Time After Tyler

As Tyler toppled backward in his chair, the only thought in his head was Oh, shoot, Mrs. Metcalfe'll hear me fall and then I'll get in trouble. That thought was banished when he hit a rocky surface with a jolting thump.

"Oof!"

He sat up and rubbed his head, looking up and around. There was a peculiar lack of library ceiling, and quite a lot of stars in its stead. Not like at night, though, or in space. He'd been in space. Space wasn't usually so... swirly.

His head didn't hurt, so that ruled out a concussion. So... he'd blurred from the library to... a rocky hillside, with nothing in front of him but more rocky hillside.

To his credit, he did not panic. Which wasn't to say that he wasn't pretty darn scared. He just didn't panic. Instead, since there was clearly nothing helpful ahead of him, he turned and hauled himself up over the ledge that blocked his view behind.

Over the ledge, the view was more promising. In the distance he could see a fancy castle, one with a lot of turrets. It didn't look old-fashioned, though, at least not properly so. It looked like it had been modeled on a medieval palace, or possibly Disneyworld, but by someone from the distant future.

Wherever he was, it not only wasn't the right place, it probably wasn't the right time either. "Oh, boy, does this look bad..."

"GURGLING piece of POT ROAST still won't re-initialize!"

He looked to where the familiar voice had come from. ...No. He had to get stranded on some rock in the middle of space - or wherever - and Zodon would be here? An angry Zodon complaining about his hardware, who had just appeared a few feet away from him.

"What do you mean 'Not enough RAM to complete required function?!' I threw a BLOSSOMING Beowulf cluster's worth of processing power into this pile of TATER TOTS, and it still won't even display the local time!"

Then Zodon caught sight of Tyler. They looked at each other. There was a pregnant (and deeply confused) pause.

"Didn't I just dump you in 1966 sometime after I ran into you in 1967?"

"Huh?"

Zodon sneered. He was good at that. "Think of it as something to look forward to, normal-boy." With that, boy-genius and mechanical chair disappeared into a swirling vortex with a somewhat disappointing beep.

Alone again, and a bit relieved that he didn't have to deal with Zodon, Tyler turned towards the castle. Buildings meant civilization, and civilization hopefully meant people. "I hope there's someone in there who can help me out..."

Time After Tyler: The Castle

The front door was open, if a large portal with no doors in it could be called a front door. Tyler stepped inside, looking around. Big doorway, big hallway. Big, empty hallway. Silence. So much for people.

"I don't suppose this place will have a phone I could use to call for help..." Then he realized what he had just said. "Call... wait a minute." While his backpack and grappler were back at school, he did always keep one thing in his pockets for emergencies.

He dug around his right pants pocket a bit before taking out the communicator that the Revenant had given him. It was a direct link to the vigilante's com unit, and right now seemed like a good time for advice. He stuck the earpiece into his ear and pressed dial, waiting for a response.
~~~~~~
The communicator rang. Unfamiliar signal. Odd. No matter, he answered it anyway. Might be the boss trying out something new.
~~~~~~
«Hello?» An adult voice came through on the other side, but... it didn't sound right.

"Hello, uh.... is this the Revenant?" Tyler asked, confused. First blurring, now this.

«No, he's not here right now. Who is this?»

"I'm Tyler, who are you?" And what was he doing on the Revenant's com channel?
~~~~~~
"Tyler? That's not-- oh. Oh!" He sat back and chuckled. This was priceless. "I remember this now! Wow. It's been a while."

«Huh?»
~~~~~~
"Huh?" What was this guy talking about?

«Nevermind. Just go into the castle. It'll get weird, but everything should turn out okay.»

"It will? Are you sure?"

«Positive. Keep going straight and turn right at the fountain in the middle of the hallway. There's something interesting down that hall you need to see. Got it?»

"I think so."

«Good. 'Bye!»

"'Bye..." Tyler removed the earpiece and tucked the com unit into his right pocket again. What was that all about?
~~~~~~
The Revenant came in just as the young man in the helmet logged off the system. "Patrol tonight was a bear, and I think we're going to see more activity from the Orion Cabal. Did I hear you talking on the com system when I came up?"

"Yeah."

"With whom?"

The younger man sat back in his chair and smiled. "Oh, just someone calling from fifteen years in the past."

"Oh, really? Our phone bill better not be obscene this month or it's coming out of your salary." The hooded vigilante shrugged and went for the coffee machine.