the sensors had screwed up, or -- or something. (Shit.) Okay, he would open the door and check. It would screw up his dramatic entrance, but he could probably still say come with me if you want to live at some point, so it was all cool.
--or not. Because, outside the rising door? Downtown Los Angeles.
Definitely not in 1907.
"Ugh, you piece of crap -- you barely made it twenty miles and it's the same freakin' year! Did my parents design you?"
Frustrated, he kicked at the side of the control unit.
The display -- and every other piece of lit-up equipment on-board -- shut off.
"...shit."
At least he was (mostly) tucked into an alley. And the Avengers weren't bearing down on him. Yet.