Song of the Swans Part 2

## **Chapter 4**

Crashing in a rocket can be fun, smashingly so.  Kate had heard many stories from other
minifigures who had failed to land a rocket correctly, and couldn't be trusted
with a car in a crowded street.  The
rocket usually survived, the minifigures too, but the most interesting stories,
to her, were the gruesome ones.  Her
favorite story of all, however, was told to her by Gallant Strong Cyclone.

It began in a bright day in Avant Gardens.  Wisp Lee and Epsilon Starcracker had just
finished ridding the area outside the Paradox Research Facility of Stromlings.  They were so proud.  Beck Strongheart would be proud, they
thought.

"Look!" Wisp Lee said, pointing to the sky.  A rocket was approaching.  "Here come the recruits.  For once, they'll have safe grounds to start
in."

The two Nexus Forcers watched and smiled, their eyes following the
rocket's trajectory.  Then their smiles
turned upside down as the rocket overshot the landing pad and crashed straight
into the Paradox Research Facility.  There
was a colorful explosion, followed by the wall around the impact collapsing.  Wisp Lee shielded his eyes, but Epsilon
Starcracker looked on.  Then he began to
cry, as Stromlings poured out of the Facility's containment zones, breached by
the rocket impact.  All their hard work,
down the drain!

The story brought a smirk to Kate's face, even now as the rocket she was
currently in was in the process of crashing on an unknown planet.

The rocket had approached upside down, and Intrepid pulled on the
controls as hard as he could.  The
horizon appeared over the hood, and Intrepid's eyes lit up with relief.  They were pulling 'up' and the engines looked
to be firing back up.  They would make
it!

Then a tailspoke, skimming just above the ground, struck a pebble and
the entire rocket flipped over.  Nose
over tail it somersaulted across the ground, Intrepid screamed and Kate
screamed too as physics took over and made their lives miserable.  Then one of its engines caught on the ground
and broke off, followed by the other, and the rocket stopped somersauling and
took to rolling over on its fuselage.

Finally the rocket stopped spinning and skidded to a halt.  Its glass roof slid open and Intrepid popped
out.  He leaned over the edge, gasping
and panting while he did his business, and Kate stood up next to him, not
looking much better.

"There goes..." Intrepid huffed, "...my breakfast."

The two looked around.  They had
crashed in an area of rolling hills, grassy and green with some spots of trees.  There weren't any houses, but a single gray
road snaked around the lower elevation.  So
there was infrastructure.  There was also
a long brown gash stretching for miles, dug up by their rocket.  They followed the gash as far as they could
see, until it ended at one hill.  Above
that was a column of vapor, otherwise the sky was a clear and typical blue.

"Doesn't look like too bad a place.
There's infrastrucure." Intrepid said, and turned around.  Then his eyes widened in surprise, because
the other side of their rocket was resting on a sudden drop, a clifftop at the
edge of a rocky canyon that stretched fifty feet downwards.

They were lucky to have stopped here, because a fall down that would
hurt a LOT more.

Intrepid said so.  He sighed with
relief.  "We're lucky to have
stopped here."

"Yeah." Kate agreed, scrutinizing the drop.  "A fall down that would hurt a LOT
more."

There was a sudden, horrifying creak, and the rocket tilted, sending
Intrepid and Kate sprawling back into the cockpit.  The sky rotated according to their
perception, and before they knew it the rocket had tipped over and was falling
into the ravine.
The two minifigures proceeded to scream as the rocket descended.  It struck the ground with a crash that
resounded between the canyon's rocky walls.
Their Imagination kept them intact, and Intrepid didn't think he had any
broken bones.  He looked over to Kate,
who didn't look too shaken up either.

*Just a minor setback*, he thought, being down here rather than up
there.  They'd have to climb up.  They could climb up.

"Uh oh." Kate said, looking up.

Intrepid's ears twitched, and then he heard it too.  Looking ahead, they saw a slide of rocks
rolling and bouncing towards them, dislodged by the impact.  The pebbles didn't look too evil, but it was
a pebble that ultimately brought down the rocket, so looks could be deceiving!
Then there were some truly evil looking boulders, massive and heavy, rolling
towards them as well.

"Time to bail." Intrepid said, throwing the hatch open again.  They grabbed their backpacks and jumped out
of the rocket, which still had enough juice in it to miniaturize and stow away.  Then they ran.

It wasn't even a downhill slope and the rocks were still gaining on the
two running minifigures.  Intrepid's legs
ached.  Either the planet's gravity was
stronger, or he wasn't fit - the latter was more likely, since he'd spent the
last month relaxing and playing videogames, instead of smashing Maelstrom and
building up a sweat.  Kate, conversely,
was faster and getting ahead, and that was in Samurai armor.

She looked back and waved.  "Hurry!
There's a cave ahead."

"We're outrunning them, right?" Intrepid wheezed.

The look in her eyes betrayed him.
The rocks were close.  He felt the
pebbles bouncing against his feet, trying to trip him up.  But he saw the cave opening in the curved
wall ahead.  It was slightly above the
ground and Kate got in first, reaching a hand out for him to grab.  He grabbed it and she pulled, and they got in
just in time.

It was crazy to think rocks were consciously trying to smash him,
Intrepid reasoned.  But that didn't stop
them from being cold, unconscious, heartless smashers.  With hearts of stone.  Wait.

Kate was building a wall of property modules over the entrance.  They obscured the light and the cave was
getting dark fast.

"What are you doing?" Intrepid said, as the rumble of the
rocks grew louder, like an earthquake.  He
ran over and stuck his head out of a castle window, then saw what Kate had seen.  "Oh."

The biggest, most foul boulder ever, nearly as wide as the canyon
itself, was on a path to crash right into them.
It knocked the other rocks out of its path, rolling faster than the
others.  Intrepid donned his thinking cap
and was about to throw everything he had in the modules section of his backpack
behind Kate's stuff, when he noticed his pack was empty.  He'd already emptied it of everything back at
the Fun Party Place, when the other dimension's dragons attacked and needed to
be distracted.  There was only the pod
rocket, which could be repaired.

He went to the bricks section and quickly threw a bunch of random
elements in place instead, and just in time.
How much they helped or not didn't matter because the wall held when the
boulder slammed into it.  The cave shook
for several seconds, then it was still.  Intrepid
sighed with relief again, Kate too.

"Think we're safe?" he asked.

A growling in the darkness behind them told them, No.

Intrepid bristled.  He and Kate
both turned around slowly.  At the back
the cave, a pair of red eyes appeared.  They
glowed in the dark malevolently.

Then they were joined by more eyes, all unblinking, all staring.

Moving closer.

## **Chapter 5**

"There are Stromlings here too?" Intrepid grumbled, equipping
his gear in the dark.

"Not Stromlings." Kate corrected.  "Look at the eyes, they're round.  They're Darklings."

Intrepid frowned.  "Are they
any better?"

A flashlight clicked on.  Kate
handed it to Intrepid, then turned on her own.
They aimed them at the eyes, illuminating dark, minifigure shaped
beings, but they were hunched over with their arms folded ahead of them.  Some carried weapons, others had wings, and
they all looked eager to attack.

Kate was silent.  "They're
not better," Intrepid amended.

Then they sprung forwards.  The
Nexus Forcers were ready.  Intrepid
unholstered a Pea Shooter and fired the projeciltes off into the rush.  The peas knocked over many Darklings, but
didn't smash them.  The ones that got
close were quickly dispatched by Kate's Samuraizor combo.  The valiant conjured a target dummy which
Kate threw into the corner, and the rest of the Darklings surged towards it.
"Let's go!" Kate shouted, and she and Intrepid ran into the
distracted crowd.  Intrepid switched back
to his Bat Lord staff and smashed as many as he could, then they rushed deeper
into the cave.

Their flashlights bounced and illuminated sporadic spots on the walls
and ceiling.  Some walls were rough and
matte, others glistening with moisture or were fuzzy with drab colored fungi.  There was a clattering of feet behind them as
the Darklings pursued.

"Are you sure we should be going this way?" Intrepid asked,
peeking over his shoulder to fire the pea shooter some more.  He replenished his imagination with a Notion
Potion.  "What if it's a dead
end?"

A device in Kate's left hand projected a green hologram that depicted a
path.  "This is a topographical
scanner, it's standard equipment among the Ventures."

Intrepid noted her outfit.  "You're
not Venture."

"So it cost a bit more for me to get it! Stop being a
pessimist."

"I'm not-"

"Make a right," Kate instructed, and the cave suddenly split
into two tunnels.  Kate spawned another
target dummy to send down the left path, then they went right, quickly finding
themselves at an incline.  They scrambled
up, and Kate placed another castle wall module behind them.  If the Darklings caught up to that point,
they wouldn't be able to follow.

At last the two could breathe calmly.
Intrepid's legs felt like they were on fire.  Kate seemed eager to take it slow, too.  "We can walk from here." she said.  "Get our strength back."

"In case we meet more Darklings." Intrepid agreed.  He frowned at himself.  Was that pessimism? "So we can defeat
them, I mean." That sounded optimistic enough.  He frowned some more.  What was he doing? He didn't really care how
others thought of him, although, that was easy when he didn't know anybody.  Luke and Mara didn't mind his faults, if they
were faults.  Why was he self-evaluating
himself all of a sudden?

"So what's on your mind?" Kate asked suddenly.

"Me." Intrepid replied.

"Oh.  Want to talk about this
'Me' then?"

"Who said anything about talking?"

"Me.  According to the
scanner, we have half an hour of walking until we get to a possible exit."
Kate explained.  "It'd go by faster
if we're occupied with something, like talking."

The walk was long and would be boring, Intrepid knew.  He was about to say something about having to
watch out for Grumpy Darklings, but something held him back.  He considered rephrasing it.  Yeah, that sounded less pessimistic.  "Okay." he said.  "We left the Darklings behind anyway, so
we probably don't need to worry about them."

"Yep!" Kate said brightly.
"So let's talk about your watch."

"My what?" Intrepid looked at his wrist, surprised to see a
leather-banded multi-faceted timepiece on his left arm.  He realized.
The thing was shape-shifting.  "Ah.  It's just a watch." he said casually.

"It had a metal band before." Kate said.

"You've been looking at it." Intrepid accused.

"Now it's a spider."

Intrepid jumped at the word and flung his wrist.  Then he looked at it, and it was still a
watch.  "Not funny." he
scowled.

"Sorry." Kate laughed.  "Dynamic
devices are normal.  You have any
Prismatic stuff?"

"The color changing gear? Just a Mosaic Jester hat."

"What about the Baseball Cap? I like that one."

Intrepid sighed.  "I sold it.  You don't get a lot of backpack space as at
FTPer on Avant gardens.  And that's one
thing my team hasn't figured out how to hack yet."

"So what do you keep in there?" Kate asked.

"Just the best gear.  Some
unique stuff.  Good weapons.  I like matching colors."

"But nothing personal?" she pressed.  "No pictures of family?"

How quickly the conversation was shifting.  Intrepid sighed again.  It was true, he hadn't had someone to talk
to, really talk to, in a long time.  It
was mostly his fault, since he never tried to find anyone to talk to.  His teammates let him have his space, to do
what? Sit and mope.  And sleep.  There was a lot in his mind that he did,
consciously, try not to think about.

Now they were bubbling up into a brain soup, with memories, thought
trains, tangents, things he wanted to say.
But to who? Kate seemed eager to hear.
But why?

"Why do you want to talk so much about me?" Intrepid inquired.

Kate smiled.  "Intrep.  We can talk about you first, then we can talk
about me.  Deal?"

"Fine."

"Now I'll answer your question." Kate began, still smiling,
although her gaze began to detach.  "For
the longest time, Cyclone and I were stuck in a strange world.  Things were different in ways no one can make
up.  It was both a big, noisy world, with
lots of people, but it was lonely too.  Lonely,
because in this world, there was no one for me and Cyclone.  No one for us to talk to.  No one for us to think about.  No one to think about us.  That's lonely."

*They were in a lonely world.  Different*
for them.  Wrong.

"But then, two years later, you appeared out of nowhere," she
continued.

*There was a brief flash to the side.*
Out of the light a boy appeared.  "Gallant
Strong Cyclone; Kate." he said.

"You said you were here to bring us back." Kate stifled, and
brought the back of her hand to wipe her face.
Intrepid recalled the event clearly.
They'd cried then.

*She was crying now.  He held*
out a hand.  They took it.

*Then they were in Avant Gardens.*

Then they were in the cave again.
Intrepid blinked.  His red haired
travelmate held up a hand.  "So,"
she continued, "I can thank you.  For
saving us.  And I'm an inquisitive
person, especially about interesting things.
And interesting people."

"Inquisitive, yep." Intrepid agreed.

"You are a hero," Kate stated, "but I can't help but
notice, you don't seem the hero type.  No
offense, but you're pretty anti-social."

"Yeah."

"You're a loner.  You hang
out with strange people - again I mean no offense to Luke and Mara – but they
don't really talk to you.  Your life is
routine.  So you're not your typical
hero, you see? You're still an interesting person.  I can't help but want to figure more about
you." She offered a smile.

For once, Intrepid smiled back.  Just
one side of his face curled up, the one she could see.  There was a pause in the conversation as he
thought, then he decided.  "Alright
then," he said.  "So you're
figuring me out."

"Am I?"

"Luke Mercury and Mara Mercury are good friends," he said,
"but you're right.  I've known them
for a long time, and we used to talk, really talk, back then.  And you're right, they haven't talked to me
much lately."

"Do you try to?"

"No." Intrepid admitted.
"But we give each other space.
They're giving me space."

"It's like they know you don't want to talk." Kate said.

"Right.  But I'm talking
now."

"Keep going!" she urged.

"So," Intrepid said, trying to think of something interesting,
something profound.  He found something
aligned with the recesses of his brain.  "You
know how, Luke M' Shadow is actually Luke.
Luke Mercury.  Mara is Mara
Mercury.  They're cousins."

"I didn't know that."

"Pretty distant cousins, actually.
But those are their actual names.
Not their Nexus Force designated names." He kept going.  He couldn't stop himself now.  "So, my name is actually Aiden."

Now that he said it, the name sounded foreign.  It had a sharp taste on his tongue, bitter at
how he'd disowned it for so long.  He'd
called himself Intrepid for 5 years.  Now
he wondered, and it troubled him, had he accepted a new name, forgotten his old
one, and never come back home...  to get
away? Had some part of him not wanted to go back?

Had some part of him not wanted to be there to save his family...?

He shook his head violently.

Kate's voice touched him.  "Is
something wrong?" she asked, concerned.

"No!" he said cheerfully.
He was good at ignoring thoughts.
He could keep talking.  "So,
I bet you want to hear about my family.  You
asked if I had pictures of them."

Kate grinned.  "Well do
you?"

Intrepid reached into his pocket and dug out his I-Brick, and brought up
the photo gallery.  He swiped past
pictures of Stromlings, flying minifigures, a portrait of Beck Strongheart,
flowers, and then finally he reached another portrait.  A young man stood in the picture, in front of
a fence behind a blue brick house.  It
was an outdoor picture taken at night, illuminated by the camera's own flash
bulb.  His black hair was nearly
indiscernable from the night sky around him.
His face was round and bright, in part due to his wide smile.  He had some facial hair on his dimpled chin.

"Here's my brother, Alex." Intrepid said, handing her the
phone.  "I took it two weeks
ago."

Kate inspected the screen.  Against
the darkness, the glow illuminated her face.
"He looks like you." she said.
"Is he older?"

"He's taller, but I'm the older brother.  He looks like my dad.  My sisters, too."

"And you take after your mom?"

"Guess so."

"Any pictures of them?" Kate asked eagerly, swiping through
the gallery some more.

Intrepid looked at his feet.  A pebble
lay ahead of him and he kicked it.  "No."
he said.  "There are some pictures
on the mantelpiece, back at Alex's house on Elistra, though.  I can show you those, when we get
there."

"Who's this?" Kate asked.

Intrepid looked up.  "Who?"
he demanded, more sudden than he'd intended.
"Show me." he said more mellowly.  Kate tilted the phone to him, and he saw what
picture she was talking about.

His heart had kicked up its pace before, but now it sagged.  He reached out a hand and Kate handed him the
phone.

"I didn't take this one," Intrepid said, staring at the
screen, looking at the fair face of a girl he called Red.  He hadn't realized how much he missed her.  She, like many other people, was not someone
he'd thought about lately.

He turned to Kate.  It spooked him
that he saw Red in her.  Looking back at
the phone, it spooked him even more that he also saw himself in Red.  Him and Kate.
He turned the screen off and put it back.  "She's somebody," he said.  "A friend." Keen to change the
subject, he said, "Now let's talk about you."

## **Chapter 6**

They talked long enough that they nearly missed the exit point.  In the end it didn't matter, because the
possible exit was behind a cave-in, and inacessible.

"We could blast through it," Intrepid suggested.

Kate shook her head.  "I
think not.  Wouldn't want to bring the
whole cave down."

"Right.  Let's keep
talking."

It surprised Intrepid that he was actually enjoying his conversation
with Kate, and how much he was involving himself.  He found himself liking her company.  She was humorous and witty, she talked back,
and she was more carefree than him in her own way.  And there was a mutual interest in each
others' backstories.

When asked about her past, Kate had said, "First, try and
guess."

Intrepid had looked at her quizzically.
"How?"

"Look at me now, think about my personality, and think, How'd she
get like that? She must have this many siblings, and her parents were like
this, et cetera.  I want to hear your
point of view."

"I'm honored." Intrepid had replied.  "Honestly, I'm not one to assume things
about people."

"Just try!"

"Okay, I'll call it an educated guess." Intrepid cleared his
throat.  "Here we go...  so you have, no parents."

Kate raised her eyebrows.

"No siblings, and no friends.
No pets.  Everyone ignores you.  Then, you joined the Nexus Force and
impressed everybody with...  some skill
you had.  You're so outgoing now to make
up for the lack of socializing as a kid." Intrepid turned and grinned.  "That's it.  How'd I do?"

Kate rolled her eyes.  "Imaginative,
but not even close.  I've got family, two
parents, a sister, a brother, and cats.  And
I had friends, too.  But they all live
far from the Nimbus System."

"Why'd you join the Nexus Force then?"

"Honestly, that world was perfect.
I could have anything and everything, anyone can, without really doing
anything.  It's a matured society, but
not very exciting.  No conflict.  And that's not a bad thing, just I felt I couldn't
do anything to help a society that's already reached perfection.  The Nexus Force, meanwhile, had conflict.  People needing help.  I could help." Kate turned to Intrepid.  "I know we're talking about me, but I
want to interrupt and ask, why'd *you* join the Nexus Force?"

Intrepid shrugged.  "Similar
sentiment to yours," he said, "wanted to help.  But different backstory.  I had an uncle who joined the Nexus Force
during the first call, when it was just starting.  When I was old enough, I left as well."
He remembered his parents and grandparents resisting Uncle Killian's departure.  Were they against his enlistment as well? He
couldn't remember such a debacle, and that surprised him.  He tried to recall something, but where there
should have been a memory, a picture, at least an idea, there was just a hole
in his mind there.  His brow furrowed.  He could usually pull up memories whenever he
wanted, and whenever he didn't want, too.

"Back to you." he said.

"So, then I came to Avant Gardens on the Venture Explorer,"
Kate said.

"Like everyone else." Intrepid quipped.

Kate interjected, "Isn't it strange that we keep getting recruits
from that ship? Are they still coming?"

"Yeah, I'd know! I've walked past that landing pad everyday for
years and there's Wisp Lee, always greeting someone new." Intrepid
chuckled.  "I've never seen someone
crash into the Research Facility, though.
I bet, say, ten years from now, when the Research Facility is-"

"...a museum," Kate suggested.

"Yeah, a museum - there will still be recruits landing and asking
Wisp Lee what's going on, and he'll be like, 'You gotta be kidding me!'"
They both laughed.

Kate's tophographical scanner chirped to indicate another exit was near.  They walked a few more feet and rounded a
bend, beyond which was a beam of natural light entering through a shaft in the
ceiling.

"Boost me up," Kate said, and Intrepid knelt on one leg and
put his hands on his knees.  Kate stepped
up and stuck her head out into the day.  "Coast
is clear." she reported.  She
stepped down and Intrepid looked for a rope.

"What's there to check for?" he asked.

"Where's your sense of covertness?" Kate chided.  "It's fun to sneak around.  And there could be Darklings up there."

"Are there?"

"I said the coast is clear."

"You didn't look all around."

"It's all in fun, Aiden."

Again, Intrepid felt a jab at the name.
"Think you could call me just Intrepid?" he asked.

"You're on a real name basis with me." Kate said.

"Yeah, you chose that, over what, Pretty Funny Mortal? I chose
Intrepid."

Kate smirked.  "Suit
yourself, just Intrepid."

He found an Imagination infused climbing rope with foothold knots and
tossed it up into the skylight of a hole.
It tied itself around something, Intrepid confirmed with a tug, and
began to climb up, Kate behind him.

They emerged in the entrance of a shallow cave.  Compared to the subterranean tunnel they had
just traversed, this one was much drier, and less chilly.  It opened into a small forest.  The rope, which had tied itself around a
sturdy rock, untied itself and Intrepid stowed it.

"Look, there's a town there." Kate said, pointing to a row of
houses at the forest's edge.  The two
jogged over, and to their dismay, found it empty of people and the buildings in
states of neglect and disrepair.  Deserted.

Silently they crept between the walls and peeked inside the windows and
doors, but their brief search revealed nothing to indicate people had been here
in a long time, except one spot where Intrepid saw something in the ground.

"There are footsteps in this dirt," Intrepid noticed,
crouching down.  "Small feet.  Soft depressions.  Someone either trying to walk lightly,
silently, or something that creeps lightly by nature.  Like a Darkling."

"You could be a Buccaneer with that ability," Kate said.

"I actually prefer Assembly.
Building and things."

"You could join Sentinels.  I'd
trade you my extra gear."

"I could have use for that without joining anything."

"So we're going to investigate?" Kate asked, gesturing to the
tracks.  Intrepid followed their
direction.  They disappeared into a
building.

Intrepid looked at the clear sky.
"If it hasn't rained lately, these tracks are fresh."

Something slammed above them, and they both looked straight up.  Above them, in the top floor of the building
in front of them, was a set of closed shutters.
The window, closed now, also overlooked the forest, and the cave which
they had exited.

Kate and Intrepid looked at each other.
"A spy." she said.

"Say we catch him?" Intrepid asked.

"Or her.  Whoever it is, they
may be able to tell us how to get back in the air and off this rock." Kate
thought aloud.  "You've got pictures
to show me.  I want to see them."

"Let's go then." Intrepid said, and entered the building.  The first floor windows were just frames,
with some broken glass on the ground around them.  There was wooden door, lying on the floor.  This entrance room housed some decrepit
furniture: a three legged table and a cloth chair that looked about to crumble
at the slightest breeze.  Intrepid had
seen an old scarf turn to dust from age.
He didn't want to breathe the air around that chair.

At the back of the room was a wooden stairwall that turned at the
house's corners and lead upstairs.  Kate
followed behind silently as they approached, and Intrepid put a foot on the
first step.  It creaked most loudly.  With sighs, they climbed the rest of the
stairs.  Despite the creaks and groans of
the rickety structure, they had a place to go.

At the top of the stairs, the upstairs floor was closed off behind an
actual door.  Intrepid paused.  Kate breathed behind him.

"Well?" she hissed.  "Open
it."

Intrepid grabbed the doorknob and pushed.

The upstairs room was better looking, with some shabby but firm
furniture occupying it.  The window which
had shut so loudly was on the far wall, and Intrepid crossed the floor towards
it.  These floorboards were surprisingly
sturdy and didn't do so much as creak, aided by plastic rugs that covered most
of the wood which muffled his footsteps.
At the window was a chair, a telescope, and a side table with some
accessories: binoculars, some books, and a jar containing smooth, bright
colored rocks.  Someone's hang out spot.

Intrepid turned to Kate.  "It's
someone's hang out spot." he said.

Kate nodded.  "But someone's
nowhere to be found." she said.

Intrepid felt the need to sneeze, but held it back.  Some dust was drifting down from the ceiling.  Disturbed.

They both tilted their heads up.  Intrepid
had barely focused on the dark rafters, enclosed in shadow, when a form that
was large and dark fell down from directly above and landed squarely on him.  He gave a shout as he was knocked down.  Falling over, his Bat Lord helmet hit the
table with a clang, and his weight pushed the table and its contents over.  He got up quickly, just in time to see the
figure dart out of the door, a Sentinel Samurai in pursuit.  Intrepid ran to join her.

Their footsteps clattered down the stairs, which shook and felt ready to
fall from this much use, the most it had seen in awhile.  Intrepid caught a glimpse of the figure
running out of the house, and Intrepid swung himself over the banister to the
floor, passing Kate.  Shortcut.  Once on the ground, he activated his helmet's
speed boost, and with an exaggerated tire-squealing noise he blasted out of the
house.

The figure was in sight, running deeper into the abandoned village.  It darted around a corner which Intrepid had
to slow down to take, but he was not far behind.  He was impressed with it's escape and speed,
he admitted.  The figure was fast.

But he was faster.

In a second he was upon it, and he jumped to grab the figure right
around the shoulders, tackling and bringing it down.  It shrieked as they both fell, and Intrepid
identified the feeling of the material he wore.
A dark brown hood and cloak, soft.
They were both on the ground now, and Intrepid turned the figure over to
see his face.

Correction: her face.

## **Chapter 7**

Intrepid had expected a Darkling.
He hadn't expected a girl.  Surprised,
Intrepid quickly got up and off the girl, as it was a girl, who didn't look
older than Intrepid, maybe younger, and built smaller.  Her hair was a pale blond color, short in
length and tied up in her hood.  She had
a narrow face and large blue eyes, which stared at him, wide with terror.  Underneath the cloak, her attire was simple,
dark brown pants and a white shirt that was dirt stained; at least it was dirt
stained now, probably thanks to Intrepid pushing her to the ground.

Still, she had been spying on them, and that warranted for some
questioning.  "Who are you?" he
asked sharply.  "Were you spying on
us?"

The girl trembled, and shut her eyes tightly.  She began to plead, "Please don't smash
me, please." Then she was silent.

Perplexed, Intrepid looked around.
Kate wasn't here yet.  He thought
about how he'd been improving his people skills.  A change in tone would help, he decided.  "Hey..." he said, softly now,
"I'm not going to hurt you.  In
fact, we could use your help."

The girl opened her eyes, but still looked frightened.  Her eyes were very reflective in the overcast
light, Intrepid noted, because her blue irises were like mirrors in which he
saw his reflecion.  His attire, he
imagined, could be frightening, and he removed his Bat Lord helmet.  As soon as she saw his face, hers became
visibly relieved.

"You're not a demon." she whispered.

"A demon?" Intrepid repeated.
"I'm a minifigure, just like you.
What made you think that?"

"You came out of the Demon Caves." she said.  "I saw from the window.  I thought you were coming to take me...  like they took..."

They heard pants and footsteps running over, and the girl turned to
their source, turning silent again.  Intrepid
turned, it was just Kate coming around a building, but she had a way to go.

Intrepid turned back to the girl.
"It's just my friend Kate," he said, "and I'm Intrepid.  It's safe to talk to us.  What's your name?"

She answered him slowly.  "My
name is Eclipse."

Kate rushed up to Intrepid and rested her hands on her knees, gasping
for breath.  "Whew, boy, you can
move." she panted.  She looked from
Intrepid to the girl.  "You both can
move." she added.

Intrepid was staring at the air between him and the girl, Eclipse, now.  Her name hung there.  His name.
Eclipse was his name, but it was also this girl's name.  He hadn't realized what a pretty name Eclipse
could be.

"Eclipse." Intrepid Fusion Eclipse repeated, awestruck.  "That's a nice name." He turned to
Kate.  "Isn't Eclipse a pretty name?
I like Eclipse.  Her name is
Eclipse." he rambled.  "Did you
know her name is Eclipse?"

Kate scowled at Intrepid, then turned to Eclipse and smiled to introduce
herself.  "I'm Kate, and this guy
here, who..." she took note of Eclipse's dirtied shirt, "...knocked
you down? He's Intrepid.  And he's not my
friend."

"What?" Intrepid shouted.

Kate whirled on him.  "You
didn't hurt her, did you?" she demanded.

"I tackled her," he said, raising his hands defensively,
"I thought she was...  I didn't
think she was...  who she was.  No, I didn't hurt her." He extended a
hand to Eclipse, and she slowly reached for it.
"Are you hurt? I'm really sorry for tackling you."

Kate grabbed her hand first and pulled her to her feet.  Standing up now, Eclipse glanced from
Intrepid to Kate quizzically.

"I'm not hurt," Eclipse said.
"And I forgive you.  I
shouldn't have run from you."

"No no," Intrepid dismissed, "it's fine.  I shouldn't have chased you.  It's okay if you thought we were
Darklings."

"Darklings?" Eclipse asked.
"Is that what you call the demons? From the cave?"

Intrepid pursed his lips thoughtfully, then said, "I guess so.  But we can call them demons if you want.”

Kate looked at Intrepid astoundedly.
She shook her head between him and Eclipse.  Then she took off her helmet, too, letting
her hair cool off from the run.  "So
your name's Eclipse?" Kate asked, and the girl nodded.

"So," Kate began, "we don't know much about this place,
and we're hoping you can tell us about it.
We can talk back in the house.  Is
that where you hang out?"

Eclipse answered, "Yes." as the winds began to pick up.  The trees rustled and Intrepid felt a
raindrop fall on his face.  Looking up,
he noticed that the overcast sky was graying with rain clouds.

"We should go inside." he agreed, and they went.

"I've got a fresh set of clothes if you want," Kate asked as they
walked.

"Me too," Intrepid said, slinging off his backpack and looking
in, "somewhere.  Unlinked.  An LU shirt, jeans.  Never worn."

Kate turned to him.  "She'll
like my clothes better." she said.  Intrepid
sighed.

"Thank you." Eclipse answered, and took a bundle of Kate's
casuals.

When they made it back to the house and to the top floor, a thunderclap
rang in the distance.  "I'll go
close the door, and find something to block the windows," Kate
volunteered, and headed for the door.  "Come
on Intrep, let her change."

"Can't she just equip them?" Intrepid asked, puzzled.  Kate grabbed him and pulled him out, shutting
the door.

"Something tells me it doesn't work like that here." Kate
hissed.  "You still need to work on
your people skills.  And expand your
vision.  Follow my lead."

Intrepid tried not to feel miffed.
What, did she think he was falling for Eclipse? He wasn't like that.  He knew himself.

Did he? If his chaotic mind and recent events told him anything, it was
that other people always knew him better than he did.  Red had.
Kate did.  Intrepid made a mental
note to do some soul searching as soon as he had time alone.  And he needed time to relax and collect his
thoughts.  His mind was still blundering.

Kate was building barricades over the windows, and Intrepid acted to
replace the door with a plastic one.  It
was better than new, he thought.  Some
rubber weather stripping would keep the rest of the rain out, but they didn't
need to do that.

Wait, Kate was building barricades?

"Think the Darklings will follow us?" Intrepid asked her.

"Ever wonder why this town is deserted?" Kate theorized.  "And Eclipse said something about the
Darklings taking something."

"We could ask her," Intrepid said, looking at the stairwell.

"Give a girl a minute."

When they went back upstairs, Eclipse was waiting for them.  She was wearing the shirt from Kate now, but
still had the cloak.  Intrepid noted its
pockets, and wondered what she held.

"I guess you really don't look like demons, or Darklings,"
Eclipse said shyly, "although your clothes are strange."

"We're not from around here," Kate explained.  "We crash landed here in a rocket."

"A rock...  what?"

"Rocket," Intrepid repeated.
"It's like an airplane.  It
travels in space." He noticed Eclipse's expression.  Her face was tilted in confusion.

"Sorry," she said warily, "I don't know what you're
saying."

"You wouldn't happen to have cell phone service, would you?"
Kate asked.

"What's that?"

"Or electricity?"

Eclipse shook her head.

"Ever heard of a place like this?" Intrepid asked Kate.  "Technologically ancient.  Disconnected."

"Actually, yes." Kate told him.  "I've heard of a planet that's stuck in
the medieval times, like Vanguard's Outpost, but I've never been there.  It's called Militiregnum." She turned
back to Eclipse.  "Are we on
Militiregnum?"

"I've never heard that name," Eclipse answered, "but what
are you saying about planets? Are there other worlds out there?"

"Guess where we came from," Intrepid said sarcastically, and
Eclipse turned to him excitedly.  "Yeah,
there's my homeworld, called Elistra, and we just came from the Nimbus System.  We've been fighting there, with a large
organization called the Nexus Force, against the Maelstrom.  Nimbus has a Maelstrom problem, Elistra was
attacked too, and apparently your world has a Maelstrom problem too...  Darklings are Maelstrom, right?"

"They come from Maelstrom Meteors," Kate confirmed.  "One must have crashed here, which
wouldn't be good.  Have you seen the
Darklings, Eclipse?"

Thunder crashed again then, closer now.
Eclipse shivered.  "No, but
I've seen what they've done.  I heard
this town was attacked by them.  I came
here because I wanted to see what they were, but they haven't come back for
awhile." She looked around the room.
"And it's a nice place, to be alone.  I wasn't always alone, though."

"Do you have family?" Kate asked.

"Consider me orphaned."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"I had a brother." Eclipse said.

"Is his name Fusion?" Intrepid asked.

"What? No."

Intrepid sighed.  "Wait, you
said *had*?"

"He was taken." Eclipse said tragically.  Her face had become hard, still as a stone.  "The Darklings took him."

"How long ago?" Kate demanded.

"Two months."

Kate grabbed Intrepid's arm.  "Come
on, Intrep." she ordered.  "We're
going back in the tunnels." To Eclipse, she asked, "Can you use a
weapon?"

"I've never tried," she said, surprised.

"Give her a gun, Intrep."

"It's linked." Intrepid said, taking out his Mythran given
Exceptional Pea Shooter.

"Just give it to her!"

Intrepid was surprised when the blaster just fell out of his hand and
into Eclipse's.  Their fingers touched
briefly, but he didn't focus on it.  He
guessed the Nexus Force's rules didn't apply here.  Well, they never applied to anything he did
anyway.  He decided to give her his
Breastplate of Armored Inspiration, Shield of Shielding, Kettle Helmet, and Elite
Longsword for melee combat as well.  She
looked at all of them with uncertainty.

"If we're taking the fight to them," Intrepid instructed,
"you'd best suit up." Eclipse took them and Kate helped her put them
on.

A strange rumbling came from outside the window, and Intrepid thought it
was distant thunder for a second.  But it
was quieter, and closer.  He extended the
shutter's slightly, and saw, with dismay, that specimens of Darkling were
darting around the town, tearing through walls and growling.  They were getting collectively closer to the
house.

"Scratch that about going to them.
They've come to us." Intrepid said.

A winged Darkling suddenly thumped against the window, tearing through
the wooden shutters with its terrible claws and tossing them to the grond.  It growled, a deep bubbling sound, despite
having no mouth to growl from, and extended its neck to Intrepid.  Eclipse screamed, and Intrepid reared his Bat
Lord Staff.

With a strong jab of his weapon, the Darkling was promptly smashed.  But its attack had attracted the others, and
a bunch now amassed outside the house.  Intrepid
quickly built a wall over the window, and turned to the girls.  Eclipse was covering her eyes from the
smashed Darkling, and Kate was looking at the door, Samuraizor held at the ready.

"We should go." Kate said.

Then Darklings burst up through the floor.

## **Chapter 8**

With some shooting, swinging, and mostly stomping, Intrepid, Kate, and
Eclipse were able to keep the Darklings below waist level.  But the winged ones kept clawing up, knocking
through the floorboards and sending splinters flying with their motions and
their screeches, which sounded most horrible.

Intrepid and Kate did well to dodge the growing holes in the floor, but
the boards were suddenly ripped apart directly underneath Eclipse, and with a
shriek she fell into the downstairs level, where the most Darklings were.  Intrepid ran to the hole and nearly fell
himself.  He could jump down, or take the
stairs.

The door suddenly burst open, revealing a line of wingless Darklings
awaiting entrance.

Intrepid gulped.  Jumping it was.  He double jumped and rolled, bracing himself
for the ground, and hit it fast.  The
Darklings were focused on securing Eclipse, letting Intrepid take out three
with a combo attack.  A fourth Darkling
approached from behind and clawed at his cape.
A swing to behind dispatched it and it smashed into pieces.

The Darklings were carrying Eclipse out the door now.  Intrepid began after them, but the other
Darklings blocked his way.  Unlucky for
them, he had a Bat Lord Shield, and he ran at them with a Spinning Shield Slam,
knocking them aside as he ran from the house again.

The Darklings holding Eclipse sprouted wings and began to lift off,
despite her kicks and cries.  Intrepid
reached for his Pneumatic Drill of Blasting - it was missing.  He grabbed a Plunger Gun instead and shot the
highest Darkling in the head.  Blinded,
it let go and fell down.  The group began
to sway but stayed in the air, moving away.

Then the Exceptional Pea Shooter fell from Eclipse's hand, and Intrepid
grabbed it triumphantly.  He could use
this.

He fired blast after blast of frozen peas, as fast as he could, but they
flew wild and landed everywhere.  And he
could feel his Imagination depleting quickly.
He hadn't practiced much with this gun, but two shots happened hit to
hit their target and another Darkling fell, smashing in mid-air.

Intrepid had just enough Imagination for three more shots.  The feeling of depletion was tugging at his
consciousness.  He fired two, hitting the
last Darkling once, making sure not to hit Eclipse by accident, but the other
shot missed.  Then there was enough for
just one more shot.  He aimed as hard as
he could, and squeezed the trigger.  He
silently prayed, and this shot was true.

The Darkling smashed and Eclipse fell from the sky.  With the last of his strength Intrepid darted
under her flailing form and grabbed her, before falling to the ground as well.  He had enough will left to grab a Notion
Potion and pour it on his face.  He sat
up with a gasp, his energy restored.

"You okay?" he quickly asked to Eclipse.  She nodded.
She was okay, but he wasn't.  He
was barely conscious now, and fell with his back against the ground.

Intrepid had used Imagination for so long, he didn't want to know what
would happen to him if it ran out.  He'd
heard unpleasant stories about Imagination detachment.  It took time, patience, and pain for a
minifigure to return to a pre-unlocked state.

But there wasn't time to think about that.  Intrepid was still feeling a bit delirious as
Eclipse helped him up.  Kate had made it
out of the house, and she was fending off the rest of its Darklings, but more
were making their way over from the forest.

Intrepid felt the urge to lie down and rest, and he resisted it.  He couldn't let his brief encounter with
Imagination depletion get to him now.  He
needed to fight, but his limbs felt numb.
He willed them to feel.  His
fingers tightened around his staff and shield.

He activated another shield slam.  The Imagination use stirred him awake.  He rushed to join Kate and sent half her
attackers tumbling, stunning them.

"We have...  to get out of
this town," panted Kate in between dealing blows with the Samuraizor.

"I'm sure Eclipse knows the way..." Intrepid breathed.  They defeated that group of Darklings, and he
turned to face the quickly approaching ones.
They began to fight those ones as well, quickly filling the grounds with
smashed monsters.

"Have something to say for us, Eclipse?" Kate called as one
Darkling got too close to her and was about to deliver a painful scratch.  Intrepid smashed it.

Intrepid risked a glance behind.  Eclipse
was by herself, mouth open, ready to say something.

"Is there another town near here?" Intrepid called, before
turning back to deal with more Darklings.
Poke.  Prod.  Jab.  The
monsters kept coming.

"There's another town," Eclipse said at last, her voice tinged
with worry, "but we can't lead the Darklings there."

"We can defeat them," Intrepid assured.

"Speak for yourself," Kate huffed.

There was a momentary break in the combat when they finished smashing
all the Darklings in the immediate area, but there was another group
approaching from the forest.  Intrepid
scrutinized them.  "If they're
coming from the caves, I have an idea.  We
can just blow it up to slow them down, stop them for now.  Then we run for it."

Kate shook her head.  "Not a
good idea if the Darklings can track us.
We can't go to the town on foot."

"We can fly, then!" Intrepid decided.  He summoned the Pod Rocket, in its sorry,
engineless state.  "Fix this and
fly." he said.  Then he ran for the
forest.

"Wait!" he heard Kate call, but he was already running.  He both speed boosted and shield slammed his
way through the first Darklings to cross his path, then turned and went for the
cave.

There were Darklings climbing up through the hole in the ground.  Intrepid activated a Flash Bang, stunning
them so they fell back into the tunnels.
He quickly tossed some bricks down and quickbulit a cover over the
entrance, which wouldn't hold them for very long once they recovered.  He turned back to the cave's opening to smash
an approaching Darkling, then began unloading his collection of Firecrackers
around the cave.

The cover thumped as the Darklings began to climb again, and two more
approached from the entrance.  Intrepid
smashed those as well, and continued laying Firecrackers.  There would be a lot of damage happening very
soon.  Then he reached into his pack to
equip his Shield of Shielding.

He messed up.  He didn't have the
Shield of Shielding.  The Firecrackers
were about to explode and his Speed Boost was still charging.

Suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder.
He swung around and cried out as the Darkling clawed him in the back.  There was a searing feeling as the blades cut
past his cape and through his Bat Lord shirt.

Then the Darkling was smashed, hit with the crimson blade of an Elite
Longsword, and someone else grabbed his shoulders, laying him on the ground as
he cringed from the wound.

Eclipse was standing over him.

"What are you doing here...?" he mumbled as the cover was
thrown off next to him, and a Darkling stuck its soulless head out.

Eclipse knelt down and put the Shield of Shielding between them.  "Saving you." she said.  The Darklings were almost upon them now, and
the Firecrackers were about to blow.

Intrepid activated the shield a second before everything around them was
set on fire.

\*\*\*\*

It was dark when Intrepid's eyes opened.
The light pattering sound of rain against the roof was the only sound
apart from his breathing.  He listened
closely.  No.  The breathing wasn't his.  There was someone else here.

The atmosphere seemed familiar.  The
darkness enveloped everything so he couldn't see at all.  He turned his head against something soft - a
pillow.  He was on a bed.  There was one measely light source, a window,
barely illuminated from the nightly outdoors.
It didn't make much of a difference, the room was black and the window
was a dark blue.

Intrepid squinted.  In front of
the window, there was a silhouette in front of its frame, in the shape of a
person..

"You're awake." a familiar sounding voice cracked.  The silhouette shifted, turning around.  Intrepid strained to make out any details.  Her hair seemed long.  Kate?

"You could have been badly burned," she was saying, and she
sighed.  "The things you get
yourself into..."

Intrepid winced as he tried to push himself into a sitting position.  The bed was plush under him and the covers
felt heavy.  "What time is it?"
he muttered.

"That's the thing," the shape said, stepping closer, but
Intrepid still could not recognize her, although...  it was still dark, but something about the
air around her seemed to crackle.

"Red." he assumed.  In
the darkness she nodded.  "What's
happening? Do you know where we are?"

"We're on Elistra."

Intrepid frowned.  "So we
made it."

"You've been relocated to another town, but you haven't moved
worlds since you crashed."

The atmosphere dawned on Intrepid.
The last place he had seen Red was in the small back room in the back of
Alex's home, which had been his parent's home.
His home.  There had been a bench
and a piano in that room.  In this room
where he was now, there was still a bench and a piano, and some extra
furniture.

"This is my house!" he exclaimed.

"Not exactly," the girl he assumed was Red said grimly.  "When your rocket was damaged, it
slipped through more than a dimensional crack.
You're in the past, Intrepid.  You
traveled to the past!"

The revelation hit him in the stomach like a train.  *Was this what Tiberius meant when he could*
save his family? By traveling back in time? It was absurd!

"This is crazy." he whispered.
"Why are there Darklings here if we're in the past? Did they fall
through a rift too?"

"Didn't you read about Nexus Force history?" she groaned.

"I think you'd know if I did." Intrepid grumbled.

"My father never told me."

"I haven't." Intrepid admitted.  “My family wasn’t fond of the Nexus Tower.”

"The Darklings were among the first monsters to be released by the
Baron.  They're born directly from the
Maelstrom itself.  The first Stromlings
were minifigures infected by the Darklings."

"And this happened when?"

"Six years ago.  Around that
time of the Battle of Nimbus Staion, a Maelstrom shard crashed in Elistra's
plainlands.”

"Yeah, but when is now?"

"It's January 3026 now.  No
one really knows the Maelstrom is here, and a lot of people are still
superstitious."

"Hey, my family’s religious." Intrepid said.

"Yeah, there's a difference.
I meant blaming everything on demons." probably-Red clarified.

"Eclipse mentioned demons." Intrepid realized.

"Who?"

"So there's still Maelstrom here..." Intrepid continued to
muse.  "Does Tiberius expect me to
prevent my family's death my stopping the Maelstrom now? By myself?"

"About Tiberius," probably-Red answered, "my father, you
from my dimension, wants you to know not to trust him at all.  He says you should get out of here, and
return to your time and place as soon as possible."

"Things are already different between our dimensions."
Intrepid muttered.  He surprised himself.  Was he actually considering this?

"And they're different enough." probably-Red insisted.  "For your own sake, just bail.  He knows you better than anyone."

"Considering our worlds are different, I think *I* know *myself*
better." Intrepid resisted.  "Why
shouldn't I change this future? My present?"

The girl seemed miffed.  "You
can't just play with your dimension's time all you want.  It might not affect my dimension, but it
affects me."

"How so?"

"Because you are how you are, because of your past.  And I know what your future can hold.  You have a very nice future ahead of you if
you do as I say."

"Don't I get to plot my own course in life?" Intrepid asked.

"I thought you hate philosophy! This isn't you plotting your moves!
Don't you get it?" presumed-Red shouted.
Her voice cracked.  "It's
Tiberius.  None of this would be
happening if he hadn't meddled.  He's the
one pulling the strings here.  He's the
reason you're stuck in the past."

"How do you know?"

Probably-Red groaned most audibly.
"He's not stupid," he heard her whisper to herself.  Was that about Tiberius? No, she was talking
about him.  "He's just tired."
She cleared her throat and said to him, "My dad went through this too.  He told me about this particular event
happening.  He bailed as soon as he
figured out what happened.  What I can't
figure out, though, is why you haven't."

"Maybe something about our rocket crashing?" Intrepid
suggested.

"You could have fixed that." Something beeped on
presumed-Red's person, and she looked down at a device on her belt.  "Hate to cut this short, but I gotta get
running.  I'm sure you'll be too."

"Wait," Intrepid said, holding up a hand.  "What about Eclipse?"

Probably-Red looked at him.  Even
though it was dark, he could imagine her brows furrowing like his usually did,
perplexed.  "I don't know who that
is." she said.

Suddenly her silhouette was gone.

"Damn!" Intrepid cried to the air.  He grabbed at his left wrist, at his
transdimensional maneuverability device, still disguised as a watch.  It felt like rubber plastic now.  He willed Red's image into his head, and he
closed his eyes tightly, wishing as hard as he could, to just go.

He opened his eyes.  Nothing
happened.  The device had failed.  It was still broken.  It'd been broken for awhile, just stopped
working for no reason.  And now, when he
needed it most, it still didn't work.

Out of nowhere, he remembered his first encounter with Red.  It was in the Maelstrom Mine, on Avant
Gardens.

Suddenly he felt like his body was being ripped to shreds.  Intrepid screamed as the feeling took over,
and then he felt his parts mashing together.
It stopped as quickly as it began, but now daylight was streaming
through a hole in the wall.  Of a cave.

Intrepid got up quickly.  He
recognized the place.  It was the
entrance cave to the Maelstrom Mines in Avant Gardens.  The device had worked, and now he was
transported here.

A Dark Spiderling walked up to him and began chewing on his cape.  Intrepid got up quickly and punched it in the
face.  He didn't want to be here! He
willed the device to take him back to Elistra, but of course it wasn't working
again.

An Assembly Engineer ran by and began spraying the overgrown Spider with
bug spray.  The Spider didn't seem to
mind yet, and Intrepid snagged the Nexus Forcer's arm.  "Hey,"

"What do you want?" the guy asked.

"What time is it?" Intrepid demanded.

The engineer shrugged.  "Why,
you can see for yourself, it is morning!"

"What's the year?" Intrepid specified.

"Same as yesterday, three-thousand the twenty-sixth.  The date is January the ninth, eleven thirty
ante meridiam, to be exact!"

The Spiderling began screaming now.
Intrepid screamed too, and fell to his knees.

He might be in Avant Gardens, but it didn't make his situation any
better, when he was still trapped in the past.

It was worse, because now he'd lost Kate.

Next: Part Three: Post Meridiem