Hijikata's fingers gently squeezed Khutulun's as she lay on her stomach on a cot in the Museum's basement. Even from down there where he waited to see if what the nurses from different time periods did to help her worked, he could hear all the commotion upstairs. From what he knew, Leo, William, and Star were already up there while Hijikata stayed with Khutulun and Joel - mostly because he wanted to make sure Khutulun was alright and refused to leave her side.

On the latest mission, Joel had gotten hypothermia, which Hijikata only understood because one of the nurses had explained it to him. Joel's body was still recovering from being in the cold Atlantic ocean for too long.

The nurses had sewed up Khutulun's lashes and had given her some strange, foreign medication from a different time period, but she still had a high fever. Hijikata stroked her hair and prayed she would recover.

*****

"Och, yer bum's oot the windae!" William ran his fingers through his hair and gazed at the other people from different time periods gathered around him.

Leo and Mary, standing side-by-side, briefly glanced at the holo in the air in front of them and back at William and the others. It was Mary who responded. "No, I'm not, Will," she said, obviously the only other Scottish person in the room and thus, the only one able to understand what he'd said. William had gotten used to not being fully understood.

"Yer tellin' me tha' the entire world went ta war? Gomerals! How can tha' be?"

Star's eyes widened and glistened with tears. No matter how many times she told William she was okay, he knew she wasn't. Seeing the massacre of her people still affected her. After all, it had only been a few days ago.

"It happened, William, twice and now it's about to happen for a third time if we don't do something to stop it." Leo crossed his arms and then his eyes traced around the room.

"What exactly do you suggest we do to fix this?" Thomas, one of the men who apparently was an ex-British officer, asked.

Mary shook her head. "All the information that we have is that Kenneth - "

"Is that the one who runs the Museum?" someone asked. William didn't know them.

"Aye," William responded, seeing Kenneth's picture on the holo in front of Mary and Leo.

Leo blew strands of his loose brown hair out of his eyes. "Let Mary finish."

Mary nodded to him in silent thanks before she continued. "Kenneth and his agents are working for the government that rules the country we're in and they're trying to help what used to be known as Europe."

"What's wrong with Europe?" Thomas young friend, Paul if William remembered right, asked.

Mary swallowed deeply, but it was Joel's friend, Peter, who answered. "I overheard a few of the other Knights talking," Peter started. "The king isn't from their time period at all. They're covering for him."

"Och, then who is he?" William frowned.

"Julius Caesar." Leo's expression stayed impassive.

Peter nodded. "He came back from Roman times and made up a rumor about being from the medieval times so no one would know until it was too late. His beliefs about restoring order were all lies. In reality, he's been secretly using the time machines to plant things throughout time - things that would help the Roman Empire to rise again."

Mary cleared her throat. "And it has. Now, in modern times. According to the news in the holo, The New Roman Empire has already taken over Italy and is working its way through Europe. Some countries have surrendered and joined Julius Caesar and the Romans already but the others have allied with Kenneth against them."

Leo nodded his head to her then glanced around the room. "Our mission is two parts but one time period. Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The history books didn't record all the details of Pearl Harbor, but we found it in secret documents Kenneth had leftover. Back when the second world war first broke out, this country we're in, what used to be called the United States, hadn't joined the war. One of the Axis nations, Japan, bombed Pearl Harbor which made the US agree to join."

"Och, what's this got ta do wi' t'Romans, lad?" William struggled to keep up with all the information. The entire world at war? Not just once, but twice and now potentially a third? He couldn't make sense of it. The Jacobite Rebellion was a bad enough war.

Mary gently shoved Leo back. "What Leo's trying to say is that what wasn't in the history books was that one of the ships was secretly transporting nuclear warheads - powerful bombs capable of wiping out entire cities or worse. We have to send two different teams back there to Pearl Harbor on the day it's attacked. One team will save the warheads before they sink with the battleship the Arizona. We can use this to wipe out the cities The New Roman Empire has taken over. Reports are all over the news saying that they've cleared them out completely of citizens and the Romans are using them as military camps and bases. Soldiers only."

"And the second?" Thomas asked.

Mary cleared her throat. "Will find Kenneth's ancestor - he's a soldier who is supposed to die in one of the bombings. He was Kenneth's inspiration for the time machines in the first place. If we save him and let him speak to Kenneth, it could convince Kenneth to stop what he's doing here. There are rumors that Kenneth and his agents remember history. That we have repaired the timeline enough to fix it. If that's true, then even if we stop the third world war from happening, we'll still be slaves to him. None of us want that. We've all lost too many people and we all deserve to go home."

"Aye." William and Thomas started until the entire room was filled with a chorus of agreement.

It was time they freed themselves from Kenneth's reign.

*****

"I'm fine." Joel crossed his arms, glaring at Hijikata, William, Leo, and Star as he sat up on his cot. Next to him, Khutulun slept peacefully, watched by Mary and one of the nurses Joel briefly recognized as one from World War One.

Hijikata shook his head. "Your body isn't fully recovered and if you go into a battle, you'll be a liability."

Joel gritted his teeth and glared at the Jap. "You don't get to tell me what to do, Hijikata. None of you know what Pearl Harbor was like. None of you. There's no one else here from that time period either. I'm going."

Star placed a hand on Joel's shoulder. "If you lived through this tragedy, are you sure your heart is ready to face it again?"

Joel didn't miss how William's eyes stayed firmly planted on Star. In the back of his mind, Joel thought he heard gunfire popping and bombshells exploding, but he pushed it all as far back as he could. "Yes, ma'am. I'm not gonna flip my wig anytime soon."

*****

Star's heart fluttered in her chest like a bird torn by the wind and rain during a storm. William gathered with several other men in the time machine; Joel, Hijikata, Leo, and then two more from another team - Thomas and Viktor.

Star swallowed as she met William's gaze. The others had seated themselves, all for Leo who stood face-to-face with Mary while she stood outside the time machine with Star. Somehow, Mary was able to control the machine from a place she called the Hub, but Star did not understand her tongue when she spoke of such things. "William, let me come with you!"

William shook his head, stroking her jaw gently with his fingers. "Sorry, lass, but the answer's no. I will no' have ye in a battle such as this one. Ye stay here, where yer safe. Where I ken ye'll be safe."

Placing her hand upon his, Star shook her head furiously, making her braids gently smack her chest. "You will not be. P - promise me you will return to me, William." Tears glistened in her eyes and even though she tried to keep them from falling, they spilled over anyway.

William gently pressed his lips against hers and the kiss was as soft as a whisper. "Aye, lass. I'll always coom back ta ye." With that, he released her and stepped into the time machine. The glass doors shut behind him and Star never took her eyes off him as the machine began to spin and whirl.

It disappeared, taking them into the middle of a battle, one Star did not know they could survive.

*****

Hijikata and the others had no hesitation as they all darted out of the time machine's doors. For now, it was hidden inside a place Joel called a hanger along with several other cross-shaped machines Hijikata had no name for, but Joel said they didn't have long.

They split up into their teams - Joel, Hijikata, and Thomas were following Joel's tablet to an office where Kenneth's ancestor was supposed to die and somehow convince him to go with them aboard the time machine. Hijikata had no idea how they were planning on taking him. The second team - William, Leo, and Viktor - were heading aboard the Arizona to steal one of the nuclear warheads.

"Good luck, mates," Leo said, shaking Joel's hand and then Thomas. Hijikata briefly inclined his head to him.

Leo, William, and Viktor darted off out of the hanger to their right.

The instant Hijikata stepped out of the machine, the entire ground shook like an earthquake.

"Zeroes on our six!" Joel said. "Get down!"

A loud buzzing from behind them was all Hijikata had time to hear before the buzzing turned into loud snaps and cracks. He did as Joel commanded and dove downward, covering his head. Bullets whizzed by them as Hijikata clenched the hilt of his katana in vain. He knew it would do no good. He had already fought in one war with katanas against guns and back then, he'd lost.

Joel shoved the guns from his time period that they had taken with them into his hand and Thomas held up his own.

"I've never seen rifles fire so quickly before." Thomas's eyes widened.

Joel aimed his gun at the sky as one of the strange metal machines flew by overhead. Smoke coated the sky in a thick layer, blocking out the sun. Far to their left, bombs exploded, ten times stronger than the cannon fire Hijikata was used to in the Boshin War. Several dozen ships lay in the harbor to their left and three of them exploded upon impact.

"William and the others will have to survive that." Hijikata meant it as a question, but his voice came out sounding bitter.

Joel nodded, eyes cast downward. "We don't have time. We have to get to the office. It's by the hospital, so it ain't far. Let's go."

The three men dashed out of the nearly destroyed hanger and into the open. Joel led them behind a stack of crates, but more machines flew by overhead. It dove down low. Hijikata remembered what Thomas and Joel had shown him about firing the strange weapon in his hands, so as his fingers squeezed the trigger, he took aim. From down where they were, their attacks might as well have been paper; against those metal monsters, their bullets did nothing.

The enemies' bullets, however, destroyed the crates and everything else in their path. A line of soldiers had darted from one hanger to another and Hijikata caught a handful of men in another across from them desperately trying to start up one of the metal machines. The same flying machine dove toward that hanger and a bomb sailed through the air toward it.

"Look out - " Hijikata tried, but his warning came too late.

Joel shook his head and nodded toward a building just outside the hanger. "That's where we've gotta get to. C'mon." With that, as the flying machine left them, they sprinted out from their cover and across the empty field to the building on the other side of it. The back of it was on fire, creating smoke that rose up to join the blackened sky. Even though Hijikata knew it was day, it felt as if it was in the middle of the night.

Next door, another building exploded. Women darted out of it, screaming as they carried men on stretchers. Two women carried one stretcher that held a man missing a leg while a third gripped his leg as they ran.

Hijikata aimed his gun at one of the flying machines as it closed in on them. "No!" he shouted, anger and grief filling him.

Bullets littered the second woman's body. The first dropped the stretcher with a groan, but she turned back toward the wounded man and the third nurse. "We'll have to sew him up here - " she started.

Hijikata's blood boiled as the metal monster turned around for a second pass. He sprinted toward the new women as quickly as he could, but Joel tackled him out of the way. "Let me help them!" he screamed.

Joel shoved him flat on the ground. Bullets sang as they slammed against the ground on all sides. Pain erupted in his arm but when Hijikata glanced at it, he realized it was a flesh wound. Gritting his teeth he sat up as Joel stood and fired his gun at the machines.

Both women and the wounded man lay dead next to Hijikata. Blood pooled beneath him and his breathing froze. "How - how could they do something so dishonorable?" Hijikata whispered with a groan of pain in his chest. He stood to his feet, staring at Joel in horror. "You said - you - you hated me... th - that my people..." His voice trailed off, lost behind the screams and thundering explosions.

Joel's grief-stricken eyes met Hijikata's horror-filled gaze. "The Japanese did this. The same ones who destroyed your way of life."

Anger and hatred gripped Hijikata's heart and his fists clenched his gun. No matter what happened here according to history, Hijikata would do everything he could to make it right.

*****

William honestly hadn't believed he, Leo, and Viktor would make it to the battleship Arizona alive. He had no time to marvel at all the metal machines around him - metal ships, who knew? Both he and Leo had still been used to wooden vessels in their times, but William shoved it all away and forced himself to focus.

Explosions made the ship creak and rattle and it rolled and rocked with each cannon fire that tore through it. William had a difficult time staying on his feet as he clenched his rifle in his hands. Even Leo looked as if he struggled to stay upright.

All around them, men shouted unintelligibly. He had no idea how they could understand orders from their commanders or even tell where their commanders were.

"The warheads are down below," Leo shouted over the thunderous explosions.

Viktor and William nodded and followed Leo deeper into the ship. It was even worse inside where William couldn't see the sky or where the explosions were coming from. At least out there, he could see them and prepare. In here, all he could do was wait as they ran and feel the ship shifting beneath his feet.

As they passed through another door, William stepped aside as soldiers scrambled past them. Inside, William stepped up behind Leo and Viktor, raising his gun.

Half a dozen Roman soldiers stood inside the room. They aimed swords at the three men.

Leo smirked. "Pistols are faster than swords, mate." The pirate cocked the rifle in his hands.

William did the same.

Viktor shook his head. "No. Do not."

"He's right," one of the Roman soldiers started. "If you shoot those in here, these warheads will blow us all to the Underworld."

William cursed, but leapt into action. He slammed the butt of his rifle against the first Roman's head he could reach and picked up the fallen sword. It was awkward in his hands, but it had a basic shape and sharpened end, so that was all that mattered to him.

Leo and Viktor seemed to be holding their own and he had no time to help them even if they'd needed it. One of the Romans lunged toward William and he blocked it. Their blades pressed against each other.

Suddenly, an explosion tore through the ship high above them. Both ignored it and William used all the strength he could muster to shove the Roman against the wall. While he was disorientated, William slammed his head against the Roman's and then stabbed his chest. Just as he swung toward a third soldier, the ship rolled.

It threw William's balance off and he stumbled onto the floor. The entire ship rocked sideways and the movement forced William against the ground. His back slammed painfully against the wall.

Vicktor had reached the nuclear warhead, but he couldn't lift it alone. He clung to it tightly as Leo collapsed against the back corner.

"What's going on?" one of the Roman soldiers asked the others. They tried to stand to their feet, but the ship rolled again with another groan.

William shifted to all fours, but gravity disappeared. Over all the shouts, he thought he heard Leo's voice, but he wasn't sure.

"She's rolling over!" Leo shouted.

Water erupted through the sides of the metal, tearing through it as if it was cloth. William was finally able to stand to his feet, but the current swept him up and slammed him against another wall. His head throbbed and ached and his vision swam, but he tried to focus his gaze on his surroundings.

Water rose at their ankles, rising higher by the second. All of the Romans were dead but two. Across the room from him, Viktor was trapped beneath the warhead and Leo clung to it, yanking on it to try to pull him out.

The remaining two soldiers came up behind Leo. Over the sound of the rushing water and continuous explosions, William knew Leo would never hear him. He waded through the ocean water, now at his hips, and slammed one soldier's head against the wall. The second he tackled into the water and held him under. The soldier thrashed in vain and soon, his body stilled.

"Together!" William shouted.

Leo nodded and together, they grabbed the warhead and lifted it off Viktor just enough that he could escape. The three men lifted it and carried it through the ship as it continued to fill with water.

William only hoped that they could make it out of this alive. I made a promise to Star, he thought.

*****

So much death. Pearl Harbor had haunted Joel so much the first time around. He didn't want to face this again. After all, he'd pushed it into the back of his mind afterward so that he didn't have to deal with it. At least, until now.

An explosion tore through the upper half of the building as they entered the office and bullets stirred up dust. It fell into Joel's eyes, making them sting and water.

Over in the corner, the man they were looking for crouched beneath a window as he reloaded a machine gun. It pointed out the window as another man swiveled it around to aim at the incoming Jap planes.

The first time, Joel had seen both the hospital and this office get hit with one of the bombs. Both buildings had exploded and the blast had been so big it had knocked Joel to the ground where he'd been at the time.

Out the window behind them, Joel's eyes spotted the three Jap bomber planes heading straight for them. All of these men were about to die.

Which meant that saving them wouldn't change history.

"We need to go, now! This way! Follow me!" Joel shouted. He sprinted out the front doors, back toward the hospital where the three nurses' bodies had now been joined by four more soldiers, three wounded, and two more nurses. Ignoring them, he tore his eyes away from the bloody mess and looked over his shoulder.

Kenneth's ancestor and the other soldiers ran at full speed behind him, along with Thomas and Hijikata, who brought up the rear.

For now, no Jap planes flew through the air above the open field leading back to the hanger. "Get to the hanger! Now's our chance! Move!" Joel shouted. His legs carried him faster than he thought possible, with Kenneth's ancestor and the other soldiers right on his heels.

At the hanger, he held open the doors to the time machine and waited for the soldiers to enter. "You've gotta go now or we'll never make it out of this alive." He met Kenneth's ancestor's gaze, unable to remember the man's name.

"What is this?"

"Don't ask questions!" Thomas shouted at the entrance to the hanger. "Just go! We'll explain later!"

"Where's William, Leo, and Viktor?" Hijikata asked, glancing up at the sky.

The bombers reached the building.

"Now!" Joel shoved Kenneth's ancestor inside. Thomas rushed inside with two more soldiers. Just as Joel and Hijikata stepped through the doors, the explosion erupted from behind them. Joel slammed against the floor of the time machine, vision blurred.

"The cannon fliers are overhead!" Thomas shouted.

Hijikata aimed his gun out the door. "We'll never take them down. But we cannot leave the others."

"We have to." Joel glanced up at the Jap planes through the glass of the time machine's cieling and through a hole at the top of the hanger. Bombs sailed through the air, hurling straight for them.

Thomas slammed his hand on the button and the time machine disappeared just as the bombs blew the hanger sky high.

*****

Star stared at the time machine in horror, watching as man after man emerged from it but none of them were William. Her heart shattered as she desperately searched every inch of it. "Where is William? Where is he?" she demanded, staring at Hijikata first, then Joel.

It was Joel who responded to her first. "W - we had to leave their team behind."

Hijikata stood at the controls of the time machine. "We'll go back."

Joel nodded, hands clenching around the white man's fire stick in his hands.

"Wait you wanna go back?" one of the soldiers asked.

Another stared at the room around them in shock and awe. "Wh - what is this place?"

Mary walked up to the soldiers and helped them down the hallway. "Please, allow me to explain..."

Just as one of the other people used the mysterious controls in preparation to send the time machine back, a bright flash of light like the rising of the sun flared at another place to her right.

One of the other time machines returned. Star gazed at the knights gathered around it, wishing that she and the others could fight them outright but this false king, the one they called Caesar, had too many followers within the Museum, so they could not.

Had Caesar's men returned with the powerful weapon?

*****

William's hand throbbed where he'd punched another Roman soldier. Water rushed at him from all sides, sliding into his throat. It choked him and he coughed it up and blinked his burning eyes. Blindly, he grabbed the warhead. "Wh - where...?" he coughed out.

"This vay," Viktor said, shoving open another door. Inside, men had crowded in the room, pounding on the sides of the walls as they desperately tried to escape. From what little William could see, the metal refused to budge. Faint muffled noises echoed from outside the ship, but the water rushed into the room, surging around their chests.

Leo and Viktor stopped, glancing at William. "There are other Roman soldiers here. They won't stop coming after us," Leo said.

Viktor shook his head. "More pressing, ve vill not escape here. The ship vill go down and ve vill die."

Leo cursed, setting the warhead down on the ground. William eyed the men in the corner, pounding on the walls. "I don't wanna die!" one of them screamed.

"No!"

"Help us!"

William tried to ignore their screams, but his heart pounded furiously in his chest. "Och, lad, the Romans had ta coom here."

Leo frowned. "Yeah. And?"

William smiled at him. "Och, they dinna make it here on their own! They came inta t'ship."

"Do you think their time machine is here?" Leo's eyes widened.

Viktor nodded. "It vould explain vhy they come from lower down."

"Let's go!"