Expand Horizons

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**Expand Horizons** is the seventh episode of *Project Deca*. It serves as part one of the tribute to *Horizons*, the Featured Series for 2015.

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## Episode

 File:Project Deca OP2

"The Transmundane?" Attai narrowed his eyes. "The hell are you up to now?"

"Oh, you know, a little sabotage here, a little tomfoolery there, the usual." Terox drawled. "But for real, I want to see what makes you tick."

"Even I'm not sure what makes me tick." Attai snorted.

"Aye, there's the rub." Terox nodded lazily. "Of course, that's what all this is for."

A bar stool suddenly appeared behind Terox, which he quickly sat down on.

"The Transmundane is pulling shit from your subconscious out to construct itself right now." Terox explained. "You may not remember these things, but they're all inside your brain somewhere; that's what Ubermensch theorized, at least."

"So what?" Attai huffed.

"So, if I make you re-live these memories, it should reform the neural connections you need to remember them." Terox tsked. "*All* of them."

"How do you know all this?" Attai raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I'm not just a pretty face, you know." Terox chuckled. "Believe it or not, I am a man of science. Pretended to be one for a while, anyway. Point is I am *extensively* familiar with how the human body works."

"That's...concerning." Attai muttered.

"I eat universes, you think cracking open a cold skull with the boys is beneath me?" Terox snorted. "Look, you get your memories back, I get some entertainment, everyone leaves happy. Anything wrong with that?"

"Several things."

"Excellent!" Terox shot Attai a couple of finger guns. "Welp, I'm gonna leave you to it. Have fun, kiddo!"

With that, Terox disappeared, leaving Attai alone in his memories.

The smoke alarm going off was Ryan's first clue that something had gone wrong.

The second was that his teacher was stuck somewhere between having a stroke and an aneurysm.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, FENRIR?!" His cooking teacher snapped. "Get your food out of the oven before you burn down the damn school!"

"Wha-" The leather-jacket wearing teenager suddenly snapped to attention, blowing the bangs of his black hair out of his face. "Shit!"

Ryan slammed his book down on the table and ran over to one of the ovens, grabbing some potholders and throwing down the oven's door. He reached in and pulled out a dish containing a charred chunk of what appeared to have been meat of some sort.

"Dammit, the chicken asiago!" Ryan hissed, kicking the oven door back up. "Motherfucker!"

"Firstly, it's 'asiago chicken', and secondly, watch your language!" The cooking teacher chided, storming over to him. "Thirdly, what were you so wrapped up in daydreaming about that you forgot about the chicken?!"

"He was brooding about the fact that we live in a society." One of the other students snarked.

"Kiss my ass, Jaden!" Ryan threw the potholders down on a nearby desk. "This is why Brykynlai left you!"

"Oh, you wanna go, asshole?!"

"Both of you knock it off unless you want detention for a week!" The teacher interjected. "Get back to work!"

Ryan shot Jaden one last nasty glare before heading back to his station, where he began angrily chopping onions.

**It's always one thing after another with this goddamn school.** Ryan thought to himself. **If I never saw this place again, it would still be too soon.**

As Ryan walked out of the doors to the school after the bell rang, he noticed a couple of students standing in a corner nearby talking about something while looking at a phone. One of them noticed his stare and waved him over, shoving out their phone.

"Yo dude, you gotta see this!" The student holding the phone said. "Some guy got footage of the Hybrider beating a mutant last night and uploaded it to Twitter!"

Ryan walked over and looked at the phone, which was playing a video of a figure in teal metallic armor fighting a grotesque humanoid creature with a metal cage-like helmet merged into its face. The figure spun a dial on the belt it was wearing and hit the creature with a glowing fist, sending it flying. Moments later, the creature's mutated features began to melt away, transforming it into a normal (if not particularly handsome) person.

"The Hybrider?" Ryan raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Seriously? That thing every conspiracy theorist on YouTube says KafKo owns? I thought that was just a rumor."

"I guess not." The other student said. "KafKo says they'll be having an official press release about it tomorrow."

"This is pretty great, you know." The first student said. "If they really did make a system that can turn mutants back into normal people, that's going to save a lot of lives."

"Are you seriously going to trust a company named KafKo?" Ryan scoffed. "I don't buy this whole Hybrider schtick."

"Why not?" The second student asked.

"Come on, the guy's obviously just a mutant in a costume." Ryan huffed. "I don't think a normal suit of armor could give someone alien powers like that."

"Fair enough." The second student said. "Still, it's been ten years since the mutants started showing up. Someone's bound to have made some tech that can help fix all this."

"Yeah, and so what if he *is* a mutant?" The first student said. "Doesn't really matter as long as he's fighting other mutants for us."

"I don't know if you noticed, but mutants fucking *eat people*." Ryan snapped. "The only good mutant is a dead mutant."

Ryan threw his backpack over his shoulder and stormed off, leaving the other students behind.

Attai stood in place for a bit, thinking over the situation he found himself in.

"I don't particularly want to feed into that bastard's plans, but at the same time, it might be beneficial to get some of my memories back." Attai muttered to himself, putting his hand up to his chin. "Not being able to summon the CataloGun is kind of a big issue, though..."

After a few more moments of pondering, Attai sighed and turned towards the house at the end of the dirt road.

"Might as well see what this place is all about." Attai grumbled. "Not much else to do at the moment."

As Attai began down the dirt road, he felt a strange pressure building up inside his head. It started out fairly insignificant, but gradually grew more and more noticable as he approached the house, eventually reaching the point where Attai couldn't keep moving anymore.

"*Gott verdammt!*" Attai spat, clutching at his head. "*Was zum Teufel* is going on with-"

All of a sudden, the pressure stopped. He experimentally patted his head a couple times to make sure it was gone, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jeez, what was all that?" He questioned, running his fingers through his bright blond hair to straighten it out a bit. "Never had that happen before."

The door to the house opened, with a middle-aged German woman stepping out and waving to him.

"Johann, come in already!" She chided. "Your dinner's going to be cold!"

"Right, sorry!" Johann called back. "Be right there, mom!"

Attai's head suddenly jolted upwards as he regained consciousness, looking around wildly to try and figure out what had happened. He found himself in what appeared to be a dark train car that was packed tightly with numerous people, none of which seemed to notice him. The atmosphere was somber and quiet, with nobody appearing to say a word.

"What the hell is going on?!" Attai snapped.

There was no reaction from the people around him, which only agitated him further.

"Alright, calm down, try to think this through." Attai told himself, taking a deep breath. "These are supposed to be my memories, so what I do now shouldn't effect what happens in them. That explains that. But what I don't understand is why-"

Attai stopped talking as he suddenly noticed an exact copy of himself standing right in front of him.

"Uh..." Both Attais began and trailed off at the same time. "Who-"

The splitting pressure from before returned, forcing both of them to double over in pain. The pressure suddenly disappeared and the two stood up as if nothing had happened, although they were noticably different from before, appearing as scruffy children with brown hair and amber eyes.

"Dieter, what's going on?" One of them asked nervously in a hushed tone. "Where are they taking us? Where's mom and dad?"

"I don't know, Jurgen." The other one replied quietly. "Just try to stay calm. I'm sure we're going to be fine."

Ryan opened the door to his house and stepped inside, throwing his backpack onto the floor and stumbling his way to the dining room, flopping down onto a chair at the table. His mother was in the kitchen across from the dining room, dicing some tomatoes.

"Another energizing day at school?" His mother quipped.

"Ugh..." Ryan groaned, sinking down in his seat. "I set off the fire alarm in cooking class today."

"That happens." His mother shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"Easy for you to say." Ryan huffed. "I feel like I'm not getting anywhere with this class."

"Well, nobody starts out good at cooking." His mother said. "It's a skill that takes a while to learn."

"Yeah, but I wish I could learn it faster." Ryan grumbled, putting an elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand. "You shouldn't be stuck here doing all the cooking on your days off."

"I appreciate the thought, but you worry about me too much." His mother replied. "I'm fine where I am, even if I don't get a lot of free time. You should be focusing on your own future. I don't want you to end up on the streets if something were to happen to me."

"I know." Ryan sighed defeatedly. "It's just..."

Ryan trailed off as he tried to think of something to say.

"Turning the topic to better news, have you seen the Hybrider thing going around?" His mother asked.

"Yeah, I have." Ryan tsked. "I don't trust it."

"Well, you've always been cynical about things." His mother said. "Personally, I think this could finally solve the mutant problem."

"Even if it could, it'd be too late." Ryan's face turned sour. "Ten years too late."

Ryan's mother set down the knife and turned to look at Ryan with a concerned expression.

"Is this about your father?" She asked.

Ryan didn't answer, instead trying to avoid eye contact.

"Oh, honey." Ryan's mother walked over and wrapped her arms around him, patting him on the back. "I miss him too, but there's nothing we can do about it. If this Hybrider thing really works, I think...I think a lot of families won't have to go through what we did."

Ryan's mother let go of him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Promise me something, Ryan." She said firmly. "Don't let the past keep you down. Let yourself heal so you can help the people who really need it. If you can do that, then no matter where life takes you, you'll always be able to keep moving forward."

"...You're so cheesy." Ryan mumbled.

"Ryan."

There were a few moments of silence.

"...I promise."

Midnight.

That's what the clock said.

So what was making all that racket downstairs?

These are the thoughts that ran through Ryan's groggy mind as he was pulled out of his deep sleep by loud thumping noises coming from the first floor of his house. He had been so tired that he fell asleep without changing, even still wearing his shoes. Slowly processing what was going on, his brain finally woke up enough to realize that their house might have been broken into, making him bolt up and jump out of bed. He grabbed a baseball bat lying next to his door and slowly began to open it. Suddenly, the sound of ice crackling came from downstairs, making him pause for a moment in confusion before disregarding it and bursting out of his room.

Ryan flew down the stairs, swinging around the corner at the bottom and raising his bat in the air.

It didn't take too long for him to drop it.

Before him was a scene he had only seen in his nightmares. Two mutants stood in the kitchen across the hall, with one resembling a grotesque plant and one with bodyu part reminiscent of a large blue moth. Vines had sprouted all across the room, knocking cabinets off the wall and pillaging the knife drawer. Ice coated the hall, and lying in the entryway to the kitchen was Ryan's mother, her body iced over and riddled with holes.

Ryan went into shock, falling to the floor and trying to crawl backwards away from the mutants. The Ice mutant let out a low hiss, creating visible vapor in the air as it did so, then began to approach Ryan.

"N-no..." Ryan sputtered. "No! Stay away from me!"

The Ice mutant began inhaling, preparing to create freezing gust of wind.

"Stay...AWAY!"

Ryan's skin suddenly split open, with cracks forming all across his body. Flames began spewing from the crevices in his skin, setting fire to the area around him and blocking the Ice mutant's breath as it came out. Both mutants backed away a few steps in surprise. Ryan looked at his body and screamed, suddenly stopping the flow of flames. The cracks in his skin closed up as if they had never existed, leaving Ryan with his normal appearance.

The flames he had created spread quickly, catching more and more of the house on fire. The two mutants seemed undeterred, with the Ice mutant preparing another breath. All of a sudden, the sound of metal grinding against metal came from outside the front door.

A wall of greenish crystals crashed through the floor, knocking away the two mutants as the front door was kicked in by a man in a suit of armor.

"Shit!" The Vine mutant hissed. "It's the Hybrider!"

"We'll have to try again somewhere else." The Ice mutant breathed.

The Ice mutant grabbed the Vine mutant and turned intangible, flying out of the burning building. The Hybrider surveyed the situation and spotted Ryan still sitting on the floor, frozen with shock.

"Hang tight kid, let's get you out of here." The Hybrider grabbed Ryan and hoisted him to his feet, wrapping his arm around him for support.

"I...no, wait, wait!" Ryan suddenly snapped to attention. "My mom!"

"What?"

The Hybrider turned his head towards the kitchen, seeing the body of Ryan's mom lying on the floor.

"Dammit." The Hybrider cursed under his breath. "I was too late."

"We need to get her out of here before the whole place burns down!" Ryan stumbled forward, but was stopped by the Hybrider grabbing his arm.

"We can't! The Hybrider said. "We need to get *you* out of here!"

"We can't just leave her!" Ryan yelled, struggling to free himself from the Hybrider's grip. "She needs to go to a hospital! We can still save her!"

"She's already dead." The Hybrider replied sternly, keeping a tight hold on Ryan. "You try to stay and get her, you'll die too."

"How do you know?!" Ryan tried punching the Hybrider's diamond armor to no avail. "Let me go! I need to save her!"

"You can't!" The Hybrider said. "Listen to me, kid! Your mother is gone! I understand what you must be feeling right now, but-"

"You don't know anything!" Ryan shouted, tears running down his face. "You don't know a god damn thing! Just let...me...GO!"

"I'm really sorry about this, kid." The Hybrider's voice sounded genuinely pained. "I hope you can forgive me someday."

"What-"

Without warning, the Hybrider punched Ryan in the head, knocking him unconscious. The last thing Ryan saw as his sight faded into darkness was the body of his mother being swallowed up by the flames.

Johann dove into a trench, scrambling to get out of the line of fire. The battle in the bombed-out city of Stalingrad was going poorly for the German army, as Soviet troops continued to march on the poorly-supplied and weary soldiers of the Wehrmacht. The march on USSR had gone on much longer than expected, and with the arrival of winter, the Soviet Union gained a clear advantage on their home turf.

His breath turning to steam in the freezing temperatures, Johann desperately searched through his field uniform for ammunition. His only remaining weapon was the semi-automatic Gewehr 41, which required two stripper clips in order to reload; seeing as how he couldn't even find one clip at the moment, the situation seemed rather dire.

Johann cursed and peeked his head out of the trench to assess the situation. German troops were being driven back by an advancing force of Soviet soldiers, as more and more of their rifles began to run out of ammunition. He noticed one soldier in particular who was trying to limp to some nearby debris for cover, his weapons fully expended. Johann turned his head and spotted a Soviet soldier taking aim at his injured comrade, who failed to notice this rather crucial detail.

Without even thinking, Johann's body sprung into action as he leaped out of the trench and bolted for the limping soldier, knocking him out of the way right as the Soviet infantryman fired. Johann felt a searing bolt of pain rip through his torso and he fell to the ground, the world around him fading into darkness.

Dieter and Jurgen stood huddled together in a group with the other passengers outside the train car they had been transported in. Their were numerous groups surrounding them, grouped together in the same way as the entrance to a large compound loomed nearby. German medical officers examined the groups one by one, most of them wearing a flat expression with a sullen look in their eyes. One officer in particular, however, approached the group the boys were standing in with a rather jovial expression, whistling a jolly tune as he inspected them.

The officer paused in front of the boys, looking them up and down for a few moments before nodding thoughtfully. He waved over a couple of soldiers and began issuing instructions to them.

"Most of this load is useless, but these two I need." The officer said, pointing to Dieter and Jurgen. "Leave them with me and take the others."

The soldiers exchanged a glance before nodding and beginning to hustle the rest of the group away. Dieter and Jurgen were left alone with the medical officer, who reached into one of his pockets and pulled out two pieces of candy.

"I'm sure you children must be confused about what's going on, but I assure you that everything is being done to improve life in Germany." The medical officer handed each of them one of the candies. "Together, we're going to help enhance humanity's knowledge of medical science."

"Who are you?" Dieter asked apprehensively.

"My name is Josef." The officer replied. "But you can call me 'Uncle Mengele'."

Ryan's eyes flew open as he regained conciousness, finding himself lying in a hospital bed. He pushed the blankets off of himself and sat up, noticing he was in a medical gown, with his clothes folded on a chair across the room, singed in places from the fire he had created but surprisingly still intact. The sun was shining through the window of his room, which appeared to be on the side of the hospital's ground floor.

Ryan gazed off into the distance as he slowly recalled what had happened to him the night before. He grit his teeth as he climbed out of bed, stumbling over to his clothing and throwing off the hospital gown.

"The Hybrider..." Ryan hissed. "I'm not going to forgive you for this."

After Ryan finished putting his clothes on, he paused for a moment to try and figure out what to do.

"The Hybrider press conference is today, so he'll probably be there." Ryan muttered to himself. "I need to be there when it happens, but I don't know if the hospital will release me in time."

Ryan pondered this conundrum for a few seconds before he noticed that his room's window was unlocked.

Naturally, Ryan dove out the window.

The KafKo building, whose entrance was usually as uninteresting to the public as any other major corporations' building, was currently surrounded by a flood of news reporters and people who had shown up to see the press conference in person. The entire block had been closed off for traffic by the police, with a line of barriers and security guards set up between the crowd and a small stage placed directly outside the building.

Ryan, having made his way downtown via public transportation, slipped seamlessly into the crowd to watch what was about to unfold. A few minutes after he arrived, a middle-aged man wearing a business suit stepped out of the KafKo building, immediately prompting a wave of photos from the reporters. The man walked up onstage, stepping behind a pedestal with a microphone that had been set up on the right side of the platform.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as the CEO of KafKo, I thank you for your patience." The man began calmly. "Our official presentation will begin now."

A man in his early twenties who was carrying a large metal briefcase stepped out of the KafKo building and made his way onstage, standing next to the podium. He wore a teal shirt with dark green pants, with his unkempt brown hair only accentuating his somewhat unprofessional appearance. The crowd began to murmur, wondering what this apparent everyman was doing onstage.

"I'm sure by now that all of you are aware of the existence of the Hybrider." The KafKo CEO said. "Our intention was to keep the program confidential until it was further developed, but in this age of widespread social media, it appears that we misjudged our ability to do so."

The CEO nodded at the man carrying the briefcase, who nodded in return and placed the briefcase on the ground, kneeling down to unlock it. He opened the metal case and pulled out what appeared to be a belt of some sort, placing it around his waist. The belt had a large dial with a green hourglass symbol on the front, with a red handle sticking out on each side.

"This is the Hybrider belt, the core technology vital to the Hybrider program." The CEO explained. "When used by a mutant, the belt can automatically generate a suit of armor for its user, stabilizing their conflicting DNA strings and allowing them to use their powers without consequence."

The man wearing the belt twisted the handle on his right, unlocking the dial with a click. He threw the handle downwards, spinning the dial in a full 360 before it locked back into place.

Armor began generating in chunks around the man's body, with a circle of large diamonds forming around him as it did so. The armor finished generating and locked into place, with the diamonds surrounding it shattering into a fine mist of shining particles.

A loud wave of questions spouted out from the reporters and the crowed alike, forcing the CEO to wait a few moments before he resumed talking.

"This is Shane Vidar, a Diamond Mutant." The CEO introduced the now-armored man. "He is unique among mutants for having the ability to suppress his mutant form unless he uses his abilities."

Ryan glanced down at his hands, which still looked completely normal despite cracking open to shoot out fire the night before.

"That being said, use of these abilities still distorts his mind into the same aggressive mindset as a standard mutant." The CEO continued. "The Hybrider armor solves this issue, allowing him to remain human while maintaining superhuman abilities. While this technology is the latest and greatest we have, there is still a long way to go in developing it."

The CEO paused for a moment before continuing.

"...Unfortunately, that may take longer than we initially expected." The CEO stated somberly. "Last month, our head researcher, Professor James Marcus, disappeared, along with several of his prototypes. He was a survivor of the New Horizons research facility, and built upon technology developed there to create the Hybrider system."

Ryan's blood ran cold at the mention of New Horizons. That's where all this had started, after all. It's where the meteor hit that caused the mutations to being appearing in the first place, and it was where...

Where his father had died.

Ryan clenched his fists as the CEO continued talking, too absorbed in his own thoughts to listen to what was happening. After a few minutes, however, an explosion suddenly happened in the middle of the crowd, sending people into a screaming panic. At the center of the blast zone was a man obscured from head-to-toe in a long black cloak. The man threw off the cloak, revealing a mutated yellow body with insectoid legs jutting out from various limbs and large horns growing from one of his eyes. A pair of mandibles hung off his lower jaw, opening and closing in tandem with each other.

"You think this means anything?!" The mutant screamed. "Our mission cannot be interfered with! All of you must be turned!"

"Everyone evacuate the area immediately!" The CEO yelled into the microphone. "We'll have the Hybrider take care of this!"

The mutant doubled over and began vomiting up some sort of green plasma, which started collecting into a ball. Shane jumped offstage and tried making his way towards the mutants, but found himself being manhandled by fleeing civilians. Right after vomiting out one last chunk of plasma, the mutant was suddenly grabbed from behind and turned around, receiving a solid punch to the face that sent him stumbling backwards.

"You know..." Ryan growled, cracking his neck. "I really fucking hate mutants."

"You..." The mutant's eyes flew all over the place, moving indepenantly from each other. "You have already been turned. I don't need anything to do with you.

"Too bad."

Ryan tried punching the mutant again, but the mutant managed to dodge the blow and jump back a few meters. The mutant began making loud choking noises, then suddenly spat a ball of plasma towards Ryan at high speeds. Ryan's skin cracked open again, with a burst of flames causing the plasma to explode a few feet away from his body.

"Heat...mutant." The mutant sputtered, eyes glazing over. "I do not understand...why are you fighting me?!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ryan hissed. "Your kind took everything from me!"

Ryan jumped behind the large ball of plasma the mutant had been growing and used a burst of flame to shoot it back at its creator. The insectoid mutant grabbed the ball with its insectoid limbs, preventing it from exploding, only for Ryan to grab it arm and fling it into the air with another burst of flames. He launched a volley of fireballs at the airborne mutant and its payload, destabilizing the ball of plasma and causing it to explode in the mutant's face.

With the crowd having entirely cleared out by this point, the explosion was ultimately inconsquential for anyone except its creator, singing its body significantly. The mutant began falling to the ground, only for Shane to jump in and kick it with a glowing boot, sending him flying. Glowing cracks formed on the mutant's body as its mutation began falling away, leaving behind a normal, unconscious human being.

"Hey, you're that kid from last night, aren't you?" Shane noted. "Guess now I know how a Vine mutant and an Ice mutant managed to set a house on fire."

"You..." Ryan growled, clenching his fists as he turned to face the Hybrider. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"Not off the top of my head, but I can tell you're angry about something." Shane said apprehensively. "Look, you might want to switch back to human form while you still have control, or else-"

Ryan interrupted Shane by punching him in the chest, sending him stumbling back a few feet. Ryan's eyes began to glaze over, becoming entirely white as parts of his face began to burn off.

"You left my mother behind!" Ryan roared. "If you had just let me go-"

"You'd be as dead as your mom." Shane stated. "I can do a lot, but I can't bring back the dead."

"SHE WASN'T DEAD!" Ryan shooting fireballs at Shane, which all bounced off his diamond armor to no effect. "YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HER AND YOU LEFT HER THERE TO DIE!"

"I'm sorry, but you're wrong." Shane reached down and twisted the handle on his belt. "Neither of us could have saved her at that point."

"LIAR!"

Shane spun the Hybrider belt around, creating a burst of energy that flowed through his body.

As Ryan continued assaulting him with fireballs, Shane punched the ground, creating a massive pillar of crystal that slammed into Ryan from below, launching him into the air. He hit the ground with a loud thud, only to immediately be trapped in place by a group of smaller crystals that burst from the pavement beneath him. His flames went out and his body returned to normal, with him being too worn-out to maintain his mutated form.

"You can't beat me, kid." Shane said. "Not with your powerset."

"SHUT UP!" Ryan yelled, struggling to break free of his diamond prison. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say!"

"Then you're not going to get very far." Shane stated matter-of-factly. "You can't go rampaging and expect things to end well."

"The hell do you mean 'expect things to end well'?!" Ryan snapped. "My life is over! My family is gone and I'm a *mutant!* I can't do anything about that, so the only thing left for me is to kill the bastards responsible for this!"

"Man, you're a real defeatist for someone who ain't even hit 20." Shane sighed. "You've got a whole life in front of you; don't waste it like this."

"What would *you* know about my life?!"

"Probably more than you think."

Shane slowly retracted his crystals, placing Ryan back on his feet.

"If you really want to argue with me about this, we might as well do it over some grub." Shane said. "There's a fruit bar near here I'm a regular at. They've got really good strawberry crepes."

"The hell's a fruit bar?" Ryan looked puzzled.

"Think a cafe but everything's got fruit in it." Shane laughed. "Come on, I'll pay."

"Why should I trust you?" Ryan narrowed his eyes.

"As far as I've been keeping track, one of us here has been rampaging around like an idiot and the other guy is me." Shane shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe if we get some food in ya, you'll be less murdery."

Ryan was about to reject the offer, but was interrupted by his stomach coarsely reminding him that he hadn't eaten yet today.

"...Fine."

Dieter and Jurgen had been placed into two separate rooms next to each other, blocked from each other's view. Each room had a table and two chairs in it, but no decoration otherwise. Mengele sat across from Dieter, holding a large book written in Italian.

"The purpose of this experiment is to test for any possible extranormal abilities you may share with your twin." Mengele stated bluntly. "One of my assistants in the room with your brother will point to a specific word in this book and have him attempt to read it. You will then point out which word he is attempting to read. Since this book is in Italian, it reduces the chance of you simply picking a word you both are familiar with."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Dieter asked, confused.

"Ordinary humans can't, but there is a theory that certain identical twins may share a connection that transcends physical boundaries." Mengele explained. "I've not found a pair as of yet, but I've had to pick up the pace a little in light of...recent advancements in our scientific research."

"Okay..." Dieter mumbled.

"Alright, the experiment will start in just a moment." Mengele said, opening the book to a predetermined page. "Try to concentrate on your brother."

Dieter obliged, although he wasn't entirely sure what that was supposed to mean. All of a sudden, a shooting pain went through his right eye as screaming came from the next room. Dieter clutched at his face and grit his teeth together as the shootin pain turned into a throbbing sting at the back of his eye.

"Thank the Lord, I was worried we might have to go through even more subjects." Mengele muttered casually, pulling out a pad of paper and writing down some notes.

"What's going on?!" Dieter cried. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, right." Mengele said, not bothering to look up from his notes. "The book test was a lie. We used to do things like that, but it takes far too much time. This method is much more straightforward."

"I don't-"

"Understand?" Mengele interrupted. "Of course you don't, you're a child. This is simply how I do things around here."

Mengele set down the papers and pulled out a surgical knife.

"This serves two purposes at once, actually." Mengele stated. "I need more samples to study eye colors, and it doesn't particularly matter if you're missing one or the other."

Dieter's eyes widened and he bolted for the door, only to find it locked from the outside.

"Calm down, please." Mengele sighed, getting up from the table. "I'm very busy today, so I'd like to perform the extraction quickly and verify that the connection works both ways."

"Why are you doing this?!" Dieter yelled.

"Like I said, for my research." Mengele replied. "You won't be leaving this camp anyway, so you should just be proud that someone of your kind was able to contribute something valuable to Germany after all."

"Johann, you have a visitor."

Johann sat propped up on a hospital bed in a military hospital. He had bandages wrapped around his waist where the bullets had penetrated, and his legs were suspended in the air by a harness to keep his blood flowing properly. The nurse who had peeked into his room to inform him of the new arrival retreated into the hallway, shortly replaced by Mengele walking into the room.

"Doctor Mengele..." Johann said. "I thought you were reassigned out of the field."

"I was." Mengele replied. "I'm not here as a field doctor, I'm here as a scientist."

"I don't-"

"That injury you received paralyzed you from the waist down, didn't it?" Mengele gestured towards Johann's legs. "You're extremely fortunate to have survived at all."

Johann went silent. He knew an injury like this meant his military career was over, and given that, he wasn't sure to how to reply.

"Well, no matter." Mengele continued. "This is perfect timing, actually. Unfortunate, certainly, but also the perfect opportunity."

"What do you mean?"

"I can make you whole again." Mengele said, a mysterious glint in his eye. "More than that...I can turn you into Germany's best chance at winning this war."

"...You can do all of that?" Johann asked, his voice laced with hope but his mind racing with doubts.

"Up until recently, I would have said 'no'." Mengele stated. "However, we have recently received technology from a certain...benefactor, let's say, that will allow us to tap into scientific potential we didn't even know existed."

"What kind of potential?" Johann inquired.

Mengele looked Johann in the eyes as a sincere yet somehow unsettling smile settled upon his face.

"The potential to become a true Ubermensch."

After placing their order and receiving their drinks, Ryan and Shane sat across from each other at a table next to one of the fruit bar's large windows. Shane casually sipped on his smoothie as Ryan eyed him cautiously.

"I don't get it." Ryan muttered. "You're fighting me five minutes ago and suddenly you're buying me lunch?"

"Well, we ain't fighting anymore, are we?" Shane shrugged. "If it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid."

"I guess."

The pair went silent for a few moments. Ryan's eyes drifted over to the cashier as his stomach started to rumble. Shane raised an eyebrow and tapped the table to get his attention.

"Alright, you're a mutant now, right?" Shane cleared his throat. "Couple things you should probably know."

"Like what?" Ryan questioned.

"Well, firstly, the public doesn't know about this yet, but there are actually two different types of mutants." Shane explained. "Transform types and Scan types."

"Different...types?" Ryan repeated, confused.

"Right." Shane nodded. "Transform-type mutants assault people for the sake of triggering their mutant DNA and turning them into mutants themselves. The two mutants that attacked your house and the mutant that attacked that crowd just now were Transform types."

"I thought mutants ate people." Ryan said. "Why would they eat a person they're trying to transform?"

"Transform types don't eat people." Shane corrected. "That's where the second type comes in. Scan-type mutants try to collect human genetic material by consuming said material."

"Meaning they eat people." Ryan confirmed.

"Yeah, basically." Shane sighed. "Problem is, there's no 'off' switch for 'em. They're not eating because they're hungry, so they won't stop until either I get to them or they overstuff their stomachs and, uh...well, you know."

"Jesus." Ryan winced.

"And Christ almighty." Shane nodded. "That's why I'm around. The Hybrider technology KafKo created has the ability to destabilize alien DNA, reverting mutants back into regular people."

"What exactly is a 'Hybrider', anyway?" Ryan asked. "Is it just that suit of armor you put on or...?"

"No, I'm the Hybrider." Shane laughed. "That armor you saw on me is just generated by the Hybrider Belt to stabilize my abilities. That way I can control them instead of letting them control me."

"Wait, so those crazy diamond powers are yours?" Ryan narrowed his eyes. "So you really are..."

"A mutant, yeah." Shane nodded. "CEO explained it while you were there, you know."

"Whatever." Ryan grumbled.

"Anyways, I'm a Scan type, to be specific." Shane said. "Need to be one to become a Hybrider."

"So have you ever-"

"Eaten someone? No." Shane shot the question down. "I get the urges, but I'm one of the rare ones that can control them. Just like you, if I'm not mistaken."

"How did you know about that?" Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Perks of being a mutant." Shane said. "You can tell who's a mutant and who isn't, among other things."

"Other things?" Ryan questioned.

"Basic sense enhancements, mostly." Shane answered. "You can see more distant objects, catch smaller smells, hear fainter sounds, and so on and so forth."

"Is that how you knew my mom was dead?" Ryan demanded.

"Yeah." Shane nodded. "Humans have some pretty obvious tells for that. Our senses are pretty good, so, you know."

"Like a predator fine-tuned to hunt down their prey..." Ryan muttered.

"You're a weird kid." Shane laughed. "I guess that's technically correct, but you sure have an interesting way of saying it."

"Well, that's just how I see it." Ryan grumbled sheepishly. "How would you describe it, smartass?"

"I'd describe it as handy." Shane said. "It's an oversimplification, I know, but overanalyzing it isn't going to help anything. I just take it as it is and roll with it."

"But doesn't it bother you?" Ryan demanded. "Being a creature designed for killing?"

"Unless you live in a community of vegans, I think that's kind of a goofy statement." Shane chuckled. "Look around us, kid. Humans are really good at killing everything already. Being a mutant just makes it more difficult not to do."

"Exactly!" Ryan snapped. "How does living like that not make you uncomfortable?!"

"It did at first." Shane admitted. "For a long, long time. Until I became a Hybrider, actually."

"What happened when you became a Hybrider?" Ryan asked.

"I realized I could use this power to help people instead of hurt them." Shane explained. "Sure, being a mutant can suck sometimes, but whenever I rescue someone who could've died and see the relief on their face...that's what makes me think all this crap is worth it."

Ryan went silent, not sure how to respond to this. After a few moments of silence, their server returned carrying a tray with two plates of food.

"Alright, soooooo, I *may* have been eavesdropping a teeny bit this whole time." She said, placing the tray onto their table. "Shane rambling about Hybrider stuff again?"

"You know about that?" Ryan asked suspiciously.

"Right, I totally forgot to introduce you two." Shane smacked his own forehead. "Ryan, this is Selene Azure. She's a mutant like us. Selene, this Ryan Fenrir. Second verse, same as the first."

Selene nodded in response, looking Ryan up and down with unnaturally deep blue eyes. She had jet-black hair that rand down past her shoulders, and her mostly black outfit looked assymetrically tattered, albeit intentionally. It wasn't exactly the type of uniform you would usually see at a restaurant, but nobody ever actually goes to a fruit bar so it's not like anyone was going to report it to the food inspector.

"Selene Azure?" Ryan raised an eyebrow. "What kind of name is that?"

"You're one to talk, Mr. 'Fenrir'." Selene snorted. "So, what kind of mutant are you? Arctic? Swamp? Weevil?"

"He's a Heat Mutant." Shane interjected. "Damn strong one at that. Actually managed to knock me back a few feet."

"Ooo, those are rare." Selene's eyes lit up. "Not as rare as me, though."

"And you are...?" Ryan trailed off.

"A Chroma mutant!" Selene said proudly. "Only one ever documented!"

"You sound like you're happy about being a freak of nature." Ryan scoffed.

"You'll have to excuse him, he's still adjusting to all this." Shane interjected.

"Nah, I get it." Selene waved him off. "Wantin' to eat people all of a sudden is a really weird experience. Dunno how I would've turned out if you hadn't found me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryan asked quizically.

"I met Selene in her mutant form while I was on assignment." Shane explained. "I got her back to normal using the belt's nullification function, but it turns out Selene's mutant form has some sort of 'genetic backup' that lets it proliferate its genetic material from scratch. Belt doesn't really know how to process that."

"So she'll always be a mutant?" Ryan muttered.

"Yeah, but it's fine." Selene shrugged. "Besides, once they get that new type of belt finished, it shouldn't be a problem."

"New type of belt?"

"Alright, let's keep *some* classified information classified here." Shane interrupted. "Point is, try not to get too hung up on the whole 'mutant' thing. Just do what you can with what you've got."

"I don't 'got' anything anymore." Ryan said. "My home, my family...everything's still gone."

"What if we could fix that?"

"Excuse me?"

Shane took a sip from his smoothie before continuing.

"I'm gonna get straight to the point here." Shane said. "We need more Hybriders, but the only ones who can use the tech are the rare Scan types who keep their human form. Selene's a great candidate, but her unique DNA makes her incompatible with the current generation of Hybrider belts. Aside from her, you're the only mutant I've met who fits the conditions."

"What are you saying?" Ryan drew back a little.

"I'm saying I want you to be a Hybrider." Shane stated. "It's a real job with decent pay and free housing. If you've got nowhere else to go, there's no better place to be."

Ryan stared at Shane incredulously.

"You can't be serious." Ryan finally said. "You want me to join you running around in stupid-looking armor fighting mutants?"

"You seemed pretty eager to fight that Weevil mutant earlier." Shane pointed out.

"Yeah, because he pissed me off." Ryan snapped. "I'm not going to put my ass on the line searching these things out."

"Alright, atmosphere's getting awkward, so I'm just gonna duck out." Selene interjected before backing away from the table.

"I'm just some kid who can't even cook a goddamn chicken right, and you want me to be a superhero?" Ryan hissed. "Are you insane?"

"Well, you won't have to cook any chickens as a Hybrider." Shane shrugged.

"Not the point!" Ryan slammed his fist down on the table. "Sorry, but I'm not looking to get pissed on by life any more than I am already!"

"...Fair enough." Shane sighed. "It's not for everyone. Just one thing."

"What?" Ryan narrowed his eyes.

"You're not planning on searching out any mutants then, right?" Shane asked. "As in any at all?"

Ryan went silent.

"That's what I thought." Shane tsked. "Look, you're right, fighting mutants is dangerous work. That's why someone with Hybrider equipment needs to be doing it. If you don't want to become a Hybrider, at least promise me you aren't going to go out picking any fights you can't win, okay?"

"Sure, whatever." Ryan grumbled half-heartedly, picking up his fork. "Come on, the food's not getting any fresher."

Mengele wheeled Johann down the hall of a facility underneath his usual compound. Johann was concerned about the trains of people he had seen arriving outside the camp, but he knew better than to question it.

"This is your surgical hall, doctor?" Johann asked, trying to keep his mind off of it.

"Well, not my usual facility, but one that's very important to my research right now." Mengele replied. "It houses the technology I need to perform the operation."

As they turned the corner of the hallway, Johann spotted an unfamiliar raven-haired woman wearing a black and purple armor of some kind leaning against the wall. Mengele stopped the wheelchair as soon as he saw the new arrival.

"Ah, I wasn't aware you would be here." Mengele said.

"Didn't tell anyone I would be." The mysterious woman said. "Just wanted to check in on how you're doing with the Archives tech."

"I see."

"Who is this?" Johann inquired.

"Johann, I'd like you to meet our benefactor." Mengele introduced the new arrival. "She goes by the name 'Millennia'."

"Damn, you really got torn up, huh?" Millennia said, looking Johann up and down. "I always forget how bad this part of Earth's history got."

"What does she mean by that?" Johann asked.

"Don't concern yourself with it." Mengele brushed off the question. "What matters is that she's provided us with the technology we need to win this war and evolve further than we ever imagined."

"That sounds amazing, but..." Johann paused. "What's the catch?"

"No 'catch', kid, this is just a business transaction." Millennia chuckled. "I'm what you could call a jack-of-all-trades merchant. 'Course, all this tech I'm selling you people ain't easy to get, so it's a bit pricy."

"Does the Reich have the funds to pay for this?" Johann inquired, remembering quite clearly the issues caused in Stalingrad by the military's lack of resources.

"She's not asking for money." Mengele assured him. "Suffice it to say the Fuhrer considered it a fair trade."

"Business part aside, like I mentioned earlier, how goes it with the tech?" Millennia interjected impatiently. "Not that I don't like hanging around with the Third Reich and all, but I've got non-Nazi clients to attend to."

"It's going quite well." Mengele stated. "We have the prototypes of the first portable system finished."

"Good to know." Millennia folded her arms, tapping her fingers on her elbow. "Well, good luck with that."

Millennia disappeared in a flash of pink light, leaving Johann and Mengele alone in the hallway.

"Did she just-" Johann started, eyes wide.

"She's an interesting character, for sure." Mengele cut him off, starting to wheel him down the hallway again. "You don't need to pay her any mind, though."

The two eventually reached a large operating room with an operating table placed in the middle. Strange medical technology Johann didn't recognize lined the walls, creating a foreboding atmosphere. Mengele helped him out of the wheelchair and placed him on the operating table, placing a mask over his face that began administering sleeping gas.

"This operation is extremely complicated, so it may take a few days to complete your renewed body." Mengele said, putting on a pair of operating gloves. "I'll be working around the clock, but my assistant staff will be on rotation to avoid any incompetency on their part."

Johann nodded woozily as the sleeping gas began to take effect. He looked over to the left and spotted a window into another operating room, where Dieter and Jurgen were strapped to gurneys as various medical staff began preparing tools for surgery.

"Where are their masks?" Johann wondered aloud as the full drowsiness began to set in.

"You mean for anesthetic?" Mengele replied, prepping his own set of tools. "Why would we waste it on them?"

Johann was too far gone to process this statement, and eventually drifted off into a dark slumber.

As the sun set behind the horizon in the distance, Shane rode a motorcycle towards an abandoned warehouse in the city's industrial district, pulling up just outside of the building in the warehouse's long-neglected parking lot. The mutants he fought last night had been tracked down to this warehouse, likely using it as a hiding spot away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Shane got off his motorcycle and checked that he was still wearing the Hybrider belt, then simply waited around for a few minutes, expecting the arrival of a mutant who was much less adept at staying out of view.

After a while, an out-of-breath, exhausted Ryan stumbled up to motorcycle, giving Shane the evil eye.

"How long did you know I was following you?" Ryan demanded.

"Since ya started." Shane chuckled, turning around to face him. "Come on, kid, give me some credit."

"Are the mutants who killed my mom in there?" Ryan glared, pointing at the warehouse.

"If I say yes, are you gonna run in there like an idiot?" Shane folded his arms.

Ryan went silent, confirming Shane's theory.

"Alright, I figured you might end up tailing me, so I brought a little something along with me." Shane said, unlocking the small trunk of his motorcycle.

Shane lifted up the bike's passenger seat to reveal the cavity underneath it and pulled out a metal briefcase like the one he had brought out on stage before.

"The second Hybrider belt." Shane said, opening the briefcase to reveal said belt. "Take it or leave it."

"I already told you, I'm not going to become a Hybrider." Ryan growled.

"Then don't go in there, kid." Shane stated sternly, closing the briefcase. "You'll get slaughtered."

"I'll do whatever I damn well please!" Ryan snapped. "You aren't the boss of me!"

Ryan tried to push past Shane, who grabbed him and shoved him backwards.

"I ain't the boss of anyone, but right now, ranks don't matter." Shane chided. "I wasn't able to save your mother, and I'm sorry about that, but I'm not going to fold and let you go waltzing to your death because of it!"

"Why the hell do you even care, asshole?!" Ryan demanded.

"Because I'm a Hybrider!" Shane snapped. "Everyone's lost someone to mutants, but as long as I have this power, I'll be damned if I don't stop that as much as I can!"

Shane twisted the handle on his belt and flipped it, transforming into his Hybrider form.

"The world's a shitty place, kid." Shane said, his face masked behind the armor. "But there's no reason to let it stay that way."

Shane stomped off, disappearing behind the warehouse doors as he entered the building. Ryan stood frozen in place and stared after him, not entirely sure what to think.

Shane shattered the ice trapping him, only to get grabbed by a vine and slammed around the room, eventually getting tossed into the wall.

"This 'Hybrider' isn't so bad to deal with." The Ice mutant chuckled in a hoarse voice. "We'll be able to get back to the mission sooner than we thought."

"He's still taken out a lot of mutants, so he must have some trick up his sleeve." The Vine mutant muttered.

In reality, Shane had absolutely nothing up his sleeve. While his status as a Diamond mutant made him extremely durable, it limited his ranged effectiveness, and getting tossed around like a ragdoll was not going to net him any hits.

"I'll hold him down while you freeze him again." The Vine mutant grunted. "Make sure to do it right this time."

Vines sprouted up from the ground and wrapped around Shane's body, trapping him in place, but before the Ice mutant could freeze him, a large fireball came out of nowhere and incinerated the vines. All three turned their heads towards the source of the fireball, spotting Ryan walking into the building, one hand cracked open and burning and the other holding the second Hybrider belt.

"Kid, you-" Shane started.

"My name is Ryan." Ryan interrupted him. "Ryan Fenrir."

Ryan stopped walking, looking directly at Shane.

"And we're only a few years apart in age, so stop calling me 'kid'." Ryan snapped.

"No promises." Shane said. "What are you doing here? Didn't you say-"

"I know what I said." Ryan huffed. "But I changed my mind."

Ryan turned away from Shane to face the mutants, who were watching this interaction with abject confusion.

"One of the last things my mom told me was to stop letting the past control me and help the people who really need it." Ryan spoke. "Your corny-ass speech reminded me of that."

"Hey, it wasn't *that* corny." Shane protested.

"Yes it was." Ryan snorted. "Still, you had a point, so...thanks, I guess."

Ryan turned his focus back towards the mutants, who were beginning to get restless.

"You got any more crap to say before we spill your guts?" The Ice mutant breathed.

"I hate you." Ryan muttered quietly. "I hate the two of you more than I've ever hated anything else."

Flames began rising from Ryan's hands as he clenched his fists together.

"You killed the only person I had left and turned me into a monster." Ryan hissed. "I'll never forgive you for that."

"Ain't nobody looking for forgiveness here, kid!" The Vine mutant laughed. "You should be grateful you're still alive!"

"Ever since then, I've wanted to kill you." Ryan ignored him. "To watch you die on the bed you've made for yourselves. That idea was all that kept me going."

Ryan began walking towards the mutants, putting on the Hybrider belt as he did so.

"But this corny asshole showed me a different road." Ryan said. "One where I can turn my pain into hope for other people."

Ryan placed his right hand gently on the belt's handle and twisted it, unlocking the dial.

"I don't have to give up being me just because I'm a mutant." Ryan declared. "I can choose to rise above all that. To make sure nobody else has to go through what I did."

Ryan grabbed both sides of the belt's handle and spun them clockwise, rotating the dial in the center a full 360 degrees.

"I choose..." Ryan took a deep breath. "To become a Hybrider."

The Ice mutant breathed out a stream of freezing vapor towards Ryan, only for the cloud to be blown away by a burst of flames. Armor began generating from the belt, eventually encapsulating his entire body and generating another burst of flames. When the flames cleared, Ryan stood tall in his new form, feeling a surge of power as his alien abilities were fully awakened under his command.

"Now..." Ryan cracked his neck. "...I'm really fired up."

"Don't you lecture us with some psuedo-deep bullshit and then follow it up with a pun!" The Vine mutant roared. "We're going to rip you limb from limb!"

"Try me."

The Ice Mutant shot a stream of freezing vapor at Ryan, who countered it with a wall of flames. Vines tried to grab onto his armor, but he simply created yet another burst of fire to incinerate them.

"Geez, I really could've used you before!" Shane stumbled over to Ryan, elbowing him in the shoulder.

"No point complaining about it now." Ryan grumbled. "Let's just get this over with."

"Good call." Shane huffed, grabbing the handle on his belt. "Alright, to do the finisher on these things, you gotta rev the handle three times before you spin it."

"Got it."

Ryan and Shane revved up their belts as if they were revving up a motorcycle, then spun their dials simultaneously.

A burst of energy propelled both of them into the air, with glowing circuitry redirecting power to their boots. They each rocketed forwards with flames and a diamond drill forming in front of each of them, respectively, propelled on by the power of their own attacks. They slammed into the mutants, dragging them across the ground with their momentum and then performing one last high-kick upon reaching the ground to throw them into a wall. The force of the attacks created an explosion that obscured the mutants from view momentarily, clearing to reveal that they had been turned back into regular humans.

"If you play with fire, you're gonna get burned." Ryan stated in a forced deep voice.

"Uh...who are you talking to?" Shane asked.

"Well, nobody in particular, I just..." Ryan stammered, flustered. "I just wanted to say a cool one-liner, okay?!"

"I dunno, I didn't take you as much of a pun guy."

"Shut up!"

While the two were bickering, they heard a shuffling sound coming from behind them and turned to find that the former mutants were gone.

"Whoops." Shane scratched the back of his head. "I'm supposed to give the people I beat up some contact info for a mutant rehabilitation clinic KafKo runs."

"Who cares?" Ryan scoffed.

"Uh, I do." Shane huffed.

"Why?"

"I ain't having this whole convo again with you, kid."

"Stop calling me 'kid'!"

"I refuse."

The two former mutants ran out of the back of the warehouse, breathing heavily as they scrambled away from the scene of the fight. They stopped to take a breath, trying to recover from the sudden reconfiguration of their DNA.

"Well, that was a crock of shit." The former Vine mutant panted.

"You're telling me." The former Ice mutant grunted. "At least we don't gotta deal with being mutants anymore."

"You think we'll get in trouble for killing that broad and burning her house down?" The former Vine mutant asked.

"Firstly, the kid burned down the house, that one ain't on us." The former Ice mutant tsked. "Secondly, deaths caused by mutants are legally no different from wild animal attacks; we ain't gotta take responsibility for it."

"True."

The pair's conversation was interrupted by the sound of metal footsteps grinding across asphalt. The two perked up and assumed defensive positions, ready to run at a moment's notice. A few moments later, the silouhette of an armored figure wearing a cape came into view, rounding the corner of the warehouse and approaching them. As it got closer, it became clear that the figure was a Hybrider, albeit one the pair didn't recognize.

"Hey, who the hell are you?!" The former Vine mutant demanded.

"You two are the Vine and Ice mutants that attacked the Fenrir household, correct?" The Hybrider said, ignoring the question.

"Well, we ain't mutants anymore, I can tell you that much." The former Ice mutant snapped. "Your pals back there took our powers already. What do you want from us?"

"I was planning on taking your alien DNA, but I suppose I'll have to find other sources now." The Hybrider stated flatly.

The caped Hybrider turned away from the two and took a few steps forward before pausing.

"One more thing." The Hybrider said.

"Wha-"

Two large, reptilian eyes suddenly appeared on the back of the Hybrider's head, firing energy beams through the hearts of the former mutants with incredible accuracy, killing both of them on the spot.

"I don't take kindly to unrepentant bastards."

"What the hell...what the hell was that?!"

Johann sat in the corner of a dark void, clenching at his head with his eyes widened in shock. Dieter and Jurgen sat across from him, trying to process their own experiences.

"Those events...those memories..." Johann muttered. "That's...that's what was going on?! That's the kind of twisted shit I put my life on the line for?!"

"You knew we were being killed." Dieter said. "Everyone knew more than they let on."

"Nobody knew the extent of it." Jurgen mumbled. "I guess that's why nobody did anything."

An awkward silence fell over the void.

"So..." Johann trailed off. "What now? What are we?"

"We're not really us anymore, but we're not really you, either." Dieter mused. "We're something new entirely."

"We all have each other's memories now, but there's only one set of memories we experienced simultaneously." Jurgen pointed out. "Those are the memories we gained when we didn't know we were us."

"Those memories are from someone totally different than any of us." Dieter sighed. "They're from the person we came together as."

"And look at what we accomplished as him." Johann pointed out. "I mean, separately, we couldn't do anything to stop what happened, but this whole time we've been together, we've been fighting against the ones responsible for it."

Dieter and Jurgen exchanged skeptical glances, then looked back at Johann.

"I guess that's true." Dieter sniffed. "But you saw what was happening to our body because of it. We can't go on like him much longer."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." Johann said. "This is probably selfish of me to say, but after how far we've come...I just don't want to give it all up."

"I think he has a point." Jurgen mumbled. "Looking back on everything...I really liked being a hero."

Dieter went silent for a moment as he closed his eyes to think.

"...Alright." Dieter opened his eyes. "If that's what everyone wants, that's what we'll do."

Dieter grinned and punched one of his hands into his palm.

"Let's go kick some ass."

Terox sat in the middle of the conference room on Ubermench's flagship, whistling a little tune as he waited. After a few moments, Attai suddenly appeared on the other side of the room, having busted out of the Transmundane.

"Oh, so you finally figured out that Timewalkers can leave pocket dimensions." Terox clapped sarcastically while wearing a condescending smirk. "Now, I'm dying to know. Who- or *what*, I'm not picky- came out of that little diversion of mine? What are you going to do now?"

Attai stayed silent for a few seconds before looking up at Terox with a glint of renewed confidence in his eyes.

"We are- *I am* Attai Zehn." Attai declared. "And I'm still going to do my job."

Terox's smirk widened into a shark-like grin, which then transitioned into full-blown hysterical laughter.

"Al*righty* then!" Terox hissed giddily. "Let's see what you're really made of!"

 File:HorizonsED

## Characters

### Protagonists

* Attai Zehn
	+ Johann
	+ Dieter
	+ Jurgen
* Ryan Fenrir
* Shane Vidar

### Antagonists

* Terox
* Ice Mutant
* Vine Mutant
* Josef Mengele
* Lens Hybrider

## Trivia

* This version of the Horizons mythos is cobbled together from the various incarnations of the series, although the story itself mostly draws from the one that won Featured Series.
* Yes, Josef Mengele really was that bad, I'll elaborate in the .5.