Nina Moreland was tired when she got home, or at least to the home that she'd had to move to after the destruction of the old Moreland home. A part of her really didn't want to have to go after Sarah McMillan, but stopping a fight CAUSED by a vampire was too much. It was a betrayal and represented biased activity on the part of SPEAR that wasn't what her husband had wanted, and in still hurting from his death, she got the Hunters to back out of the alliance and take back everything that had been her husband's. It'd cripple SPEAR for the next hundred years as they sought about training FBI and CIA members on physical combat and likely getting some of the information needed to deal with rogue supernatural.
Nina hoped they'd also run into some demon that would kill Sarah McMillan teach her the errors of messing with Hunter affairs on a more permanent basis. It'd allow the Hunters to be the policemen of the supernatural world that they always were and without people who knew nothing trying to play "detective." Hannibal confessed to the crime and confessed that Wyatt Tepes ordered, SPEAR should have either helped or stood by, not stopping her oldest from defeating the vampire that had started the fight. Though that was a different issue, and for the moment she was too tired to deal with much more. She set the box of her husband's things on small table in front of the couch and prepared to go to bed. However, as she did so, she heard footsteps.
"Mom, is that you?" came Connor's voice, and that surprised her as Connor was supposed to be in the hospital.
"Connor?!" Nina gasped, "what... what are you doing here? You should be in the hospital and... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
As Connor came into view, she screamed in surprise and horror. It was her younger son, she could sense that, but he looked decidedly worse than his condition was before. His left eye was missing and there was a long diagonal scar that ran across his face and where that eye was. From the looks of things, it had to have been done by a sword of some kind. He wore a white tank top shirt, but much of that was also to allow that his left arm was entirely cybernetic and had Spark's full name written on the shoulder. He wore a pair of plain jeans and walked with a bit of a limp. He also looked like he was about five to ten years older than he was now.
"Connor... what happened to you?" Nina gasped, "Did Wyatt..."
"Wyatt Tepes didn't do anything, mom," Connor said slowly and firmly and then sighed, "Chronia said something like this would happen..."
"Chronia?" Nia asked, sounding puzzled, both at the mention of Wyatt Tepes not doing anything and a name she hadn't heard before.
"My present partner... or for your present tense... FUTURE partner," Connor answered, "one of the fey resistances against the Normal."
"But you and Spark defeated the Normal attack on the fey," Nina pointed out, still mentally trying to piece things together.
"We may have defeated some of their individual soldiers and helped the allow for the "cavalry" to arrive," Connor answered, "but it was Sarah McMillan and SPEAR that actually defeated the Normal attack. And saved me and Spark in the process."
"Don't mention her," Nina said firmly, "that bitch betrayed EVERYTHING your father trusted her with and because of her, Wyatt Tepes and the Vampire Nation..."
"Has done NOTHING," Connor spoke, "mom... I'm from the future. Five years in the future. And this is my only shot to stop the Normal from destroying EVERYTHING."
"The Normal?" Nina blinked.
"It would appear that Hannibal ran afoul of the Normal and they did something that either brainwashed him or turned him into a puppet," future Connor answered, "THEY were the ones who sent Hannibal and had him confess to a crime that Wyatt did not commit. "The Boss" put it all in something of a villain monologue after they destroy everything. I'd managed to escape when it came out, but couldn't do much at that time."
"He was brainwashed?" Nina asked.
"By the Normal, yes," future Connor answered, "He was not ordered by the Vampire Nation."
"You mean..." Nina said slowly, "Caleb..."
"Caleb assaulted an innocent head of state and beat him to a pulp in front of his children," future Connor spoke, "and likely set back any sort of hope for change within the Vampire Nation for at least a century. More business for the Hunters, but also more death and more heartache that needn't be there. Particularly as those who have noted the difference between Wyatt and his predecessors. And everything that followed was a great boon to the Normal."
"But..." Nina stammered.
"But nothing mom," future Connor answered, "you need to return the stuff you and the Hunters stole to SPEAR immediately. Director McMillan isn't going to accept any Hunter member as a member of her organization, as military soldiers fighting a war and jumping at emotions and law enforcement, which requires a degree of finesse don't mix. Sarah did what she did to PROTECT Caleb and prevent things from getting out of control. She only pulled a gun because Caleb wouldn't back down. And she's going to be wrestling with a lot of things over the next coming days to train agents and will need the information that dad gave her of his own accord. Otherwise... the Normal will take over everything."
"Everything... but the fey... Queen Glitter," Nina stated, "if the Normal..."
Future Connor looked over to a clock and then sighed, "mom... if that clock is right, there is NO "Queen" Glitter anymore. You and the Hunters crippled not just SPEAR but the entire fey economy. Most of their trade and efforts revolved around helping us. You took away their paychecks and livelihoods. You also made it quite firm that the heir to throne was the cause. What do you think happens when a bunch of soldiers come home and are angry at their own government?"
Nina's eyes widened, "revolution."
"And that's already begun in the fey realm," future Connor spoke, "the only reason Glitter isn't dead already is that she was outside the fey realm at the time. Spark's family... outside of her father, they're all dead, killed by the revolutionaries."
"Can't we..." Nina began.
"No, mom," future Connor spoke, "the Fey Republic will have nothing to do with the Hunters that betrayed them. They may blame Sarah for the cause of it... but they blame YOU and the Hunters for carrying it out. Chronia only agreed to help me because the coming war between the Hunters and the Fey Republic left both crippled beyond recover. The fey because of the earlier Normal attack and the Hunters because of how much we've relied on the fey to help us out. And in five years... after all the Normal have done, things for them are even WORSE."
"Spark..." Nina said slowly.
"She doesn't know, yet," future Connor answered, "though, in about an hour or so when her badly wounded father appears before her, she will. And that damage has already been done and there isn't much more that can be done. Chronia says that time travel is tricky that way. My mission is to stop the Normal and the massive attack that they are getting ready to launch that will pretty much kill everyone that's opposed them..."
"Everyone..." Nina paled, "when...?"
"The attack begins within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours," future Connor spoke, "they get just about everyone. Caleb was among the first to die under their attack... and I only survived because Spark gave her life to get me OUT of the hospital. And I've spent five years longing to get her back. But... being on the run and getting some help from new allies, including a robotics guru who built my new arm and getting lucky with Chronia's help has offered for a way to stop the Normal's attack... or at least prevent it from succeeding and may well fix the problems that YOU and Caleb caused."
"And where is Chronia, if I may ask?" Nina wondered.
"Holding down the portal I came through," future Connor answered, "and would be my only ticket back to the future."
"And what if this only sets up some parallel timeline or something else?" Nina wondered.
"Then at least this timeline's Connor and Spark will get a shot at what I lost because of the Normal," future Connor answered, "and maybe there would be something that might come out of the win that could let me take that to beat the Normal in my timeline."
"But what about all the others... I..." Nina said weakly. A part of her should be suspicious, but something continually told her that this WAS her youngest son, or at least a future version of him.
"There are some things that we will have that are more damage control and hopefully get those outside of the vampires and the fey," future Connor spoke, "the Hunters and SPEAR won't be available. The Hunters fending off attacks by the Fey Republic and SPEAR in getting their own house in order. It's going to be up to our close friends and those that will trust the warning regarding the Normal... and we can't do a thing about anything else until AFTER the Normal are soundly beaten."