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Brian was convinced by Tim to visit earth again. The explosion maniac had just told him he wanted to see it one more time, just to check up on it and who was the Pilot to say no to that.
They were almost there and Jonny, Ashes, Tim and Marius were all filled with excitement about the prospect of Tim also going down in history as a hero of the people instead of the violent maniac that he was.
Promising to be back before nightfall and without the entire police force on their trail, the four exited the Aurora and walked into London.
The group kept their eyes peeled for any statues of plaques, but Tim also just looked around in wonder. London had always been prosperous, much more prosperous than the Moon or any of the other planets the other Mechs had come from, still it had managed to develop even more. With traffic flying everywhere and the streets busy.
They hadn’t spotted anything yet and they had been walking for a while, slowly the disappointment was starting to set in, until they were stopped by a film crew. A man with a microphone stopped them and asked: “Hello, I am Sam Willing from London National, would you mind answering some questions for our documentary?”
Tim, Jonny and Ashes grinned, they liked getting on as many records as possible in the hope of confusing as many historians as they could. In the background Marius rolled his eyes, but he didn’t stop Tim when he agreed for all of them: “Sure, no problem, what is this documentary about?”
“Since it is almost the 100th anniversary of the victory on the Moon Kaiser, were making a documentary of the age old discussion: Was Gunpowder Tim a war criminal or a hero?” Sam Willing told them.
Grins widened even further, this was just perfect.
The unknowing the presenter started: “So how much do you all know about the war on the Moon Kaiser and his demise?” he then also joked: “You all don’t look like the oldest, so I doubt you were there.”
“Oh, you’ll be surprised.” Jonny told him.
“Yeah, I think I know quite a lot.” Tim agreed.
Marius and Ashes shook their heads at their friends antics. Surprised Sam went on: “Oh, well, great, then I won’t bore you with a bit of background information.” he looked at his paper and asked: “So Gunpowder Tim, as he is known, blew up the Moon. Lets just start with what you think of him?”
“A dashing lad.” Tim immediately answered, “Seems like a great man, 100% justified in his anger and an amazing soldier.”
Jonny elbowed him in the side and told Sam: “A bit of a prick, but I can appreciate good violence, so I suppose he’s alright.”
“Well, I can’t claim I know him in these circumstances, but with everything I’ve heard he did his best and was quite good at his job.” Marius said.
“Yeah, good at his job, but a bit of a dumbass.” Ashes agreed.
This were obviously not the answers Sam had expected, but he kept going: “Uhm, oh, okay, so 100% justified, how so?”
“I mean, Bertie died that was unfair, it was just revenge in a setting where violence is cheered on.” Tim shrugged.
“Ah, yes, Bertie, his best friend.” Sam said, “You find that reason enough?”
Tim glowered at him: “Yes.”
“Okay, I can understand that.” swallowing heavily Sam moved on: “Good at his job, what makes all of you say that?”
“He singlehandedly ended the war.” Marius said like Sam was a dumb child.
“Yes, by blowing up the moon effectively killing all British soldiers stationed there along with innocent inhabitants of the moon.” Sam told them, “Which is a perfect segway into our main question: Does that make him a hero or a criminal?”
“What do you think?” Jonny asked trying to start shit.
“Uh, my opinion doesn’t matter, I don’t want to influence you.” Sam replied.
“Oh, no, we all have out own opinions already, don’t worry.” Jonny said, “I just want to hear what you think.”
“I’d like it if you all stayed on topic.” Sam avoided what Jonny had said.
“Are you avoiding telling us, because you are afraid to give your own opinion? Would you rather stay neutral to please everyone? Is that why you chose this job, so that you could stay on the sidelines and no one would expect anything different?” Marius asked, psychoanalyzing the poor man.
Sam stammered something intelligible.
Ashes commented: “I knew we took you along for a reason.”
“Come on, Sammy, give us an opinion, promise it won’t hurt.” Tim grinned just a tad too broadly.
“Uh, uhm, okay, I, uh, I think he’s a hero?” Sam said.
“You telling or asking us?” Ashes asked, a bit too happy about Sams discomfort.
“Telling?” Sam replied, “Lots of wars have been going on for much longer than 4 years and he prevented generations from suffering through that fate.”
“Pff, idiot.” Jonny said, taking no time to think about the charter development.
“What? Why?” Sam exclaimed.
Ignoring what Sam had said, Jonny asked him: “What is it with you mortals and putting people in boxes?”
Sam looked even more confused now and just repeated: “What?”
“Tim wasn’t anyone special.” Jonny began, “No offense, Tim.”
“None taken.”
“He was a soldier, he got send up there to fuck shit up and that fucked him up in turn. He’s not a criminal or a hero.” Jonny told Sam, “He blew up an entire planet that is not a good thing. If he hadn’t been in this shit situation, he might’ve never done such a terrible thing. It’s not as black and white as that.”
“But he did go out with quite a bang.” Ashes smirked.
“Oh, fuck off, Ashes.” Tim pushed them with a grin.
“Anyway, that was enough fun for today and as much as I hate to be the voice of reason, we promised Brian to get back and I don’t fancy getting stuck here.” Marius said, starting to lead them away.
Walking away he heard Tim say: “Really, Jonny, something terrible? Like your hobbies aren’t murdering people and eating them.”
“Shut up, Tim.”
As they disappeared out of sight, Sam turned to his crew and asked: “Please tell me you got that all. That I wasn’t hallucinating?”
~
A few decades later they go back again. Tim now also has a statue and the four of them are on the cover of a conspiracy history book with the title The time-traveling heroes.