"What do you think we should do now?" Simon asks Nick after listening to James' plight.
"I'm not exactly sure, but I do know that we need to get back to the others before they wake up...what if they get out and people see them? Could you imagine the problems we would be facing if that happened?" Nick says in horror. Simon thinks about this possibility and quickly stands to his feet.
He looks James over and then looks at Nick. Both men look back at Simon with puzzled looks on their faces. Simon keeps sizing up James at different angles, holding his hands out extended from his face, as if framing James in the view.
"Nick, where's your daughter?" Simon asks, still pensively looking over James.
"At the neighbor's. Why?" Nick asks.
"Call them and ask if they can keep her for a while, say you have business to take care of, just make something up." Simon says.
Nick looks at James and shrugs his shoulders, walks over to the phone and makes a quick call to the neighbor. While he is talking on the phone, Simon starts looking around the penthouse. James follows him, unaware of what is going on.
"Simon? Just what are you doing?" James asks. Simon heads towards Tat's room, his mind on only one thing at that moment.
"Don't question what I'm doing, just trust me here." He says. He opens the closet door in Tat's room and starts rummaging through her clothing. James stops, almost freezing in his tracks, since he knows what Simon is up to now.
"If you bloody think for one second that I'm going to dress up in drag, you're sorely mistaken!" James says sternly.
Simon turns to him and smiles, "If you think for one second that two Nick Rhodes' are going to easily walk out of this building, you, my friend, are sorely mistaken." He turns to find an outfit that looks to fit James fairly well.
"Simon, if I may say so, you have lost your mind!" James blurts as Nick walks in the room. Nick looks at Simon holding his daughter's clothes on a hanger, looks at James, then bursts out in laughter.
"Oh my god, you are going to dress me in drag?" Nick chuckles.
"No," Simon says, "I am going to disguise James the best way that I know how at the moment."
"I won't do it. No way in hell will I do this. You are better off just leaving me here. I'm not going to do it. Period." James says, while Simon walks closer to him with the clothes, and Nick closes the door.
They made it downstairs easily. Even Mr. Peterson didn't realize that James was in disguise. This is possibly because James had bolted out the door so quickly as soon as the elevator door opened, the old man couldn't catch a glimpse of him to notice. He was in the car waiting for the other two to finish laughing long enough to get into the car.
Simon is the first to get into the car, and is laughing hysterically. "James, you have no manners child. Running the way you did, and not saying goodbye to the old man." Nick enters the car, laughing at Simon.
"Go easy on the child, now, Simon. He is just not ready for this yet." Nick howls.
"Oh yes, just laugh away at me, just laugh will you? Go ahead and make fun of me, but one day, you'll wish you had not!" James pouts.
Simon stops long enough to regain his composure and starts the car. "Ok, James, where are we heading?" He asks.
Just start driving, I'll show you the way." James says, while taking off the clothes that Simon had picked out for him. "Why did you have to pick pink?"
The men arrive at the wearhouse, and luckily nothing had changed since James left. All the others were still out cold. Simon noticed the cut on the other Simon and remarked how young he looked. The three men start shaking the others to wake up, hoping that the shock of seeing them wouldn't make matters worse.
Finally, once all the men were awake and aware of what was going on, James explained what he had gone out and done. They were all worried about what would happen next. Would they be able to go back to where they came from and things would return to normal? Or were they stuck in the present, and change the course of history for the band forever? Noone was sure, but James was certain he would find out.
"What about me? What am I doing now?" John asks out of the blue. He had already heard about how Andy and Roger had left, but he hadn't heard anything about himself.
"John, you decided to leave us not long ago, but you are actually enjoying your new career..." Nick says to him.
"John, just remember these three words," Simon says while placing his hand on John's shoulder. "Trust the Process, my friend, it'll make you interesting." Nick rolls his eyes at Simon, and moves around the vessel, taking in everything that he notices.
"Trust the Process?" John returns, trying to understand what Simon had just said to him, "I'll see what I can do." He says. He then turns to the younger Simon and whispers, "You better lay off the 'stuff' you've been doing, mate. Look at yerself!" The younger Simon, Charley, nods in approval, his eyes wide, and his face covered with worry.
"Ok, let me get this straight. I quit the band, get a no-good contract, make a bunch of albums that go nowhere, get fat, and then try over and over again to make a comeback, right?" Andy stands up, angry about his fate.
Simon and Nick look at each other, then look at Andy.
"Yes." They both say in unison.
"Shite." Andy growls.
"Hell, at least you don't have a breakdown." Roger says to the angry Andy.
James notices Nick looking around at all the panels and wiring and joins him. Nick is certain that he can make this thing work again, and starts tinkering around with the equipment.
"Nick, what are you doing?" James asks.
"I'm going to get us back to where we need to be." Nick says calmly.
"What's the plan?" James asks.
"Well, the way I see it, you need to go back there, but with our help. We can't bring anyone else into this...this is the only way that this can be fixed. Simon and I will join you and go back and defeat this man, then we'll return here." Nick says. He dreads going back to 1984, but he knows that this is the only way it can be done. Simon overhears what the two are talking about and cuts in.
"We...We are going back to 1984?" Simon interrupts, "Are you mad?"
The seven men worked steadily through the night on the vessel. The repairs that were needed were small, and Nick and James were able to pinpoint what had to be done in record time. Nick made a few adjustments to the wiring, and James learned from his counterpart. Before long, the vessel was ready, and all the men were exhausted. Simon and Andy ventured out to town to pick up some food and drinks, as well as a few other items that they would be needing for this strange trip that they were about to take. Andy was tempted to take a detour at the local liquor store, but remembering what would become of him, he passed it by. By the time they returned to the wearhouse, the vessel was going through it's first stages of warm-ups.
"Better get inside now, men, we're about to go." Nick calls out from inside. Everyone jumps inside the old metal sphere. Simon can't believe that this was happening and shuts his eyes tightly, hoping that everything goes according to plans.
It happened just the way it did before. There was a bright flash of light, which took Nick by surprise, but James was ready for it. The rumbling was loud, and the vessel shook violently this time, jerking the men around and tossing them about like ragdolls. After what seemed forever, the shaking stopped, and this time everyone stayed awake to see where they ended up.
The air was heavy, as if someone had taken a vacuum and sucked the life out of the vessel. Simon stood up quickly and started pulling open the door, gasping for some fresh air to enter his lungs. Charlie stood up and started to help him in this task.
"She's stuck, mates. It's as if it's welded shut." Simon gasps.
John stands to help the two men. He looks around the vessel to find a crow bar that Simon had taken from the car. Guess he plans on bashing this man's head in with this thing? He hurries to the door, "Stand aside, mates." John says as he jams the crowbar into the door frame. He starts pulling on the bar as hard as his body will allow him. Suddenly, the door comes loose, and John's strength grows tenfold as he keeps jarring the door open.
After what seems to be hours, the door is finally open, and the men take a look outside. They've landed in a field out in the countryside.
"Shit!" Simon growls. "Where in the hell are we?"
Nick walks out of the vessel. He is a bit stunned on where they ended up.
"I have no bloody idea where we are..." Nick says in total disgust. John exits the doorway and stands next to Nick. He's pensively looking ahead, saying nothing.
"I thought you knew what you were doing, Nick! Now, look at us, we're in the middle of a fucking field!" Simon yells. Nick is angry, not only at himself, but at Simon for acting as if all of this was his fault.
"Listen, Simon, if you think you can do a better job at this, be my guest." Nick sharply replies.
John takes a few steps ahead, away from the group of angry men, and bends to his knees. He reaches down to the ground and picks up a hand full of sand and lets it run through his fingers like it would in an hourglass. His stare is kept ahead of him, off in the distance. He looks up at the moon above, and allows his eyes to focus. He then sees what he was looking for.
"Look at Mr. Rhodes, the without imperfection, anal-retentive asshole!" Simon snides. "Thinking he can get us to where we're going, and gets us no fucking where." Nick sharply turns to Simon, his face red and seething with anger.
"Well, at least I don't have my head stuck in every woman's crotch every time I turn around!" Nick returns.
Charlie is standing behind Simon and starts to laugh. "I've not lost it, then." He cracks.
Simon and Nick turn to Charlie, "Shut the hell up!" they both say in unison.
John slowly stands to his feet, small grains of sand still in his hand, "We're here." he says quietly and in control. James hears this and rushes to his side.
"Well, who gives a shit if I like to have fun every once in a while. I haven't seen you with anyone since Julie. At least I have a life." Simon retorts.
"You may have a life, but what does your wife think about that?" Nick says angrily.
"I have a wife?" Charlie asks in surprise. Both the men look at him again and he steps back and excuses himself from the confrontation.
"What about my wife?" Simon shouts. His anger is growing worse every second.
"Well, I'm sure she'd just love to hear about the one you had the other night..." Nick growled.
James looks at John, wondering what he is looking at. "What do you see, mate?" He asks.
John keeps staring ahead, "We're here. We're back where we came from before..." John is interrupted.
"You ASSHOLE!" Simon shouts, lunging towards Nick, his face red, his eyes darkest of blue. Roger sees what is happening, and throws himself between the two. John turns around, angry about what is going on.
"WILL YOU TWO STOP THIS SHIT AND LISTEN TO ME?" John yells. Simon stops, his fist clenched, knuckles white. Roger is holding Simon's arm and Nick steps back. They all turn towards John.
"Like I was saying before, we're here." John proclaims.
"Where are we?" Andy asks, emerging from the vessel. He walks over to where Roger is standing, noticing his mate holding down Simon. He apparently missed the entire confrontation and was a bit confused.
"We're back in the Union." John says with a hint of fear in his voice. "Look, over there." He points ahead to a large monument in the not so far distance. It was a very familiar site to all of them, except for Simon and Nick. The large snake set in stone, twisting about an enormous pillar, signaling that they have only yards away from the Union of the Snake. All the men turn their eyes towards the area that John was looking, and one by one, the expressions on their faces turned from excitement to amazement, and then to horror. Simon wasn't sure what to make of it all. He had been slightly briefed on the appearance of this place, and how things are handled here. He could never imagine just what lay ahead of him. Nick was perplexed, as always. He was very interested in what he might find there, but worry filled his soul. He was never into adventures like his other mates had been before in the past, but at the same time, he wouldn't mind being Bond-ish. He noticed the expressions on everyone's faces, and tried to read his own. The men stood there in silence for several moments. They knew that it was time to do what had to be done.
The first thing that came to mind was to hide the vessel somehow so that Bones wouldn't find out they had returned. They scattered about, finding anything that would work to drape over the small metal sphere. They found large palm leaves, straw, twigs, anything that was lying about. After an hour of work, they sucessfully camoflauged the vessel. John remembered to leave something that only he would know, in order to mark the site to where it would be easy to find when it came time to escape. It was simple - his leather beaded necklace that he had received once from a fan of his. He placed it on one of the twigs sticking out from the structure.
The first job done, all the men gathered together to set out a plan.
"Ok, let's figure this out." Simon says anxiously. "We go there, to this Union place, and find this Bones guy, right?"
"Right." John answers. "But we have to be discreet."
"How do we go about that? We've already done that before, and I'm sure this guy is going to recognize us...he thinks we're somewhere else knocking off ourselves!" Andy says, confused and angry at the same time.
"He's right." James says. "He thinks we are in another time before this one. If we show up now, he'll know we've doublecrossed him."
All the men look at each other. The five bandmates then look over at Simon and Nick, and an idea starts brewing like a pot of water boiling over. John looks at Simon, his mouth turned up in a slight grin.
"He wouldn't recognize you." John says to him.
Simon looks at John and tries to guess just what he is getting at, then it hits him. "Oh no. You can't just throw me at this bloke! I wouldn't know what to do." Simon chatters. "What if he recognizes me?"
John laughs, "Simon, I didn't even recognize you when I saw you in that thing earlier...You'd be perfect. Nick still looks frighteningly the same to me, but you've, how can I say this... You've matured in a different way." Andy starts cracking up, knowing what John was getting at. Roger catches on, and starts laughing, holding his hand over his mouth and trying to avoid eye contact with Simon.
"Wait a bloody minute!" Charlie butts in. "Are you saying I look old? I think I look quite nice for a 40-something year old man, thank you!"
Simon turns his head sharply towards Charlie. "Yeah, what he said.." He says, not sure if he wants to strangle the younger version of himself, or thank him. "Anyway...What in the hell could I do? Just what do you have planned?" Simon asks.
John scratches his head, "I'm thinking you go in there, befriend the man, and make it to where we can go in and eliminate the bastard."
Nick grimaces at this idea. "How 'bout we send Simon in with a big gun and let him blow the asshole to pieces?" He says sarcastically.
"Um, we don't have a gun, mate." Roger chirps.
Simon rolls his eyes, "Yes, we know that, Rog. Nick is just making a point here... a very good point." Simon walks a few feet ahead of the group, staring at the large monument ahead. He tries to think of a good, solid plan. He turns to the rest of the group.
"Look, this guy is obviously sharp. You all thought you had outsmarted him, but truthfully, he outsmarted you. I am almost positive that he knows that you weren't who you said you were. He sent you somewhere else, but James here changed the course of it by landing you to us. He's waiting for us to return, and he's not going to be very gentle this time." Simon was sure of this.
"He's right." James says. "Bones had the time map changed to something that I couldn't even figure out. I was able to change it, but I can't guarantee that he's not out there somewhere watching us. We need to sneak up on him, and the only way to do this is to get him where he's the most vunerable."
"How?" John asks.
The expression on Nick's face changes instantly. He smiles widely. "I think I know...the answer to our troubles." All the men look at him in anticipation.
"What are you thinking?" Simon asks.
"It's only obvious, Simon. Think about it," Nick says, grinning. "In every society, there's a dictatorship, and there's the other party that wants to bring that dictatorship down. We're not the only ones here that want to get rid of Bones...surely, there's a group out there somewhere that has the same idea as we do." John looks about, thinking what Nick had said must be right. But where? Where would they find such a group? He remembers a small village while he was running about, and it occured to him that he wasn't far from finding help.
"I think I can get us there... but we'll have to go back that way." John says, pointing towards the opposite direction. "It's a small town that I had found when I was, err, trying to find my way, so to say. We might have some luck there."
Noone could disagree with Nick's theory, and they hoped that John might be right as well. They all decided on going with Nick's intuition, and with John's help in finding this group that could spell the end of Bones, they headed South into the darkness.
