Zero Method (2023)

It's the year 2082. Zero wanders the decaying streets, riddled with time sickness. From the shadows, a mysterious gang attacks him, forcing a menacing device over his face. Then-It's the year 2019. Zero wakes up on a New York City side walk. He's disoriented, thirsty, and has no idea where he is or what he's supposed to be doing. Two days earlier in 2081... Zero takes a meeting with Gregory Ross, a former Time Core officer turned Syndicate Pilot. Gregory offers Zero a job. The mission is a simple one, but it's more than 60 years in the past, and very few people can withstand that amount of radiation. Zero happens to be one of them. When Zero hears the time and location details, he decides to take the job with ulterior motives- he plans to take a side trip to his old life. Meanwhile back in 2019...Zero is starting to remember- and he needs water. He walks into a local bodega and slams an entire bottle of water. Barely quenched, he takes an arm full-Back in 2081- Gregory wants Zero to pick a partner to take back with him as insurance. Zero convinces Gregory that he should go alone. Gregory accepts, dismissing the disgruntled gang of candidates... all except Fila, an insightful Crosser who knows what Zero is after. She leaves Gregory with a warning. Time is running out back in 2019.... Zero seizes the moment and steals a bicycle to aid in his race to the warehouse district. In 2081, Gregory and Zero prepare the time machine and run through the mission details. In the final moments before launch, Gregory discovers that Zero has been hiding other jobs from him when he notices too many beta injection marks on his arm. Zero is strapped into the time machine and the launch starts. As the story's two time lines converge, Zero finds himself within reach of his objective at the warehouse. The faster he gets this done, the more time for his own plan. He reaches the computer interface, but is discovered by the hackers. Two-on-one, they attack him with everything at their disposal- it's a tough fight, but Zero comes out on top- he hits the final keystroke command and completes his mission. Reeling from his fight, Zero is contacted by Gregory across time. Seizing the opportunity, he disables the connection and races on foot across town. Zero arrives at his old apartment only to find it empty. He realizes that this is the week he and his fiancee were on a vacation.He missed them- and put himself through this for nothing. Moments later, Zero's time is up and he vanishes back into the future... Zero is weak from the travel, but his mission was technically a success. Gregory pays Zero his fee and confronts him about turning off his communicator and endangering the mission by going rogue. He begs Gregory for another chance to go back, but it's too late. The trust is broken, and Zero is left alone with no way to go back. Back in 2082...Zero is released from the iron mask, and his time sickness is gone. The mysterious gang reveals themselves to be a Cult of Chrono-refugees, bent on breaking the rules of physics and getting back to their own time. They know Zero's real name is Ethan, and they offer him a new way of time travel so he can stay in the past. But before he can learn more, they vanish into thin air.