Cinelle Jay

I looked down and saw that Joe's bio-mesh and my laser cutter were both gone. Left behind at the scene of the crime.

Oh no. Not Joe. Floppy haired Joe who just learned how to stand up for himself and tries so hard like an over eager puppy. The monster I created. Zeke.

The disbelief and despair were overwhelming. I promised. I promised him that it wouldn't blow back on him. After he called me his friend. After he believed in me instead of holding how we met against me.

“Oh my… no no no”

Trembling hands clutched my shoulders while I struggled to breathe. I barely noticed the ground I sat on, or how I got down there.

My thoughts were a swirling tempest. My throat was tight and my lungs were burning. Are my cheeks wet? I still can't breathe.

Gasping for breath and gripping my braids hard enough to hurt, I nearly gave in to the darkness.

N.A.T.A.L.I.E. kept checking in on me.

No girl, I'm not ok! I promise.

What a stupid question. Do I look ok?! I mean come on! I-

Abruptly, a portal glowing brighter than an arc reactor appeared in front of me. Close enough to reach out and touch. The shock of it cut into my internal monologue.

The disrespect.

I scrambled away from it as I idly noted that the portal's diameter was 3 feet and perfectly spherical. So obviously unnatural. Then I tried to remember if the portals I saw in shaky 2013 Convergence videos were perfectly spherical like this.

Nope.

I don't have time for otherworldly nonsense in the middle of my well deserved melt down.

Do not beam me up Scotty. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Just then, a large, black, and full duffle bag fell out of the portal and landed right where my feet used to be.

Super sus.

Four more identical sus bags landed next to the first. Just as quickly as it appeared, the portal was gone. Winked out of existence like I imagined the whole thing. But the bags were still there.

“What in the world?!” N.A.T.A.L.I.E. crouched over the bags inspecting them. “Ri, I'm not detecting anything dangerous from the bags, surprisingly.” She turned back to face me. “You're breathing. That's good. Keep on breathing for me Ri.”

Huh. I actually was breathing. Turns out mysterious portals and sus duffle bags can shock me out of a panic attack. Who knew.

After wiping my face, I reached for the bag that came through first. I needed answers and I wanted them expeditiously.

“Wait Ri no! We have no idea what's in there!”

I responded as I grabbed the zipper and pulled. “You said nothin's dangerous in there and I just need to -”.

I gasped in HD.

I was so caught off guard, I wondered if I forgot how to breathe again. My hands were unsteady as I reached in and pulled out the first two items and held them to my chest.

“Ri! The bio-mesh and your laser cutter!”

N.A.T.A.L.I.E. was astonished. I was relieved. And very overwhelmed. I don't have to worry about Joe anymore, at least. Zeke. I keep forgetting.

Setting the bio-mesh and the laser cutter aside, I pulled out the next item, a letter.

A letter in my handwriting.

From me. To me.

What in the world!

I just opened a giant can of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.

Cool…

I can't even deal with this right now.

I almost died. I let John die.

But there's a letter that I wrote to myself, as well as a tablet and cash. Bands upon bands of cash.

Logic dictates I should read the letter first right?

Hey Girl,

Guess who eventually figures out time travel! We do!

Try not to beat yourself up over John. He would've killed you. Even if you saved him. He never would've let you go because you know about Stuart.

I grabbed the bio-mesh and your laser cutter from the crime scene to keep Zeke out of prison. He was only in there for a short time, but the poor man was already traumatized, and then saved by the crew to replace you. And you know how Parker replaces people.

Parker knows about John. Or he will before the next job. I'm not sure when or how he finds out. He'll come for you as soon as he has a new tech specialist. You need to be ready. With Zeke staying out of prison, that should buy you some more time.

Come clean to Mama. About everything. She'll help you out. And you seriously need it girl. It's ok to accept help from your people. We've always been stronger that way. Trust me and save yourself another crash out. He'll come for you all. You cannot do this alone.

I only ever learned lessons the hard way. Don't be like me lil’ sis. Save yourself the heartache, pain, and your soul.

Oh yeah, so what's wild is that Parker literally sold his soul to a demon named Mephisto for his hood. Crazy right! Mephisto is BAD NEWS. Do not trust him under any circumstances! He'll try to make a bargain with you after you beat Parker and take the hood. No matter what he promises you, do not accept it! Not for Gary, Natalie or even N.A.T.A.L.I.E. He's gonna flatter that ego of yours, tell you everything you wanna hear, and then play in your face. Never forget that while he appears human and like a mystical Q, he is a malevolent DEMON. Red skin, devil horns and all. I am not exaggerating. There are hell worlds and dimensions that you've never heard of. Pray that you never do. I'm still dealing with those scars all these years later.

Alright, so now the care package. The tablet doesn't have any future tech. Can't make it too easy on you. Figuring out everything on your own is half of the adventure and learning experience. But I loaded the news footage of Zeke's arrest from my timeline. I'm sending you this so you can see the consequences. So you can see why I thought this was important. In my timeline, Zeke dealt with the consequences of being a fugitive for the rest of his life… one of my many regrets. Partner with him on his inventions. Together, you both will save more lives than just his.

Set up a product of your own that you can sell to first responders as well. I know you already have a lot of ideas. With a steady source of income from the patents, you'll be able to stop the shady mess and live the way you want.

The money is clean. The bills are from 2025 or older, so there should be no issues. Put it all into the suit if you like. But I recommend setting up a legit source of income asap.

Always save N.A.T.A.L.I.E. to a backup hard drive or to your laptop before you do any upgrades.

Get rid of Parker's hood.

SAY NO TO MEPHISTO!

Help Zeke and make sure you get part ownership for everything you do.

I'm doing this to give you hope for your future. A hope I needed when I was 19.

Riri Williams

Iconic Genius Extraordinaire

What the what! I just stared at the letter as if it was written in Klingon.

It was full of unbelievable bombshells. I lost count of how many times I reread it.

I'm not perfect. Never was. But to mess up enough to risk breaking the spacetime continuum?

Internally screaming!!!

Yeah ok. Cool. Cool cool cool. Take a deep breath.

I took inventory as the shock began to wear off. All five duffle bags were stuffed and nearly overflowing with stacks of money. A handful of $20's sat on top. Just enough so I can go to the corner store and not look suspicious. Smart.

Although mostly the duffle bags were all full of Benjamin's. This has to be a haul bigger than what we pulled in on our last job. Given the size of the duffle bags, I ran some quick numbers in my head. They each held approximately just over 20 million. Over 100 million total! And it's all mine.

All it cost was John's life. Just like that, the excitement I felt withered.

And Parker knows! How can I live long and prosper with everything falling apart?

“Riri! Answer me! Are you ok? What does it say?”

Apparently I've been ignoring N.A.T.A.L.I.E.

My bad I guess.

Instead of explaining, because I honestly don't even know if I have the breath for it, I set the letter down so she can scan it.

The letter that I wrote (will write?) in the future. Which means whatever is going to happen with Parker and the crew, I survive. My people must survive too because I'd definitely warn myself about it. Clearly I defeated Parker the first time around. The only snag came afterwards with Mephisto the demon.

A demon!

I still can't wrap my head around that. Maybe he's just a powerful alien from a hell like world. That's an explanation I can understand at least.

“Ri, this is insane! What are you going to do?”

“Hide everything in my closet and deal with it tomorrow. I need to sleep.”

It wasn't too long later that I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Contemplating life and the meaning of everything.

And?

I realized that Future Riri not only survived, but thrived. I will figure out time travel. I will have the resources to pull this off. I will have access and resources enough to gather this much cash, unmarked, and out of date. Possibly even out of print.

And that's when my breathing finally became easy. I drifted off making a list of what I needed to do, knowing that I'll succeed.

Make protective gear for my family.

Study the fabric from Parker's Hood.

Adjust and optimize the suit accordingly.

Neutralize Parker by taking the hood and beating his behind into the dirt if necessary.

Go legit with some help from Joe. Zeke. He's old and already in the corporate world.

Change the world and become the biggest baddest name in the field. Worldwide.

I'll be iconic.

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