The Revolution | Teen Ink

The Revolution

December 21, 2017
By Treveon BRONZE, Wentzville, Missouri
Treveon BRONZE, Wentzville, Missouri
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Cedric Ruffin, a man of the year 2090 and a certified chrono-regulator . An occupation that entails of time travel and ensuring the flow of time goes undamaged. This particular form of work was created by the US when multi-timeline theory came about as fact. Said theory states that if time is altered in any form possible, it will not alter an already formulated future but instead create an entire new timeline with said changes being a major part of history. This also means the past, present and future are always being repeated in other timelines not as advanced.
Cedric excels in stealth based missions, spreading the inklings of revolt and war in the heads of prominent historical figures. Cedric’s largest accomplishment thus far was most likely causing the second world war almost single handedly, it involved a lot of tedious egging on that was not worth discussing. Cedric tends to operate alone, but on larger missions, such as his World War II operation he brings a small circle of stealth workers alongside him. Despite them being the slim few that work with Cedric, alike the rest of the world they hardly converse or know anything about the man.
“So, heh what’s yer’ home life like, cap’n Cedric? Got you a family at yer’  home, any kids?”
“That’s classified, keep your head on the mission.” Is the extent to most personal conversations with Cedric flowed. Currently, Cedric lacks a family, he lives by his lonesome in, semi-shabby shotgun home 20 or so miles away from the chrono-regulator home base stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana. Though this is a decision that he made himself, abusing a fallacy of “I live too dangerous of a life to have a family.”
Cedric has just signed himself up for a potential multi-year mission all the way back in 1789, France, smack at the beginning of the french revolution. Being born and raised in Louisiana all of his life, Cedric‘s second language was indeed French due to the historic background of the state. The mission was to ensure the entirety of the French revolution goes as it should, since the timeline he was travelling to showed signs of the revolution completely failing at the very start. Cedric suited up for the mission, leaving behind all of the modern tech he casually carried on him at the base before his departure except one piece. All Chrono-regulators received a wrist-watch upon completing their initiation into this line of work. Said watch appeared to be very aged for the sake of public convenience, however the technological state of the watch was quite the contrary. The watched served as a communication device to the head office of regulators and a potential emergency escape, that zips him forward in their current timeline in the instance that the main form of transportation between timelines gets compromised.
Due to the time period Cedric was being shipped off to on his mission, the warping point was an elden mirror lined with shimmering bronze edges that squealed upon contact with outside forces. His location was a miniscule apartment five minutes strolling from the centre of Paris. His quarters were fully equipped with cracked walls, a bed that wasn’t large enough to even be referred to as ‘twin size’, and last but not least a decaying excuse of a restroom. Sadly, the length of this mission was solely dependent upon the people of this era, so Cedric’s housing could be semi-permanent, or a one day only residence. Today was the day of the first true event of the French Revolution, which could very well be renamed to “The Great French Rebellion” if Cedric doesn’t do his job properly.
His wrist watch read 11:30 a.m. which meant that very soon the crowd of liberators wielding their hollowed out muskets would begin to make demands of the French guard at the Bastille prison. Cedric was supposed to partake in the siege of the prison and ensure that the artillery that the prison held was apprehended by the revolutionaries. Thus, he set out into the mid-morning streets of this oppressed Paris. The air smelled of local bakeries and florist shops on the corners of every avenue, just getting a whiff of this freshness was pure bliss. While simply walking around Cedric just couldn’t help but peer into one of the many bakeries that emitted such an alluring aroma. Just by looking at the bread from outside of the shop Cedric could essentially taste it. Perfectly steaming in one massive loaf that’d last for days, made with some sort of crop, most likely sugar, that added to the overall sweetness of the bread. This world had yet to be tainted by pollution and technology, much unlike the future where the weather conditions were constantly “smog” or “rainy”. Exploring timelines untouched and untainted delicacies was a privilege Cedric detrimentally didn’t have at this point in time however.
Cedric strode through the streets in the most commoner-esk outfit the regulators could conjure up for this place and time aside from the fedora with his full name printed on a tag. He then made his way to the center of Paris where the Bastille, a top notch prison at the time, stood tall. A few other fidgety characters lurked near this place, most likely revolutionaries that just arrived a bit earlier than what was planned. Within the hour, the entire entourage filled with those tired of the way they’ve been made out to live arrived. All carrying their bluff weaponry, lacking ammunition and gunpowder for firing, not to mention  their lack of training on top of that. Alas, that’s what this entire raid was meant for, acquiring the means of using their stolen muskets. After enough time spent stalling out the French guard, they agreed for two representatives to enter the prison and state their terms. At random, Cedric and another man named Fontaine were chosen by the masses to state the conditions.
“We demand that we are given all of the musket artillery, gunpowder and that the two cannons be removed from the prison. Otherwise we’ll strike and complete these actions by force!” Said Fontaine with far too much enthusiasm for even Cedric to take seriously.
“Preposterous! How dare you demand something so unethical and squander our time like you are?! Have you gone mad? Need you be admitted to a cell you stand so near now?” Responded  one of the few guards equally as over-energized as Fontaine. The other guards didn’t seem to even want to humor this wild request, and Cedric leaned against one of the concrete walls, nearest to the door in case he had any reason to escape the room. Shouts were thrown to and fro amongst the guards and Fontaine, and eventually a third member of the revolutionists joined the fray. The idle requesting and denying continued on and on and on until the entire prison shook and the battle cries of the revolutionaries could be heard echoing from all across the prison halls like an earthquake chipping away at the buildings foundation..
There was an anticlimactic pause in the negotiation room, both sides hawking each other down waiting for the other to make a move. The energetic guard was the first to try something, he slid atop of the oakwood table that separated the two sides and tried to kick Fontaine wildly. Fortunately Fontaine was able to defend himself properly, tanking the shock of the kick with his forearms, grabbing the guard’s leg and  smashing his elbow downward into the guard’s knee. During this commotion, Cedric and the other revolutionary rushed toward the other guards with the intent to put them to sleep. Cedric slammed the back of his fist into the closest guard’s nose, making an audible crack noise fill the room like a bone snapping in half. The guard utterly crumbled onto the floor directly after the impact reached his nose, and possibly pushed a bone directly into his brain. Cedric took the opportunity to frisk the guard down, finding a letter of sort, a knife, and lastly he swiped the guards fossil-like pistol from it’s holster and aim it at the other guards, occupied with Fontaine and the random.
This simply lead to them getting a “get out of jail free card”, and getting further involved in the situation unfolding in the halls of the prison. The seven men being held in the prison were released and became savage lions, fighting alongside the revolutionaries, who apprehended the artillery and gunpowder like planned and engaged in an arms fight against the countless guards. This simple prison only holding few prisoners in its confinement had suddenly become a scene of a full scale war. Gunpowder clouded the air and choked up all of the men undergoing battle, destructive and primitive bullets fluttered in the air like swooping hawks bounding for it’s prey, men were dropping to the ground a bleeding mess one after another. Cedric was no exception to the ongoing chaos that plagued this prison, over the time he’d spent during his missions he became quite the marksman. The musket he was provided with had become his third arm, he knew the sweet spots to avoid recoil, how he should adjust his aim to get a clean headshot on enemy soldiers, the whole nine yards.  The battle continued for hours on end, until the guards finally surrendered to all of the conditions of the revolutionaries skeptically. This conclusion meant that the flow of time was now put properly on track with minimal scratches to the winners side, aside from the tragic loss of Cedric’s hat.
With this, Cedric made his way back to his crummy apartment with a feeling of satisfaction flowing through his veins. He looked at his mirror, and recalled the method of transport, it was five total taps against the glass that would form a pentagon out of the fingerprint smudges. Before he was able to go about the code, the front door to his apartment was bashed inward with an dramatic thud sound to it. Lit gunpowder filled the apartment with it’s choking aroma as Cedric hit the ground almost a second too late from losing his head completely. When he arose to his feet he was impolitely greeted by the fist of a familiar man with a wrapped up and crooked nose. Cedric was repeatedly pummelled by the man he’d struck earlier and his crew, they also decided to trash the entire apartment to make sure the redundant point was gotten across.
Cedric used all of his energy to press a switch on his watch, the switch that allotted a time jump into what should be to the years of the regulators. The mark was set for the time, but the glass that protected the settings of the location was shattered with a splatter of red caked up into its cracks. Regardless Cedric initiated the jump and underwent a sensation he’d never experienced before. It was like he was caught into a gravity chamber that kept him oppressed onto the ground, along with a blackened space with a current of white rings looping consistently passed him. Once the trip through the time periods ended, Cedric was now in the middle of some lot, he got onto his feet and took note of the surrounding zone. Signs of “NAPOLEON” were hung on every part of the streets, the streets that were deserted of all signs of casual life. It seemed clear that there was still some work in the revolution that needed handling.



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