Song of the Swans

The entire story in .rtf

**Prologue**

Charles remembered Crux Prime differently. With his eyes shut he pictured swaths of infectious mist, calcified shrubbery, and scattered debris for miles outside the shield barrier around Nexus Tower. With his eyes open, as they were now, he saw in all those miles around the magnificent Tower a clear, clean expanse. The shield was deactivated. Flat, windswept stone made up the undisturbed ground between his vantage two klicks from the Tower’s northeast to the crags around Sentinel Point Zeta. Even though the cliffs were high and he could not see that was beyond, he knew what was not.

The old Crux Prime was gone. The Maelstrom Quarry, Rivendark Canyon, even the Mars had been cleaned as a liberated Block Yard.

Charles took a deep breath of the cold air. There was a welcome chill, like fresh water. No infection, not even the slightest sting of Maelstrom influence remained on the ground… except what remained in him.

“Breathtaking,” a man said and Charles turned to him. It was unusual for his friend, a proud Venture League Buccaneer by the name of Cheerful Power Rover, to dress casually, but they were all taking time off from active service. This was a special occasion. Still, Rover maintained his Faction colors with a warm green sweatshirt and plain brown jeans. A monkey sat on Rover’s shoulder eating from a snack pack while Rover kept his eyes trained on Charles’s face.

"Good to be back, huh?" Rover asked.

Charles smiled. "For the fifth time; it's better to see you again, Cheerful Power Rover!”

The monkey jumped off when Rover drew Charles into a hug. "And me you, Gallant Strong Cyclone!"

## One

Charles was better known by his Nexus Force given name, Gallant Strong Cyclone, so that was the name his friends and teammates, Rover, Kate, and Blade, called him. Eventually, meaning a few weeks, it became the name he knew himself by.

Two years trapped in another universe changed that. Again, a long period of time. Cyclone was not a name to the people of Earth, so he reverted to Charles Bradfordson, his birth name. Kate Dekairie, who was with him the entire time, naturally hadn’t the issue. She had a Nexus Force name but didn’t use it.

Maybe that was why she reverted to their old life so quickly. It was easier for her. She was always called Kate.

"Cyclooone!" her voice rang through Cyclone’s earpiece. "You should be up here with us!"

“Kate.” Cyclone acknowledged, and both he and Rover craned their necks to the top of Nexus Tower. Where the metal tower ended began another spire ten times as high, formed entirely of light. The Imagination Nexus. A double-cockpit Pod Rocket, so far up and shiny enough that it resembled a star, followed a mostly elliptic path around the Nexus, and… Cyclone squinted and he did a double take. It was not alone.

“Are those… those are dragons.” Cyclone stated. He must not have looked that high up before to see *them*, black and red dots that also circled the Imagination Nexus. Despite having a slower speed than the rocket piloted by his friends, a dragon and the rocket kept getting close together. It wasn’t any intention of the dragons, Cyclone realized.

Kate’s laugh confirmed it.

His friends were buzzing the dragons.

The rocket did an aileron roll in front of a particularly purple dragon and attracted it to pursue. Its pilot then poured on the throttle to all three of its engines and it blasted towards another dragon, then it twisting up into a corkscrew. The pursuing dragon collided with the other one and both fell a couple hundred feet downwards in the sky before regaining control, still high above the ground. If dragons had expressions, these ones had to look annoyed.

Cyclone heard Rover laughing next to him, but he turned down his own smirk and Rover stopped. Their antics were amusing, but Cyclone was not keen to forgetting caution. "What are you doing up there?" he asked.

A boy’s voice, the rocket pilot’s, responded most nonchalantly. "We're getting a closer look at the Imagination Nexus."

“But…” Cyclone reconsidered his question. “There are dragons. Why are there dragons around the Nexus?”

“We own Crux Prime now, where else can they go?” the pilot answered.

While Rover decided to laugh again, Cyclone took a moment to identify the name behind the voice of the rocket’s pilot. *Intrepid*, he remembered with a nod. Intrepid Fusion Eclipse for long. He was a loyal teammate, Cyclone supposed. Loyal described Intrepid well.

After all, he had rescued Cyclone and Kate.

“It’s not safe.” Cyclone radioed up after three dragons suffered a midair collision.

“Fine.” Kate acceded. “Take us down, Intrepid.”

“Yup.” the pilot responded, and the rocket dove to the ground. It levelled out to settle on a plateau where three other rockets were parked that belonged to Cyclone, Rover, and Kate. These were conventional single-seats unlike Intrepid’s Pod.

“It’s a shame Blade couldn’t make it.” Rover commented as he and Cyclone hiked over to where Intrepid and Kate landed. Blade, or Master Blade Nine, was the fourth teammate and dependable joker in their quartet three years prior. He had responded long-distance to the news that Cyclone and Kate had returned, but they hadn’t managed to set any reunion plans with him into motion yet.

They arrived on the plateau after the two rocketeers had climbed out. Like Cyclone and Rover, Kate was dressed in faction-neutral attire, a sleeved leather jacket and a denim skirt over leggings, and an astronaut helmet from their flying exploit she was in the process of pulling off. Intrepid obviously was wearing Bat Lord gear, his dark pants gave that away, but over his top was a dark gray sweatshirt zippered all the way up. October was a cold month and Crux Prime was a cold world, so they were all dressed to be warm and fuzzy.

Cyclone and Rover waved. “Are you hungry, flyboys?” the Buccaneer called.

“We can stop at Nexus Tower.” Intrepid suggested.

“We could, but I brought sandwiches.” Kate said and she paused pulling on her helmet to drop her backpack to the ground. “Care for a picnic?”

Cyclone shrugged. “Fine by me. Can’t say I ever… I never thought we’d have a picnic on *Crux Prime* of all places.”

“Yeah, if I can get this helmet off.”

“Want help?” Rover asked.

“Just like the launch area.” Intrepid said suddenly.

“What launch area?” Rover asked.

“The Avant Gardens one,” Intrepid explained, “we have rockets and we’re the picnickers. Including your monkey.”

“Oh, right. George isn’t *my* monkey, he’s my *friend*.”

Kate’s helmet came off with a final yank that added a smidgen of color to the gray world. She had red hair.

After remembering their sandwiches were cold, the quartet went back to their rockets and headed to Nimbus Station, and from there by train to Nimbus City.

Nimbus City was a young project and along with its suburban developments, perhaps premature with the war still going on, but with more battles taking place in space and more Nexus Forcers looking for places to live, the motion to build the City ultimately won. They lived now in a high-rise in one of the completed sections of the city where Intrepid had rented a flat with his own money, since Cyclone and Kate had to wait on the Nexus Force to unfreeze their vault assets.

Their flat was twenty floors up and while not particularly big, they were as comfortable as they could be with six people. Two colleagues of Intrepid, the cousins Luke and Mara Mercury, got the twin beds in the bedroom. The rest of them had been crashing in the living room at night, either on the floor or on the couches. Also living with them was a peculiar character called Calm Thoughtful Tornado.

Tornado unlocked the door when Intrepid, Cyclone, and Kate returned from their day trip to Crux Prime. He had orange hair in a buzz-cut and a perpetual scowl on his face.

"What's for dinner?" Intrepid asked immediately.

"We're hungry." Kate added.

"I dunno, no one's ordered anything." Tornado reported before he looked down at a smartphone.

"What’s ‘no one’ doing?" Intrepid asked about his colleagues.

"Playing Brick Clicker while they pretend to hack the Nexus Force vault, y’know, for Sclone and Kate."

“What did you call me?” Cyclone asked but Tornado paid too much attention to his phone to answer, or he ignored him.

Intrepid's brows furrowed. "And what have *you* been doing?"

Tornado shrugged. "Playing Brick Clicker."

Next to Cyclone, Kate dramatically facepalmed. When no one said anything about it she asked with a sheepish grin, "That's still a thing, right?"

"Clicking flash games are the thing now." Intrepid said. He pushed past Tornado, as did the rest of them, then he headed to the dinette to survey the refrigerator. "We have cereal, but that’s cold, so." He ended his sentence abruptly.

"I'll order takeout," Cyclone volunteered and went a pile of some twenty prepaid I-bricks plugged into charging hubs on the dinette’s table. He grabbed the first one off the top to call Sue Shi's Sushi when suddenly all of the phones rang at once. Cyclone jumped back, surprised. Kate, Tornado, and Intrepid all looked at him, and Intrepid ran over.

"It wasn't me." Cyclone said while Intrepid inspected the phones. Then their host turned to one of the bedrooms and screamed.

"Luke!" Intrepid shouted. "You gotta fix the programming, they're not supposed to be doing this!"

Luke’s blond head popped out of the doorway. "Yeah, that's wrong. Just ignore them."

"So... loud..." Tornado groaned.

Kate got up. "We should go outside."

Intrepid pressed OFF on one phone and the ringing stopped. "No need." he said. He read the caller ID. "It was my brother. I'll call him back."

"You have a brother?" Kate asked. "Why'd he do that to us?"

"His calls are supposed to have a higher priority. Someone interpreted that to mean they should ring on all the phones."

Cyclone raised an eyebrow. "I don't think prepaid phones are supposed to work like that."

“Of course not." Intrepid said. “Did you think these are normal phones?” He took one I-brick and stepped outside into the apartment hallway. The door closed behind him so they couldn’t hear what he said.

"I'm still getting some air." Kate said and headed for the apartment's balcony. "You coming, Cyclone?"

"In a second," Cyclone said. Intrepid was gone, Luke was quiet from the bedroom, where presumably he and Mara were programming, and Tornado sat around doing nothing. Cyclone finished ordering a shipment of takeout then went to join Kate outside.

Kate had her hands hanging over the edge and the rest of her leaned on the railing when Cyclone stepped out. Nimbus City in its partially constructed state, the rest of Nimbus Station, and the sea between them was theirs to overlook. He took a place next to Kate just as the wind picked up. Kate’s hair kind of rustled while Cyclone’s slapped him in the face. He grabbed at his brown bangs and sighed.

"I need a haircut." he decided.

"Me too." Kate agreed. She still looked out at the city while Cyclone turned to see what she meant. He wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to say that in the moment, but with her face reflecting the city’s glow from below, Kate looked especially beautiful.

"Assembly sure builds fast.” she pointed out. “There wasn't a Nimbus City the last time we were here."

"We lived in Brick Annex." Cyclone said.

"That was nice, wasn't it?” she said wistfully. Though Nimbus City seemed nice enough to Cyclone, maybe her concern had something to do with their flat mates.

“Yeah, a flat like this definitely fits four better than six.” Cyclone agreed.

“Maybe, when I get my stuff back, I should buy a house.” Kate said.

“Same.” Cyclone echoed. He peered across the cityscape, past the industrial buildings and the grassy hills that separated the urban streets from the suburban developments, where the houses were built farther apart and there were more trees.

“You know, we can buy the same house.” Kate suggested.

The balcony door opened again and a younger teenage girl with dark red hair, neatly thinned and shoulder length and probably highlighted, stood in the doorway. “Hey lovebirds,” Mara Mercury said.

“Dinner is served.”

## Two

Intrepid Fusion Eclipse had a birth name, like most in the Nexus Force. Born Aiden Talmid, he was the first child of parents Abe and Hafwyn, but only the second in his generation since his cousin Shira was born two months earlier.

Regardless, everyone in the flat and everyone in the Nexus Force called him Intrepid. That was the name he’d made for himself in the last three years or so he’d served, and he was keen to keep using it. His brother Alex called him Aiden though.

Intrepid held two phones in his hands, the prepaid one from the dinette and the one that was his. The prepaid was held to his head and through it he listened to Alex speak. The other he held in front of him to flip through a series of scanned photos, portraits of generally dark haired, dark eyed people sharing the same wide cheeks, pointed noses and jaws: a boy, a girl with blue eyes, another boy, and another girl. Brothers and sisters.

His family.

He swiped to a picture of the two boys standing side by side, taken only a week ago.

“Still can’t believe you’re taller than me now.” Intrepid muttered, prompting a curt laugh from the other side, then a sigh.

“I bet Evelyne would have been, too.”

Intrepid scrolled to the blue-eyed girl before he sighed as well. There was silence on the line for a moment.

“I should ask,” Alex asked in a hopeful tone, “have you heard from Uncle Killian, now that you’re back in Nimbus?”

Intrepid leaned back against the balcony wall he was slouched against. “No.” he said while he stared into the starry sky. *Where is Killian out there?*

“Didn’t think so, me neither.” Alex lamented. “So how’s Shira?”

Intrepid coughed. “Wish I knew.”

“That’s troubling.”

“It’s her middle name.”

“Shrill Troubling Brick?”

“Close enough.”

“How about Red?”

Intrepid perked up at the name. “No.” he said. “I can’t say I know what to think about that.” He set the second phone down and closed his eyes, then he felt through the fabric of his right leg pocket the edge of a smooth, black square.

“Your future is yours to make.” Alex said. “I’d take what you know as just, well, advice I suppose.”

“I know.”

“Aiden, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

He opened his eyes. “What?”

“Did you know we have another uncle?” Alex revealed. “Called Tiberius?”

Intrepid sat up a little straighter. “Have?” he repeated the verb. Have was present tense. “Alive?”

“Yeah.” Alex said. His vocal tempo sped up a notch. “He visited the house with an old camera. He had pictures of him, with Mom, Dad and Killian, and he knew all their names. He has blue eyes, like Evelyne, like Grandmother did. He’s real, Aiden.”

“Then why didn’t we know of him before?” Intrepid asked.

Alex paused. “I don’t know. I asked but he didn’t want to say. I think he’s estranged.”

Intrepid considered. His heart still fluttered at the prospect that there was more of their family alive, and he didn’t want to dim the mood either for himself or Alex. Regardless, his brows furrowed, an indication of his concern.

“If anything happens,” Intrepid started, and Alex finished.

“I’ll call Edgar.” Alex said. “He’s a good guy.”

“I’m coming back too.” Intrepid stated. “First thing in the morning by rocket. Luke and Mara can take care of Cyclone and Kate. They’re alright.”

“Why not use the… thing?” Alex asked.

He meant the Transdimensional Maneuvering Device, the black box in Intrepid’s pocket, that Intrepid felt himself reaching for again. “It stopped working.” he reported. “I tried it sometime ago.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sure there’s more where it came from.”

Doesn’t mean I’ll get to see one again. Intrepid thought. Or the person who gave me this one. “Rockets are fast enough.” he said aloud.

“See you tomorrow, then.” Alex said brightly.

“Stay safe.” Intrepid ordered.

“Bye.”

He ended the call and pocketed both phones, then he went back into the hall from the balcony. As he headed for the T-section with their corridor, he saw a young man with a red cap round the corner and head to the stairs.

*Delivery guy*, Intrepid figured before he passed him, headed back to the flat. He found garnet-haired Mara Mercury standing in the doorway and facing down the hall, a seemingly blank expression on her face.

Intrepid glanced behind him. It was empty, the hall he’d come up through. It was also the hall the delivery guy went down. *Of course*, he realized. Her expression wasn’t blank, it was dreamy.

Intrepid gave Mara an understanding nod. “Catch his name?” he asked, but she just smirked.

“You’ve got mail!” Luke hollered as soon as they crossed the threshold.

“For who?” Intrepid called back. Cyclone, Kate, and Tornado lounged on the living room couches with personal sushi trays and Luke, not present, had to be the bedroom.

“For you.” A blond boy dressed in a tee and shorts stepped out from the bedroom, barefoot. Luke Mercury pointed a thumb backwards as he headed for the dinette counter where more sushi was placed, and Mara joined him. “It’s an email. You can go read it.”

“Sure.”

The bedroom only had two beds, one for Luke and one for Mara, and on a desk sat a plain gray laptop computer at the password screen. The laptop was actually a front-end for his, Luke’s, and Mara’s personal server based elsewhere in Nimbus Station. Intrepid gave the walls, ceiling, floor, and windows a once over before he closed the blinds and took a seat before the computer. He entered the passcode.

He was greeted with an image of a vegetable, since Luke had left the browser open at some cooking website. Intrepid signed into the email program they set up to receive and archive official Nexus Force mail as a way of circumventing the Nexus Force system’s limitations. There were a number of unopened messages, some from Commander Beck Strongheart and others from Nexus Tower on behalf of the Mythrans, who were showing off experimental gear lately.

One message was ten minutes old from an address obviously intended for anonymity. It was a string of random letters and numbers, so probably temporary. One value was preserved in plaintext, however, the location of origin: Phoenixtown, Elistra. Intrepid’s hometown.

He opened the message.

Dear Intrepid Fusion Eclipse,

I’ve heard that’s your preferred name.

Have you heard of me by now? You should have. Or you may not have. Regardless I am Tiberius, eldest son of Ben and Lucille, brother of Abe, Marie, and Killian. That makes you, your brother, your sisters, and your cousin, Marie’s daughter, my nieces and nephews! Simply put, I’m your uncle!

You may wonder why you haven’t heard of me before, so I wish to assure you I have always been here, watching over you all.

I was there the last day you saw Killian, November 26, 3024.

I was aware when you and Shira joined the Nexus Force on New Year’s Day, 3025.

I was here when the Maelstrom firebombed the Old Phoenixtown starting February 15, 3026. Hundreds were smashed, including members of our family, as you know.

But I bet you didn’t know more of your family could still be alive?

Not only me, you, Alex, and Shira.

I have reason to believe the rest of our immediate family still live and I need all your help and your cooperation to find them.

Come.

- Tiberius

Intrepid frowned and corrected his posture. He had leaned forward while he read the message and he sat up straight.

Tiberius’s last claim was troubling. It was impossible for more of the Talmid family to be alive, because they were dead. Intrepid *did* know. He remembered fighting on Elistra in 3026, only two and a half years before. He remembered the Maelstrom, the chaos, the fire, the destruction, the death. He remembered all the things he saw.

Or did he?

Intrepid tried to picture the exact scene when he had dug through the rubble of his old home, and under the smashed bricks… he drew a blank.

His frown increased.

He shook his head.

*They are dead*, he thought with certainty. Even if his memories had recessed, Tiberius was still wrong. Intrepid would still go since he’d promised Alex, so he might meet Tiberius regardless.

He unlocked his phone and went back to the gallery. The faces of his family, brother, sisters, parents, grandparents, cousin, uncle, and aunt stared back at him from a scan of their last family portrait, taken on Thanksgiving Day four years ago. He looked close at the faces, so as not to forget, of each and every one. All of his family.

*Not all*, Intrepid mentally corrected. Tiberius was missing. He wondered what his estranged uncle looked like. Alex said he had blue eyes. Was his hair black, or perhaps graying now, since he wrote he was the oldest?

He would see tomorrow. Intrepid set his phone down, a grim expression on his face, and rose to join his flat mates.

## Three

Cyclone was awoken early the next morning by loud rustling, clanging, and tossing of things into a backpack. He rubbed his eyes and squinted until he saw what was making all the noise. Indeed, a backpack was on the dinette table, and Intrepid was throwing clothes, weapons, rockets, consumables, and all sorts of stuff into it. Their landlord's eyes fell on the pile of prepaid phones, and he went and grabbed a bunch into his arms. A couple fell on the floor, and the ones he didn't drop were shoved into his backpack.

"Going somewhere?" Cyclone asked.

"Yes." Intrepid huffed.

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Why the rush?"

"I feel like it." Intrepid said, then he looked into his backpack, a cunfuzzled look on his face. Then he reached in and starting throwing stuff out. "Where is it, where is it..." he muttered. A stray object flew through the air and bounced onto the other couch, thumping sleeping beauty on the head.

"Ow!" Tornado cried, glaring at everyone before stuffing his head under his pillow.

"Found it." Intrepid said triumphantly, taking out a strange black rectangular object. He frowned at it, then disappeared into Luke and Mara's room. He came back with a screwdriver, a wiring kit, and electrical tape, set all that on the table, then had to go back into the room to bring his thing back, and bring that back to the table. He began operating on the object, and some sparks flew out.

"Wear a welding mask," Cyclone grumbled, shielding his eyes. On the couch next to him, Kate stirred and awoke as well. She opened her eyes once and regretted it.

"Darn it Intrepid, what are you doing?" she mumbled, keeping her eyes closed now.

"Done!" Intrepid announced, lifting up a wristband made of electrical tape and tied up wires, with the black object, now a square, on one side like a watchpiece. He put it on and let it settle tightly in place.

Cyclone's eyes widened in recognition. "Is that the thing you used...?"

"Yeah." Intrepid said, before tossing his tools in his backpack and putting that on as well. He looked up. "My friends, it's been great to see you all, but now I must I bid you farewell. I am leaving."

Cyclone's eyes maintained their wideness as his thoughts turned to confusion, and he stood up. "Wait, tell me more? What? Why?"

The bedroom door opened, and Luke and Mara ran out. "You can't." she said.

Intrepid turned to her. "Wait, tell me more? What? Why?" he demanded.

"A Nexus Force official is visiting today and wants to see you." Mara said.

"What?" Intrepid repeated. "This is the first I've heard of this. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I told them," Mara said, pointing to Cyclone and Kate.

"You didn’t say anything about Intrepid," Kate pointed out.

Mara looked miffed. "Oh, well now you know."

Intrepid sighed. "This isn't something I can wait for. I've got to leave."

Kate got up, and with an aggressive steadfastness no one except Cyclone could expect from her, said, "You're being very vague about this, Intrepid. Can't you just tell us WHY you have to go, and where? Maybe we can help you."

Intrepid threw his backpack on the ground and looked at the ceiling. "Ugh." he grumbled. "Fine. You won't understand."

Kate smiled. "Try me." she challenged.

Intrepid began. "Make of it what you will. My family was smashed in a Maelstrom attack on a planet called Elistra III, five years ago, just after I joined the Nexus Force."

"Oh." Kate said. "Intrepid, that's horrible." She looked troubled.

Intrepid nodded. "But that's just what I thought." He continued. "My brother called last night, and said he'd received a strange call from someone claiming to be a relative? That's all he said he was, my brother said, but he had something to say about missing evacuation ships, as well as the 'fracturing of dimensions' around my home planet?"

"More of this dimensions stuff?" Luke cried out.

"I think we're all lost at that." Kate said.

"I'm as confused as the rest of us," Intrepid said, and by the look on his face he seemed sincerely unsure. "But... there seems to be more I can learn more about their deaths, and, this caller seems to be implying there's a chance..."

Intrepid looked directly at Cyclone and Kate now. Intrepid's eyes were wide, almost as much as Kate's were, and Cyclone's as well if he guessed. He knew what Intrepid was going to say next.

"There's a chance I can save them, like I saved you."

He let that sit.

…

Intrepid swallowed the lump in his throat and looked down, shaking his head again while he studied the floor, instead of everyone's faces. Last he saw, they were all looking at him, or at each other, taking that in.

Kate's voice broke the silence. "I..." she started, "I'll just say, I still don't exactly get the whole dimensions aspect of things. You told Cylone and I something about it, before, when you rescued us. Barely anything to make sense of, though. Could you tell us more?"

She looked at him expectantly, Cyclone as well. Intrepid still wasn't sure what to tell them about transdimensional maneuvers, what he knew, and how much more it concerned him... and them. He looked up and shared a long glance with both Cyclone and Kate, turning to one then the other. And he said, hoping to sound genuine, "I'd love to explain more, later, but I barely know anything either. There are things I still need to figure out, before I can tell you anything more. I'm as clueless as you." Intrepid doubted they bought it, but he could hope.

He quickly changed the subject. "It's ridiculous to think my family's can be alive - I can't make any sense of it, so I'm not counting on it. I can think about learning the most about the Maelstrom attack as I can. I want to do the right thing and hopefully find the evacuation ships, or their wreckage, and help put to rest those who were lost. It's a personal mission, so none of you have to come." He slung on his backpack, and looked at his 'watch'. He could use it and go... but he was hesitant. He turned to his friends.

"We are coming." Luke said resolutely, and Mara gave him thumbs up, signaling her affirmation. Intrepid smiled. He could count on them.

Tornado groaned and stayed under his pillow. "I'll scare away the Nexus Force." he mumbled.

"Best stay out of sight so you're not sent back to jail." Intrepid advised. Tornado seemed content with holding the fort. Then Intrepid turned to the other two people in the room.

Cyclone was looking at Kate, who looked back at him. "Sounds more interesting than talking to the Nexus Force." she joked. She and Cyclone turned to Intrepid.

"It's the least we can do for you, Intrepid." Cyclone stated. "We'll come with you. We'll help.”

For Intrepid, he wasn't sure if this complicated things more than it helped. But he could appreciate extra eyes. And he needed to work on his people skills, so the experience would help, right? "I want to say thanks, you all, for sticking with me. It's settled then." He grabbed the first spare backpack and tossed it to Cyclone, who caught it with both hands.

"Pack up and let's go."

The Nimbus sun shone brightly in the rearview mirror of Intrepid's Pod Rocket as it streaked out of the system, headed for the fourth star in a far off star cluster.

"Engaging hyperdrive," he said into his comm for his travelmates to hear, and flipped a switch on the controlboard. The cockpit glass artificially dimmed as the stars lit up exponentially, and stretched to form streaks. Without the auto-dimming feature, he'd have to wear sunglasses to protect from the unnatural expansion of light and heat that came with hyperspace travel. Either way, it was a long trip ahead and helped bored occupants fall asleep.

It was technically daytime in local Nimbus Station time, which Intrepid had spent the last week acclimating too again, so he wasn't tired enough to try sleeping. He also didn't want to sleep.

He began to think. He thought about where they were going. Elistra III was a beautiful world with beautiful cities. A lot had been done in the years since the attack to fix it up and restore its beauty. He hadn't been there to see the rebuilding but he'd seen the results. He thought about the efforts of his brother, Alex. Alex had made a name for himself as a handyman and a problem solver. He ran a business, and he was only fifteen. It helped that he was the brother of Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, who was infamous among the Elistrans for coming to save them... nevermind it'd taken awhile.

Intrepid realized he was quite the hero to many people. It bugged him, and he found himself thinking about the rest of his family... he hadn't come back in time to save them. He’d helped bury those who were smashed. Most of them were unidentified – he’d recognized just one family member. He hadn’t been a hero to them.

But what if they were alive, and he found them?

Intrepid shook his head to clear the thought, as he did every other time his brainwaves broached the subject - but this time it stuck. He didn't like it. He never allowed himself to think about his family, who he lost. He was a hero to Alex and the others because he came back and did save them, but he'd saved only them because he'd wasted time on Avant Gardens, when he could have come back earlier. Then he could have saved everyone. Their deaths were his fault, and he couldn't allow himself to think about that. The shaking of his head turned spastic, enough to prompt a reponse from the travelmate who sat in his own rocket with him. She'd been so quiet for once that if he'd forgotten she was there he might have screamed. But her voice pulled him back into reality.

"Commotionem capitis in populis."

Intrepid turned around and for a second he thought he was staring at a particular red haired girl... no. He blinked. It was just Kate. And she was in his rocket. He frowned.

"What'd you just say?" he asked.

Kate pointed at him. "That thing you did there, shaking of your head, it's called 'commotionem capitis' in Latin."

Intrepid frowned harder. "What's Latin?"

"It's a language I picked up in another dimension." She smiled and leaned forwards. "I thought you'd know something about that."

Intrepid frowned as hard as he could, and his forehead muscles started hurting. "Here's something I don't know: why are you in my rocket?"

"First," Kate began, counting her fingers to enumerate, "it conserves energy to share a ride. That's another thing you get taught a lot in the other dimension. Second, this is a two seater rocket, so why not? See first. Third, I want to talk to you."

"Oh."

Intrepid turned back to the front of the rocket and eased his eyebrows. Aaah. Much better. He wasn't sure what else to say about that, except, "Oh." He contemplated ignoring her and just watching the stars go by. The Pod Rocket's twin engines were mesmerizing when he tried angling his eyes outwards to stare at them both at the same time, but that hurt his eyes. And it was rude.

"I don't really want to talk..." Intrepid started.

"Fine!" Kate said. Intrepid almost turned around again, surprised. She gave up that easily? Well, good for him. Now, with his eyebrows aching from all his frowny faces, he actually did feel like lying back and sleeping.

Out of courtesy, he asked, "Do you have enough room back there?"

"That's talking! But yeah, I do. Why?"

"Will you have room if I recline?"

"There's plenty of room for me to recline too."

"Good to know." Intrepid said, and he began to lean his seat back, but not before sliding it forwards. "I've never really sat in the back..."

Kate was silent, as if she was waiting. She WAS waiting, for him. Intrepid realized what he did. He was talking! No way. If she had some reverse-psycological plan to get him talking, it was working. Not anymore! He shut his mouth, and stayed shut up. He shut his eyes, too.

This was going to be a long ride.

…

Intrepid actually fell into a dreamless sleep, and when he awoke it was to an unholy buzzing in his pocket. His I-brick? He reached down and indeed, he had an incoming call from an unknown number.

"You have reception in space?" Kate asked, perplexed.

Intrepid raised his eyebrows, and leaned his seat forwards. "I didn't think so..." he said, puzzled.

He felt Kate's smirk behind his back. "More dimensional technology?"

"I haven't figured it out that much yet," Intrepid assured her, and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

The voice that answered was that of a man. "Glad to hear your voice, Aiden."

"What?" Intrepid responded. The voice almost sounded familiar, but it was not a voice he recognized. He didn't think he'd heard it before... "Who is this?"

He saw Kate gesturing in the rearview mirror. "Speaker phone." she hissed. Intrepid complied, and set it as such.

"Aiden." the voice continued. "All you need to know is our family is safe. And I can help you find them."

Intrepid met the reflection of Kate's eyes. They burned with an intense inquisitiveness. This call wasn't doing anything to ease his mind either. "And, you are?" Intrepid repeated.

The mysterious caller laughed, and some recessed part of Intrepid's brain expected the caller to hang up then. But instead, after a pause, the voice replied, "Oh, as if I haven't made it obvious enough! I'm closely related to you."

"Prove it." Intrepid pressed.

"I know who you're close with." the caller began, and warning bells began to flash in Intrepid's head. How much did he want the others to know? How much did *he* want to know? He hovered a finger over the OFF button.

"You have a brother, Alex, who you miss very much. But even more, you miss your father, your mother, and your two sisters." the caller said. "Who else are you close with? If we extend from the familial to the physical, then you'd be sitting close to a certain Ka-"

"Enough!" Intrepid shouted. "Give me a name or I'm hanging up now."

The caller laughed again. "Talmid. Tiberius Talmid."

Intrepid raised his eyebrows again. Did the name Tiberius ring a bell? No. He'd never heard it paired with his family name. And anyone could find his family's name by looking in the yellowpages. He took a moment to say nothing.

"Remember me, yet?" the voice who called himself Tiberius asked.

Intrepid sighed. "Never heard of you." he stated, and hung up.

He turned around to meet Kate's gaze. Her eyebrows were raised, too. "Odd." she said. "Can't say I've heard of him either. So I certainly don't remember him."

Regarding that last part... Intrepid realized sullenly, perhaps the caller wasn't so unknown after all. He hadn't known his name at the time, and he still didn't know his motives, but if Intrepid looked back enough, he realized he actually did remember a certain mysterious caller. The vocal mannerisms and accent were familiar. It had to be Tiberius. And this unnerved Intrepid.

This meant that he didn't only have an estranged relative, but an estranged relative who had been stalking him for the last six years of his life. Maybe more.

Of course this unnerved him. What else did Tiberius know?

…

"I want everyone to maintain constant radio contact from now on." Intrepid's voice instructed.

"Gotcha fam." Luke radioed in from his rocket.

"Sure." Mara said from hers.

Cyclone did as he said and turned his transmitter on. "What's going on, Intrepid?" he asked. He looked around, outside the cockpit glass, in front of him, to the sides, and behind. There was nothing peculiar out in space that he could see, that could hint to Intrepid's order.

Kate's voice cut in. "We're being spied on."

Concerned, Cyclone asked, "Shouldn't we not be talking to each other, then?"

"Apparently that doesn't matter." Intrepid interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Cyclone asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Kate pressed.

Intrepid groaned very audibly. "It doesn't matter what we say, when, how, and to who, because there's this creepazoid out there who knows everything!"

"What Intrepid means," Kate translated, "is we got a strange call from someone who told us things about us, what we're doing, now."

Cyclone shivered. "That's disconcerting."

"You bet."

Cyclone continued looking around. Space looked normal as far as he could see, as far as hyperspace-stretched stars appeared normal. The other three rockets, Luke's and Mara's and Intrepid and Kate's, cruised along ahead of his. He looked at his sensors, extended the range, and did a double take.

"Anyone else picking up something large directly in front of us?" he inquired.

"Yes." Luke reported. "But I don't see anything."

As he continued watching, Cyclone noticed that the radar blip wasn't changing position on the screen... relative to his rocket, it wasn't moving. It was staying at the same distance ahead of them. *Following* them.

"I think we should-" he started.

"I'll drop into normalspace and troubleshoot this." Intrepid said. "Could be a sensor glitch?" Cyclone detected something present in Intrepid's voice. Was he sounding hopeful?

"You're a sensor glitch." Mara said. Luke laughed.

"What even-" Intrepid began.

"I've been fixing these rockets for years. Any claims of 'sensor glitches', I take as personal insults to my ability, and I am only responding in kind." Mara said.

Intrepid responded by returning his and Kate's Pod Rocket to normalspace. Immediately on Cyclone's screen, the radar blip began to close in.

"Not a sensor glitch!" Intrepid verified. "It's the Maelstrom."

Cyclone pressed a switch, and his rocket returned to normal speeds as well. Luke and Mara followed suit. In front of them, to their horror, was a variety of Nexus Force spacecraft flying in an intercept formation. There were personal rockets like theirs, larger cargo rockets, and even a Venture class cruiser.

And they were all infected with Maelstrom.

Cyclone set his jaw. The pilots of the other rockets knew what to do. He could see their shield generators charging up, auxiliary fins swinging into position for extra maneuverability, and their weapons systems, whatever they had, deploying and getting ready to fight. Missile racks folded out from under their fuselages and previously concealed laser turrets popped out of blast doors.

Cyclone's pressed a button with the icon of a pea shooter, and his own rocket began to transform into the same fighting machine as the others.

"We're not just running away from this?" he asked.

He imagined Luke Mercury's chest puffing up as the blond haired boy said most valorously, "We serve the goodness of minifigurekind. We will always fight until this Maelstrom threat is vanquished, never to hurt any good minifigure again! Or until we smash trying."

"Try not to get smashed," Intrepid chided. The Maelstrom fleet was getting closer now. "These guys are in the way between here and Elistra, so we have no choice but to fight here and lose them now, or they'll follow us all the way there."

According to his computer, the Maelstrom were now ten seconds away. Cyclone gripped his flightstick. "I haven't fought the Maelstrom in more than a year," he said, "and even then, I don't think it was ever in a rocket."

Five seconds.

"There's a first time for everything." Kate said. "Look at me-\_~, \*static\* -br- I get to fire a turret." Her voice was becoming garbled as the Maelstrom fleet began to jam their transmissions. Cyclone thought he heard her finish with, "See you guys on the other side."

Three seconds.

Cyclone responded, though he doubted she could hear him anymore, "You too, Kate."

One second left and the Maelstrom were here. Cyclone's hands closed around the triggers on his control sticks, and taking a deep breath he squeezed them.

…

It may come as a surprise to most minifigures that the Maelstrom's reach can be felt even outside the Nimbus System. It was these extraplanetary forces that attacked the infamous Venture Explorer. They were known to patrol between the worlds of the Nimbus System, especially around the Darnau, but some Maelstrom infected ships were seen farther out, preying on other Nexus Force troop ships. A lot of Stromlings and Mechs can be sourced from ships full of recruits.

…

One moment space was calm, peaceful, quiet. The next moment it was a chaotic deathtrap to anything without shields. Silent missiles, launched from Luke and Mara's rockets, exploded prematurely, confusing the first squadron of Stromling rockets and scattering their formation. Cyclone and Intrepid swooped in, picking off the most of them as another squad circled around from behind.

Kate swung their rocket's turrets to face the approaching light crafts, and dual bolts of energy blasted from its double barrel. Moving at half the speed of light, with an arming time of half a second, they flared brightly and changed color, from blazing yellow to a burning bright blue, and by themselves arced towards the Maelstrom targets. On impact with the charged bolts of energy, four Maelstrom rockets lost their clutch power and were turned to spacebricks.

"Whoa." Kate gasped. "I like this gun."

"It's a powerful one," Intrepid said, "the rounds are self-aiming. Make sure to only aim it at things you want to blow up, the energy won't distinguish between friendly or foe. You can press that button there to load basic ammunition."

"Got it, Mr. Encylopedia." Kate continued firing the turret and blasting rockets apart, while Intrepid lined up a surviving rocket from the first squadron with the forward lasers. He fired, taking it out, and repeated the process with the last two.

He saw that Cyclone, Luke, and Mara were heading to engage a third squadron of Stromling rockets that was trying to flank. Saw, but couldn't hear. There was only static in his earpiece thanks for the Maelstrom jamming them. But there was one person he could talk to.

"Aim your guns at that cargo rocket," Intrepid said, pointing to one nondescript looking Botany Bay class transport next to the Venture class cruiser. It lacked any guns, so he suspected it was the jamming ship. Kate's turret aimed ahead, and Intrepid aimed the missile launchers. They fired at the same time, basic fast moving rounds from the turret that peppered the transport's shields. Intrepid banked and rolled to avoid return fire from the cruiser - now that there were no Stromling rockets around them, the cruiser could safely fire its main batteries without worry of smashing its own forces. Intrepid's evasive maneuvers brought their forward lasers to aim at the transport for a second, and Intrepid adding a small amount of additional firepower to the assault. Kate's turret was always firing, and the transport's shields failed just in time for the missiles to impact it.

Explosions rippled across the transport and it split in half, and its smaller sections disappeared with little blasts of light. Kate cheered but Intrepid didn't smile. He still heard static from the radio, which meant they hadn't destroyed the jammer. The transport had probably been just a transport.

They were now very close to the Infected Venture class cruiser, skimming just over its shrink-wrap shielded surface to avoid its gun arcs. Through its side windows, they saw Stromling crews running around the interior, crewing the bigger ship and trying to get guns to face on the smaller, faster, more agile rocket. Kate fired at the windows, but the shields were stronger on the Venture, and the energy blasts dissipated harmlessly. They were too close to the self-aiming rounds, they wouldn't charge up fast enough.

"I think we should run from this one." Kate said.

"I'd like to!" Intrepid answered.

He watched as another Botany Bay class transport sidled around the Venture's rear. Unlike the other transport, this one had guns, which it brought to face the little rocket, but it didn't fire yet. It was waiting for a clear shot. Pushing the engines, Intrepid quickly banked up, away fom the Venture, giving the transport time to shoot. Its powerful quadguns all fired at once, creating a lightshow of lethality that streaked towards their rocket very quickly.

Intrepid and Kate watched as the lasers neared, then Intrepid made a quick evasive swerve back around the Venture's rear. The transport's guns followed the rocket's path, and kept firing into the Venture's engines. They stopped firing then, but it was too late. Enough weapons fire hit the Venture to breach its shields and disable its engines.

"Nice!" Kate congratulated.

"We're not out of this yet," Intrepid warned, as they cleared the Venture's profile and the transport prepared to fire again.

"There's another squad of rockets, 8 o'clock! They're coming in hot." Kate announced.
Intrepid turned and saw them. They began firing. He also saw the next volley firing from the transport, aimed just ahead, above, and belows of them, effectively creating a wall of doom, trapping them. He swung their rocket, missing most of the Stromling rockets' weapons fire that came in from behind, but a few bounced off at their rear shields.

"Remember space is three dimensional," Kate said.

"Right." Intrepid said, and pulled the rocket into a dive. They swung under the disabled Venture cruiser, and the Stromling rockets followed. Kate returned fire, forcing the Stromling rockets to evade and keeping their forward weapons off ot them.

"What's their objective here?" Kate asked. "Destroy us or infect us?"

"Either." Intrepid said, dodging antennas and other outcropping's from the Venture while watching out for any flares from its shields. A collision with a shield barrier would atomize them, and that wouldn't be nice. They reached the front of the Venture and Intrepid banked up and over its large forward windows. "Any sign of our friends?" he asked.

"I don't see them." Kate said. "They must have escaped already."

There was a clear window of space ahead of them, aligned with the path to their destination planet - directly between two more Botany Bays and another, fifth squadron of Stromling Destroyer-type rockets that began loading torpedoes. Intrepid grabbed the hyperdrive lever. "Hold on!" he said, and, pulled it into 'engage'.

Light, laser bolts, and shapes all stretched as the hyperdrive engaged. At the same time, a series of laser blasts happened to come at their rocket from behind. The hyperdrive was still speeding up and Intrepid rolled the rocket to dodge most of the lasers, but one happened to strike a forward engine right in its center.

Then the hyperdrive engaged and sent them into a spinning escape.

It took Intrepid a few seconds to realize what was going on. The inertia made it hard for him to hold his head steady, and focus on the view outside. They'd escaped the Maelstrom fleet, and were thousands of miles away from them by now, but the rocket was spinning out of control. The stars spun. In hyperspace, this was incredibly dangerous, since an off-course rocket could quickly fly itself into an asteroid, a planet, or a star. Intrepid tried to turn the hyperdrive off, but the rocket continued to spin around.

Wait. The stars looked like stars, dots and not streaks. Intrepid realized what happened. Since one of the engines was knocked out, the hyperdrive was only partially engaged, and it was spinning them around. Actually, that didn't make sense at all.

Intrepid didn't want to open his mouth, since he felt sick too. He felt he had to reassure his travelmate that they were going to survive this. They were going to survive this, right? He'd made it out of some strange flights before. This one wouldn't be different.

"We can get out of this with manual controls," Intrepid said, pushing the unresponsive control set aside and reaching for the hydraulic levers under the dashboard. "There's a set under yours as well."
"Found it." Kate said.

"Okay, pull the left one until I say stop," Intrepid instructed, and he pulled his right stick until the rocket's counterclockwise spin began to slow. "Good." he said. "Keep going." After several intense moments, the rocket finally stopped spinning. "Great! Oh."

"Oh, what?" Kate asked, straining to look up from her efforts.

"There's a planet directly in front of us."

Kate turned around, and over Intrepid's shoulder saw a large blue and green sphere that was quickly filling up the cockpit glass. "Oh. Uh oh."

"Push both levers away from you," Intrepid said, "I'll pull mine, to pull up."

Kate pushed, but they wouldn't move in that direction. "They're stuck."

"Okay, we'll go the other way. Pull them and I'll push."

The rocket began to angle downwards painfully slowly. Trails of flame began to appear over the cockpit glass as they entered the planet's atmosphere.

"We're making it, keep going!" Intrepid said. They breached the atmospheric barrier, and a sea of clouds appeared in front of them, over their heads at the angle they were approaching, upside down.

They were still moving incredibly fast. Their rocket passed through the clouds, and the ground appeared. It looked like hills and plains. They were a few degrees from level now, but the ground was fast approaching.

At that moment the engines died, and the rocket began to slow. Looking up, Intrepid saw the ground looming. A dark shape was paralleling their path - the rocket's shadow. It was getting larger. They were under the influence of the planet's gravity now, and their hair flew up to the cockpit roof.

Were they slowed down enough to survive the impact?

Intrepid felt another hand grabbing his. He closed his eyes as the rocket crashed.

…

Luke's rocket has escaped first. A flash of light signified its entering hyperspace. The Stromling rockets that had pursued the escaped escapee now banked around and levelled off, picking their next target: Cyclone.

The brown haired boy felt his tufts pressing sweatily against his forehead as he angled the rocket to attack. The strategist in his mind told him he could take them out before they fired at him. But he preferred grounded combat to this. Here in the vastness of space, his rocket cockpit felt stiflingly small. He found it uncomfortable to breathe. Cyclone didn't think he was claustrophobic, but the thought crossed his mind now. And of course it didn't help ease his mind that there were Maelstrom rockets trying to smash him.

The engine behind him whined as he turned the controls and entered a barrel roll above and over the attacking rockets, but they went right past him. He realized with a start that they were now heading straight for Mara Mercury's rocket, which was dodging fire from the infected Venture, a Botany Bay class transport gunship, and now every rocket squad in sight. He couldn't see where Intrepid and Kate's rocket was. Perhaps they'd already escaped.

Mara's rocket was taking hits, and Cyclone didn't think a rocket was designed to take that much of a beating. He swung his rocket upwards and around, arming the missile launcher, and pressed the engines. How much more could Mara take? He diverted power away from the shields to go as fast as he reasonably could, even though he was well in the firing arcs of the Venture's broadside. But it wasn't firing on him yet.

He was right on top of the nearest group of rocket's chasing down Mara, and quickly let loose a hail of missiles. Each shot was true and impacted in the rockets' aft thrusters, disabling some and completely destroying the others. Next in line was the Venture class itself. Cyclone felt a sudden urge to eradicate the threat, it was getting closer, or he was getting closer to it, and the moment would soon pass. There was half a volley of light rockets left, and he aimed the forward blasters at the Venture's shield distribution node. He didn't really know what component he was shooting at, but it looked important. A second of sustained blaster fire was enough for the ship's shields to visually fire, and Cyclone fired the rockets.

He kept firing even as he pulled up to avoid the impending explosions. He'd gotten closer than he'd thought, and his rocket bucked and shook as something caught up with him. A shockwave! Looking in his rearview mirror, he realized that the Venture was falling to a series of growing explosions. The missiles had done critical damage. There was a final burst of heat and light from the ship's center, and then the Infected Venture was no more.

A small white flash in the distance caught Cyclone's eye, and he saw that Mara Mercury had escaped. The Maelstrom rockets were flying about in a frenzy, no longer coordinated with their leader ship lost. There wasn't a better time to be gone, Cyclone thought, and engaged his rocket's hyperdrive with a flourish. The Maelstrom disappeared behind him, and Cyclone sighed with relief. He leaned back and let his hair fall in his face. His locks were black.

Cyclone sat up with a start. His hair wasn't supposed to be black. He reached up to grab at it, when he noticed the color of his hands was wrong as well. Instead of fair, they were purple. And instead of a thumb and fingers, one of his hands was a sword.

His heart pounded in his chest. Lightheadedly, Cyclone realized it was no wonder why the Maelstrom hadn't attacked him. Because something had changed, and now he was Maelstrom again, too.

## Four

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 somersaulting 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 infrastructure." 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.

## Five

"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."

## Six

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.

## Seven

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.

## Eight

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.

## Nine

Cyclone spent the remainder of his flight rehearsing how he would tell his travel mates about his new condition. The infection would surprise them; it was so sudden, it surprised him too, and he still didn't know how it happened. But he knew his Imagination spark was strong enough that even though his body had transformed, his free mind was still intact, and would stay intact for some time. Since he hadn't been smashed, just infected, he didn't think a double had been created, unlike his first and last infection.

Kate would understand his plight, Cyclone thought. Maybe she'd been infected too, by whatever it was that got him. Maybe some part of him had stayed infected all this time, and being near these Maelstrom starships commenced a resurge? That didn't make sense. He'd fought dragons and the Darkitect himself since his first restoration and never seen any signs of Maelstrom on his person.

Cyclone had some faith in Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, too. They knew each other from before, and despite being different from how he remembered, Cyclone didn't think Intrepid's first reaction to seeing him infected would be to smash him.

But then there were Luke and Mara Mercury. Cyclone knew nothing of them except from watching their behaviors and mannerisms from their Nimbus City flat... and based on that, he had no doubts that their first reactions to seeing him as a Stromling would be to smash him.

As his rocket began its final approach to Elistra - a blue and green, average sized planet that reminded him of another planet called Earth - Cyclone figured he just had to time his reveal just right. He could ask for a private moment with Kate, then have her mediate. And he elected to stay wearing his Space Marauder gear. The Paradox gear gave off an air of Maelstrom energy which he could hide in.

The coordinates Intrepid gave them lead him to touch down before a checkpoint, just outside what seemed to be a large city from the air. The time was locally 7:30 PM, the season was summer, and the sun was on its way to dipping out of sight for the night.

Once on the ground, Cyclone noted that only two rockets were on the ground next to him: Luke's and Mara's, he recognized. His cockpit opened and he stepped out to look around. The two were not in the area, but a lone Sentinel guard stood by the checkpoint, which was little more than a blown out bus strategically placed between two retaining walls. He didn't see why he couldn't walk around, but he went to the bus instead.

The Sentinel guard was sleeping, so it was easy enough for Cyclone to walk by, into the bus, and right into a Maelstrom scanner.

Immediately loud blaring filled the bus's metal interior, echoing around and waking the guard, who gave a cry and ran to Cyclone. But the guard dropped his bayonet. "At last!" the Sentinel cried. "Nexus Force reinforcements!" He moved to give Cyclone a big hug, and the Space Marauder had little room to avoid it in the cramped bus.

"Uh," Cyclone tried to say something, but the guard was overwhelmed in crying now. Cyclone wondered if he would faint. Suddenly he pushed himself off Cyclone, glared at his helmet, and began shaking him by the shoulders.

"I've been standing here for years," the guard sputtered agrily, "one year, two years, how many years now? Three years! Thee bricking years, waiting for those blasted reinforcements! What took you so long?!" he shouted. "The last guy said you wouldn't turn up, but I won't believe it!"

"...last g- guy?" Cyclone stammered.

"I won't believe that Duke Exeter will leave me standing here for the rest of my miserable existence!"

"You'd best write him a letter, then," Cyclone told him. The Sentinel looked at him, surprised.

"Write... Duke Exeter... a letter?" the guard repeated, calming down. "Why didn't I think of that... that's exactly what I will do."

The guard stepped back, thoughtful, and Cyclone made sure to step around the Maelstrom scanner this time, only to step over another one right behind it. He stiffened as the alarm blared again.

The guard sighed and reset it. "Move along. I know you Paradox are always bringing some Maelstrom experiment wherever you go."

"Thanks." Cyclone said, genuinely relieved. He could smash the guard if it came to it, but he didn't want to.

Cyclone stopped dead in his tracks. He could NOT smash the guard, or any minifigure, ever! Not unless he knew they would rebuild, but such a thought could only come from his Stromling mind, which meant it was taking over faster than he'd thought.

"Hey Bicycle." someone said to him as soon as he exited the bus.

"What?" Cyclone asked, turning to face the source of the voice. He hid his blade hand behind his back. Supposedly he expected who it was. Luke Mercury and Mara Mercury were sitting against the inside side of the retaining wall. Mara was munching on a corn dog while Luke had a Brickpad tablet, and it was Luke Mercury who addressed him.

Cyclone wasn't sure whether to be offended. Had he just called him 'Bicycle'?

Mara elbowed Luke. "I don't think that's his name." she said.

Luke frowned. "Your name is Gallant Strong Bicycle, right?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Groovy Stumped Captain."

"It's Cyclone." Cyclone muttered.

"Yeah that's it, Groovy Stumped Cyclone." Mara said with a grin.

"It's Gallant Strong Cyclone!" he almost shouted.

Luke grinned and elbowed Mara back. "See, I was more correct than you." The blond boy turned back to Cyclone. "So where's Intrepid?"

Cyclone looked back through the windows of the bus, but a Pod Rocket had not materialzed there in the last minute. "I was hoping he was already here." Cyclone admitted. "And Kate."

"Who's Kate?" Mara asked.

"Never heard of a guy called Kate." Luke said.

These guys had to be kidding. Cyclone sighed and looked towards the city. There was one wide street directly ahead of them, with houses and other streets branching off its sides. This was main street, and according to the directions Intrepid had given them, his brother's house would be a ways down it. He'd also given them two other points of interest: firstly a dojo run by someone named Edgar, who Intrepid said was a witness, whatever that meant, and secondly was the town's library.

"Say we get a move on, and catch up with them later?" Cyclone asked, and the two got up.

As soon as Mara and Luke were skipping down the road ahead, Cyclone ducked into an alley and pulled off his helmet to breathe. It didn't really get hot in the gear, since Stromlings were cold blooded, rather his physiology conflicted with the imagination tech it had. Paradox gear was known to harness the power of the Maelstrom, but it was still mostly imagination powered, and Stromlings were, by nature, allergic to imagination. If he drank a notion potion now, he'd probably smash.

Cyclone took a moment to inspect his left 'hand'. He pulled off his glove and stared at the shiny blade. It'd been three years since he'd seen the horrible weapon. He'd never wanted to see it on him again.

He supposed it was better to have a sword for an arm than a loud chainsaw or a heavy hammer. He recalled a trick from an earlier time. If he focused hard enough, the blade disappeared and morphed into a hand. Cyclone could use that better.

After putting his helmet back on, Cyclone returned to the main street and headed off after Luke and Mara. He hadn't noticed someone else watching him from a higher up terrace, joined with the shadows.

…

To get disinfected the first time, Cyclone had undergone an experimental procedure which most Nexus Force encampments could provide. Such procedures were becoming widespread before he and Kate were lost in another universe. When he asked Luke Mercury about him carrying such a kit, the blond boy had replied,

"I don't have one. Mara doesn't have one."

"What if one of us gets infected?"

"Then don't get infected."

Cyclone had laughed, which accidentally came out sounding especially growly, to which he feigned a cough. He doubted anyone else on Elistra had a disinfection kit either, so he just stayed in his suit, walked behind Luke and Mara, and kept his eyes out for any particularly questioning gazes. There were minifigures in the streets, in cars, and walking on the sidewalks, but no one seemed to mind them much. They passed a park and a strip mall before reaching their destination.

Alex Talmid's house was a tall, narrow building in a row of many tall, narrow buildings. Each one was separated by a strip of astroturf. Alex's house itself had baby blue colored brick siding, and a little fenced walkway at the front. Luke Mercury rang the doorbell, and they waited.

Ten seconds later, Mara Mercury rang the bell again. "I don't think anyone's home." she said.

"Or he's in the bathroom."

"Or he's sleeping."

"Like Intrepid. He always sleeps late."

"Intrepid probably fell asleep in his rocket."

"He probably crash landed on some planet. Did you hear about the guy who left his rocket on autopilot and crashed-"

"Focus!" Cyclone screamed at them, and the two turned at him. "Sorry," he said, not wanting to sound that harsh. "Maybe there's a key somewhere?" He knelt down and began lifting up decorative rocks.

"While you're digging for worms," Luke Mercury said, "I think we should open this door."

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Cyclone groaned. He lifted up one rock and found, indeed, a bunch of worms. Ew.

"Didn't you hear what he said?" Mara said. "He said you're digging for worms!"

"I'm looking for a key!" Cyclone yelled, to which Masterly Shadow sighed and unholstered his Pneumatic Drill of Blasting. "You're going to shoot the lock?!"

"Yep!" The blond boy aimed the drill right at the door handle and squeezed the trigger. The drill spun and blasted mega sized ball bearings into the door. Of course his shots went wild and punched holes everywhere else but the lock in the door. A window shattered somewhere. Cyclone cringed.

When he stopped firing, there was a hole next to the doorknob, which Mara reached her arm into to unlock and open the door from inside.

"Hellooooo?" she called, stepping in. Her cousin followed while Cyclone stayed behind to assess the damage. "Anyone home?" he heard her call. Cyclone sighed. If anyone was there, they'd have come running at the sound of the drill. Or ran. Cyclone shook his head, and stepped in, bumping into Luke Mercury.

They were both standing in the front room which opened to stairs on the left and a small kitchen on the right. They were staring at the mess on the floor. Pots, groceries, utensils, and stray items littered the ground. Chairs were tipped. Ransacked.

All their eyes were wide, taking in the mess. On the kitchen's table, a note lay, which Mara grabbed. Cyclone watched as her eyes widened even further.

She read dramatically, "If you want to see your brother, await my instructions!" She turned to Luke. "I don't have a brother."

"Me neither." Luke said.

"It's for Intrepid." Cyclone grumbled.

"Duh, of course, Tricycle." Luke rolled his eyes.

"My name's Cyclone! How can you guys joke around with this?!"

"About your name?" Luke asked.

"About THIS!" Cyclone gestured around the house, in its sorry state. "Alex is kidnapped, his house is WRECKED, and you two are still messing around with everything! Can't you be serious?"

Mara Mercury sniffed, and began crying, while Luke Mercury stiffened. "Maybe you haven't considered there's a reason you see us, 'messing around with everything'." he fumed, disapproval prominent in his voice. "You don't know what we've been through, you don't know what Mara and I have seen."

"And I've been through a lot too, but you don't see me losing my sanity!" Cyclone retorted.

"Then go get a sense of humor, before you do like the rest of us!" Shadow pushed him away, then turned to comfort Mara. Peeved, Cyclone stepped back and turned away. He supposed they had points. He hadn't been very patient with them, but who would be? Intrepid? Cyclone sighed, and decided he should apologize.

He turned to do so. Mara had stopped crying, and Cyclone was about to open his mouth and say, "I'm sorry," but he stopped. Because he still heard whimpering. And it wasn't from any of them.

Shadow looked up at the stairs. "Upstairs." he whispered.

They climbed, silent and uncertain, at what to expect. Shadow took the lead and extending his Elite Cleaver, Cyclone in the middle, and Mara behind.

At the landing the crying was louder. There were two doors right here, then another set of stairs looped around for another floor. The sound came from somewhere up there.

Quietly, they ascended and made it to a screen door, already ajar, that lead to a rooftop porch, and it was past this doorway that the mystery sound was coming from. Luke Mercury took a moment to breathe, then pushed through. Cyclone ran out behind him.

Lying on the dirty ground, tears and sweat streaming down her dirt stained, otherwise pale face, lay a girl cast in shadow by the dusk's dying light. Her clothes could be described as rags, and her dark hair was matted.

Shadow and Cyclone were at her side quickly, and Shadow was trying to lift her up. "Bring her inside! Mara, get water." Mara ran off and Cyclone lifted. By the girl's light weight and small figure, she didn't look older than thirteen. But looks could be deceiving. In her state, she could be older.

They brought her inside and downstairs, where Mara had pulled bottled water in from the backroom. Poured into a cup, the girl accepted it.

"Can you speak?" Luke said softly. She nodded. "What happened to you?"

Her voice was cracked, and she said with difficulty, "I don't... know."

"Do you have a name?" Cyclone asked.

She looked at him, obviously surprised by his attire. Cyclone knew if he could take off his helmet to reassure her, he would. But he couldn't. He extended his right hand instead. "We're from the Nexus Force. We will help you."

"Help." she repeated. "We need help."

"You and who?" Mara asked.

The girl swallowed a lump in her throat. "Alex. He's been captured. You need to save him."

"We know," Shadow said, "but tell us, who are you?"

The girl concentrated and her eyebrows scrunched up, as if this was a difficult question to answer... or a difficult question to remember the answer to. Cyclone shared a concerned glance with Mara, while Shadow still stared at the girl. There was something familiar about her.

"My name is..." she began, "...Evelyne. And Alex is my brother."

The three Nexus Forcers looked at each other in shock. This was one of Intrepid's sisters, who he said had been smashed.

But if she was here, alive... then were the rest of his family alive as well?

## Ten

A phone suddenly rang, to which Evelyne flinched. "It's him." she whispered.

It wasn't one of Cyclone's, Luke's, or Mara's phones, but the house phone on the wall which Cyclone was closest too. After glancing at the others, he picked it up to answer it. "Hello?"

The voice on the other end sounded bitter sweet, like a poisonous plant, and the words were malevolent. "To show my willingness to bargain," Tiberius said, "I have released your friend's sister to your care."

"We can 'bargain' when you release his brother, as well." Cyclone declared.

"Ah, but where's the fun without the stakes?" Tiberius chided.

"What do you want?"

"Why, I was just getting to that! We're going to barter. I have something, or someone, you want. For him, you have to get something for me."

Cyclone glanced at the others. Evelyne had her head in her hands, while Shadow and Mara were beckoning at him. He put the phone on speaker for them. "We won't give Evelyne back." he stated.

"I don't want her, I want a thing! An object! An article, an item! Meet me at Phoenix Park tonight to discuss things further. Midnight at the Memorial Corner. No weapons."

"Wait-!" There was an audible thunk, like that of an old fashioned handset being put down, and the line went dead.

"You didn't ask him about Intrepid." Shadow complained.

Cyclone looked at the ceiling. "I didn't have the chance." he sighed.

"Call him back?" Mara suggested.

"You can try!" Cyclone groaned.

"I wasn't serious," Mara said. "If he's coming to meet us, we can ambush him there."

"He did say, no weapons." Cyclone restated.

"How do you expect to smash him then?"

Cyclone sighed again. "I haven't a better idea."

Shadow snapped his fingers. "We smash him, rescue Alex, and call it a day."

"There's no guarantee he'll bring him," Cyclone said, "he thinks giving us Evelyne is goodwill enough." He regarded the girl. "She needs someplace safe to stay, I'm not sure if we can give her that here." "Right." Shadow agreed. "Tiberius got in before, so he can get in again."

"So where is a safe place to stay?" Mara asked.

Cyclone shrugged. "I don't know yet. Off-world, perhaps. But we've got a mission to do, and we have still have time before Phoenix Park to continue it." He checked his watch. It was roughly a quarter after 8 PM, so they had just enough four hours.

"So continue with the plan?" Mara clarified. "Intrepid wanted us to meet with a guy called Edgar. He's at 16th Q street."

"We could also wait for Intrepid." Shadow said. “If you two are set on going, I'll wait at the checkpoint." He frowned, remembering somebody. "But what about Evelyne?"

At her name being mentioned, the dark haired girl looked up. "I can take care of myself." she said.

"You should still come with us." Cyclone decided.

"It's best if we stick together." Mara agreed. "There's a direct correlation between a team's strength and its size."

*Debatable*, Cyclone thought, but he agreed with strength in numbers. And they could keep Evelyne safe better with her in sight, or so he hoped. "Time to go meet this Edgar, then."

…

The dojo at 16th Q Street advertised the training of Spinjitzu, so it was obvious where this particular Sensei Edgar was coming from. He was a young man probably in his early twenties with sand-colored hair, a bearded chin, and reading glasses perched on his angular face. At 8:30 PM, night class had just finished, so Edgar was chilling in the antechamber with a brick catalog when Cyclone and company, Mara Mercury and Evelyne, walked in.

It was a decently sized entrance room, with plenty of seating, some exotic house plants, and in between the varied tapestries hanging on the wall was a set of Paradox Shinobi gear, Cyclone recognized.

"Greetings. How can I help you?" Edgar asked.

"I'm Gallant Strong Cyclone. We're from the Nexus Force." Cyclone said.

Edgar lowered his spectacles and the magazine. "Oh? Have I been re-enlisted?"

Mara Mercury coughed. "We're not here as Nexus Force agents." she clarified. "We're friends of Intrepid Fusion Eclipse."

"Oh yeah, I knew him. Heard from his brother that he came back to stay, but I haven't seen him in over a year. How is he?"

"Hard to say." Cyclone said. "We lost him coming here."

"He's dead?!" Edgar stood up.

"No, he just hasn't showed up yet." Cyclone said hurriedly. "We flew here in our personal rockets and had a dogfight with the Maelstrom."

Edgar had ambled over to the reception desk, and his head was aimed at the Shinobi gear. "Maybe someone should look for him." he said to no one in particular.

"Luke Mercury is watching for him." Cyclone told him.

"Intrepid can take care of himself." Mara assured them.

Edgar turned around and chuckled. "Perhaps so. So, you're his friends? Who are you all, anyway?"

"You can call me Mara," Mara said. She waved at the other girl. "And this Evelyne."

"Nice to meet you." Edgar said courteously, and proceeded to explain, "Intrepid and I were teammates once. We're both originally from Elistra, so I agreed to come back and do some liberation action. How do you know him?" he asked.

Cyclone shrugged. "He and I were combat buddies."

"We met on Avant Gardens one day in 3025," Mara said, "then we discovered our shared love for all things mischevious, and we've been teamed up ever since."

Cyclone frowned, and so did Evelyne. "Intrepid's mischievous?" he asked.

"Must be a different guy." Edgar agreed.

Mara shrugged now. "People change."

"Who's Intrepid?" Evelyne asked. "I feel like I should know him."

"He's your other brother." Mara said.

Evelyne's eyes widened. "You mean Aiden?"

"So that's his name!" Mara said triumphantly.

"I'd love to stay and talk," Edgar cut in, "but I am actually supposed to do some accounting."

"Why were you reading a brick catalog then?" Mara asked.

Edgar picked up the magazine in question. "It's a Club magazine."

"They all look the same."

"So you're welcome to stay while I pay my taxes," Edgar announced, taking the Club magazine and sitting at the desk, "but unless you're here for an emergency or something of a severe nature, I'm afraid I can't talk much. We can also discuss a dojo membership."

"This is an emergency." Cyclone stated. "Intrepid's brother has been kidnapped by some evil guy and he's meeting us in Phoenix Park at midnight."

Edgar shot up. "Alex is kidnapped? What's this about an evil guy? What does he want?"

"Something we don't know yet," Cyclone confessed. "I imagine he'll tell us when we meet him."

"If we don't smash him first," Mara proclaimed.

Edgar looked perturbed. "I know Alex," he said solemnly. "I'll come with you."

"Oh." Cyclone realized. "Originally we wanted to see you to discuss your being... a witness? That's how Intrepid described you. We came here to find answers about his family, but everything has spiraled out of control since."

Edgar spread his arms and looked doubtful. "I helped liberate the planet. I knew Alex, since he was in the team too. I think rescuing him, or at least trying to, is the priority here."

Cyclone nodded.

"You say you want to smash his captor?" Edgar asked Mara.

The maroon haired girl smiled and pointed at her Elite Cleaver.

"If it comes to that," Edgar said, "I know some skills that can help in combat." He looked from Cyclone, to Mara, and to Evelyne, who suddenly looked most interested. "Do any of you know Spinjitzu?"

## Eleven

Phoenix Park was located in the city's center. At five hundred square studs/feet large, the park was decently sized. Its grassy fields and circular pattern benches reminded Cyclone of Nimbus Plaza, except instead of a plaza in the center, there was a small lake. The park featured a lot of multi-level designs, accessible by marble stairs. Flower boxes were built at the highest levels, then grass, then benches, then more benches, then a small walkway, and finally the lake. One corner of the park was unlike the others. It had a building, and was labelled the Memorial Corner.

Inside that structure, Cyclone inspected the portraits of various men and women. He recognized that some wore Nexus Force gear. A Sentinel Space Ranger called Quinn was described as a great pilot. To his left was another Nexus Forcer, an Assembly Inventor named Haze. She had a tally drawn under her portrait, an impressive number of five-hundred sixty Maelstrom Invaders smashed. Cyclone figured Edgar knew who they were, but there was something else he needed to ask the Paradox Shinobi first.

Cyclone turned away from the wall. Behind him, Edgar was reviewing the Spinjitzu he'd taught Mara and Evelyne. *Elemental Spinjitzu*, he'd said, *does not require Imagination*. So this was perfect for Evelyne, who's Imagination potential was not unlocked, although as a senior Nexus Force officer Edgar could do it for her.

He'd taught them the basics back at the dojo in its special Spinjitzu training room. After bouncing off the padded walls for half an hour, they'd figured it out. Now that they had changed places, Mara Mercury announced she was happy enough with her Avant Gardens gear, so she just watched as Evelyne spun around in different colored tornadoes, red, white, blue, and brown, while Edgar gave her pointers.

Cyclone glanced at his watch. It was 11:35 PM, so they still had a bit of time. He went to Edgar and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Can I ask you something in private?" Cyclone asked.

Edgar faced him. "Sure. There's a backroom... why?"

"I'll tell you there." Cyclone said. Once away from the others, he began by prefacing, "So, I was wondering, do you have any Disinfection Kits on you?"

Edgar looked surprised, and started poking around in his backpack, which he'd brought along with his Shinobi Gear. "It would seem I do... I happened to carry a few as a Nexus Force medic, but haven't used them in a long time. Do you know someone who's infected?"

"Actually, yes."

"Are they here?"

Cyclone sighed. "Yes."

"So where is he, or she?"

With another sigh, Cyclone took off his helmet. "Yours truly."

Edgar looked up. "Oh, I see. I was wondering why you kept that on." He stood up, holding the kit, and stroked his stubble. "How long have you been like this?"

"Just today, but really I don't know how it happened," Cyclone confessed. "I got infected once four years ago, then disinfected, and I've been the same since, then today I looked at my hand and suddenly, there's a sword there."

Edgar looked there. "I don't see a sword."

"Stromlings can hide it."

"Interesting. Anyway, you obviously know how disinfection works, and doesn't work, since you haven't tried drinking a Notion Potion yet." Edgar noted.

"How do you know?"

"For one thing, you'd be a bit smashed."

Cyclone shivered. "Right. I've never used a disinfection kit before."

"It the simplest thing." Edgar said. "Take it and use it." Then he went back to the main room.

Cyclone inspected the disinfection kit. It was white and blue, and plain, like a generic Healing Kit. With nothing else to do, and unsure what to expect, Cyclone activated it.

He'd expected some horrible burning reaction that Stromlings otherwise had to Imagination, but instead he felt calmed, cooled, and relaxed. He watched a blue glow began at his hands and feet, shining through his gear, and spread to his torso and his head. Then there was a small burst of energy, mostly light, but he hadn't expected it so he was knocked him to the ground.

The light faded, and when Cyclone got up, the first thing he felt was the power of Imagination rushing through him again. The floor was shiny enough to be a mirror, and he saw his minifigure face. He was restored.

For now.

…

At 11:59 PM, Cyclone, Mara Mercury, Edgar, and Evelyne stood in the park. Together they made a reasonable force. Both with Rank 3 gear, Cyclone and Edgar could both take and deal the most damage. Mara Mercury had her best gear; Shirt of Armor, Dungarees, Breastplate of Armored Inspiration, Wizard's Hat of Whirlwind, Shield of Shielding, and Elite Cleaver. She was also loaded with consumables. Evelyne had the gear of Quakes equipped, since logically Earth Spinjitzu would be most effective in an outdoor park. Mara also had a Worthy Force Blade to give her, since swords are always handy.

With ten seconds to go, the air was still calm, the trees barely rustled, and there was nothing to suggest that anything was about to happen.

"Maybe he's not coming." Cyclone said.

"You scared?" Mara teased.

Cyclone shook his head. "Just anxious."

There was a *thump* outside the park, and they turned towards it direction, seeing nothing. It sounded like a car door closing?

"Didn't hear a car coming." Cyclone said.

Footsteps echoed up the marble walkway. Then a man appeared. He wore dark clothes, a long black trenchcoat buttoned up over dark suit pants, but he did not wear a hat. The wind picked up then, coincidence? It added drama to his entrance, and his black hair blew with the crinkling of leaves.

"I said bring no weapons!" the man, Tiberius, called angrily, stopping his approach at the highest level. "But no matter, I've come only to speak, and you need only to listen."

Cyclone glanced at his companions, who looked at him expectantly. So he was the leader. "We'd like proof that Alex is safe!" he called back.

"Do I seem untrustworthy? I give you my word, he and the others will stay safe for as long as you cooperate."

"Others!" Mara shouted.

Tiberius's face was already unusually pale, like that of someone who did not see enough sunlight, but now he smiled. "Not quite a slip of the tongue. Now, if I may state what I need: Maelstrom Ore."

"The Skulkin were mining that on Crux Prime." Edgar stated. "They stopped mining it, of course, after their defeat, so it can't be got anymore."

"Actually, you can get it!" Tiberius exclaimed. "Quite easily."

"Why don't you get it then?" Mara shouted back.

"I'm a very busy man," he said, tugging at his coat. "I have work to be done here. Very important work. But my work needs me so I can't leave. You can fly across the entire universe, however, you only need to go to Crux Prime and mine some ore."

"We can't." Edgar stated tersely. "The quarry was stopped up long ago, and all the entrances were sealed to purify it. I read it in a Club magazine."

Tiberius laughed. "Don't think that's the only Maelstrom mine! There's another the Nexus Force doesn't know about."

"Then how do you know about it?" Mara demanded.

Tiberius glanced at her. "You're feisty." he said, and Mara glared at him. "Anyhow, it's consistent with your interests to stop that mine up, as well. My contacts have told me that, given twenty years, that mine will expel powerful new Stromlings. Horrifying creatures, Scorpions, Camel Spiders... so thank me now."

"Why?" Cyclone asked.

"Because if I hadn't told you about this mine, there would be another Maelstrom resurgence! Now you can preempt it." Tiberius said. "But before you stop it up, be sure to get me my ore. You agree I deserve it now, don't you?"

He had a point. "Perhaps." Cyclone conceded.

"You do understand," Mara began, "that we can use this information, walk away, and not help you?"

Tiberius shrugged. "I understand that risk, and that's why I have backup plans. Many plans. I won't tell you them."

"You might if we make you." she threatened, and Cyclone tapped her on the shoulder.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Keeping him talking." Mara whispered back, and shouted to Tiberius, "We're not done! Tell us where Intrepid is!"

"Oh, him!" Tiberius recalled. "Hmm. He's one of my backup plans, so I can't tell you."

Mara levelled a Drill of Blasting at him. "What if I shoot you?"

Tiberius noted the weapon. "He serves me now," he stated, "and he doesn't even know it."

"What do you mean?"

"I will divulge no more details!"

An imagination glow formed around her hand. "I will shoot this." she promised.

"It'd be a mistake to make an enemy of me!"

"As if you're a friend!"

The man sighed. "If we've reached a mutual understanding, I'll be leaving now." He turned to go, and began to descend down his side of the park, out of view, leaving the four to deliberate.

Mara stared wildly at her teammates. "Are we stopping him or what?!" she demanded.

"We outnumber him," Edgar reminded. "We can take him."

"He seems like the type of person to carry surprises." Cyclone warned. He turned to their fourth member. "Evelyne, does he?"

The dark haired girl looked uncertain. "He's dangerous." she said. "But here he's alone, so I think this is our best chance to get him."

"That makes two of us." Mara agreed. She turned to go.

Outside the park, a car alarm chirped and a V8 rumbled to life.

"It's now or never." Edgar said.

Cyclone set his jaw. He shared a short glance with each teammate, then stared ahead. "Fine." he said through gritted teeth.

He barely had time to shout, "Wait!" before Mara consumed a quicksickle and was bolting out of the park. Evelyne spun into a tornado and the ground rippled underneath her, increasing her speed. Cyclone and Edgar took off running as fast as they could.

Outside the park, they sighed Tiberius' car. It was on, but Tiberius was not yet in it. He stood outside, watching their approach and shaking his head. Then he got in. Cyclone armed his Maelstrom Rockets while Edgar prepared a Lightning Strike.

But then they noticed that Mara was not in sight.

And they realized Tiberius was not alone.

Suddenly Cyclone was knocked off his feet by a rush from the side. He shouted and fell to the ground, his gear absorbing the impact. He pushed himself up quickly, only to receive a blow to the face. The helmet's HUD brought his assailant into view: a dark figure, wearing clothes like Tiberius, but tighter and more accommodating of quick motions.

Then the figure disappeared from his sensors, and Cyclone could have sworn he didn't blink.

He heard another shout, from Edgar, as he came under attack as well. Cyclone stood up successfully this time and auto-fired his blaster at the assailant, who swung around and promptly disappeared from thin air. The laser blasts arced past where it had stood, towards Edgar instead, but the Shinobi dodged them.

"How in the universe is she doing that!" Edgar shouted to the air.

"She?!" Cyclone shouted.

Edgar turned to him. "Behind you!"

Cyclone braced as someone kicked him in the back, but he had steadied himself and swung around to face his attacker. She wore a hood and a mask that obscured her face. He didn't bother firing back, because as he'd expected, she vanished a second later.

Then Evelyne screamed.

The Paradox turned to her quickly, and Cyclone took his fingers on and off the blasters. He couldn't risk shooting her. Edgar was in a similar predicament with his shurikens. The dark figure had grabbed her, but Evelyne quickly spun them both into a tornado. The entire thing disappeared only to reappear next to Tiberius' car, where he stood ready with a stun blaster. Before they could do anything, he shot Evelyne and she fell to the ground, paralyzed, and the dark figure looked on.

Cyclone wanted to run and help, but the way the dark figure stared at him basically told him, *don't move or else*. He and Edgar could only watch as Tiberius crouched down and said to Evelyne, but loud enough for them to hear, "This is the second time you owe your life to me."

He looked up, and to the two Paradox he proclaimed, "You see what happens if you try and trick me! I may not let you off so easy next time." He got in the car, the dark figure as well, and with a peeling of tires the sedan disappeared into the night.

Then Cyclone ran down the incline to Evelyne, Edgar behind him, and for the second time that day he helped her up. Her face was white and her eyes could only twitch under the paralysis, but she was breathing and it would wear off soon.

Cyclone attended to her, when he remembered they weren't a trio. He was going to say something, but Edgar spoke first.

"Where's Mara?" Edgar asked.

…

With the help of her tracking device, they found Mara stranded on an island in the middle of the lake. Mara sounded peeved when Edgar went to rescue her on a speedboat.

"Did you capture him?" she asked.

"We did not." Edgar lamented. "I don't know if we ever will."

Meanwhile, Cyclone sat with Evelyne. Able to move at last, they had relocated to a park bench. And she began crying.

"You did fine back there," Cyclone told her. "We'll get Alex and Intrepid back, even if it's Tiberius' way."

Evelyne looked up at him. "I'm scared, about what Tiberius said."

"How you owe your life to him? You don't."

"I know it means something," she sniffed, "but I don't know what. I don't know... I can barely remember anything. I know Alex and Aiden are my brothers, and we lived here, and I know my name, but everything else is a blur. The last thing I remember clearly is... getting smashed. That's not right, is it?"

Cyclone shook his head. Considering her Imagination wasn't unlocked, she couldn't even rebuild if she was ever smashed, yet she was here anyway so that didn't make any sense. "I don't think so. Edgar said he was a medic in the Nexus Force, he can help you. But you're doing fine."

"No, I'm not!" Evelyne shot back, and she stared at Cyclone. Her eyes glistened. "I know this sounds strange, but I feel like, for the last two years, I've been dead!"

## Twelve

Cyclone, Mara, and Luke agreed that coordination was needed. After meeting back at Alex's house with Edgar and Evelyne, they determined the best course of action was to leave. The farther from Tiberius, the better they would be, at least in terms of comfort. Tiberius had a teleporting minion, who knew how far he could reach to get them?

None of them wanted to think about that.

Luke Mercury also had somber news. At the launchpad that would take them back to the Nimbus Station, he told them gravely, "I logged into our Leek Works server, and Intrepid's tracker doesn't show up as reporting."

"When did it stop?" Mara asked.

"It stopped transmitting during the five minutes we were jammed by the Maelstrom, and it continued after that, but we only got one upload. Then, nothing..." his voice trailed off.

Mara looked stonefaced. "We can try increasing the range."

"Yeah..." Luke said robotically, unfocused, as if he was lost in worrisome thoughts.

"You guys think about that on the way back," Cyclone encouraged. "We'll go to Nimbus Station and work there."

"Mmhm..." Luke mumbled. Mara got into the cargo rocket silently. Cyclone felt bad for them, and he didn't feel much better himself. He realized that if they lost their friend, then Evelyne was losing a brother, too. He turned to her and Edgar, not too sure what to say, but wanting to do something.

"How are you holding up?" he asked Evelyne.

"Could use some good news." she said curtly. Cyclone could relate. In between Alex's capture, Intrepid and Kate's disappearance, the existence of another Maelstrom mine, and their inability to combat Tiberius's hit man, or hit woman... it wasn't selfish to want to hear something better for once.

Edgar piped up, "It'll be nice to see Nimbus Station again."

"I've never been there." Evelyne said.

"It's an amazing place..."

Perhaps that was something to look forwards to.

They boarded the NSS Point Hope.

…

There was a twelve hour difference between Elistra's and the Nimbus System's local times. With the faster speed of their Botany Bay type transport, they landed in Nimbus Station just after its sixth hour past noon, after a fifteen minute flight.

"So we're going to this Leek Works?" Cyclone asked as they headed for the newly created Nimbus Train Station. Cyclone had been down these walks many times before, but Evelyne was tilting her head and looking around, taking it all in like a grandious palace. The city had transformed a bit since two years ago, Cyclone did note. There were more rockets in the sky, civilian and official. More roads and bridges had been built. High speed train lines above and below ground traversed the entire world. The train that would take them to Nimbus City wasn't there yet, but the one to Brick Annex was waiting.

Mara answered his question. "No point." she pouted. "Intrepid's dead."

"Don't say that. We don't know until we've looked." Cyclone told her. "You suggested boosting the range?"

Luke cut in, "Intrepid was working on upgrading the hardware last week for that exact purpose, but as far as we know, he didn't finish it."

"We can finish it, then." Cyclone said.

The blond shook his head. "No idea. He is, as you know, very secretive, this thing included. I suspect his 'upgrade' had to do with transdimensional technology, the same stuff our phone system now sort of uses. We were playing with that before he had the bright idea to travel to Elistra." Luke sighed. "Look where that got him."

The Brick Annex train blew its retro electronic whistle, signifying it was ready to go.

"I bet all the stuff is there, waiting to be plugged in." Cyclone said hurriedly, even though he didn't know where 'there' was. "It's worth a shot, come on guys."

"I'm with you." Edgar said. Evelyne nodded.

"Fine." Luke conceded, and they joined the commuters heading back to Brick Annex.

"So what's Leek Works anyway?" Cyclone asked.

Mara began to explain. "It's kind of a secret base..."

Indeed, to the outside world, Leek Works was nothing more than an alleyway entrance advertising dry cleaning, as that was the profession of the previous resident and no one had changed the sign. It was a mile from the Train Station's Brick Annex stop, a distance which they walked. Once the five entered through the boring gray door, it became apparent that Leek Works was something else entirely.

While a gray cement structure as well, the inside housed many tables, atop of which were multiple laptop computers, like what their Nimbus City bedroom had been transformed to.

"It's a server room." Edgar stated.

"Not just," Luke corrected. "In the back is a lab, for experiments, and there's another room where we keep all the junk. Intrepid's meticulous about keeping this room and the lab clean. If you like how this looks, don't go to the basement."

"This already looks like a basement." Evelyne said. "So my brother worked here?"

"Ha, he didn't do anything. Mara and I are the real programmers, he just feeds us. And replaces the computers when they break." Luke shrugged. "A lot of what we do are his ideas, though."

"We serve the betterment of minifigurekind." Mara said.

"Really?" Evelyne asked.

"No. I have no idea what we're doing. But it's fun."

Cyclone looked around. In his head, he'd pictured some exotic piece of technology sitting next to a computer, ready to be used, just not plugged in. They could plug it in and fix everything, he'd thought. He admitted he'd gotten ahead of himself.

"So where's the magic?" he asked.

Luke pressed a button on one laptop, and it prompted for a password, which he put in. "Here's the magic," he said, and brought up a program's graphical user interface and a terminal. "It's all code, telling one hardware how to use another hardware, through software and firmware."

Cyclone, Evelyne, and Edgar shared confused glances.

"I'm sure you're lost." Mara said. "Translation: Intrepid brought something in, it's in the Junk Room, it's already wired up to the system, but we need to tell the system how to use it."

"Oh." Cyclone said. So he'd guessed something correctly, just it was already done. And now there was nothing he could do.

"So take a seat, go get lunch, go home, just do something interesting." Luke said, while he and Mara sat down in front of their computers. "We may be here for a few minutes. That's computer talk, by the way. Whenever a computer tells you, 'This may take a few minutes', they mean forever."

Cyclone nodded, and he and the others headed for the door. On the way out, Cyclone heard Mara say, "You got 'em good."

"They didn't understand a word I said." Luke agreed.

Cyclone shut the door and shook his head. They began walking, basically aimlessly, down the sidewalk. "Those two." he sighed.

"How well do you know them?" Edgar asked.

"They're Intrepid's friends," Cyclone said. "Not mine."

"Did you see how their entire demeanors changed once they got to the computers? They like programming. You've given them something to do. It's good if they're happy."

"Yeah."

"How old are they?" Evelyne asked.

Cyclone shook his head. "I don't know. I'd guess Mara's fourteen, and that Shadow's older? Apparently they're cousins."

Evelyne asked modestly, "Not to sound rude, but what's with the names around here? My brother was called Intrepid?"

"They're assigned names," Edgar explained. "Do they help to keep track of us? For anonymity? Who knows. So what's the plan, Cyclone?"

"Glad someone can get my name right." Cyclone muttered to himself, then spoke up. "We should do what they said, order some food for here, and Nimbus City." he decided. "We should check up on Calm Thoughtful Tornado, too. See if he's incarcerated himself."

"I'm starving," Evelyne agreed on the food, as they passed a restaurant. "We should go to a buffet."

"You guys can go," Cyclone said, pausing in his walk. "I'll go to Nimbus City first, I want to call some friends and investigate that mine on Crux Prime."

"I'd come with you," Edgar volunteered, "but..."

Evelyne rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself. If I was thirteen two years ago, I'm fifteen now."

Edgar shrugged. "It helps to have a guide. I'll go with whoever."

"We can meet up later," Cyclone said. "I won't go off-world for awhile."

"We'll meet at Nimbus City?"

"Yep."

"See you there, then."

"Good luck." Evelyne said with a wave, and she and Edgar entered the straunt.

Cyclone kept walking, and dialed on his I-Brick another diner that did takeouts. He ordered a delivery for Leek Works, "The old dry cleaning place," he'd described, and the guy on the phone knew what he was talking about. So much for a 'secret' base. Then he ordered pizza for the Nimbus City apartment, hoping Tornado was there to receive it. On the same page, he wondered if Luke or Mara would answer the door for their food.

On the way back to the Train Station, he passed by the gardens outside an apartment complex. He'd lived here once, Cyclone recalled. He'd been shot at here once, he also recalled with a shiver. It seemed like so long ago. He could probably hire Krill Matthias to come to Crux Prime with him, but he was thinking of Cheerful Power Rover. The Buccaneer knew plenty of Venture friends who would gladly run into danger, and be capable of running out of it, if Cyclone couldn't go himself.

Cyclone was relieved when Tornado answered the door to let him in. He'd received the food delivery as well, since he was holding a slice of pizza.

"Is Intrepid here?" Cycone asked hopefully.

"Havntseenim." Tornado said with his mouth full.

Cyclone took the couch and collapsed.

The apartment was a little messier, he noted, with the mail strewn on the floor, but otherwise looked alright. "So how'd your day with the Nexus Force social services go?"

"Justfine!" Tornado said. "Icantelyoumor-"

"Later." Cyclone said quickly. He waited for him to finish the pizza, before saying, "Now is fine."

"Right, so," Tornado related, "they wanted to see you and your girlfriend."

Cyclone frowned. "Kate's not-"

"It was a man and a woman, and they said so I repeat," Tornado continued, and proceeded to speak in a falsetto, "'This isn't too confidential, so you can tell Cyclone and Kate there's a special mission we'd like their help with.' And now I'm telling you, don't do it."

"Why?" Cyclone asked.

Tornado turned grave. "I was in the Epsilon Experiment," he whispered. "And they left me to die."

"When you leave the universe, the universe forgets about you." Cyclone said.

"What?"

"It's something Intrepid told me and Kate," Cyclone explained. "Maybe it was an accident."

"You're too trusting!"

"I came to the idea myself."

Tornado sighed, as Cyclone got up and helped himself to some pizza as well. With his clean hand, he began dialing Rover. As if to spite him, Tornado turned on the TV.

"I'll be in the bedroom, then." Cyclone grumbled, and went into the next room, closing the door behind him.

He got Rover's voicemail, and Cyclone was about to try someone else, when there was a flash of light behind him. He swung around, finding himself facing a portal. It had to be a portal, for through a ring of glowing white light, that pulsed and contorted as if unstable, he saw another scene, that looked to be a bright daytime skyline?

Cyclone heard voices, and then a boy and a girl stepped into the frame. They were both the same height and had brown hair, looking to be brother and sister? Twins? "Whoa." the girl said.

Then, out of nowhere, Intrepid appeared in the scene. The portal had to be two way, because he shouted in recognition, "Cyclone!"

Before Cyclone could respond, another voice from the other side answered, "What?"

"What?" Cyclone repeated.

Intrepid looked about to step through, before someone else shouted, "Wait!" and the portal imploded. Cyclone flinched. Questioning thoughts began to run through his brain.

First and foremost, what in the universe had just happened?

Then, where was Intrepid?

## Thirteen

It was an average day in Avant Gardens. The sound of battle outside the Sentinel Base camp was ingrained in Beck Strongheart's mind. Occasionally a Sentinel jet squadron would streak by overhead and deliver a booming payload. Sometimes a Stromling would wander near the gates, and he would hear a quick *pew-pew* as the riflemen promply dispatched it.

It was one of those days where nothing out of the ordinary happend, which was how Beck Strongheart liked it. He could plan his forces' next attack without having to worry about a sudden appearance of Chainsaw Stromlings, or a Spider Boss climbing into the camp - now that was out of the ordinary. Today he could appreciate the world's otherwise sereneness.

It was a day like this when, in between sending soldiers to train in Survival or fight some Spiderlings, his mind wandered to something else in the Spider caves. Or someone. Her name was Melodie Foxtrot, and Beck would never tell anyone that he loved her. But she seemed to like the Spider Caves more, Beck thought snarkily, because she'd set up camp there, rather than his Base camp.

What could he do to get her to stay with the rest of the Sentinels, where she would be safe? Safe with him, of course, he appended with a nod. He didn't notice a recruit standing in front of him that moment, and he looked up with a start.

"Salute, recruit!" Beck instructed, and the minifigure did so, bringing his hand up in front of his black bangs. Beck scrutinized him. He wore some pretty high level Avant Gardens gear, the commander noticed, a Leather Jacket and Flight Suit Leggings, so he was probably one of his experienced soldiers. But he did not recognize this recruit, and Beck knew his recruits. At least he thought he did. Maybe this was not a recruit, but an undercover agent sent from HQ.

Pursuing that hunch, Beck asked sternly, "Did Exeter send you?"

The boy looked surprised, but he answered with decorum, "No, sir."

"Under who are you stationed?"

"Commander Beck Strongheart, sir." the minifigure said, puzzled, and broke protocol. "Commander, you do recognize me, Intrepid Fusion Eclipse?"

"No." Beck said. "I do not believe we have met."

Intrepid turned to the Assembly Engineer he'd met before, who now stood in the safety behind the base camp's rocks, polishing his armor. "You said this was January 3026." Intrepid said accusatorially. "My commander should know me."

The engineer looked up, shrugged, then returned to his polishing. "I don't know you." he said.

Intrepid raised his chin in annoyance and stalked away from Strongheart. "I joined the Nexus Force in 3025." He waved a hand in the commander's direction. "He should know me."

The engineer, whose name was Strange Odd Shadow, raised his eyebrows but still inspected the reflectance of his shoulderpads. "Perhaps in your time travels, you have unwittingly removed your past self from ever meeting Commander Strongheart."

Intrepid shook his head. "No way. I just got here yesterday, and that's not enough time for anything to change today."

Shadow did not say anything of that, and moved on to his helmet, which he took off of his short, hazel coloured hair.

Intrepid sighed, and turned to go... where? He didn't know. "You're a great help." he muttered.

"Oh!" Strange Odd Shadow looked up then, and Intrepid turned back to him. "I have figured that if you're an accidental traveler, you must be interested in getting back to your correct time! Well, I have an idea that may help you!"

"I'm listening." Intrepid said.

"You should go to Nimbus Station and ask Wenn Wuzzit to send you back to the future! Or the past! Or wherever you come from!" The young man stood up then and stowed his engineer gear away, wearing his street clothes now. "In fact, I'm headed to Nimbus Station as well, so I would accompany you."

It was a good idea, Intrepid agreed. "Good idea," he said, "but what I really need is a rocket. I left a friend behind on another planet, and I need to get back."

Shadow, whose eyebrows were still raised, dropped one so the other brow remained raised, giving him a peculiar look. "But you didn't sscome here in a rocket." he stated.

Intrepid looked at his left hand, which was closed. With nothing to lose, he opened it, revealing the transdimensional maneuverability device. "I came with this." he said. At Shadow's curious stare, and he considered how to explain it. "It's like a teleportation device, that can take the user anywhere he or she can envision. Even to other dimensions, and other universes."

"I stand by my first bet that you're from the future, then!"

"The device sort of is," Intrepid said. "It was given to me by-"

"You should just use it, then, to go see your friend!" Shadow interrupted. "Unless it is broken."

"It is brok-"

"I know someone in Nimbus Station who can fix it!" Shadow kept speaking, then he paused.

Intrepid wanted to wait for him, since he obviously had much to say, and Intrepid didn't want to interrupt him... or be interrupted. But after a five second staring contest, Intrepid figured, whatever, and asked, "What's his name?"

"He is called Strange Odd Shadow!"

"That's you."

"Obviously!" Shadow added, "If your device is indeed a teleporter, then I can fix it and you can get to where you need to go faster than it would take you in a personal rocket. And I know the public rocket transportation schedule and the next off-world launch is in a week! So, you'd best come with me." He then ran off for the monument path.

Intrepid looked after him. Strange Odd Shadow did seem an odd character, but Intrepid could agree with his quick calculation. Without a better idea, he elected to follow him.

He had just passed Klaus Zett's stand when a distant explosion permeated the air.

…

The boy watched as a pillar of smoke rose in the scene before him. He shook his head. "Crimson." he muttered. "Look what you've done now."

The girl beside him dropped her arms, previously outstretched, and stamped a boot on the ground. Her heel struck the monument walkway with a clang.

"Careful." the boy chided. "We don't need more attention-"

"Shut it." she hissed, and threw on her Forester's Hood. Previously around her shoulders, it no longer covered the logo on the back of her black shirt: that of a light green colored circle containing the lemniscate shape of infinity, intersected by a slash.

"There's no salvaging the ore now." the boy flouted with a smirk.

Gritting her teeth, the girl whirled on her teammate. "Got a plan then?" she snapped, and he shrugged.

"I don't plan to get in trouble for you."

"Then get a move on."

So they ascended the monument, quickly building speed. He had disheveled, spiky beige hair, while her dark strands poked out of her hood and danced in their wake. The metallic clanking of their running footfalls changed to absorbed thuds as the catwalk beneath them changed to stone at the top of the monument. They were about to mount the bouncer that would launch them off of the giant statue and give them enough speed to escape the world.

But the girl had to swerve, and in doing so slow down, because then a minifigure stepped out from around the statue's neck, right in front of her.

Looking back, the boy cursed and skidded to a stop. He opened his mouth to shout at her, but then he noticed why she'd stopped. Their interceptor carried a sharp, multi pronged staff that matched his helmet, black and in the shape of a bat. His cape rustled in the high altitude wind as he approached the girl. A Bat Lord, the boy recognized.

The Bat Lord had his back to the boy, who raised his fists and stepped forwards.

But then he was clubbed on the head by a Rank 1 Engineer wrench and fell face first to the ground.

"I rarely have use for this, being one to achieve Rank 3!" Strange Odd Shadow declared, looking up from the boy's stunned form to admire his wrench. The boy groaned and stirred, while Shadow said, "But sometimes it is the good old wrench that gives the best whack!"

Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, who was in the Bat Lord suit, advanced on the girl, who backed towards the platform's edge. She dragged a foot along the corner of the precipice, and looked down at the drop. Intrepid didn't shift his watch from her, but when he spoke, it was of a large, purple, egg-shaped object above him.

"There's a Maelstrom Shard on Bob's head!" he snarled. His words, he realized, sounded ridiculous, but he finished accusively. "And you put it there!"

"You can have it!" the girl shouted.

"I don't want it!" Intrepid shot back, noting her feet. Her legs began to bend, and he began to move.

"Neither do we," she said, and stepped off the monument, and with a drop she disappeared off the cliff.

Intrepid scrambled over to the edge, nearly falling off himself, and peered off the front of the monument. There was a catwalk some thirty feet directly below, but he saw no sign of her. Then he felt a rush of air behind him, and realized in the time it took to spin around that he'd been hoodwinked.

There was a ripple in the air through which the girl seemed to fall out of, but her feet were aimed at him. Her boots impacted right on his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs as he fell backwards...

...and off the face of the monument.

Intrepid felt the air rushing past his ears as he plummeted, arms and legs flailing, to certain smashing. He'd rebuild with a broken back would would help him very much in combat. He was being sarcastic. Of course it would hurt.

But instead of a moment of cold, hard, pain, he suddenly felt arms grabbing him, and orienting him - instead of falling backwards, he felt himself being tipped over to land feetfirst. He stumbled when his feet, instead of his spine, struck the catwalk, and he landed physically unhurt. He still felt disoriented.

As soon as his head stopped spinning, Intrepid was able to stand up and turn to his rescuer. He imagined Shadow could have jumped down and grabbed him... although that didn't make much sense, since Shadow couldn't teleport. Intrepid knew who could, though, so he wasn't surprised to see Red standing in front of him.

She wore a black coat over a hooded shirt, the hood of which dropped to her shoulders as she looked up from a device in her hand, which she stowed in her belt.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Red said.

"Me neither." Intrepid realized a typical aspect of their encounters. They always left him with more questions than answers. Maybe that could change. "We need to talk later." he announced.

Red shrugged, and looked up above him. Intrepid followed her gaze and craned his neck to look up from where he fell. He could see animated flashes characteristic of Imagination weaponry - Shadow's weapons - and they both heard the distinct crashes and thuds of combat.

"Hold on," Red instructed, then she grabbed his arm. In a flash they transdimensionally maneuvered to the top of the monument.

Strange Odd Shadow seemed to be holding his own. His Rank 3 wrenches spun in his hands as he dodged and returned punches to and from the boy and girl duo. They did not carry weapons, rather they wore them. Around the boy's forearms were metal cylinders that seemed to boost his punches, and the girl had similar devices around her ankles. The one around his right fist flashed, and then he delivered a lightning speed punch to Shadow's face, and the girl followed up with a flying kick that knocked the Engineer to the ground.

At the arrival of Intrepid and Red, the boy's eyes widened and he grabbed the girl around her mid, pulling her off Shadow. She yelped in protest, but became silent when she noticed them as well. Intrepid stepped forwards, and they both backed towards the bouncer; their escape.

Intrepid was about to rush them when Red pushed him to the side, and he saw the muzzle of an energy pistol in her hand. The boy and girl were a second from the bouncer when Red fired an energy blast. It seared past the two and struck the bouncer, smashing it.

A second pistol appeared in Red's other hand, and she aimed a blaster at each target. "Surrender or get shot." she threatened.

The girl shook her head and smirked. "You fool, Red. That's not our only way off this rock."

"Don't tell her-" the boy protested.

"Hush!"

They didn't throw themselves off the edge like Intrepid expected. Instead a blue rope appeared in the girl's hand. She flicked her wrist and the rope arced into the air, up and above them, towards the tip of Monument Bob's stone hewn sword. In an instant it had wrapped around the giant sword and tightened. The boy and girl grabbed each other and it coiled, pulling them up into the air faster than Red could fire, and flung them around so they built up speed. At the right moment they let go, launching themselves on a flying course straight for the Maelstrom Shard, while the girl equipped a vacuum container.

As soon as they touched it, the vacuum activated to capture the Shard, which de-spawned into her backpack.

Both the girl and boy smiled. She outstretched a hand, and the rope returned to them. Then they launched themselves off Bob's head, falling a short distance, before the air beneath them began to ripple and distort. They continued to fall past the monument's edge, out of sight, and they did not reappear this time.

Next to Intrepid, Red sighed. "At least I won't have to clean up their mess this time." she muttered, turning away from the edge and visually scanning for any left over Maelstrom. There was none.

Intrepid didn't looked over the edge either, although Shadow did, because Intrepid knew that this time they were gone. Probably to another dimension. About that...

Intrepid wheeled on Red. "Care to explain what just happened?" he demanded.

Red didn't say anything immediately. She gave her firearms a spin before holstering them, then reached for her belt. There were a few devices strapped to it, Intrepid noticed, including a particular rectangular black object. At that one, Intrepid's eyes widened, and his eyes darted back to Red's face. She wasn't looking at him. He couldn't have her escape too.

He reached out and grabbed her left arm, perhaps a bit forcefully.

Red looked at him, annoyed. "Let go," she said, and with her other hand she picked up a different device. Intrepid was relieved, but he didn't let go. This device was white, also rectangular, with a gray compass dial. It began to project a green holographic image in front of them that reminded Intrepid of Kate's topographical scanner, but instead of any landform he recognized, it projected what looked like a bunch of circles.

"I'm just tracking them." Red assured. "They've gone back to the original dimension." She turned back to him. "Please let go."

Even though a familiar burning sensation was starting between his hand and her sleeve, Intrepid couldn't let her go. Not yet. "We have to talk." he repeated.

Red dropped her face and leaned in until their eyes were close. "We'll talk." she said firmly. "But let go first. I thought you trusted me."

Intrepid let his grip slack slightly. "You promise?"

"I promise."

He let go and Red stepped a distance away. He didn't blame her. "Great." she said, looking from Intrepid to Shadow, then back to Intrepid. She glared at him and conspicuously rubbed her arm. "So, start asking questions?"

"Ahem!" Shadow cleared his throat, and they both turned to him. Intrepid hadn't noticed, but he now held a paper and a pen in his hands. "This is most interesting. I say that you, red haired girl, and those two no-gooders come from a different dimension! Is this true?"

Intrepid shrugged, and stepped over to the edge. "Good luck getting an answer, buddy." Intrepid said.

"You catch on quickly." Red answered Shadow. "What are you drawing?"

"It's a surprise!"

"Hey guys," Intrepid spoke up. "We may wish to relocate." he said. Down below, he could see a small crowd of minifigures had amassed in the base of the monument valley, looking up at them, while Rusty Steele himself was ascending the monument path. The monument's foreman looked angry. He'd have a mouthful for them if he thought they'd done so much as scratch it...

"Where do you want to go?" Red asked.

"Lots of places!" Intrepid cried, thinking of Elistra, of his brother's house, of the apartment in Nimbus City as well, since now he felt like quitting everything and going back home, wherever home was. But that just made Red look confused, since even the girl who understood him the most couldn't follow his rambling thoughts.

So he decided to say simply, "We can start at the Sentinel Base Camp."

…

"So who were those two, the boy and the girl?" Shadow asked once they were settled outside the Sentinel Base Camp's walls. It still unsettled Intrepid that Beck Strongheart didn't recognize him, so by saying outside, Intrepid didn't need to look at him, so he could pretend he wasn't thinking about him. His mind had become muddled again.

"Their names are Cailan and Crimson Crateris, brother and sister crime duo." Red said gloomily, as she played with her dimensional scanner. It beeped and chirped, flashed various lights, and projected various images. "They're also the kids of a previous colleague of mine, hence their transdimensional maneuver-ability. Their first offense was stealing a Dimensional Drop."

Shadow said, "Aptly named, because it is a device that is easily triggered by the momentum of its user in a free fall!"

"Exactly." Red said, putting the scanner away. "I like you."

Intrepid looked away and narrowed his eyes. For some reason, her saying that annoyed him. He took to watching the battlefield instead, which was oddly calm at the moment.

"So what were the Craterises doing with that Maelstrom Shard? They seemed to be transporting it!"

Intrepid didn't expect Red to answer that question, and while he wasn't facing them, his eyes widened when she actually went and admitted, "I don't know what they're doing with it. I've only been following them since this morning. I'd like to detain them, but it's not an easy job, as you've seen."

The battlefield was boring so Intrepid turned back to them. He noticed Red had her hood back up, revealing a logo on the back of her coat. It was a green colored lemniscate, the icon of infinity, with a slash running through it, enclosed in a circle.

"Who are you working for?" Intrepid asked.

Red turned to him. "I was wondering when you'd finally get to asking your very important questions. I don't have all the time in the world."

Intrepid shrugged. "You do with time travel."

Red scoffed. "Time travel doesn't exist. Now to answer your first question-"

Intrepid's brows had furrowed, and interrupted. "What? Tell me about time travel?"

"Time travel isn't real," Red repeated. "Dunno where you got that idea from."

Intrepid's mind traveled back in time to a few hours ago. "But you told me- you came to me-" he sputtered. "On Elistra, you told me I traveled two years back in time."

"I wasn't on Elistra." Red told him. "And I never told you such a thing."

Something dawned on Intrepid. "Maybe you haven't... yet." he suggested.

"Time travel isn't real!" Red groaned for the third time. "But," she continued, now studying her transdimensional maneuverability device, "actually... maybe I do know where you got the idea from. This dimension we're in now, is two years behind your original dimension."

Both Intrepid's and Shadow's eyebrows shot up, for different reasons.

"So you're from a different dimension as well!" Shadow proclaimed. He continued to draw something on his paper.

"Since when am I in a different dimension?!" Intrepid shouted.

"I don't know," Red instructed, "but you tell me what you know and we can figure this out."

"Okay," Intrepid agreed. "So, this starts with... yesterday. I got a call from my brother, because he got a call from some relative called Tiberius." Intrepid watched for a reaction from Red, but her face stayed steady, as if she didn't recognize the name. Which could mean a lot of things. Did she NOT know him, which was another contradiction between Red and the Red who visited him on Elistra? Or maybe she did know Tiberius, but she was being vague now.

He continued, "So, we flew to Elistra, me and friends... and Tiberius called me in the flight. So he told us he could save my family. Then we got attacked by the Maelstrom, and I crashed on Elistra..." his face had turned absentmindedly during the dialogue, and now he turned to Red again.

"Then you came and told me I'd landed in the past. You told me not to follow Tiberius."

"Wasn't me." Red repeated.

"Someone who looked like you, then." Intrepid amended. "It was dark."

"Kate?" Red suggested.

"No." Intrepid said. "She's elsewhere-" his voice cut off, because he wasn't sure if he should tell Red what happened to her... he didn't think she would be happy. But Red caught on. Her eyes narrowed.

"Intrepid?" she asked. "Tell me where Kate is."

Intrepid sighed. "She's somewhere on Elistra. I don't know where."

Red's hand closed around the transdimensional maneuverability device, and she disappeared, replaced by thin air.

"You have strange friends, Intrepid Fusion Eclipse." Strange Odd Shadow noted.

Intrepid glanced at him. "Yeah," he said, before looking drearily at the ground. He'd upset Red, and now she was gone. *Good work, me*, he thought.

Then Red reappeared, but this time she was holding the hand of a certain Sentinel Samurai. Kate seemed to stumble a bit since her footing had just changed, and when Red let go of her she crumpled to the ground.

Intrepid would have gone to her side, except Red was stalking straight towards Intrepid. Even though she'd come back, Intrepid had still predicted right, because she did not look happy.

"You left her!" Red shouted, stopping inches from his face. "I told you to find her. That means take care of her!"

Intrepid shot back, "I would have gone back, but my transdimensional maneuverability device has been a little broken! Heck, I didn't even want to come to Avant Gardens-"

"Give me that." Red grabbed at his wrist, where his device was strapped, and pulled the fake watch off. "You've taken it apart, no wonder it hasn't been working for you." she noted, and shook her head with a sorry smile. "No matter though, I have a spare."

"Can I have it?" Intrepid asked.

Red laughed, but it was disdainful and bitter. "Okay, that was funny. But it's not up to me, so, no."

"I could steal yours."

Red stepped back. "I don't think so." Intrepid looked past her. Shadow had gone to Kate, and as soon as she stopped heaving the Engineer helped her to stand. Kate's eyes darted around wildly until they focused on Intrepid.

"In..trep.." she muttered groggily. "Please tell.. me.. what is going.. on!"

"You've just been transdimensionally transported some five lightyears in an instant." Intrepid said.

"Oh, yeah..." Kate huffed. "It didn't feel this bad when we.. transported back from the.. other universe."

Inwardly, Intrepid was relieved that Red had brought Kate back. That was pretty nice of her. But he said hotly, "That's what happens when your driver is careless! You got carsickness."

Shadow frowned. "Driver's care and carsickness are unrelated except for the common setting. Generic motion sickness is more applicable." Now that Kate was standing on her two feet, he returned to his drawing.

"Whatever. I'm glad to see you're okay." Intrepid told her. "Thanks for getting her," he added, turning to Red.

Instead of acknowledging him, Red's head dipped, as if she were listening to something else. Her hair swept to the side, and Intrepid noticed a glint on the side of her head. She was wearing an earpiece, and listening to it.

"Who's she?" Kate asked.

Intrepid held up a hand for silence, and then brought his other, right hand, up to that side of his head, to manipulate his transmitter/receiver/hearing-aid combo.

"You're snooping." Kate whispered, quiet enough for just Intrepid, and possibly Shadow, to hear, and Intrepid stepped behind her. Then he listened.

*"...unfortunate. I dropped a hamper on Guppy Forest, which is* where they materialized. An odd place, but they can't escape that way again. Mara is going after them. We could use you back here, so come to HQ."

A loud scream suddenly pierced the air which caused Intrepid to recoil and cringe, since it came through exponentially louder in his right ear. If his right ear wasn't damaged already, it would be for awhile now.

Groaning, Intrepid stood up and saw with relief that Red hadn't noticed his covert operation. Rather she was staring at the source of the scream, as was Kate and Strange Odd Shadow. Ripping out his earpiece, Intrepid rubbed his temples before turning to follow their gaze.

The scream, which had been like an, "Ah!" sound, came from a Rank 3 Paradox Space Marauder, who just rebuilt after being smashed by a Stromling. Closest to the Stromling, a Rank 2 Samurai shouted, "Hey, get 'im! He smashed Ray!"

The Stromling then ran, but to Intrepid's surprise, it did not run to attack the minifigures - rather, it seemed to be running *away* from them. The Stromling scrambled up the incline towards the Sentinel Base Camp, where it got shot at by the guards, but somehow it was not smashed... yet. One Imagination bullet grazed its shoulder, and it stood stunned for a second. Then another struck it in the chest. *Jinxed*, Intrepid thought. Now it would smash soon. It was odd, and Intrepid couldn't place it, but this Stromling looked the faintest bit familiar.

"Guys, it's time for us to go." Red said suddenly.

"Wait!" Kate shouted, and then she ran at the Stromling.

Intrepid reached out but she was too fast, so he ran after her. "What are you doing?!" he hollered as she wrapped her arms around the Stromling and pushed it to the ground, shielding it from any more gunfire. Intrepid grabbed Kate's shoulderpads, just as Shadow grabbed his hand, and looking back, Intrepid saw that the Engineer was holding onto Red.

Then Intrepid felt his body being ripped apart as they were all transported to another dimension.

## Fourteen

When Intrepid awoke, it was to a horrible ringing in his ears. Despite the feeling of being put back together, his whole body ached, and sitting up, more like trying to sit up, made him want to throw up. He'd never felt like this before - he could remember many times he'd been subject to transdimensional maneuvers in the past, and he never felt this bad.

Then again, considering his crash on Elistra had apparently coincided with traveling to another dimension, it was more accurate to say he had felt this bad before. Maybe it had to do with traveling to new dimensions. Or Red's piloting.

Groaning inwardly to himself, Intrepid opted to wait for the fluttering in his stomach to subside, and while doing so he heard voices. He recognized Kate's voice. Then he heard another voice, which was familiar, which he verified with a turn of his head to be that of the Stromling.

"I'm Cyclone." the Stromling said.

Sitting next to him was Kate, and she answered, "I know." She paused and smiled at the Stromling's surprise. "My name's Kate. In another dimension, we're friends."

"But..." the Stromling, Cyclone, stammered, "...how? I'm infected."

"You were cleansed," Kate explained. "We both were."

"You were infected?" this Cyclone asked. "But you're not now."

"Exactly. And soon, you won't be either." Then Kate turned to Intrepid. "You got any disinfection kits on you?"

Intrepid found his voice. "No." he muttered. Maybe someone here did, but he didn't know exactly yet where 'here' was. Some HQ, of whatever organization Red worked for? He figured he could ask.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Kate shook her head. "If you can get up, you'll see we're in some sort of blank room. That girl's gone, she wasn't here when I woke up."

"Her name's Red." Intrepid said.

"Really? That's a dull name."

*That rules out Kate naming her*, Intrepid thought sulkily.

He did attempt to get up now. He put his right elbow on the ground, a smooth, cold floor - tile perhaps? - and then his left poked into something soft, and Strange Odd Shadow screamed.

"Gah!" the boy cried. "Do watch where you put your elb-blargh." Apparently he wasn't feeling too good either.

Intrepid sat up and looked around, at the ground first, then upwards. Indeed, the floor was tile, improved, a stark contrast to the unfinished concrete walls that surrounded them in all directions. The ceiling seemed to have lightning integrated into the edges where it met the walls; there were no protruding lamps. One wall had a metal doorframe, with a door, and some sort of peripheral scanner, and no other visible means of opening it. Unless one of them had a passkey, they wouldn't be getting through.

There was a logo on the door. The same green infinity-with-a-slash that was on Red's coat. But printed on such a large object, Intrepid could now discern that one of the slash was actually shaped like a vegetable.

Like a leek.

Together, that and the concrete made sense.

"I think I know where we are." Intrepid said, standing. He tottered for a bit, then steadied his bearings and approached the door. The scanner had a dark screen, which lit up at his approach. It displayed the image of a fingerprint, and Intrepid swiped his hand over it.

The scanner whirred and the door slid open. "Credentials confirmed, Intrepid Fusion Eclipse." a voice without a source intoned.

The door was open, so he intrepidly crossed the threshold.

The room he entered was lined with tables, atop which sat a bunch of transparent screens, with a chair for each one. Intrepid tapped the surface in front of one of them, and the screen lit up with text. A gel keyboard oozed out of the table. *Gross*, Intrepid thought, when he heard the scraping of a chair against the floor. He turned around, and saw that the room wasn't empty. In the far corner, visible through all the transparent screens, a boy with auburn hair was getting up. Quickly, Intrepid darted back and ran his hand over the surface of the table, activating all the screens and turning them opaque. Then he ducked behind a chair and peeked under the table.

The boy turned around and noticed the screens. He had a round face and looked fairly young. "Is someone there?" he called, craning to look over the tops of the monitors, but he wasn't very tall either. He rotated his head towards another doorway on his side of the room. "Red?" he called, before disappearing into it.

Intrepid wondered who this guy was. He was about to get up and follow him, and maybe find Red in the process, when someone touched his arm and he nearly cried out in surprise.

"Don't do that!" he hissed to Kate, who had snuck up next to him. Wordlessly, Kate pointed at both her eyes, and then at the other doorway. They both stayed crouched and watched as the boy returned, this time with a different girl. She had dark hair, a chiseled face, conspicuous freckles, and eyebrows that were tilted in attack mode. Unlike the boy, who dressed in a plaid shirt and simple pants, she wore jeans and a large sleeved coat.

"You said there were intruders here?" the girl asked loudly. "I don't see anybody."

"Hush or you'll scare them off!" the boy said anxiously.

"That's one to get rid of them."

"We plan not to leave so easily!" someone else spoke, and Intrepid and Kate whirled to see Strange Odd Shadow in their doorway, decked out in his Rank 3 Engineer gear and looking ready to fight.

He looked down at his two teammates. "Why are you hiding there?"

The girl laughed. "Psh. It's one of those Maelstrom War reenactment guys. Check out his outfit."

Shadow looked back at them and set his jaw. "I am wearing the latest and greatest Assembly gear." he informed them.

Intrepid had seen a Rank 5 Inventor, but he didn't say anything.

"I won't need to use it if you would so kindly tell us where we are!" the Engineer continued.

In response, the girl held up her wrists, and out of each sleeve extended... frying pans? "Fight me." she said.

"We're in Leek Works." Intrepid spoke up, standing now before either this boy or girl felt gung-ho enough to attack them. For his teammates' sakes, Intrepid clarified, "We're in my secret base. Evidently it's changed a bit in the past twenty years. The year here is 3048."

Shadow raised his eyebrows. "You've been here before?"

"No." Intrepid said. "I just know a few things." He turned to the two who they had intruded upon. "I don't know who you are, though, so I'll introduce myself first. I'm-"

"I'm Kate!" Kate interrupted.

"Strange Odd Shadow." Shadow said.

"I'm Intrepid Fusion Eclipse." Intrepid grumbled. At this, both teenagers' eyes widened.

"No way." the boy said.

"Way." the girl said. "So this is what Red meant when she met..." she clammed up and turned to her companion. "Do they know?"

"Red brought us here." Kate said.

The girl nodded. "Aha! So this is what Red meant when she said she met her dad."

Now Kate whirled on Intrepid. She looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. She opened her mouth a few times, was silent, and then decided. "WHAT?" she shouted.

The girl continued. "And that must be-"

"Hush!" Intrepid interrupted. He couldn't let this get out of control. "Tell us who you are," he instructed.

The girl gestured to the boy. "This is Ben," she introduced him, "and I myself am Allison Ryder! It's very 'interesting', as is your catchphrase here, to make your acquaintance! Our Intrepid Fusion Eclipse is pretty weird." As she spoke, the frying pans folded up and retracted back into her coat. An odd choice of weaponry. Perhaps she was the cook.

"Are you the cook?" Intrepid asked.

"I specialize in all-natural, healthy, gluten free, high-fructose corn syrup free, baking." Allison confirmed proudly.

The boy, Ben, sighed. "I'm a-"

"-walking, talking hardware maintenance manual." Allison finished, and poked him. "That's what he was talking about before, about consulting a hardware maintenance manual to rebuild the old laptops around here. He's always talking about geek stuff and things. 'Cores', 'random access memory', 'five hundred petabyte cloud state drives'."

"Am not." Ben pouted.

Intrepid wasn't sure if he could take more of this. Before Allison could talk more, he directed, "So where's... everybody?"

Allison and Ben looked at him curiously.

He continued, "Mara Mercury, Luke Mercury, Red, ...me?"

Allison shrugged. "Mara just went to Guppy Forest. I dunno who Luke Mercury is. Red was just here, and so were you. The janitor and-"

"They went that way." Ben interrupted, pointing to yet another doorway. "Red and Intrepid. To talk." Intrepid recognized it. This one lead out.

"I was telling him about the others." Allison protested.

"He didn't ask about anyone else."

Intrepid wondered what he'd see if he stepped outside, but he remembered their other companion, and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any disinfection kits on you?"

"No idea what that is." Allison said.

"I do." Ben told them. "They were used in the war, but production ended a long time ago. We don't have any, but we have something that can accomplish the same thing." He turned to Allison, as if for approval, and she raised her eyebrows.

"I don't think Intrepid wants us using The Ring." she warned.

Intrepid had an idea. "Well I'm Intrepid, and I'm authorizing you to show Kate, Shadow, and Cyclone how to operate it. Can you use it, Ben?"

"I'm sure." the boy said with a nod, and headed for his doorway.

"When Intrepid, our Intrepid, comes back and yells at us, I'll tell him it's your fault." Allison said, giving him the evil eye. Cyclone appeared beside them, still looking like a Stromling and also looking confused, perhaps awestruck by their surroundings, and Shadow lead him around the tables to the doorway, while Intrepid began walking for the door.

"Where are you going?" Kate asked him.

"I have more questions." Intrepid said briskly. He made it to the door, but before moving to open it, he noticed that Kate was behind him. "You shouldn't come." he said.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Don't get anti-social on me, Intrep. I'm forgiving you for abandoning me on that planet, so all things considered, we've made it this far together."

"Great." Intrepid said. "So when you hear something you don't like, I'll make Red do the talking." That was being hopeful. *And maybe someone else*, Intrepid thought. *Maybe this dimension's Intrepid Fusion Eclipse would be* more willing to share what he knew than Red. Maybe he would understand him better. Maybe he could learn what was going on in this dimension, with Maelstrom Ore-stealing kids and people trying to trick him, and how it affected his original dimension. Maybe this Intrepid knew more about his family, and Tiberius.

Maybe maybe maybe.

He would know by stepping out of this door. It had an old-fashioned brass door handle. With a steady hand, Intrepid gripped it, turned it, and swung the door open. A shallow breeze entered the room. Taking deep breathes, Intrepid and Kate stepped through it.

The first thing Intrepid noticed was the snow that coated the surface of the alleyway. It was as if, sometime between 3020 and 3050, Nimbus Station had become Frostburgh. In the Nimbus Station Intrepid knew, the world never had more than dustings of snow during the holidays. Here there had to be a few inches.

*Crunch, crunch* was the sound his and Kate's shoes made in the snow, even though it was already flattened by the footsteps of others. Kate suddenly pulled on his arm, and he heard voices ahead, but they were hushed. Turning around, he saw Kate had paused behind a dumpster, and she gestured silently for him to crouch down as well. Smart. People who already talking discreetly wouldn't want to know they were being watched.

Kate held a finger to her lips and Intrepid nodded. Then he peeked around the edge, his eyes followed the footprints already tracked up the alley to a point twenty five feet away, halfway to the street. There stood Red, covered in her coat and hood. In front of her, partly obscured in the line of sight from their hiding place, stood a taller man with black hair and a long coat of his own, his hands in his pockets. His face was dark in the shadow of an overhang. This man almost looked like his father, from a time when he was slimmer.

Intrepid swallowed his anxiety. He knew who this man was. So this was him in the future, or more accurately, this was him in another dimension set in the future. So he did have some more vertical room to grow, Intrepid noted gladly. This man had to be in his late thirties, he calculated. But exactly how much of a difference twenty years could make, Intrepid could only tell if he could get a closer look.

He considered adjusting his earpiece again to snoop, but then someone would slam a dumpster and he'd lose his hearing for good. There were other objects in the alleyway between himself and Kate and himself and Red. He might be able to dart over to a closer one, if he picked the right spots in the snow to tread...

Kate poked him and Intrepid looked up. Abruptly, his older self turned and left to the street. Then he was gone, and it was just him, Kate, and Red. By the way Red looked in their direction and proceeded to approach them, Intrepid suspected she knew they were there.

His suspicion turned to confuzzlement when she said, "He's gone, you can come out now."

Intrepid stood up, Kate as well. "What do you mean?" he asked. "I'm trustworthy, right?"

Red stopped and looked at the ground. "I trust you, a lot. Both of you. But Intrepid, your version from this dimension doesn't know you're here. What I've done by bringing you here is a secret."

Kate glanced at Intrepid warily. "Actually, we might not be so much of a secret."

Red looked up. "You've met the others?"

"Just..." Intrepid tried to remember their names, "Ben and Allison. They're trying to disinfect Cyclone."

"With the ring? That won't work." Red walked past them and waved a hand over the door's fingerprint scanner. "We'd best stop them before they implode the dimensions." she said while it scanned.

Kate laughed. "You're a dramatic one." The scanner chirped and the door unlocked, while Red sighed. Intrepid didn't think she was being dramatic, and Kate frowned, doubting her words as well. "Imploding the dimensions... sounds like destroying the universe. That's not a real danger, is it?" she asked.

Red sighed again. "Actually, it is."

…

They found Ben, Shadow, and Cyclone in the junk room, which was more cluttered than Intrepid remembered. Allison Ryder was there was as well, and she and the other three were standing at different points in the room. It was hard for them to stay together in this room, Intrepid knew, because navigating the room was less like walking, more like wading through the towers of tools, computer equipment, old artifacts, and canned food conglomerated within these four walls. Their arrangement was as haphazard as before, and Intrepid made a mental note to do some housecleaning when they got back to his Nimbus Station.

Intrepid stepped into a file cabinet and nearly knocked over the air conditioning unit perched atop it. "Wait." he said, holding out his hands and looking around. Everyone was standing in different places, where should he look first? "What are we looking for?"

"Oh, it's that thing." Kate said, and Intrepid turned to see was pointing to.

She spoke of an object with a large circular structure atop it, that stood ten studs tall with an equal diameter, more than tall enough for a minifigure to step through. At the object's, or device's sides were two control panels with levers, requiring two people to operate it. Right now only Bed stood by it, tinkering with its left side control panel.

"What is that?" Intrepid asked. "I've never seen it before."

"It's some sort of teleportation device from Nexus Tower." Kate explained. "The Faction Leaders used it back when Cyclone, Rover, Blade and I were infected. Cyclone and Blade had strong Imagination sparks which created doubles of them, and the Faction Leaders used the teleporter's portal to merge them."

"And it worked to disinfect you too?" Intrepid asked.

Kate shook her head. "No, that was separate. They used a disinfection room."

"Well I don't see any clones around here, so why are we playing with this?" Intrepid questioned.

"That's exactly why we shouldn't." Red said. She took a look at the mess between herself and Ben, then looked down at her TM device on her belt.

Intrepid expected her to warp over, but instead she left it stowed, then proceeded to stomp very noisily across the expanse. Towers of junk tipped and stuff fell noisily. Intrepid cringed as one tromp resulted in a glass cracking sound, since what had glass, related to computers, and would be kept in his storage room? But Red kept going, finally getting to Ben and she grabbed his shoulder. Ben flinched at her touch, and Red said firmly, "That's enough toying with things you don't know about."

Ben looked up from his work. He'd had the control panel off and was inspecting the wiring. "We're trying to disinfect the Stromling." he said.

"Didn't you hear what Kate said? This isn't a disinfection device." Red said brusquely, waving a hand at the teleportation device and nearly hitting it. "*It's probably the source of all our problems anyway*." she added under her breath, but Intrepid caught it. Maybe Kate was right, Red *was* dramatic. But much like him, she didn't speak without reason, so Intrepid suspected there was more to that sentence that she knew, and she ought to tell them.

"What do you mean, the source of problems?" Intrepid inquired. "What problems?"

"It's always questions with you." Red snapped, glaring at him.

*Wow*. Intrepid thought, taken aback. Red was in a bad mood. He was about to say something back, ideally something snarky, when Kate somehow stepped in front of him and cut him off. Intrepid let his mind calm and stepped back. Kate could read people - if anyone could get the truth out of Red, Intrepid would bet on Kate.

"Listen, Red? That's your name?" Kate asked, and Red nodded. "Right, so, you brought us here for some reason, and none of us know what it is. You're keeping us a secret from your father, your Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, and none of us know why. And except for our Intrepid, who recognized something when you brought us here, none of us knew where we were."

"We're at Leek Works." Intrepid repeated.

"I know that." Kate said. "My point is, Red - there's a lot we don't know. But there's a lot *you* know. And it would help all of us a LOT if you would tell us something. You need to help *us* help *you* - because that's why you brought us here, isn't it? To help you?"

Intrepid nodded to himself. *Good* job, Kate*. It made sense. And Kate was right. Red seemed less angry now, since her typical* poker-face was gone, and in fact she looked perturbed. Why, Intrepid couldn't figure out, but maybe she'd tell them now.

"Fine." Red said, lifting her chin and straightening her posture. "You're right, I did bring you here to help me. That doesn't mean you deserve to know everything. Intrepid has helped me in the past, and there's a lot he doesn't know."

"I can attest to that." Intrepid agreed.

"But there is a lot I can tell you," Red continued, "and Kate, you're right, it will help you, and me, if you understand what's going on." She paused. "Where should I start?"

## Fifteen

"I think we have time to talk," Red said, sitting down.

A light snowfall had begun, the falling flakes through the current room's skylight. Red, Intrepid, Kate, and Strange Odd Shadow had all reconvened in a secret meeting room. Ben and Allison had left to try and craft a disinfection kit, and Cyclone was with them.

This room was a new construction, Intrepid noted, as well as much around it. It was situated past a spiral hallway behind Leek Work's main room, and accessible behind a smashable, then rebuildable wall panel. Very discreet.

Inside was a smooth gray table surrounded by chairs, at which everyone else sat. Intrepid looked around before sitting down. There was some sort of refrigerator on the far wall which reminded Intrepid that he hadn't eaten in a day, and he went to look through it.

"You don't seem the type to have a lot of time for chatter." Kate noted. "Being a Transdimensional Agent must be busy."

Red, who had explained her occupation on the way to this room, nodded. "Right. So, I have bad news."

Intrepid grabbed a soda and returned to the table. It was the only thing in the fridge he recognized, everything else came in unidentifiable bags. He could survive on his consumables. He took a swig of the dark liquid, turning to face the sky, and nearly spat it out at hearing what Red said. "Bad news? This can't be good." he grumbled.

"It's not." Red said. "You're stuck here."

Except for the low hum of the generators that powered the site, silence fell in the room. Intrepid turned to Kate, who shared a glance with Cyclone, then Shadow. Then Intrepid turned to Red, and he questioned, "What?"

"When my dad called me back here," Red explained, looking to everyone, "I heard in his voice that it was because of a situation. We've gone over situations before, including one like this. He confirmed it when I talked to him outside. Leek Works is suspending its transdimensional division."

Intrepid, Kate, and Shadows' eyes met, and thay all turned to the transdimensional agent for an explanation. "Why?" Intrepid asked.

Red procured her holographic projector and set it in the middle of the table, and a 3D image of blue color appeared in the air, and the room's lights automatically dimmed, and the skylight tinted. "There's a space between dimensions we call the Unverse," Red said, pointing to an empty spot in the image. On it there appeared to be a bunch of spheres, like bubbles. They all watched in interest, although Intrepid saw that Strange Odd Shadow had returned to his secret sketch.

"The circles represent dimensions." Red stated. "For twenty years we've been experimenting with transdimensional travel, for research, exploration, and in recent years protection. We started with the ring device you saw in the storage room, which former leaders of the Nexus Force gave us after it disbanded. Last year we moved on to personal, wearable, transdimensional devices." She reached down to her belt and held up her own transdimensional maneuverability device, then threw it on the table with a thud. "But not anymore."

Intrepid considered grabbing the thing, but instead he studied the image. Then Kate gasped. "You're damaging the Unverse."

"Evidently." Red muttered, and pointed again. "So this is our dimension, but all these little circles around it are holes. Rips in the Unverse. They started popping up last year."

"So the new tech and the damage coincide," Intrepid said, leaning over the table. "But the rips seem more focused around this other dimension, here." He tried to touch a second, equally sized circle to their dimension that was 'next' to it, but there was no tactile feedback against a holographic depiction of this type, so he wasn't sure if they saw what he was pointing at.

But they got the picture, because Red told him, "That's the dimension we were just at. The one that's two years behind yours, twenty-two years behind mine."

"My dimension." Shadow said, and he wrote something on his paper.

"Yeah, there are more holes around it," Intrepid insisted, getting on the table and inching around to get a better look. "I bet they're causing it."

"Correlation doesn't equal causation," Red said.

"Exactly. It's just coincidence that your new tech is employed at the same time." Intrepid said.

"You never had any problems with the ring, did you?" Kate asked. "We have that in our dimension, too."

"It was always reliable," Red answered, "just awkward, heavy, and outdated. But I get what you're saying. It is the same underlying theory powering both the ring and our wearable devices. It's classified, though."

"Both open a seam in the Unverse, the ring within its perimeter, the wearable around its user." Intrepid muttered.

Red wheeled on him. "How'd you know that?"

Intrepid shrugged. "Hey, I took mine apart, and I'm entitled to, since I built these in your dimension. Didn't I?"

"No, it was Sandy Studs."

"I have no idea who that is." Intrepid said.

"Nor is the name known to me!" Shadow quipped.

Kate spoke up. "He's one of Doctor Overbuild's workers." she said. When the others turned to her, she disclosed, "One of the times I was in Nexus Tower, when Vanda Darkflame called for me... well," she continued with a wry smile, "she left her computer unlocked and I wanted to know more about the ring, so I read her classified files. Someone called Sandy Studs helped build it."

"It's consistent with my dimension's history," Red confirmed, looking up from a tablet. "The records show Studs was with Overbuild when he gave us the ring."

Shadow suddenly snapped his fingers. "I remember Sandy Studs!" he said.

"What'd he do in your dimension?" Intrepid asked.

Then Shadow frowned. "It's left me. I forget."

"Well we know who he is, then." Intrepid said. "So when did you get the ring?" he asked Red.

"When the war ended, and the Nexus Force disbanded." Red repeated. "The Faction Leaders wanted to maintain a secret service so they hired us-"

"Yes, but when?" Intrepid pressed. "What year?"

Red rolled her eyes. "3026."

"And Kate," he continued, "when did the Faction Leaders use the ring to disinfect you and Cyclone?"

"Not disinfect." Kate corrected. "*Re-merge*. And it was only used for Cyclone and Blade. It was sometime in 3026."

Now Intrepid raised his hand, pinched his fingers, and attempted to snap them ceremoniously. But they just slipped, and the result could barely be described as an audible, so he failed. Ignoring it, Intrepid said, "This is consistent with my theory. So the ring had to exist beforehand, for it to be understood to work, for them to use it... it had to be tested before."

"Maybe we were the test." Kate suggested.

"*A* test, maybe." Intrepid said. "Did you happen to read about the ring's history?"

"I only remember Sandy Studs." Kate sighed.

"I remember him now!" Shadow cried. A second later he facepalmed. "But I've forgotten again."

"I have access to the Nexus Force's files on the ring," Red announced, pulling them up on her tablet. "Overbuild gave them to us. You're right Intrepid, tests were run as early as 3025 and into 3026."

"Assuming our dimensions are consistent," Intrepid concluded, "then our dimension's Nexus Force ran tests in our 3025, and Shadow's dimension's Nexus Force ran tests in their 3025... and are still doing so now. And they're doing something that's destroying the Unverse."

"It's a logical theory," Red admitted, "but it's just a theory."

"But you've never had any problems before-"

"I REMEMBER SANDY STUDS FOR REAL!!!" Shadow shouted, standing up on his chair. Intrepid, Red, and Kate all looked to him, waiting for him to speak. Shadow's mouth was open, he had a finger pointed into the air, and he stared straight ahead as if he faced an imaginary crowd. And he was quiet.

Hoping he'd not forgotten again, Intrepid prodded, "Well?"

Shadow's body seemed to crumple. He bent down and moved to resume a correct seating posture in his chair, and he stared down upon the table, his gaze as cold as its metal. He looked ready to slump over, when he spoke.

"In my dimension," Shadow said grimly, "Sandy Studs is dead."

The door suddenly fell apart into its individual gray brick elements, which clattered and shook as they fell to the floor. Intrepid quickly spun to face the opening, Kate and Shadow stood up as well, and he had just equipped his staff when the first items began to pass through the doorway.

First a tin pail slid through, filled with soapy water that sloshed and threatened to spill over and out. Then the end of a broomstick appeared, held in rubber gloved hands connected to the thick, burly arms of an otherwise lanky man in a faded red T-shirt, and on his legs he wore white, blue and gold amored pants that resembled those of a sanitation worker.

Or an astronaut.

Or a Space Ranger.

"Don't mind me, I'm just cleaning up." the man said as the door rebuilt itself. He had short light brown hair on top of his head, which was tilted down, nonthreateningly, at the floor, as the broom head on the end of his stick mechanically folded up along its aluminum circumference, and out of its hollow interior came a bunch of straggy gray ropes attached to their own folding spreader, which folded out to become a wide mop head.

*Or a janitor*, Intrepid realized. He relaxed and let his staff tip to the ground. The end of it touched the linoleum.

"AAAARGH!" a loud scream filled the air, and suddenly Intrepid was falling backwards. He didn't know what hit him, before he hit the ground painfully and saw stars. When he regained his vision, it was to the janitor screaming at him, and he was also sitting on him.

"YOU SCRATCHED MY FLOOR!" the janitor was wailing. "MY BEAUTIFUL FLOOR!"

A thought came to Intrepid's head out of nowhere. *Is this guy insane?* he couldn't help but wonder, trying but unable to budge under the janitor, who quickly shifted to pin his arms.

Obviously the janitor had tackled him, but he'd moved with amazing speed and given Intrepid's current situation, he evidently knew how to subdue a target.

Intrepid craned his head to at least comprehend the icon on his shirt. It was of the pirates' skull and crossbones flag, but with a forbidden sign over it. Under it was the remains of an iron-on sticker, faded and worn with twenty years of washing, the text: "No Pirates!"

Oh. So he was a ninja as well.

"Get off!" Intrepid groaned. "My dimensional counterpart is your boss."

"Dimensional counterpart, eh?" the Ninja Space Ranger Janitor chuckled.

Thinking of the fingerprint scanners, Intrepid said, "I can fire you with a swipe of my hand!"

"Well with a swipe of my modified Magical-Broom-Mop-Sword-Zipgun-and Arrows Combo Katana Staff that was originally an Energy Spork, you won't have any hands!"

"Chill, Skill." he heard Red say. "Let him go."

The janitor proceeded to fluidly stand up, thankfully without any poking jabs, off Intrepid. "As you wish, my lady!" the janitor said, and he even extended a hand down to help his previous captive up. Intrepid took it begrudgingly.

"So you're the janitor?" Strange Odd Shadow asked.

"Skilled Honored Ninja at your cleaning service!" the janitor said, turning around to face Shadow and giving a bow. "The best janitor in the galaxy."

Shadow folded his arms. "Maybe second best." he declared.

Skilled Honored Ninja straigthened. "And who's the first?"

"He's in this room!" Shadow hinted.

"Why, he's me!" Skilled said.

"Didn't you hear what I said? If you're second-best, and first-best is also here, then it can only be-"

"Everyone stop!" Red shouted.

Intrepid, who wasn't quite sure what to say about all of this, let his mouth shut. He glanced at Kate, who's jaw had also dropped at the exchange. They shared a glance and shrugged, when suddenly Skilled turned to Red.

"Might I ask what are you doing here?" he asked. "The boss called for a meeting in Briefing Room 1 five minutes ago, so with that one off-limits for cleaning, I came here instead... and you're all in here."

"We didn't hear anything." Intrepid said.

"It was on the private channels." Skill said with a smirk, tapping the side of his head.

Red brought her hand to her ear and fiddled with her earpiece. "I didn't hear anything."

Intrepid couldn't help but listen. He didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. In fact, he didn't hear anything at all. The ambient light suddenly seemed especially dim in the room... not just dimmed, but unpowered. As for the ambient sound...

Leek Works was powered by generators, massive, loud, thudding, but scarcely audible due to their placement tens of feet underground.

He didn't hear them now.

"Someone's bamboozling us." Intrepid realized with horror. "We're in trouble." He ran for the door, Kate, Red, Strange Odd Shadow, and Skilled Honored Ninja behind him.

They split up as soon as they entered the spiral hallway.

“I’m finding Cyclone!” Kate called, dashing down one direction, while Shadow, Red, and Skilled headed the other way. Intrepid spun around, debating who he should be with. Kate could take care of herself, right? But Red wanted him to keep an eye on her.

Fate chose for him when the section of corridor between him and Kate collapsed from the ceiling downwards, and the walls fell inwards. Concrete slabs crumbled and fell in, blocking the path and the air filled with dust. Through the falling rocks Intrepid made out Kate’s running silhouette still departing farther, but now they were seperated.

By who?

Out of the new hole in the ceiling descended a rope, and then two familiar people slid down.

“Oh no,” Intrepid thought aloud. “Not you again.”

Cailan and Crimson Crateris stepped out of the rubble. They did a double take upon noticing their company. “I knew you should have detonated the next section,” Cailan stated. He assumed a defensive stance and his weapons whirred as they charged up.

“You two were transporting a Maelstrom Shard before?” Intrepid queried. His eyes darted between them. He could fight myriads of Stromlings in a day. These were two, evidently combat trained, minifigures. He didn’t risk a glance behind him, but he didn’t hear Red and the others. So he was alone with these two psychopaths. He took a step backwards. “Where’d you drop that off?”

“With our client.” Cailain replied. His sister slapped him, and they both began to advance.

“So what are you getting now?” Intrepid asked, stalling. He imagined the rest of his Bat Lord gear in his backpack, ready to be equipped. He could don them in half a second, but it would take less than that for the sibling duo to rush him.

Cailain showed a sidelong glance at Crimson, but they both kept walking steadily to Intrepid, and with the spiral shape of the hallway, he was bound to back into a wall soon. “It’s a surprise.” Cailain said.

“How’d you get here anyway? Red said all the Transdimensional Devices were remotely disabled.” Intrepid began to turn his feet, and move a little bit faster. The Craterises sped up, maintaining an equadistant relative position to him as before.

That brought a smile to Crimson’s face as well, but it was a malignant one. “Silly Red.” Crimson said mockingly. “We’re outside of the Nexus Government’s jurisdiction; Overbuild’s dimensional kill switch can’t touch our tech. Your dimensional counterpart is probably mighty crossed at how much power they have over his, supposedly, own organization.”

“I can still hear his anger from the last time he chewed *us* out.” Cailan said with a fake shiver.

“We recovered and moved on to better things,” Crimson whistled, sounding reminiscent. Sounding *distracted*. “-but our father didn’t.”

“That’s why he quit.” Cailain said with a nod.

Whatever the two were thinking about, it made them slow their walk, and Intrepid added half a feet to their distance. But he needed them to maintain their lack of focus. “Oh, and who’s your dad?” he prompted. One foot. Two feet.

“The one and only Luke Mercury!” Cailan said, looking up and back at Intrepid. He noticed that increased gap that had amassed between them. He began to run, but Intrepid had all the space he needed.

In half a second Cailan was halfway to him, but Intrepid’s Bat Lord gear flew out of his backpack and equipped itself to him. He felt his imagination power amplified by the suit.

He pulled his right arm back and prepared to deliver a striking blow, poking Cailan right in the chest and the bat wings grabbed, stunning him, and he swung Cailan into the wall.

Then Intrepid bumped into the wall that was behind him.

“Bricks.” he muttered as Cailan’s body armor lit up, and a repulsive surge pushed Intrepid’s staff away. Then Cailan ducked, and over his head appeared Crimson, poised in a flying kick.

Intrepid speed-dove to his left and the girl’s boots, from the soles of which portruded spikes, smashed into the wall. The tiling shattered and she launched off, twisting in the air to land on the ground. Both stood up and aimed their weapons at Intrepid, but it was too late.

Running towards them, Intrepid activated his shield slam and swung the shield ahead of him. The imagnation within expanded its impact zone beyond its physical dimensions, catching both Craterises and sending them flying down the hallway. Crimson skidded on the ground while Cailan bounced off the curved wall, back towards the rubble. Intrepid quickly speed boosted and turned tail, running at a speed of several meters per second back into the computer room, where Red, Shadow, and Skilled were.

“Where were you?!” she shouted.

“We have company!” Intrepid shouted back, and turned around to face the doorway.

He didn’t take into account that with a transdimensional maneuverability device his targets could attack from anywhere.

This time they came from above.

## Sixteen

To sum up his thoughts on the situation, Gallant Strong Cyclone was very confused.

"So it's probably weird, that you're a Stromling," the brown haired girl, Allison Ryder, chattered away. "Aren't the Maelstrom kind of extinct now? Don't Stromlings hear each others' voices in their heads? Do Stromlings even have telepathy- do Stromlings even talk?"

"I can talk." Cyclone said indignantly. "Because I'm a minifigure." Although when he thought about it, he had heard another Stromling talk, before it got smashed. Then he almost got smashed. He shuddered to think about it, although he was saved by... Kate, was it? She said they were friends, but he'd never met her. She was pretty, though.

"Yeah so what do Stromlings think about?" Allison asked. "About serving the Baron, or smashing things, or infecting people..."

Cyclone rolled his eyes. "I don't know what Stromlings think about."

"But you're infected, so, shouldn't you be, becoming, you know, thinking all evil things about now? No offense intended of course,"

"I still feel the same." Cyclone said.

"I once asked my dad about Stromlings," another voice said, and Cyclone looked up at him. Ben, the young auburn haired boy, had been going from file cabinets to bookshelves, looking through the Leek Works archive room to find anything on disinfecting Stromlings. So far he hadn't found anything, because he was still scuttling between drawers, running his fingers over book bindings, and occasionally grabbing a book and opening it, but only to put it back.

"My dad said he had friends who were infected, and disinfected." Ben continued, speaking while he worked on his search. "And they talked together, about being infected, and the thing about my dad's friends... they were special. Something kept them from being infected immediately. They told him that they always maintained free thoughts, but began to experience evil 'urges', that became stronger the longer they were infected."

With nothing left to say, Ben closed his mouth, so the only noise from him was the bumping and clinking of drawers sliding open and shut on their metal rails.

"I wonder who his friends were." Allison mused aloud.

"Yeah, me too." Cyclone agreed, as Ben stood up to walk and disappeared around a wall into the other part of the archives room. "Who's his dad?"

Now Allison rolled her eyes. "It's not obvious? Oh, I guess not, since they don't look much alike. But then again, neither does Red. Red hair seems to be the dominant gene with this guy. The boss of this place. Intrepid Fusion Eclipse."

"*He's* their dad?" Cyclone asked, surprised. He pictured Intrepid... he couldn't be older than seventeen. He shook his head, flabbergasted. "*What*?"

"Yep!" Allison confirmed.

"Isn't he a little, you know, young?" Cyclone queried.

"Oh, you're thinking about the wrong guy! Dimensions are so confusing!" she laughed, then continued. "Yeah, no, we're talking about *our* Intrepid Fusion Eclipse. He's twenty years older than your Intrepid. Yeah, I can see why you'd be confused... that'd be strange really, ugh, don't make me think about-"

"So Ben and Red are brother and sister?" Cyclone asked.

"Half-siblings."

"Oh. Why's that?"

"Everyone's always yelling at me that I'm talking too loudly," Allison said suddenly, and she glanced towards the corner around which Ben was. Then she grabbed Cyclone's hand, the hand that wasn't a literal sword arm, and pulled him surprisingly soundlessly into the hallway. There wasn't a door to close so Allison just held a finger up to her lips.

"What's the matter?" Cyclone asked hushedly, worried by her sudden discreetness.

"What I'm about to talk to you about," Allison whispered, "this subject, isn't something the rest of us talk about much. It's like an unspoken rule, saying it's forbidden to talk about our personal lives. Actually not our, plural, personal lives, but the boss's." She shivered and grabbed her shoulders. "I feel like I'm breaking a rule even telling you about the rule! You know that feeling?"

"I guess so," Cyclone said, trying to understand. "Why are we hiding from Ben, though? Is his mom...?" He didn't dare finish the grave thought.

"No, not her. Not Mara, she's very alive. She's the boss's second wife, after..." Allison gulped. "...after Red's mom... died. She died a long time ago. You won't find anything about it outside Leek Works, though. It's not even in the main archives."

"It's expunged?" Cyclone figured. "Why?"

"The only files are in the boss's personal office, and no one's read them. I certainly haven't." Allison explained. "It's almost romantic. But they're really all hidden away because of the nature of her death. Except the boss, only the faction leaders know the details about it, and they said to hide it. Not to cause fear, since the war was over..."

"It had to do with the war?" Cyclone asked.

"Yeah. It was in our 3034 when it happened..." she leaned in close to Cyclone's ear. "A rift opened between our dimension, and another dimension, where the Maelstrom won the war. The boss's team was the first to respond. But then the Darkitect himself appeared….”

"You said it was a secret," Cyclone recalled. "If Red's mother's death was a secret, how do you know so much? You couldn't have been there, in 3034... fourteen years ago? You'd be what, three?"

Allison sighed. "Well, that's actually why I'm here. I don't really work with Leek Works the way the others do. They, Red, Ben, his mom, her brother - when he did work here, he left - and the boss, and the others; they have a cause, to help the Nimbus System's citizens, and all minifigures across the universe. But I've never really understood the conflict.

"I kind of, well, work for the boss himself." Allison said. "And it's because of what happened to Red's mom. I’ve never told anyone else what I’m doing here."

She grabbed Cyclone's head and whispered directly into his ear again. The words she said, not just because of the close whisper she said them in, made no sense to Cyclone when he heard them.

He said so. “I don’t understand.” Cyclone said.

Allison smiled. “You’re not supposed to.”

As soon as the words exited Allison's mouth, a loud BANG sound came from around the hallway, followed by the crumbling and rattling of small bits and pieces of concrete hitting the floor.

Cyclone spun around. It wasn't a fiery explosion, since there was no heat or flames, but something had broken apart - a thin cloud of dust billowed out from around the bend of the spiral hallway's curve, and it slowed down as it approached them.

Then, like a ghost, someone ran out of the dust field. Cyclone stepped back, Allison as well, before he recognized the girl who had rescued him before. It was Kate. She skidded to a stop and rested her hands on her knees, gasping.

"Man I'm out of shape," Kate panted, "and Intrepid said we were under attack."

Cyclone turned to Allison, who looked like she'd just seen a ghost, but she brought a hand to her ear and removed a small earpiece to inspect it. A green LED on it flashed. "My comm's on, but I didn't hear anything."

"Not your Intrepid," Kate clarified, "my Intrepid. He went the other way, and then the ceiling broke, so we can't go back that way. Is there another way around?"

"It's a spiral hallway," Allison said, "but there is a door and a connecting hallway-"

"Good, let's go!" Kate said, grabbing Cyclone's right hand and tugging. The left side of his body suddenly felt heavy, and when he glanced down, he saw with sadness that his left arm had reverted to a blade again. How did it change? What made it change? But now Kate was pulling him down the hallway so he didn’t have much time to think.

"I'll get Ben!" Allison cried after them.

"Who's attacking us?" Cyclone asked.

"No idea," Kate muttered. "Can't say I know anything about dimensions, what's going on, and what's with Intrepid? Whoever knows, I sure don't."

"Apparently he marries someone named Mara in the future." Cyclone recalled what Allison said.

"Mara? Oh, her. Red hair. That makes sense, when Allison said Red was his daughter. Since they’re both redheads."

"Well actually-" Cyclone was cut off when they approached the aforementioned door and Kate pressed a button, sliding it open.

But instead of looking into an empty connecting hallway, they found themselves looking into a full connecting hallway.

Full of Stromling Mechs.

"1T I5 T1M3 F0R Y0U T0 D1E." the first one said, swinging its barrel around to face them through the door. Kate slammed the door. "Where did they come from?" she shouted. Cyclone raised his blade arm while Kate's bow unfolded into a shield, which she held in front of them for the inevitable explosion.

The Mech's energy blast did strike the door, blasting it out of its frame to bounce off her shield. It transformed back into a bow and she launched flaming arrows into the hallway, which quickly engulfed the close quarters within its walls and the mechs began to smash.

"444444HHHHHHHHH!" "4444HHHHHHHHHH!" "444444HHHH!" the mechs' robotic voices echoed as they smashed into turret quickbuilds. As soon as the imagination flames died down, and the hallway was clear, Kate and Cyclone pushed through.

Kate ushered Cyclone over to the door at the end of the connector, and she gave her sword a spin before triggering the door to slide open. Immediately flashes of weapons fire began to enter the hallway through the increasing gap, and sounds of combat reached Cyclone's ears.

"Stay back," Kate warned. "If you smash, you're dead." Cyclone nodded, then she leapt into the fray.

Intrepid Fusion Eclipse was on the ground inside a tent of overturned tables, outside of which Skilled Honored Ninja and Cailan Crateris battled. Red and Strange Odd Shadow were exchanging melee attacks with Crimson, who kept jumping out of the reach of Shadow's wrenches and dodging Red's blasters, and bounding back with powered punches that would have knocked anyone else out already, but they were resilient. Skilled's broom had transformed into an Energy Spork, and he braced and spun the double handed weapon to block Cailan's flipping kicks, and suddenly he delivered a strike that knocked the boy flying across the room. He fell over a table and crumpled to the ground.

Before the janitor could move in for a followup strike, Crimson suddenly rebounded off Shadow's chest and flew over the rows of tables, twisting in the air to grab Skilled's head, her momentum pulling him off course, but before they hit the ground a rift appeared in front of her trajectory. They both fell in, and Red squeezed the triggers of her weapons while Kate, running to join Red and Shadow, launched an arrow into the void. Then the exit portal appeared in the ceiling above the three of them, out of which flew the hail of blaster fire and a flaming arrow, which they only barely dodged. Then Skilled fell out, landing squarely on Shadow, and Crimson followed to plant her boots on Red's shoulders. With a jump, Red was sent sprawling across the ground.

Crimson double jumped and landed victoriously atop a remaining table, then turned to face the last one standing for the moment. "I don't think we've met? Shame we'll never get to get to know each other." she taunted to Kate, tilting her head to each side and stretching her arms outwards, before bringing her gauntlets together with a clang.

In response, Kate smirked and mounted the table row opposite her opponent. Her bow transformed into a shield, and she held her katana in front of her, assuming a dueling stance. "Get to know this." she challenged, poking the tip of her blade ever so slightly, while maintaining a perfectly controlled balance atop the otherwise teetering structure.

Cyclone watched as Kate launched herself across the divide and into an attack, and he heard the scrape of metal weapons against each other, and that was all he heard from that room as he had to turn around, because he also heard a scuttling sound from behind which required his immediate attention.

A Dark Spiderling had entered the hallway and was sidling around the smashed mech parts. Approaching him.

Cyclone gulped. It was a Spiderling that had infected him. He felt an irrational fear: had that one returned to finish the job?

Instead of attacking, preparing to attack, or even looking threatened, the Spider continued to trot towards him. Suddenly having an idea, Cyclone raised a hand. "Stop!" he ordered in the gruffest voice he could muster. Surprisingly, the Spiderling did come to a halt, but its forelegs twitched slightly, asking to proceed, or asking for a reason not to.

*Think*, Cyclone thought hard. Well, the Maelstrom was here, and they'd tried to attack them... and these two crazies were here, he could still hear the girl and Kate exchanging blows, and they were attacking them. So that could mean...

"Our allies have this room covered." Cyclone stated. "Head back and patrol that way."

The Spiderling nodded. Then its fangs parted, its mouth opened, and it did something Cyclone didn't think Spiderlings could do. The dark creature actually spoke, and it enunciated its syllables, the few there were, pretty well. "Got it."

Then it turned around and headed out into the spiral.

Wondering what use he could be, Cyclone contemplated the situation. One hit from a gauntlet would smash him permanently, since he was infected and couldn't rebuild. He could be noticed by an ally who didn't know better, and be smashed that way, and that wouldn't be nice. But there was only one other way into the hallway, and he could move farther down it and still be in a position to deter any other Maelstrom reinforcements.

Perhaps he could use his current state to learn more about the Maelstrom's objectives in this facility.

He looked back furtively, to see that Kate was holding her own and that the others were beginning to recover. Without another glance, he darted down the hall and followed the Spiderling's clattering steps, deeper into the facility....

### Intermission

The council consisted of men and women, wisened with age - or just aged. Twelve of the thirteen seated on their elevated chairs across the oval table were veterans of the war. Prime Minister Albert Overbuild, Minister of Defense Brick Fury, Minister of Housing Autumn Helix, and former president Duke Exeter were easily recognizable names to the older, adult citizens of the Nimbus Republic. Having seen their fight first hand, and a decade later having helped his children with their government class homework, Intrepid Fusion Eclipse knew everyone in this room. He came before them now to yell at them.

Intrepid finished his tirade. He leaned over the table, chest heaving, but at thirty-five years old he could go at this for awhile.

Albert Overbuild had risen from his chair, and on his cybernetic legs he descended to Intrepid's level. He stopped a foot away from his edge of the table, opposite the younger man. He considered how to approach him for a moment, and when he did he began, "I speak for the council, when I remind you, we have heard and we continue to value your thoughts."

"Like dirt you do!" Intrepid shot back.

"HEAR ME OUT." Overbuild thundered. The doctor was usually calm, but nobody flinched at the outburst. Hearing his voice boom across the chamber had become common in these meetings. "The damage to Unverse is unignorable." he said, lower now. "The only lead is your operations. Ceasure is the only option."

Intrepid took a deep breath, steadying himself. Overbuild's mind was always in silent, underappreciated control of his words and volume. It took some steeling for Intrepid to maintain similar command, not just over himself, but over the situation.

He turned to look up, from Autumn Helix to Epsilon Starcracker, to Duke Exeter, and across all the other heads and secretaries down to the current sitting president.

"You have no proof." he said flatly.

*"We can't sit back and do nothing while* damage continues to be done. Trans-dimensional travel is still on the agenda, but if we can't perfect it now, we need to make sure it's still an option in the future."

"For our children."

"But-"

*"For that reason the council has voted* to suspend all Transdimensional missions. This is final."

"There is still Maelstrom-"

"We have adequate defense for any further incursions."

*"You don't need to take this personally,* but I have faith in our armed forces."

"I'M NOT AND I DON'T!"

"Proceed with the remote deactivation."

"This is- you're- making a grave mistake!"

*"You have five minutes to recall your* agents. This meeting is adjourned."

## Seventeen

*Don't dwell on the past, Intrepid*, the black haired, black trench coat wearing man reminded himself. Even if the past was only ten minutes ago. It wasn't easy, *but*, he resolved, running a hand through his hair to scratch an itch, there was nothing he could do about it anymore. He shoved his empty soda away, wiped his stubble, thanked the vendor, and stood up.

Intrepid left the cafe on Vendor Street and headed back to Leek Works. He used to go to this place with Luke Mercury and Mara Mercury all the time. But that was dwelling on the past. Now, at least Red was back safely, Ben had made sure of that, while he had gone to mope here after talking to her.

As he headed down the sidewalk he wondered if Mara had caught up to the fugitives. He thumbed the little dial on his earpiece back to subspace mode, and signalled her.

"We're back to normal communication." he said. "The president was harsh."

"No wonder I couldn't bring you up on subdimensional channels. So it's done." Mara's reply was staticky. "As for the mission, I did attempt to reason with them, but they said they were coming back to base anyway. What's that supposed to mean?"

Intrepid shook his head at the ground ahead of his walking feet. "Kids these days." he muttered. "I haven't a clue. Well, take your rocket, remember how to fly that? - and head back. I'll see what's going on."

"Love you!" she responded, and ended the call.

He phoned Leek Works next, but the line didn't even crackle with any interference, because there wasn't a line. There was nothing. Intrepid quickened his pace, and for a second he considered activating his Bat Lord helmet and speeding away... except that was back in his office, in storage, with the rest of his gear where he last left it years ago. He imagined the contents of his trench coat's pockets instead. He had a snapsickle. That would work instead. He pulled it out of his pocket and out of its wrapper... it was old and half-melted and sticky. Grimacing, he let it touch his face.

Suddenly he felt like his body was being pulled forwards, just his nerves and stomach and skin, leaving his skeleton behind. Then all of him was mashed back together in the middle of Leek Work's computer room.

"Ben?" he called, almost falling down from the inertia that stayed with him. With one hand he reached for a table, at least to balance himself, and with the other he rubbed his eyes. As soon as Intrepid's head stopped spinning, he opened them and spun around to survey the room. His jaw dropped.

What.

The.

Brick.

Had happened to this place.

This place was DESTROYED. Every table except that which he leaned on was overturned or nonexistant. The computers... ugh. Blast points adorned the ceiling, walls, and floor. Leek Works looked like it'd been transformed into a warzone, and its people...

"BEN!" he shouted, but as with before, he received no response. Who else was here? "Red? Allison? Tiberius?" Everyone had to be elsewhere. He ran for the connecting hallway and slid that door open, to see it looking no better, and the doorway on the other end looked pretty door-less. All sorts of mechanical parts littered the hallway, like someone overturned a metal recycling bin in there. Someone would need to clean that up.

That reminded Intrepid of one more person to call. Too bad he couldn't remember his name. He was never good with complex names. "Number One Janitor?" he shouted into the spiral hallway. He held his breath.

"Yes!" a voice responded.

Intrepid exhaled in relief, and ran through the hallway. "What the brick is going on?" he shouted.

As soon as he got through the doorway, he was nearly hit by a stray blast of laser fire, but he saw it out of the corner of his eye and ducked. Intrepid swung his head to see the blast strike the wall behind him, and proceed to infect it.

*Maelstrom*. They were all over the hallway, battling it out with some minifigures who looked like they came out of a Nexus Force themed costume party.

Again, Intrepid thought about activating a Shield Slam and sending the closest bunch of Stromlings to heaven. But again, he didn't have the corresponding gear. He had other stuff though. A Long Sword appeared in his hand.

Months of research and development had created this ultimate weapon, based on a copy of his Uncle Killian's own legendary sword. Yelling out a battle cry, Intrepid swung the sword and a wave of fire expanded out from its path, passing through everything and everyone in the hall and smashing the weakest ones. Stromlings and Mechs smashed on contact. Intrepid then launched himself forwards, vaulting over a fallen cabinet to thrust the sword towards the next closest enemy, a Spiderling, which fired a web. The sword gleamed electrically and the web turned to dust, doing nothing to protect the Spiderling from its attacker or his weapon. It was felled as well.

"YOU ALL WANT TO FIGHT?!" Intrepid roared. He gave his sword several aimless spins, and spurts of fire spun out in all directions. The Maelstrom horde, now consisting only of Spiderlings, an Ape, and some Chainsaw and Hammer Stromlings proceeded to turn tale and run down the other way of the hallway.

"Ha." Intrepid let his sword fall and planted his feet triumphantly. That felt good. He could chase them, but the base defenses should smash them anyway. Come to think of it, the base defenses should have smashed them already. He listened, but except for the hiss of imagination leakage from busted pipes and the small crackling of aflame remains... there was nothing. The generators were silent.

Intrepid turned around to face the other fighters for the first time. There was the janitor he recognized, in his Space Ranger pants and a No Pirates shirt, holding his Energy Spork. There was a guy dressed up as a Rank 3 Assembly Engineer. Strange and odd, considering every engineer he knew from the war had upgraded to Rank 7 during the last Maelstrom attack. Then there was a Sentinel Samurai girl, who-

Intrepid did a double take.

No.

It couldn't be.

The hairs on the back of his neck tingled and he aimed his sword behind him to incinerate the Chainsawling that dared sneak up on him. Then he turned around for real, not to make sure there was nothing left, but because he couldn't face these people.

*Red*, he thought with gloomy realization. *Why would you do this to me?*

Thinking of her, Intrepid asked, without looking back, "Where's the others?"

The voice who answered "Yes!" to his number one janitor question answered, "They went downstairs, to follow the Craterises. But then we got jumped by these Maelstrom."

A door, to the archive room, suddenly opened to Intrepid's side but he didn't aim his sword at the intruder. Out of the sleeves of her sweatshirt extended a frying pan each, and behind her he recognized his son. Just Allison and Ben. "What'd we miss?" she asked.

"Stay in there!" Intrepid ordered. "What did Cailan and Crimson do?"

"They attacked us." the Samurai reported. Intrepid didn't need to turn around to know it was her, or to know it was her who spoke. "Intrepid and Red followed them."

Intrepid closed his eyes. "Stay here." he reiterated. The taste of snapsickle was still on his tongue, and he teleported himself to Leek Work's basement.

All it took was one swing of his sword to send a wave of rooting over everyone in the room. Intrepid opened his eyes, and by luck, it was Luke Mercury's son who stood right in front of him. He stared at Intrepid with his eyes and jaw wide open in shock.

"Good to see you too, Cailan." Intrepid muttered. He turned around, looked around a tower of milkcrates, and stepped over the unfinished concrete flooring to reach the next person, Red, and undo the imagination trap that had grabbed her feet. "Are you alright?" he asked, and she nodded.

The basement lighting had switched to auxiliary, which consisted of ages old yellow incandescent bulbs. They hadn't been seen working since the base's construction, so they weren't changed with everything else. They provided a dim glow across the level's expanse, casting several shadows around each cylindrical support. Intrepid sauntered past Crimson and gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder, before proceeding along the wall past the stairs to the upper levels, to the doorway into the generator room. He heard raised voices from inside, and he stopped.

"You know what?" Intrepid said, spinning around. All three young persons stared at him. "Red, put these two in containment. Then get these generators back online. I'll be in my office." The snapsickle was entirely gone and he decided he didn't like the spine-compressing feeling of its travel anyway, so he returned to the steps, leaving Red to figure out how to transport these two into cryogenic pods. To make it easier, he unholstered a stun gun and incapacitated both of his wife's cousin's kids.

Then the man disappeared up the dark stairs.

…

After getting the unconscious bodies of Cailan and Crimson Crateris into two of the few Nexus Force-spec cryogenic pods Leek Works had in its basement, Red leaned back against a dormant one and rested. The fight was exhausting, both physically and mentally. When she looked through the glass at the two sleeping minifigures, she almost saw them the way her father did: nonthreatening children, harmless, deserving of a second chance when they made mistakes - the same way she saw them a long time ago, when that perception was a fact. How could such people, who were so innocent before, cause so much trouble now?

Red sighed. The generators were still down, so without their usual thudding reverberating around the subterranean room, she still heard, in their place, the two voices arguing. It just so happened that the same room they were arguing in was the generator control room, so she went there to question why they hadn't been restarted yet.

"Calm down, you two." Red scolded as soon as she caught sight of Intrepid, who was facing an elderly minifigure who had to be in his late sixties or seventies. That man sat on a spinning chair, currently aimed at Intrepid, turned away from a large full size entertainment center full of displays and charts, and a Nexus Force Plaque reconditioned into a sort of control board. Those were the controls for the generators.

The man was tall, appearing almost disproportionately so, due to his incredibly thin torso hugged by a well-fitted gray suit. It fit him so tightly, even the shape of his ribs could be seen through the cloth, and his arms were frail. The man's body had evidently not aged well, yet on his face he wore a smile. Folding her arms, Red couldn't help but smile as well, for as long as she could remember, Great Uncle Tiberius could put anyone in a good mood.

Not Intrepid, though.

Their conversation had transpired as follows:

"You!" shouted Intrepid, upon recognizing this man. For while he had never seen him before, there were features of his face he recognized as familial. He shared eyes, eyebrows, and a nose with both Intrepid's father and Uncle Killian, while underneath his wrinkled skin his jawbone was a bit thinner, more like that of grandma Lucille Talmid's slender face. His hair, a pepper colored gray, may have been black once.

But this man was not Abe or Killian Talmid, and despite being the same age as grandpa Ben Talmid, with the twenty-year dimensional difference and things, this man was *not* grandpa Ben Talmid. So who else could he be?

This man could only be the arcane Tiberius Talmid himself.

Tiberius Talmid had responded to Intrepid's exclamation of, "You!" and corresponding jab of his pointing finger, with a charismatic smile. "I am afraid I have forgotten to take my meds today!" Tiberius said. "Because I seem to be hallucinating my favorite nephew as a little boy!" He laughed at his own joke.

"You," Intrepid repeated, "have a lot to tell me."

"Apologies," Tiberius tapped the side of his head. "I stopped talking to imaginary friends when my brother Killian was still infantile, and I saw him 'conversing' with characters out of story books, and he looked like such a fool! So that's when I resolved to *not* appear so stupid, so excuse me while I abide by that now."

In the corner of his eye, Intrepid noticed that Red had entered, and he whirled on her. "What is he doing here?" he demanded.

"Uncle Tiberius works for Leek Works." Red said. "He built the generators for this place."

Tiberius turned to Red and squinted. "You're a lil' young to be hallucinating too, darling."

Red looked at the ground and managed to stifle a laugh, while she explained, "It really is your nephew, Uncle, but from another dimension. The one I told you about."

"So it is, I knew it all along, I was just messing with you." the old man said with a grin at both, then he spun his chair around to face his control panel. "The generators are indeed my brainchildren. Such oxymorous creations; debatably hypocritical; even Paradox said it could not be done, accomplishing what I have! Hmmm, it would seem the problem is a power drain! Someone has siphoned my generators. You two," he ordered, without turning away from his work, "you're young and strong, able-bodied and capable. Go refill the generators."

"Got it." Red said, and pulled Intrepid out of the room before he could protest.

"I wanted to ask him what he knew about saving my family." Intrepid complained as she lead him away, but not disheartened, he still followed the back of her cloak over to the generators themselves, hidden behind a concrete half-wall in the most far-off corner of the basement.

Intrepid looked at the generators. There were two, looking like sets of large discs suspended in metal frames, facing each other. There were intake tubes at their bases. They definitely *weren't* the same generators that powered his fledgeling version of Leek Works, and looked so alien in a room he otherwise knew the layout of.

"He probably wouldn't tell you, since whatever your dimension's Tiberius is up to, would be twenty years ago for mine." Red said ruefully, as they approached a locked sliding door next to the generators.

“What do you mean?” Intrepid asked.

Red explained, "He's worked here since I was born, but he doesn't talk about what he did before then. Not truthfully, I mean. He tells a lot of stories, but very few are from back then. And they're all tall stories. Like the one where he became king of some distant country, and fought a dragon singlehandedly, and pledged his life to the Darkitect… pretty farfetched."

Intrepid nodded with understanding, not really understanding though, while Red unlocked the door. But he had some ideas. "Huh." he said. "Almost like he wants to forget his past... mistakes? If he's straightened out *now*, I should probably worry about what my Tiberius is up to."

"He's your uncle though," Red reminded. "And saving your family doesn't seem so bad."

"Yeah, but they're dead.” Intrepid stated. “And evidently his plan doesn't work, since I don't see my dad, mom, or sisters around here."

"And look what happened to Luke Mercury's kids." Red agreed with a sigh. The door let out a click as it unlocked and began to slide open.

Inside this side room were several gray cylindrical containers. Some were stacked on shelves and others just in a pile on the floor. They were all unmarked, not even wearing "DANGER" or "FLAMMABLE" warnings like any approved fuel source would. Red handed one to Intrepid, it was large and weighty but liftable, and the surface was cold to the touch.

"So what's this stuff?" he asked.

"I'd have to mind wipe you if I told you." Red warned.

Intrepid rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"

"No. Just promise not to tell anyone. The council has enough scrutiny on us." Shifting her hold on her own container to one hand, Red switched off her communicator and stepped over to Intrepid's side. She whispered into his ear. "The stuff is refined Maelstrom ore."

## Eighteen

Intrepid took a few moments to rhetorically pick his jaw off the floor, as it had dropped in response to the freight train of a proclamation that Red had driven on a collision course straight into him. That was rhetorical as well.

Now he exclaimed, “Whaaaaaaat?” He felt like dropping the fuel barrel in his hands, but to do so might cause an explosion, or a fire, or inundate his base with *MAELSTROM*?!?!

*It was* blasphemous*.*

Leave it to Tiberius to create such a thing. Intrepid shook his head. The man was evil.

Red sighed again. “Don’t be like that, Intrepid. It’s only Maelstrom in its source. This is the last supply of ‘naturally’ occurring ore from Crux Prime, but it’s been refined so much… basically reprogrammed. No one’s been infected working here. No one *can be* infected. As far as Maelstrom is concerned, it’s inert. It’s just a really efficient fuel source.”

“Oh.” Intrepid responded. “Okay. Sure. I’ll buy that.” He made a mental note to stick with the underpowered imagination generators in his version of things, though.

They loaded four barrels of Refined Maelstrom Ore into each generator, enough that their computer systems each let out a beep to affirm full capacity, and then Red locked the room again.

“Suppose that’s why Cailan and Crimson were here.” Intrepid started. “They were lugging a Maelstrom shard when we first encountered them. Now they, and suddenly Maelstrom forces, are attacking us.”

“And Tiberius said the generators were siphoned. I was wondering the same thing.” Red said, suddenly sounding dark. “Maelstrom forces could only come from another dimension. We’d be in big trouble if there’s another large-scale incursion about to occur, and it’s pretty obvious-“

“-that my best friend’s kids are on the wrong side of things.” Intrepid finished, looking over to the cryogenic pods. “We should interrogate them.”

They approached the first occupied pod, Crimson’s. Red tapped a few buttons on its numberpad, first a code to engage a containment forcefield, and another to open up the pod itself. The pod began to hiss as its seams parted, and steam began mist out, the byproduct of the pod’s internal, sleep inducing atmospheric reacting with the outside air.

“To think I was in one of those.” Intrepid said with a shudder.

“My dad told me it was a traumatic experience.” Red shared.

Intrepid shook his head. “Everything about the Venture Explorer is a traumatic experience.”

“It’s all I’ve heard about it.”

As soon as the pod door had finished swinging open, Crimson began to stir. There was nothing crimson about her, since she had dark hair, so Intrepid wondered why Luke Mercury, or whoever his spouse was, had named her that. Maybe they hadn’t. As soon as she opened her eyes though, Intrepid realized that he was mistaken. Her eyes were red.

Letting out a scream, Crimson lunged forwards but rammed straight into the forcefield, and was bounced back into the pod. Looking at her two captors angrily, she shouted, “What do you want?”

“Answers. Who are you working for?” Intrepid demanded.

There was enough room in the pod for Crimson to fold her arms. “No.” was all she said, and then she shut her mouth and her eyes.

“Let’s try the other one,” Intrepid said, and Red shut the pod again. This made Crimson start screaming in resistance again, but she fell asleep as soon as the pod door sealed. They moved to the next pod to wake up Cailan, and as soon as the beige haired boy’s eyelids had parted, and he glanced between the two of them, Intrepid got the feeling that he would be more cooperative.

“Who do you work for?” Intrepid repeated.

Cailan smiled and closed his blue eyes. “No.” he said, and folded his arms.

*Okay, I was wrong*. Intrepid thought. He rested his hands on his side of the forcefield. “Talk or we’ll tickle you.” he threatened.

Cailan laughed. “I’m in the Guinness Book of World Records for enduring the longest session of pins and needles – and not complaining a darn thing about it.”

Intrepid slammed the pod door shut. “Is there even an entry for that?” he asked Red.

“I’m afraid we’re not getting anything from them.” Red said dejectedly, as they headed for the stairs. “We’ll just have to wait and see what the Maelstrom do next.”

“You can,” Intrepid said. “I need to get back to my dimension. I have an appointment with an evil uncle and my brother, and my friends probably think I was smashed in a shuttle crash... or infected. Kate too.”

“I wish I could help with that.” Red said, truly sounding like she meant it. They began to climb the stairs; a long flight of over fifty steps, so they had a long time to talk. “There’s nothing I can do since the council disabled our transdimensional maneuverability devices...” She pressed her lips together in thought. “Actually…”

They paused halfway up the steps to face each other and make eye contact. The dark irises of their eyes reminded each of them of rings.

And from there, one specific ring: a ring that was ten feet in diameter, with a triangular base and two controlling levers, used for transporting minifigures to different dimensions.

“Yes,” Intrepid agreed. “That is a great idea.”

They ran up the stairs from there, exiting out from a doorway in the connector hallway. From there into the spiral hallway, they found Skilled Honored Ninja, Strange Odd Shadow, Ben, Allison, and Kate. The former two were leaning against opposite walls, glaring at each other as if they had formed some otherworldly rivalry. Kate had her hands on her knees, looking very tired out, but as soon as she caught sight of them she ran to grab Intrepid’s arm. She immediately tried to speak, but her voice was cracked, and her eyes watered as she kept trying. By the expanded shape of her eyes and how fast and wavering her voice sounded as it barely trickled out, he could tell that she was very distressed.

And rightfully so, because as Intrepid scanned those around them, he realized someone was missing.

Kate coughed, and when she was able to speak words all eyes turned to her. The words she said confirmed Intrepid’s worry, a fear shared by the girl shaking in front of him, that they'd lost someone. "Have you seen Cyclone?"

````

One Stromling fell to the ground, spinning around and hitting the stone hard. His chest struck it painfully, his face stopping inches from the rock, as it had all happened so fast and he only barely caught himself. Another Stromling had kicked him, and it was this one that laughed at him now.

“Did you really think you could sneak in here? Without *me* recognizing you?” his guttural voice filled the stone room. “You disappoint me, Gallant Strong Cyclone! Gallant as always, but not very strong now, if I say.”

Cyclone grit his teeth and slowly rolled over to try and get up, but another kick sent him sprawling onto his back. He let out a cry while the Stromling continued to laugh. Around them, other Stromlings, Spiderlings, Mechs, and Apes watched from a distance, ambling about and trying *not* to look *too* interested, but they were watching nonetheless. And not interfering. Out of deference, honor, or fear?

“Aren’t you surprised to see me?” the Stromling was continuing. Suddenly he raised his sword-arm right above Cyclone’s head, and brought it down. Cyclone flinched but it wasn’t enough, the Stromling was too fast, and the blade stabbed down – into the ground next to his head. “Say something!” the Stromling shouted. “Did you think you defeated me?!”

Cyclone’s lips quivered, but as the Stromling’s blade began to screech and scratch against the ground, getting closer, he suddenly found the urge to speak. “I- I don’t know you!” he shouted. “I don’t know YOU! I don’t know who you are!”

The Stromling pulled his blade up, his face taking on a frown. “So it would seem,” he agreed. “I don’t know you either.” Cyclone watched him, worried of what he would do next, if for some perverted reason his identity was the only thing keeping him alive. But then the Stromling got an idea and asked, “Tell me, Cyclone, what year is it?”

“3026?” Cyclone answered, unsure what he was getting at. “Januar-“

“That’s enough!!” the Stromling interrupted. “So you’re from the thirty-first dimension. There’s no reason why you’re still alive.”

“I was saved.” Cyclone said.

“Not for long!” the Stromling cackled, and aimed his blade again. “Our agent should have ensured your death. She failed. I won’t!” Cyclone squeezed his eyes shut as the sword fell again, but when nothing happened for several seconds, he dared open them a crack. He exhaled sharply. The Stromling’s sword was inches above his heart, but for some reason he had not completed the action.

“Yes….” the Stromling said to himself, and he began to lift the sword and Cyclone breathed again. “This is good. I will do better. My master will be pleased.” Motivated by greed, his sword arm morphed into a hand, and he rubbed the two of his hands together. The Stromling turned away, then shouted, “Ansley! Get over here and bind this Stromling.”

“Boss, sir!” a voice replied, and then a Spiderling clattered over. “Yo, sir, boss, bro, boss.” The spider’s legs danced on the stone as he outlined his preposition most giddily. “I helped lure him over, bro. Put in a good word for me to the dark master, bro?”

“SHUT UP AND DO YOUR WORK!” the Stromling yelled, and the Spider instinctively wrapped himself up in his legs.

“Yes boss!” the Spider squeaked, and spat out a trapping web over Cyclone’s body, before backing off. Cyclone struggled but was unable to move, as the web wrapped around him all by itself. Then Cyclone felt himself lifting off the ground, as the dark powers that bound him could also move him.

“A long time ago,” the Stromling said, as he began to walk away and Cyclone’s cocoon followed, “my master had a special interest in beings like you. Minifigures so naturally gifted, so imbued with imagination, that he wanted to know how to infect you. In the end, my master decided that smashing you was much easier. So in all of the dimensions we’ve reached so far, your counterparts and all the ones like you, have been smashed.”

They continued out of the first room, a large cave, down a narrower stone passageway. Cyclone’s eyes widened as the passage widened at its end, and approached a set of tall, gleaming obsidian doors. So they were much closer to the Darkitect than he had ever thought!

“For your own sake,” the Stromling continued, spinning around to face Cyclone before the doors, “pray that I can convince the Darkitect to resume experimentation, rather than extermination, of your kind!”

“You’re the Darkitect’s personal slave.” Cyclone realized.

“*Advisor*.” the Stromling corrected sourly.

“If he’s already smashed,” Cyclone said softly, “so much of my kind… are you sure you can convince him otherwise?”

The Stromling smiled most evilly. “Certainly. I will admit I lied about your interests, actually. As soon as we proceed, you’ll wish you were smashed.”

He then raised a hand into the air, and with a massive cranking of unseen gears the doors began to open towards them. “I have more power over the Darkitect than even he realizes.” he proclaimed to Cyclone’s ears only, and then he turned around again to face the opened room’s interior. The doors parted, and past the Stromling’s shoulders, Cyclone could barely make out in the distance, a towering form….

“Now,” the Darkitect’s advisor hissed his signature phrase as they entered the throne room,

“allow me to demonstrate."

## Nineteen

It took the rest of the afternoon through late evening and a decent amount of cash for the cleaning crews to return Leek Works to a state of repair. A delegation of Nexus Republic commissaries arrived at 8:30 to take a report on the attack, when the computer room had been set up with new tables and consoles but the spiral hallway was still stained with Maelstrom residue.

“You can tell me ‘I told you so’,” Prime Minister Overbuild said sourly as he stood in the connector, next to Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, “then I’d like if we can plan our next move, to counter *their* next move.”

The younger man folded his arms. “I have nothing else to say about the past, except that you mentioned protection.”

“I did.”

“I want it.”

Overbuild quickly sent a message telepathically to his phone, and from there elsewhere. “They will arrive in the hour. Meanwhile, the council has called another deliberation on allocation of our defensive funding, 9 AM tomorrow morning.”

“Tell them to put it all on offensive weaponry and evacuation ships, equal distribution. It’s fight or flight, you just need to figure out who in the population is fighting, and who’s flying.”

“We want you to be there.”

“Maybe. I want to go to sleep.”

So Overbuild returned by personal transport to Republic Headquarters, while the 35 year old retreated to his office. At 9:00 the annoying whirr of the Maelstrom vacuums finally turned off, and Intrepid was able to focus better on the files on the desk in front of him. Instead of sleeping he’d been reading, under the dimmed light of an old fashioned desk lamp, as he perused plaques, data pads, decade old papers, manuscripts…

An hour passed before his mind recalled a technique that Ryder had taught him. His eyes began to stop seeing the words in front of him, the print began to blur. A chilling sensation trickled up his spine, into his head, and then it felt warm. His neck stopped aching from being tilted down at his desk for so long. His breathing slowed. He imagined he was someplace else, somewhere he could feel her presence....

Then his door slid open and the sensation stopped. Intrepid blinked at the interruption, then he looked back at his book. He turned back a page, where had he been? Meanwhile, a shadow stretched across the floor, silhouetted against the lighted box from the hallway light through the doorframe in the otherwise dark room. He saw the head of the silhouette on the floor beside him. He knew who it was, and she was waiting.

“Yes.” he said sharply.

“Dad.” his daughter said. “Overbuild’s agents arrived. They’re in the entrance room.”

“Send them my regards.” Intrepid said.

“You’re not coming?” she questioned.

“Not this time. They know what they're here for.” Intrepid kept reading, but in the corner of his eye he saw that the shadow didn’t seem to move. Was she still waiting? “Red.” he addressed, softening his tone. “Is there anything more you want to tell me?”

His daughter’s shadow shifted, as she dipped her head to look at the floor. “I should have told you-” she started.

“No,” he cut her off. “It’s actually… better that you didn’t. Some things are better not knowing.”

“Oh.” There was a pause for a second. “Okay. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Stepping out of the door and allowing it to close, Red looked up from her boots and sighed as the doors sealed her father away for the night with little more than a hiss. Who knew if she’d even see him tomorrow? And he’d found out after all, about what she did and who she’d brought, but he wasn’t in the mood to discuss it. Perhaps he thought it was better, to clam up and hide away… well it wasn’t, not for her.

She turned away and returned along the outer spiral to the entrance room, where the others were assembled. They were in the midst of a conversation when they entered, and considering the minifigures involved, Red could already figure out how it was going. Because she knew these people, and a long time ago she’d asked the same questions.

“You’re *twenty* *years old*?” Intrepid asked, sounding most perplexed. The black haired fifteen year old stood at the same height and eye level as both the lean, youthful looking brown haired boy and the brown haired girl who stood across the table from him.

“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” the girl responded with an eye roll. But she smiled at the question, being a person who enjoyed messing with the ignorant.

“And you’re also… older?” Intrepid asked the boy.

“We’re twins,” he responded, “Katie and I.” He was still facing Intrepid, his back towards the doorway through which Red had entered, when he greeted her, like he had eyes on the back of his head. Or pressure sensors. “Hi, Red.” Jay said.

“But you two don’t look older than, I’m going to guess, thirteen?” Intrepid continued, still flabbergasted.

Strange Odd Shadow, who sat in a newly added armchair, quipped, “Age and appearance are more independent than you’d think.”

“We were thirteen, actually, when this happened.” Jay said. “Someone got a rogue process into our systems, which rewrote the process in charge of our outward appearance, and no one bothered to fix it.”

“Besides, looking like kids has lots of advantages.” Katie jumped in. “Like, no one ever suspects us of anything, and it’s more consistent with our inner personalities. We’re still kids at heart.”

“*You* are.” Jay corrected.

Katie gave him a friendly shoulder punch. “Lighten up, bro. Channel your inner child.”

“No.”

The door to the armory slid open and Skilled Honored Ninja stepped out, decked out in his Rank 3 Space Ranger Gear. “I’m suited up and ready to rock ‘n roll,” he reported, “while you- eight? There are eight of you here now? – have been what? Dancing a waltz? You couldn’t prepare any slower.”

“If anything you’re over-prepared,” Shadow said. “We’re not planning to fight a war.”

“You can never be too prepared. And if there is a war, I intend to win it.” Skilled declared, fixing Shadow with a staunch gaze that prompted the Engineer to stand up.

“You don’t know me, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you might not realize,” Shadow stated, “but I’m always combat ready.”

“Me too.” the Ninja Space Ranger said. “I carry a Broom-Mop-Sword-Zipgun-and Arrows Combo Katana Staff that was originally an Energy Spork.”

“If you’d cut it out,” Kate interrupted, “we could move out now.” Strange Odd Shadow and Skilled Honored Ninja interrupted their staring contest to glance her way. She, Allison Ryder, and Ben Mercury stood at the door out, and Intrepid, Jay, Katie, and Red were headed that way as well.

“This isn’t over.” Shadow whispered.

“It isn’t.” Skilled agreed.

So the two went to join the others, and they all exited into the snowy night. A light flurry had set over Nimbus Station in the past hour, and tiny snowflakes whizzed by, most visible in the glow of the streetlamps immediately outside the alleyway. Red hunched inside her cloak and walked in front, leading the procession of ten towards the street.

Intrepid turned his head to count those around him again. Ben and Allison were at the back. He slowed down, letting Jay and Katie walk past, so he could say something discreetly to the two Leek Works employees. “Are you sure you want to be involved?” he asked them again. “This is risky business. Your imagination sparks aren’t even unlocked, I doubt, so if you smash…”

“My dad can take care of himself.” Ben said stoically.

“He sure can.” Allison repeated. “And you need our help. You need Ben’s expertise to work the Ring, and as for me, I'm just looking for a change in environment. This place is stuffy and I think I’ve caught a cold.” She made a face at herself. "Sorry, I suppose what I mean is, I can also help you find your family."

“Okay.” Intrepid nodded. “You’re in.”

Meanwhile, Jay caught up to Red. “I can’t help but think,” he posed, “but Overbuild told us we were here to defend the base from Maelstrom attack. I don’t think he mentioned any transdimensional expeditions.”

“Yeah, he didn’t.” Katie said. “Does Intr- *your father*, know what we’re doing?”

Red gave them each an over the shoulder glance, as they neared the end of the alleyway. She could hear a car engine idling around the corner, and in the time it took for them to reach it, she decided on her answer. It was hard to phrase in her head, but recalling her father’s words did make it easier to say. So she told them.

“He doesn’t know what we’re doing.” Red said at last. “But trust me, some things are better not knowing.”

…

The car was once an ancient black luxury sedan, but sometime in its 50 year life it'd been graced with a 10 feet stretch. Now with seats for 10 passengers and a driver, it sat parked in front of Leek Work’s façade, with the engine running, clouds billowing from the exhaust, and interior lights on. Held down to the car’s roof with nylon straps, ropes, and other tie-down equipment was the Ring in its ten-feet-diameter glory. The car was already huge, but the Ring stuck out over its sides.

As the group made their way to the car’s doors, Intrepid couldn’t help but stare at the Ring’s precarious perch. Until someone hacked the personal transdimensional devices, it was their only way back home. The Ring’s construction impeded backpack transportation, so Intrepid hoped the driver knew what he was doing as he walked along the car’s length to its front passenger seat. He gripped the door’s chrome handle, almost freezing his fingers trying to open it, and only after he slid into its leather front seat was he able to identify the driver.

“At your service, favorite nephew!” Tiberius said.

### Intermission: 02030-NIMCITY 1

Opening File: 02030-NIMCITY

Bad Filesystem, Proceed? ( Y for yes / N for no )

Y

Nimbus City, Nimbus Station

-Summary

Nimbus City, also called the City of Nimbus, is a 305 square mile city first built for the Nimbus Republic's civilization reconstruction (CIVRC) project, and was the most populous metropolitan area in the system between 3026 and 3038. Built over Nimbus Station's western sea, across the superbridge from the Race Place, the city's sea location was made possible by creating an artificial rock island for it to be built upon, with materials mined from the Darneu around Forbidden Valley. The city's plan and unique base construction method was envisioned by former-Assembly craftswoman Dedria Signer, a mindstorm for which you can be assured she has received many awards.

-History

--Timeline

February 1st, 3026: The Nexus Force declares victory over the Maelstrom.

February 15th, 3026: Nimbus Republic formed, Civilization Reconstruction Project announced.

May 25, 3026: Ministry of Construction members Bruno Underbite, Dedria Signer, and Sandy Studs announce Project Stratospheron for a floating city above Nimbus Station.

June 1st, 3026: Project Stratospheron is rejected.

June 2nd, 3026: Dedria Signer proposes the ministry's backup plan, Project Atlantis, and it is approved.

June 9th, 3026: Mining of the Darneu is approved and following allocation of funds commences.

June 14th, 3026: Sufficient Darneu-sourced rock is placed in Nimbus Station's western sea. With the foundation laid surface construction commences.

October 26th, 3028: Consctruction of Nimbus City proper is completed; construction of Nimbus Suburbs commenced.

November 25th, 3028: Construction of Nimbus Grove suburbs completed.

--FILESYSTEM DAMAGED, SKIP DAMAGED SECTORS?--

Y

July 21st, 3034: Transdimensional attack on Nimbus Republic

16:37 / 8:37 PM - Maelstrom infantry commence attack via transdimensional rift.

### Intermission: 02030-NIMCITY 2

July 21st, 3034

What had started as a celebratory evening very quickly erupted into chaos.

First a low rumbling began to murmur from the heavens. But what might have been thunder, quickly became apparent as something else, something *not* to be irrationally feared. Rather, something to be legitimately afraid of.

The pictures on the apartment walls began to rattle. They fell clanging, the tile floor creaked and shook, and every glass window, the small ones in the bedrooms and the large bay window, shattered.

There was a loud bang and all the lights turned off, casting the white walls and everything in between them into darkness.

Someone struck a match and its little flame shone brightly in the darkness. Somehow it withstood the quaking, burning only a gradual amount before the trembling ceased, and there was silence except for its little fizzling. The flame was like a beacon, in many ways.

 The flame had been meant to light the candle on the cake, on the dinner table, now forgotten in the darkness. Around the table, the minifigures present all stood up. In the flame's glow they saw each others faces. The most illuminated face was that of a woman, the one who had lit and now held the match in one hand. In her other arm she cradled a baby.

Kate stared at all those around. She was about to open her mouth to speak, when other sounds, too low, too far away to be heard under any sound except that of the current silence, made their way in from outside.

There was a distant shout.

A distant snarl.

The piercing ting of distant gunfire.

A piercing wail filled the room, and Kate tensed, reacting immediately to hush the child in her arms. "Shhhh," she hissed, but the child did not quiet. Shadows danced across the walls as the match in her hand shook, and around her people began to move.

"I'm going outside." a man's voice announced.

"Looking to get smashed, Ray?" another male voice quipped.

"I don't think it's safe," a woman protested.

The match was nearly down to Kate's fingertips when an alternate form of illumination finally lit up, a phone screen. Blowing out the match, Kate looked at the face illuminated directly by the phone, that of a third man. In the noise and disorder she didn't recognize him at first, since lately she was used to seeing him with facial hair, since he was trying to grow a beard, but that morning he'd shaven for the occasion. Her husband's face looked grim now.

"The network is down." Intrepid reported. "The public network, our private channels too." He held the phone up to his ear, and then blanched. "And there's a heck of a lotta interference on the transdimensional channels. I can't reach the base."

"We've got to do something." the first voice, Ray's, spoke again. "I'm not staying in the dark." Another phone screen lit up, held by Ray, and he began to move to the apartment's door.

"I think we should wait," the woman said quietly.

Kate heard her. "I agree! We're all in the dark here and we need to figure this out together Someone needs to take charge."

Intrepid looked up. "Okay." he said. "I guess I can-"

"By someone I meant me." Kate said, and she turned her attention back to Ray and the woman. "Mara," she addressed her, "you're in no condition for a fight."

Mara's face was pale in the glow of the smartphones. "We're fighting?" she breathed.

"It's a possibility." Intrepid said.

"We are." Kate said for certain.

"How do you know?" the last voice, that of the second man, Luke Mercury, asked.

With her free hand, Kate tapped the side of her head. "I was a Stromling once. I know Maelstrom when I feel it." She pressed her lips together in thought. "Mara," she addressed again, "hold Red." Gingerly, the other woman took the exactly one year old girl, who was finally beginning to quiet down. With her arms free, Kate could fight.

"Now Ray," Kate continued, "you want to check things out?"

"Definitely." the dark haired man said, nodding determinedly and flexing his arms.

"Good luck punching the Maelstrom," Luke deadpanned from the other side of the apartment. In the dark he'd moved over to a side table, locked with a passcode and key, both of which the Leek Works agent had. From its drawer he removed a set of weapons, and he tossed an Elite Drill of Lasers across the room for Ray to catch with both hands.

"Leave it for the Maelstrom to come back when I'm the least able to fight them." Mara muttered, shifting her weight and resting her face on Red's fuzzy head. The baby started to sniffle. Technically Mara now carried two children: Kate's, and hers and Ray's.

Luke and Intrepid had silently gotten flashlights, cash and coins, insurance cards, car keys, and backpacks of old gear from around the apartment. After handing Kate her backpack, the five adults all put on their shoes and exited Intrepid and Kate's apartment. Flashlights and smartphones lead the way for the two couples and Luke, as they made their way out, down the stairs, to the building's lobby.

As they neared the door, the sounds from outside became louder and more discernably worse. Intrepid, who stood at the front, at half the room's length away from the door motioned for them to stop. He crouched down and began to open his backpack.

Kate conjured a picture in her mind of the backpack's contents, organized in the same way they were eight years ago, when she'd put her Nexus Force gear away presumably for good. With her mind's eye she found her set of white Rank 3 Sentinel Samurai gear. She pictured them adorning her frame, and it took only that thought for the gear to fly out of her backpack and equip itself on her. They fit snugly, properly, and despite herself having grown some in the past eight years, they easily and effortlessly conformed to her new dimensions.

With her Samurai helmet came a heightened sense of sensual awareness, aided by Imagination. There was a mechanical clock on the pale blue lobby wall, above the gray chairs, and its fingers pointed to 8 hours, 38 minutes, and 50 seconds post meridiem.

Elsewhere in the lobby, Intrepid had donned his old Bat Lord suit, while Luke now wore some modified Sentinel Knight gear. Ray wasn't much of a Nexus Forcer but he carried his laser gun with purpose. He stood in front of Mara protectively.

Now Kate focused on the world outside the door. She, Intrepid, and Luke all had the same vision. They all detected Maelstrom outside, doing Maelstrom things against the helpless Nimbus City populace. Tormenting, damaging, infecting.

And Kate, Intrepid, and Luke all had the same thought.

They had defeated the Maelstrom one.

They would defeat the Maelstrom again.

…

16:39 / 8:39 PM - Defensive force working from local secret base (see File: Leek Works) responds to the immediate threat.

16:40 / 8:40 PM - Leek Works engages the Maelstrom.

…

Eight years of peace (since the Maelstrom War's end in 3026) categorized the city's formative years and the state of its current existence, at least until today. Nimbus City held people from all walks of life, and all sorts of backgrounds, both Nexus Force veterans and immigrants from other planets and worlds who had never had to carry a sword into combat against forces of any darkness.

The newcomers brought friends and families.

That being said, the majority of Nimbus City was wholly unprepared for an attack. It didn't help that the Nimbus Republic had disbanded its military and ceased funding of any offensive, or defensive projects long ago.

But that's why Leek Works existed. Leek Works had persevered in the past eight years.

Kate didn't want to think thoughts of, *I told you so*, or *Look what happens when you don't listen to our warnings!* Since those thoughts could be seen as trivializing the real misfortune that was befalling the innocents around her now.

Brandishing her katana, Kate charged for the Stromling nearest to her position. It was an advanced type, with hammers for arms and obsidian armor for its head and chest. A flying kick later, the Stromling was on the ground. A katana strike later, the Stromling was smashed.

Rising, Kate detected that the most nearby Stromlings had turned their attention to her: a minifigure who could actually fight back or impede their operation. They turned away from their previous targets and began to advance. At least she could fight, and the other civilians who were not yet infected, and there were many of them, wisely took the chance to run.

Kate was about to duel the nearest Stromling, a Pirate, when a car came careening around a street corner, straight towards her. Three Chainsaw Stromlings had embedded their weapon arms into its black roof, and she could see the blades swinging and swaying in the monsters' attempts to reach the driver. But the Stromlings only succeeded in cutting longer strips in the vehicle's metal, and sliding farther to its rear. Nevertheless Kate loaded her bow and launched three arrows, before diving out of the vehicle's way.

The car plowed through the Stromling Pirate she would otherwise have battled, smashing it, and her arrows smashed each of the Chainsawlings.

"You're welcome!" she shouted after the vehicle's receding taillights, and then she ducked to avoid the swing of a Mech's arm, from a Stromling Mech that had approached her from behind. With an upwards swing she removed the robot of its arm, and a followup strike turned the rest of it to a state of bricks.

Kate, Intrepid, and Luke had fanned out, and in a minute their efforts had effectively cleared the streets of Maelstrom forces. There had been other signs and sounds of combat in the immediate area, but those had died down.

That meant there were other fighters around. Kate raised an arm to signal the others, and then she darted to the nearest street corner. Around the corner store, in the middle of the next street, she recognized the characteristic Sentinel gear of two fellow Nexus Force veterans. Even more, she recognized their faces. She waved.

"Is that all of them?" a man she recognized as Suave Able Cat asked. The former Sentinel looked as well equipped as ever. Somehow the 'Super Sentinel' still managed to equip a bit of each Sentinel kit into his attire. He blew steam off a Space Ranger Zipgun he carried in his right hand, in his left he had a Samurai Bow like Kate's own, and on his back he wore his old Powerjouster *and* a new Energy Spork.

At his side walked another familiar figure, that of a man called Master Blade Nine, armored up like any good Sentinel Knight. "If there are other reports of Maelstrom in the city," Blade started, "I haven't heard them."

"We would have no way of knowing," Intrepid Fusion Eclipse said, walking up behind Kate and looking around. Kate followed his gaze. The only Maelstrom damage they could see was restricted to these two streets, at this street corner on the city's edge, overlooking Vertigo Bay that seperated Nimbus City from the rest of Nimbus Station.

*Was it coincidence*, Kate thought, that this same street corner, the one the Maelstrom targeted, was the one that housed their apartment building? Or as a parent was she being too paranoid?

"Look up." Luke said. Kate, Intrepid, Suave, and Blade looked at him for a second, and saw that he was pointing upwards. Then they stared at the sky. A dark blanket of purple clouds seemed to carpet the air directly above them, hiding the actual sky and smothering out the stars.

"This can't be good." Intrepid muttered.

Arcs of lightning flashed soundlessly between the clouds' folds, and then something began to change. The storm's center began to swirl like a whirlwind, forming a dark hole in its center. Then a lightning bolt arced right down from its center, traveling barely slow enough for them to see, and with a mighty crash it struck down not fifty feet away from the five of them. The force of the blast cracked the road, shattered whatever glass still remained unbroken, and loose objects fell from wherever they were knocked loose, and all five of the minifigures were knocked off their feet and sent flying away from the blast.

When Kate's ears stopped ringing and she had enough bearing to stand, she saw what had formed at the point of the lightning strike. A vortex that was both dark and light, black and white, purple and pink greeted them. Flashes and shadows emanated forth in a familiar pattern. Kate recognized it, and Intrepid recognized it too. "Darn." the man muttered. "So they did rebuild it."

It was the pattern of a certain transdimensional ring appliance, just infused, transformed- *infected*. The Maelstrom counterpart from another dimension that was not their own.

Kate sighed. "We destroyed it to prevent this from happening."

"We knew they'd rebuild it soon enough." Intrepid said with aimless obstinacy. "It's not our fault no one did anything about it."

A dark laughter echoed forth from the portal.

"I hoped it wouldn't get worse." Intrepid groaned. "Now he's here." Suddenly he stood up straight. He gave Kate a glance, and she stared back, a silent communication being sent between them. Fear. Understanding. Approval.

Kate shifted the weight of her weapons, found the optimal balance on her feet, and steeled herself.

If the Darkitect was here personally, they would need to fight back with everything they got.

She would need to.

Kate closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She'd only done minimal training in these abilities with Cyclone, before... before an event she'd rather not think about. But before then, they'd shared a training room, and developed some skill. It was difficult training in an art with no one to guide them but themselves, but they'd trail blazed it themselves. It was difficult but rewarding.

She found the core of Imagination spark, nestled somewhere next to her heart. She sensed the imagination within her being harnessed, and felt it being pulled forth with each heartbeat, being sent through each of her arteries outwards. She felt the goosebumps on her arms, the hairs on her neck and each strand of hair on her head rising, her nerves prickled as her supply of raw imagination surged, threatening to breach her skin. But she could control it.

Intrepid watched her in awe, his face lit up - his clothes as well, and the environment around them all, as Kate literally glowed with energy - her imagination potential emanated out from her. It radiated from her fingertips.

The darkness laughed again.

A shadow began to stretch forth from the portal. A hundred times the height of any minifigure in length, it snaked across the tarmac ground towards them. The portal widened, to accommodate the appearance of a towering silhouette. Two large squared boots tapped on the ground. A massive cape swished and swirled in the rush of air that howled from the vortex. Atop its head stood a comparatively tall top hat, shiny black, brimmed article of authority, of supremacy.

Of barony.

Dark creatures skittered around their master's feet, up and down his cloak.

A ghastly smile spread across the dark master's face. Red eyes appeared under the brim of his top hat. An arm extended forth from his figure, a hand opened, in it a glowing orb, a shimmering violet in color, pulsating and hovering above his palm.

With an upwards thrust, the orb was launched upwards into the sky like a rocket.

Like a missile.

It exploded in a searing white flash, accompanied by an instant of searing heat.

No one could see. Kate couldn’t see or hear. Her ears rang. Despite her blindness Kate lashed out, and somewhere in the whiteness she heard a howl as her strike hit some fowl creature. She felt a rush of air, and a shout from one of her teammates.

Her name?

A warning?

She felt the heat of her own power rising within her, around her. With her mind's eye she sensed the dark creatures closing in, and she swung her arms to dispel another imagination blast. Thunder clapped, she'd emitted lightning, she felt the blaze of its heat on the inside of her arms, and the creatures turned to dust.

There was another rush, this time headed straight towards her. She felt the air bouncing off her from its approach like an approaching train, and she pushed back.

Something sailed over her head. It landed behind her.

Then she felt a knife in her back.

Her ears rang with a different intensity. She stopped feeling the power rushing through her arms. She stopped feeling her legs, or feeling entirely. She stopped seeing information, only white noise.

Kate blinked, or tried to blink, but her sight remained unchanging. She wanted to shake her head, but felt no response from her neck muscles. When at last outlines began to appear in the grayness, and she finally began to see again, it was to the sneering face of a Stromling she never thought she'd see again, standing above her, staring down at where she lay on the ground.

She couldn't murmur his name, *Demonstrait*. She could move her lips, and articulate her tongue, but her breath seemed caught in her mouth.

Demonstrait only smiled.

Kate's eyelids suddenly felt heavy.

She became conscious of the darkness spreading from the edges of her vision - the emptiness ebbing away at her spirit.

The hollow laughter of the Darkitect as he looked on at her demise.

She was smashing.

And she heard the cry of her name being shouted. She saw Demonstrait knocked aside, out of sight, replaced by the face of Intrepid, only caring, only concerned for her. His mouth moved silently as her hearing was lost as well.

It was too late for Intrepid to help her.

But it wasn't too late for Kate to help him.

Perhaps her brain's last call of action, to push her arm upwards, successfully pushed Intrepid out of the way from what was about to come next. But it was only Imagination and it wouldn't hurt him or any of her friends so long as they weren't infected.

But it would hurt the Maelstrom.

With Kate's last breath came an explosion of pure imagination. Any Maelstrom within the blast radius of her detonating imagination spark was vaporized in an instant.

### Intermission: 02030-NIMCITY 3

July 21st, 3026

16:39 / 8:39 PM - Defensive force working from local secret base (see File: Leek Works) responds to the immediate threat.

16:45 / 8:45 PM - First Maelstrom wave defeated.

16:50 / 8:50 PM - A second Maelstrom Vortex is opened for Maelstrom reinforcements, including the First Darkitect. A Maelstrom orb bomb is detonated above Nimbus City, immediately infecting a hundred square miles of the island's eastern seaboard.

16:51 / 8:51 PM – An imagination explosion from an unknown source destabilizes the Maelstrom’s Transdimensional Vortex, forcing the Maelstrom to retreat.

16:52 / 8:52 PM - Leek Works casualties are confirmed.

--FILESYSTEM DAMAGED, SKIP DAMAGED SECTORS?--

N

File terminated.

### Nineteen Continued

Sufficiently spooked, Intrepid repositioned himself to the rear of the car, where everyone else sat. Red liked Tiberius, she could have the front seat. She was already in the back though, in the middle seat of the middle row, effectively in a position for taking charge. Intrepid took a vacant leather seat and buckled in next to Kate, between her and Shadow, while Red began outlining their plan.

"We're going to Nimbus City." she said, looking at two people, namely Intrepid and Kate, directly. "Fair warning though, it won't look like you remember it."

"Fair enough. Nothing looks like we remember it." Intrepid said.

"Man, the city looks great!" Skilled Honored Ninja deadpanned. "It's never looked better!"

"What do you mean?" Intrepid asked.

"I'm kidding pal," Skill said morosely. "The city got nuked. It looks like garbage."

Intrepid's and Kate's eyes widened. "No way." she whispered.

"What's Nimbus City?" Strange Odd Shadow asked.

"It's a great city." Intrepid told him.

"The best there is." Kate echoed. "I can't believe...."

"Here," Red handed him a datapad from somewhere in her cloak. "We have a file on it."

Shadow took it, and information lit up on the screen. "It says the File System is Damaged." he reported.

"Oh." Red blanched. "Just type Y and proceed." While Shadow read Red's reading material, she removed another datapad and continued to tell the other two Other Dimensioners, "I've outlined our two primary objectives going forwards. First," she pointed two fingers at Intrepid and Kate, "you two and Shadow need to get back to your dimensions. Second, we'll find Cyclone."

"I'm glad you remembered him." Kate said, her face lighting up. "Are we splitting into teams?"

"What do you mean?" Red asked.

"Well, Intrepid and I are doing detective work on his missing family," Kate explained, "but we've also got to rescue Cyclone." She suddenly gave Intrepid a sorry glance. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Oh no," he said hurriedly, "no, it's okay. My family isn't going anywhere, and we've got to stick together regardless." He tried to give her a smile that was reassuring, for her sake and also for himself. "I'll help with finding Cyclone. My family would want me to."

To his relief, Kate smiled back. "Thanks, Intrepid."

The interior lights darkened as the last car doors shut, as Ben and Allison climbed into the backmost seats. "Comfy car," Allison said.

With some clangs, rattles, and shudders, the ancient car proceeded to drive.

In the darkness, except for the glow from Shadow's Nimbus City datapad, Intrepid couldn't help but wonder. A lot of crazy things had happened. Crazy things were still happening. He wasn't betraying his family by putting them aside now, was he? It bothered him like a poke in the shoulder. They'd want him to help a friend, he was sure. If anything, the betrayal had occured long ago, after he ran off to the Nexus Force and never returned. Not a message, not birthday cards, no correspondence of any sort, and not even himself. Then Alex showed up at the Launch Area. It knawed on him deeper.

*Can I betray them any worse?* Intrepid grimaced and moved a hand to rub his aching shoulder. He brushed against someone's finger.

There was someone nudging him in the shoulder.

It was Kate. She was whispering something, and Intrepid leaned closer. "Sorry, I didn't hear." he hissed quietly.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to talk about your family." Kate repeated in a low tone, since now they were whispering for some reason.

"Again, it's okay," Intrepid whispered back. "Cyclone's a higher priority right now, I understand-"

Kate snorted. "No stupid, you don't." She smiled to indicate she didn't mean it meanly.

Intrepid blinked. "What was the question again?"

"You're family sounds like cool people." Kate rehashed. "Tell me what they're like?"

Intrepid scrunched up his brow. "Well," he started, "you know about Tiberius about as much as I do."

Kate snorted again. "Start with someone else."

"Alright." Intrepid started again. "There's my dad, Abe. He was an explorer." Kate raised her eyebrows, interested, so Intrepid continued, "He told me stories about his adventures, and where they went." He couldn't help but grin at a particular memory. "I barely believe it myself; would you believe me if I told you he found Crux?"

Kate smiled. "Before the Faction Leaders and the Baron?"

"Gotta be." Intrepid chuckled.

"I thought you said your home planet was technologically challenged." Kate challenged.

"I never said Abe was from Elistra." Intrepid reminded, still smirking.

Kate held up her hands. "Before we follow that tangent," she said, her eyes glinting, "Tell me about the others. You had a mom, obviously. What was she like?"

"She was an explorer too." Intrepid told her. "Hazel Tanwaed. She met my dad when they were exploring. Two kids in a spaceship, my dad told me that. That story had something to do with faces. They later found each other again as adults and got married."

"Sounds like a love at first sight thing." Kate whistled. "Pretty romantic."

Intrepid shrugged. "Guess so. Then there's my brother Alex, you've seen him. So next is Evelyne..."

They were approaching a checkpoint, and Intrepid went silent, since he couldn't help but notice an uncanny similarity to Elistra. A concrete retaining wall, and behind of that a larger armored wall, rose up from the street, artificially attached to the road surface with visible clutch power nodes that ran along its length.

Intrepid looked around. What was being held off? Hidden? Protected? Contained? The city around them, that they'd driven through meanwhile, did look great like Skilled Honored Ninja said. There were other cars and people on the sidewalks, bright neon cafes populated even in the night, and towering apartment complexes with clean, maintained appearances. The city looked normal, futuristic even. But what was kept behind the wall? It wasn't very tall, but he couldn't see much over it...

"What's in there?" he asked Red as they pulled up to a gate. Tiberius lowered a window for a pair of Nimbus Republic guards, and he held out some sort of badge. It worked, since gates opened in both walls, and then they were through.

Inside these walls, the city took on an ashen look. Intrepid quickly figured out why he couldn't see anything over the wall.

There was nothing to see over the wall.

Apartment buildings lay crumbled at the roadside.

Intrepid and Kate had both been in their version of Nimbus City only a day ago. Here was a residential area, a place familiar to them, lying in ruin.

They were supposed to be strong buildings. They were designed to be built up indefinitely, as the population needed, thanks to new, innovative construction methods. These buildings could withstand any weight, any force pushing them down.

All but one building lay in bombed out piles of rubble. Only one building's frame stood tall, skeletal, stripped bare from the explosion that took out everything else.

The bomb that had exploded had dropped right on top of that single standing apartment building. It was a type of building that could withstand any downward force, but not a sideward force, so the explosion knocked down everything else. This carnage was their city. This was where they lived.

Red said solemnly, "This is where the Maelstrom targeted Nimbus City."

A horrible thought crossed Intrepid's mind. The single standing apartment building, he recognized its approximate height, its position against the seaboard. That building was where they lived. Intrepid felt uneasy. The horrible thought stirred.

This wasn't just where the Maelstrom targeted Nimbus City.

This is where the Maelstrom targeted us, he thought.

"This is where the Maelstrom targeted *us*." Kate said.

## Twenty

Old Nimbus City

Future Dimension

Sometime late at night

The job of lugging The Ring twenty flights up rickety apartment stairs was given to Jay and Katie. Jay didn’t complain, not outwardly, since he wasn’t a complainer, but guess who was a complainer, so despite possessing qualities of superfigure dexterity and strength, many gripes and grumbles were to be heard by the decuplet of transdimensional travelers and Leek Works interns the entire twenty flights to the top floor.

“This is discrimination.” Katie protested on the fifteenth floor.

Without missing a step from his side of The Ring, Jay facepalmed. “Katie, you're being annoying. Please stop.”

“Hey, my brother speaks." his sister crowed. "Don’t you wish we weren’t being abused for our abilities?”

“I wish Intrepid was here,” Jay muttered. “He’d turn off your voice box.”

Katie gawked in mock abashment and at the sound of his name Intrepid must have snapped out of some meditative state, since he'd been quiet the entire way up. “I’m here.”

“Not you.” Jay told him.

“The other you.” Katie corrected. “And I’d never let him do it.”

On the sixteenth landing, Intrepid paused to catch his breath. The air was thin this high up, and not to mention chilled at both this time of winter and this time of night. Jay and Katie were already halfway past the sixteenth floor. They were the fastest up despite about a hundred-fifty pounds of Nexus Force tech on their shoulders. The others sort of made their way up in a disjointed line, also at various stages of tired, except Tiberius who stayed with his car. The building had an elevator, but of course it didn’t work, or at least no one tried it. And no one was going to.

At this landing, there was one door that lead Intrepid to a makeshift balcony. One wall was blown out, reminding Intrepid of Elistra. The view, however, was no comparison. From up here he could see all of Nimbus City and across the Sea of Sharks to Nimbus Plaza. That mainland didn't look set to change much in twenty years, Intrepid noted.

*So where were we again?* wondered Intrepid. His backpack unslung and he knelt to rummage for his voice recorder. "It is.... 7:10 PM, local time." he recited. "Intrepid's log. I'm in an alternate dimension of Nimbus Station. Tiberius's instructions lead through a spaceborne Maelstrom ambush and a detour through two alternate dimensions of Elistra. Kate is with me. I've met up with Red." *What else?* "We're alive." That was obvious. "We are... we intend to make contact with home."

He put the recorder away. He heard footsteps behind him.

"Hey." he greeted Red. "Here to enjoy the sights too?"

She stood with her arms folded over her chest, looking past him. "I didn't think you were into sightseeing."

"Same to you." Intrepid turned back towards the city, but tilted his face to the ground. He kicked a piece of rubble out the opening.

"I just feel we should catch up." Red said.

Intrepid looked up. "I'm surprised you would say that. There is definitely not a lot we know about each other."

"No, there isn't. How's your brother?"

"Alex is good, last I heard from him." Intrepid answered. "I was following a lead, and trying to find my family." he told her, looking back to the floor. "Somehow, I ran into you. And now Kate and I are here.

"I have to ask you," Intrepid segued, "do you think our dimensions were the same, before we met each other? Do you think the same things that happened here, in your dimension, will happen to mine?"

"I've charted a lot of dimensions," Red replied, "and there have always been slight historical differences. There's no reason to think your future will follow my past precisely, *especially* now that we've met."

"I just wonder about my future." Intrepid explained, still inspecting the floor. "I just can't see myself in the future with Kate the way you implied. Relationships, with anyone, aren't something I'm very familiar with. I'm kind of fifteen right now. Also, if you don't mind my asking, she dies?"

Intrepid looked up to face Red, who stood next to him now. "She's dead here." he repeated. "Kate. Your mom."

Red sighed. "She is. It happened a long time ago. I never knew her."

Intrepid blinked. "How did this affect your dad?"

"I wouldn't know," Red told him. "I have nothing to remember him from before, but as far as I do remember we never bonded. He was always off on assignments for the Republic, so he was never around for me, but I had others, my dad's friends. Luke Mercury and Charles Bradfordson."

"I know Luke." Intrepid said with a nod. "Who's Charles Bradfordson?"

Red stuffed her hands in her pockets. "You know him better by his Nexus Force callsign, Gallant Strong Cyclone."

"Yes, I do." Intrepid agreed, imitating the gesture. "I'm... sorry, if my counterpart here... hasn't been there for you."

"Don't be sorry for him, you're different people." Red told him. "At least I know you, for what it's worth."

Intrepid nodded. "Will Kate die in my dimension too?"

"There's reason to think not," Red clarified. "My mom was smashed in an attack from the Maelstrom dimension, the same one that tried to take over your dimension's Avant City."

"Avant Gardens."

"Whatever. That's a part of your dimension's history, but it's not in mine. I doubt, twenty years from now, they'd repeat what they already did and attack your Nimbus City. No, if anything they'd attack sooner."

"Attack who, do you think?" Intrepid asked her.

"Maybe some other dimension?" Red suggested with a shrug. "Well, it's no longer Leek Work's responsibility right now.

"I will tell you though," Red shifted slightly closer, and spoke softer, "we're not the only body that's operating transdimensionally."

"Oh?"

"After Leek Works was conscripted by the Nexus Gov, we had some deserters. Luke Mercury," Red named, "and Callista Crateris. His wife. They have two kids, you know by now. Well, Luke left."

"For shame." Intrepid lamented. "Luke is probably my best friend. Although Cyclone, or Charles, was never in my Leek Works."

"Maybe not yet." Red said with another shrug. "Mara Handerson stayed, though. She's married to my dad."

"That's another name I don't know." Intrepid told her.

"Mara?" Red shot him an odd glance. "You know her. Auburn hair. Five foot seven." Intrepid shook his head. "She's Luke's cousin."

"Oh, Mara Mercury." An image of his brave fourteen year old, and fairly short, teammate dawned on him, and Intrepid did a mental faceaplm. Putting two and two together should have been easier. Then he looked up, confused. "Who's Handerson?"

"Ray Handerson?"

Intrepid aimed a finger into the skyline. "I one-hundred percent do not know, in the life of me, a Ray Handerson."

"Well, he's on Leek Work's memorial board. Ray Handerson is a dead man."

Intrepid shivered, and stuffed his hands back in his pockets. "Sorry. I didn't know."

Red put her hands in her pockets too. "He died at the same time as my mom. I didn't know him either."

"Think we'll meet him? His counterpart in my dimension?" Intrepid suggested.

"We?" Red repeated. She shook her head. "You might, maybe."

Intrepid considered the moment. "Suppose you'd want to come back with us?"

Red turned away, and at the same time a gust of wind blew the hood of her jacket to obscure the rest of her head from Intrepid, so he couldn't see the expression on her face. "I have enough unfinished business here. Leek Works will get back on its feet and I'll be maneuvering across the multiverse soon enough."

Then she turned to him, pushed her hood out of the way, and gave Intrepid what he thought was a genuine smile. "I do appreciate the sentiment, though. We're good friends, you and I." Then she walked back to the corridor.

Intrepid felt his conversation with Red was over, but there was one last thing his mind begged him to ask. It concerned her identity. The second time they had met, he'd given her the name Red. Now he wondered, if through some cosmic logic, it made sense that since he named her, and in the future dimension she was his counterpart's daughter, if Red was her actual name.

Even though Red had turned to leave, Intrepid almost wanted to ask her the odd question. Everything about Red, how he knew her, and how he should consider her, was shrouded in uncertainty. Now he knew enough truth about her, but he still wanted to learn more about her. They seemed to care about each other enough.

How much did their life really matter to each other, Intrepid wondered? How much should Red matter to him, he questioned? She was like a friend, but barely so. She was like family, but she wasn't.

Intrepid's thoughts returned to his blood family. The message he'd received from Tiberius had been quite clear about where he needed to be. But that could wait, since now he had more pressing matters.

He followed Red up the stairs. Like always, she was as secretive as ever. She would always be.

~-~-~-~-

On the twentieth landing before the solitary door to the last apartment - in the same place as the apartment Intrepid, Luke, Mara, Cyclone, Kate, and Tornado were crashing in back in their dimension - Intrepid bumped into Kate.

"There you two are," Kate greeted him and Red. She stood at the top of the landing, before the hatchway to the roof, looking down at them where they stood. She had a look in her eyes that seemed to be scrutinizing them. "So what's the deal with you two?"

"I’m sorry?" Intrepid answered.

"What do you mean?" Red asked.

"I can sense there's something between you two." Kate said from the overlook. She squinted at them in the darkness. "There's something, almost, similar? Familiar? Dare I say, familial in the way you both are staring back at me right now."

Intrepid glanced at Red, and then he saw what Kate saw. Intrepid had looked in a mirror enough times to identify his face, or at least his own contemplative expression, in Red as she stared up at Kate. And Intrepid knew he wore the same expression.

"You two are definitely related, because you have the same face." Kate concluded, bouncing back from the railing and smiling triumphantly. "I can't believe you didn't tell me before, Intrepid. What are you, brother and sister?"

"No." Red answered.

"Something like that." Intrepid said.

"Cousins? I know you have cousins, or a cousin, Intrepid." Kate prodded. "You're cousins, I'm sure of it."

"In a cosmic sense." Intrepid entertained her. "Yeah, you'd have to label us cosmic cousins."

"We have to meet someone." Red said suddenly.

"What?" Intrepid turned back to her. "We're meeting someone? Who are we meeting?"

Red meandered her way around fallen rubble to the apartment door. "Remember I told you about the Leek Works deserters?" Intrepid nodded. "We're meeting Charles Bradfordson."

Kate bounced back to the railing. "We're meeting Cyclone?!" she yelped.

"A version of him." Red said. She opened the metal apartment door, and immediately a gust of wind blew into the corridor from the other side. Kate vaulted down the stairs, while Intrepid figured out in his head that one Cyclone or another must have told Kate his name some time or another, and he too followed Red into the "apartment."

Apartment was a sorry word to call this space that they entered. There were no outer walls, and barely any beams supporting the roof over their heads. Nimbus City's skyline filled the distance like a mural draped over the apartment's edges.

Jay, Katie, Ben, and Ryder were inspecting the Ring in what was the apartment's bedroom, now no longer a separate room since only beams separated it from the open space that was the living room. Strange Odd Shadow and Skilled Honored Ninja were off in a near corner, seated around a table and playing cards. Standing beyond them in the far corner, staring towards the skyline in the same direction as Intrepid, Kate, and Red, but with his back to the newcomers, was a man dressed in undeniably gear based on that of a Paradox Space Maruader.

A spiked Nexus Force helmet sat not between his broad shoulder guards, but in a perch between his left arm and torso. Where the Gallant Strong Cyclone tha Intrepid and Kate knew had his wavy brown hair, this man wore a dark balaclava that obscured his head. And when he turned around to face them, apart from his faction heritage, the only feature this man shared, and barely so, with Gallant Strong Cyclone was their face. Blue eyes, slender nose, subdued cheekbones and rounded jaw. However in the last twenty years of this older Cyclone's life, he'd picked up enough scars to rival a scratched record. Each scar, no doubt, had a song behind it. The longest scar stretched from the top of his face to under the cloth of his head covering, somewhere on his neck.

So this was Charles Bradfordson, and Intrepid could only wonder what troubles he had gone through. Seeing him looking so worn, hardened by battle and discord, triggered in Intrepid a selfish, self-preserving hope that he wasn't on the other end of any of that hostility, from between Charles and his counterpart to Charles and him. After all, Red had called him a Leek Works deserter....

And Cyclone and Kate had been closer than Intrepid could ever describe how he was trying to become with Kate. But in the future dimension, his counterpart and Kate had gotten married. But that Kate had died, and his counterpart was a reclusive weirdo.

Intrepid gulped. That was just what Intrepid knew about him. But what other dark, dirty secrets did Charles know about the older Intrepid? And what would Charles think about him?

So Intrepid wondered if he should start backing to the door, when Charles Bradfordson began to approach them. The first thing he said, "Hello, Intrepid." was in a tone undescribable as hostile, maybe even friendly, lukewarm at least, and Charles even nodded to him. Awkwardly, Intrepid forced himself to nod back, and allowed himself to relax somewhat. So this grizzled soldier that was old Cyclone wasn't about to smash him. Good.

But then Charles turned his eyes to Kate, and he quickened his pace until he was barely away from the girl.

"Kate." Cyclone said her name. He stood a few inches above her, aided by his boots, so Kate stared up at his face and his parted lips, waiting for him to finish. When he spoke, it was in a voice broken by emotion. "You don't know how good it is to see you again." he said. He looked about ready to hug her.

"I don't know," Kate said softly. "What happened to you, Cyclone?"

The older Cyclone smiled. "I could look better, but I've been too busy fighting in the war we all had thought was over to get some plastic surgery for my visage." he joked. "The Maelstrom dimension is a dangerous place, but someone's got to keep fighting."

Charles blinked, and then backed up from Kate. He turned to the only other friend in their group. "It's good to see you too, Red." he greeted her. "How's your dad?"

"The usual." Red spoke up. Charles nodded with some mutual understanding that made Intrepid uneasy wondering about what trouble his counterpart was in. But he didn't have time to worry about it.

"So I hear I'm wanted to track down a missing person?" Charles asked, raising his arms to tap some buttons on the left wrist of his suit. Intrepid could see it had been outfitted with additional armor, hydraulic assists, rocket boosters, and all sorts of modern, futuristic tech that no doubt assisted with transdimensional maneuvering.

Kate's eyes widened. "Oh, please." she begged. "I wouldn't live with myself if anything happened to the Cyclone who got brought here. He would have been smashed otherwise, but we saved him, but now he's disappeared."

Charles nodded grimly. "I know where he is. I've been monitoring the communications channels in the Maelstrom Dimension, the one where they control practically the entire universe, and they're trying to reach their shadowy tendrils into other dimensions... I'm sure Red's told you about it."

"I have." Red affirmed.

"Do you have your own transdimensional organization?" Intrepid asked.

"I work by myself," Charles chuckled, "but the only other one would be Luke Mercury's, and it's barely more an organization than what I do. Sometimes we collaborate. It's good to have help from time to time, and a safe house to come back to after any particularly bad encounters." He smiled at Red. "Leek Works, and by their name I mean this girl in particular has been most hospitable. It's only right that I pay her back when she asks."

"So you'll rescue Cyclone?" Kate exclaimed.

"I will try." Charles said gravely. "He's in the most secure place in the universe, the center of the Maelstrom Vortex, in the headquarters of the First Darkitect. If my info is up to date, which I'm sure it is, he is set to meet with all the Darkitects very soon, possibly even now."

"Darkitects, plural?" Intrepid repeated.

"An entire universe is a big place," Charles said. "Even a dark master like the Baron needs to appoint powerful lieutenants to oversee his kingdom. I've never dueled underlings like the Four Darkitects before."

Out of the corner of his eye Intrepid saw Ben waving to him from where the boy and the Figdroids were messing with the ring shaped device that was supposed to, at least, open a communications channel with their dimension's Leek Works, and if possible actually get back there.

"What's up?" Intrepid headed over to them.

"Do you know how to activate this thing?" Jay asked.

"You think I'd know?" Intrepid asked back.

"Don't worry," Katie said, "he's just mixing you up with someone else who has the same name and is way more knowledgable about these things."

Intrepid folded his arms, offended. "Did you check the instructions?" he suggested. "Read the manual? Call tech support?" He stepped over to what looked like a blank panel, with a large black outline.

"We have, like, none of those things." Katie said.

Intrepid hovered his hand over the panel and it proceeded to flip around, revealing an array of buttons. "Hmmm." He pointed a finger at a particularly red colored button labeled **Activate**. A light behind it pulsed

"I don't think it's a good idea to press that right now." Jay cautioned.

"Why not?" Intrepid's finger was poised to do just that.

"Something might happen."

"Good." Intrepid said with a nod. "I want something to happen." He pressed the button,

There was a loud, hollow, ear-popping *BOOM* and then a gigantic blue portal appeared within the diameter of the Ring device.

Intrepid reached into his backpack, found a transmitter, and tossed it in. Then he grabbed his I-Brick, aimed it into the portal, and tried pinging the transmitter.

Jay and Katie, who had ran for cover, now watched in interest. "Well?" Katie asked.

"This portal leads to somewhere," Intrepid reported, "but where exactly, I'm trying to figure it out-"

Suddenly a duck fell out of the portal. Intrepid jumped as it flopped around on the floor, quacking and hissing and flapping its three-foot wingspan all over the place. As soon as it righted itself, it began.. ..to speak???

While Intrepid and the Figdroids chased the duck, Charles Bradfordson paid them little more than an uninterested glance, before he continued to speak again with Kate and Red.

"I have the coordinates for the asteroid in the Maelstrom Vortex where your Cyclone is being held." Charles outlined his plan. "Once there I can get in, get him, and get out." He entered another series of commands into his suit's hologram controls projected from his wrist, a diagnostic test over its systems: Transdimensional drive, ready. Stealth generator, ready. Motor-assist system, online. Temperature stabilization, functioning.

"You're going alone?" Kate asked while Charles's suit computer chirped off the list of affirmatives.

"The Maelstrom Dimension is a dangerous environment." Charles excused himself. "It's better if no one comes with me, so I can focus all I have on rescuing your Cyclone - and keeping both of us alive." Kate stared back at him intensely enough that Charles lost his focus for a second. In his vision, everything around her seemed hazy - he blinked to clear it. A persistent beeping was coming from his suit, three beeps a long one, a pause, and repeated. He looked down at the hologram projected from his wrist to see the diagnostics report.

"It's just the perimeter radar system..." Charles read. "It's been on and off since I got jumped last."

Kate cracked her knuckles. "It sounds to me like you could use another pair of eyes."

"It's too dangerous." Charles said quickly. He almost added *for you*. "For anyone, who doesn't know what it's like, what you'd be getting into in the Maelstrom Dimension.

"I'm sorry," he added, and he hoped he looked like he genuinely meant it, "but to be frank, anyone else coming with me would just slow me down keeping them safe."

Kate made a disgruntled grimace, unimpressed. "I can handle surprises." she said, but she knew there was no point. Charles had made his point, she was staying here, and he was set in his decision.

Charles turned around, away from Kate, and began inputting the lost Cyclone's coordinates into his transdimensional drive. As for Kate's last sentence, *"I can handle surprises,"* Charles had a response, but it was a response, he knew, that was best left unsaid.

*I wish you could*. he thought. He realized he was more saddened than joyful by this encounter. The last time he had talked to a woman named Kate, fouteen years ago, they hadn't parted on good terms.

He didn't want that to happen again. Charles put on his helmet.

Then the drive fired, and he was whisked into a space that was emotionless, numb, cold, incomprehensible. Charles felt a tugging in his chest, like a fish hook had latched on to drag him to his destination. His vision, entirely black, began to filter in specks of information, pinhole-amounts at a time. A final, spine-compressing shockwave against his back threw him out into the air, but his suit's gyrotech kept him oriened to impact feetfirst on a flat, rocky surface.

Charles gasped and inhaled the air as much as he could - it was thin and his suit had to compess it for him to breathe. He looked ahead. The ground stretched out flat like marble, smoothed by a thin layer of dust covering it, constantly supplied and flattened by the whirling dust in the air being pushed down by atmospheric pressure. The ground continued up to a large cliff-face with an archway carved into its center.

Charles took a look behind him. There was only a dropoff of several hundred feet down another cliff, into space - into the swirling gases and nebula of the Maelstrom Vortex. But in this dimension, its spinning arms stretched far beyond the outer edge of the Nimbus System, deep into space, and provided a direct connection with other planets and star systems. Rumor had it, some sort of teleportative transportation was possible through the Vortex's arms, which only Maelstrom beings could use. It could transport bodies, but not souls.

Charles didn't have the time to look at it any longer. A beeping in his helmet's earpiece informed him that his target was five miles beyond the archway, far inside a cave network that tunneled deep into the asteroid he stood upon. There was the Cyclone he was rescuing, well in the grasp of a beast called the Maelstrom.

Charles steeled himself. He thought a specific keyphrase, a word with meaning especially to himself, although an informed person could figure its backstory - *KeenCarefreeBrouhaha* - and then an automated lady's voice in his helmet confirmed, "Thought commands enabled."

Charles nodded and crouched down. *Alright,* he concentrated, *enable stealth.* He promptly disappeared from even his own view, and anyone else's. Only through his visor could he see an illuminated outline illustrating the positions of his limbs to him. He took a deep breath. *Charge the Intramural Jumper*.

His suit whirred. "Four jumps available." his automated assistant intoned.

*I'll make them count,* Charles assured them both. His tracker beeped more urgently, his target was being moved. Charles took another deep breath, and then thought, *Jump*.

He was yanked across space, his only trace, his bootprints on the dusty ground, was quickly covered by dust from the air, to become uniform with the ground around it.

Charles was reconstituted inside a small antechamber, looking into a cavernous chamber. The roof of the latter, shrouded in dark shadows, was a hundred feet up. The far wall was even farther away, but through the doorway Charles could see some figures. His visor enhanced the image, and Charles blanched as he recognized the first figure.

Demonstrait.

And next to him,

Me... Charles realized. As a Stromling.

And beyond them, an imposing presence larger than any minifigure. Charles didn't need to think his name. He knew who the Darkitect was.

Composing himself, Charles concentrated on his suit again. *Charge the Intramural Jumper,* he instructed. The suit whirred.

"Three jumps available," the computer informed him, and Charles thought, *Jump*.

With a concussive yank he was teletransported into the chamber, and suddenly he was staring into the face of Duke Exeter.

Luckily his suit muffled his gasp, and the twitching motion that Charles witnessed in the Duke's eyes was not in response to his sudden arrival exactly a foot from the former Sentinel leader, rather it was just the way his eyes moved involuntarily when their nerves coursed with Maelstrom.

While the being who Charles faced right now was recognizable as Duke Exeter, he could no longer be called Duke Exeter. He did not share his mission, his purpose, or even his faction anymore for there was no Sentinel faction in this dimension anymore. Only some parts of the Duke's face were shared between the man this Stromling used to be and the Stromling he was now.

*Not Stromling*, Charles corrected himself. *Fourth Darkitect.*

While the brashest and the bravest, Duke Exeter did not have strong Maelstrom qualities, so he was only the fourth most powerful of the Baron's four servants. Albert Overbuild's inventiveness was more corruptable, as was Hael Storm's fearlessness.

But most powerful of the Four Darkitects was Vanda Darkflame, who in her prior lifetime had delved deeper into Maelstrom than any of the other Faction Leaders dared.

And it was Vanda who detected Charles's presence first.

His suit reacted faster than Charles could have, forcing his knees to bend to their full degree and dropping his upper body, right before Vanda's katanas sliced through the air where his waist had been - they would have cut him like butter. He gasped, and again his suit continued to guide him to safety. It twisted him around and activating his jet boosters, launching him into a flying course straight towards his infected, twenty-two years younger counterpart.

"I got you!" Charles shouted as he wrapped his arms around Cyclone, pulling him down with him into a roll. Cyclone responded just by screaming, since to him he had effectively been tackled and now an unseen force was spinning him along the ground.

Bullets began to ping off the ground around the rolling Cyclones. A hail of invisible projectiles sparked off Charles's shoulder armor, fired from the revolver of Hael Storm. His HUD informed him that all four former faction leaders were chasing and gaining on them. Demonstrait was not to be seen.

*Intramural jump!* Charles thought-commanded the suit computer.

"Two jumps availa-"

*JUMP!!!!!* Charles screamed in his head.

He wrapped his arms around his Stromling self as tightly as he could, and they were whisked into another room entirely. This time they fell from a considerable height, and Charles positioned himself so he would hit the ground first - his suit would absorb the impact. They hit the rock, and the impact knocked out Charles's cloak. Suddenly he was visible.

He lay gasping for a second, before scrambling to his feet and pulling up Cyclone with him.

"Who are you?" Cyclone found his breath to shout.

"Someone I hope you'll never be." Charles muttered. He said in a louder voice, only slightly distorted through his helmet, "I'm rescuing you. Duck."

"Duck?" Cyclone repeated. He looked around but didn't see any ducks.

"Behind me, now!"

Charles yanked Cyclone behind his back, at the same time that he saw the platoon of Stromling Spiderlings skittering towards them. Behind them, over a long paved floor, the room's dimensions opened up into a hanger. The hanger doors were currently open, with only an atmospheric shield spread over the large opening seperating them from the harsh, dusty world that was the surface of the planetoid.

Charles pointed his right arm forwards and blaster nozzles popped out over his wrist. He squeezed his fingers into a fist and unleashed a stream of ammunition towards the approaching Spiders. They were easy targets since they were attacking head on - the closest Spiderlings were smashed immediately, and the ones behind them had the sense to start weaving.

"Take this." Charles grabbed a laser pistol from his hip and pushed it to Cyclone. "Find something for us to steal."

"What?"

"We're in a hanger! Find a ship!" He adjusted his aim and eliminated an entire row of Spiderlings.

Balancing the gun in his hands, Cyclone darted behind some metal crates, barrels, and tanks he pretended weren't full of fuel at the moment - and looking ahead he saw the nearest one in a line of Nexus Force class jet aerospacecraft. They were all infected, of course, but Cyclone hoped they retained basic controls since they were his and his rescuer's ride out.

Most of the Stromlings in the hanger had ran off at the sound of battle, either to fight or to get to a comm panel, but a Stromling mechanic remained working on the nearest ship. Cyclone took a deep breath, then ran out from his cover and shashed the Stromling with a single blast from the gun. Since the mechanic had been working on the first fighter, Cyclone skipped it and went to the next one, which after a quick once-over looked as good as a fully working one. He grabbed onto its wing and pulled himself into the cockpit, shutting the glass and flipping every switch on the startup panel.

The fighter powered on, lights first, and then a low humming began to drone louder and louder. Cyclone grabbed the control stick and began to angle the fighter towards the exit. As he did, a loud clanking filled the hanger, and then a shadow began to expand over the hanger's end. To Cyclone's dismay, the Stromlings were closing the hanger doors.

Cyclone placed his hands over the triggers for the weapons. Now he would have to use them.

Squeezing the triggers, Cyclone fired a series of missiles to the sides of the doors. Panels were blasted off the walls and the door gears and mechanisms were disrupted by the explosions of the missiles. The doors stopped closing.

Cyclone noticed, however, that a shadow continued to grow over the entrance. He blinked a few times and moved his head to get a 3D image, and then he realized the source of the shadow was behind him.

Before he turned around, he also realized the shadow was minifigure shaped.

Cyclone turned around and his jaw dropped at the sight he beheld. An army of various Maelstrom, infected soldiers this time with Mechs and Ape support, wasn't the most imposing presence entering through the back of the hanger. It was the levitating man flying above them all, violet and purple arcs and waves of lightning coursing from and around a spherical shield he had projected around him. The man wore a long cape over a dark vest and breeches, and a long beard that would otherwise drape from his elderly face's chin hovered as if filled with static electricity - it probably was filled with some energy.

There was a loud *womp* and then Charles appeared in the seat behind Cyclone.

"Why are we pointing towards them?!" Charles screamed. "Get us out of here!"

Cyclone threw the control stick to the side, pointing their fighter back to the exit. "Who is that?" he exclaimed as he engaged the thrust. The fighter began to accelerate down the long hanger, picking up speed and soon it was a streak careening across the tiled length. Cyclone didn't dare pick up air, since he just noticed that the hanger doors, which shut from the ceiling, were quite low and now he doubted if their plane would fit.

They were almost upon the opening, when suddenly the doors fell down the rest of the way. Cyclone and Charles screamed before the impact simultaneously, before their jet punched through the doors anyway and they had escaped.

In unison, cyclone and Charles sighed in relief. Their jet was on a straight course into the sky, at a maximum velocity of some several times the speed of sound, and the Darkitect's Vortex Planetoid was fading fast in the clouds in their rearview mirror. They had escaped.

"Now I can tell you who was that man." Charles said, relieved.

"Who was that man?" Cyclone asked.

"I'm about to tell you, it's-"

He was interrupted by a loud *clang* from behind and then their jet's engine cut out. That was followed by a *bang* from the front of the jet - the flying man had landed on their windshield! The whipping wind distorted his hair and skin, and his long beard stretched like a web over the glass. His hands on his arms stretched wide, which gripped the jet's metal body like magnets, began to glow electrically.

"--STRANGE ODD SHADOW!!!" Charles finished, just as their aircraft was about to explode from the power of the Peculiar Enchanter.

Cyclone felt Charles grabbing him, perhaps a gesture of camaraderieship - but it was just to keep them connected as Charles activated his Transdimensional Jumper, which had been charging in the past five minutes they had been trying to escape. In an instant Charles and Cyclone were yanked out of the Maelstrom Dimension, went through the breathless void of Unverse, and then reappeared atop a skyscraper in a nighttime city.

Cyclone heard his voice being called. "What?" he responded in a voice that became an inadvertent shout - his arms, which he could barely feel, flapped numbly on the ground which he lay as he tried to cover his ears. His ears rang from the Unverse experience, and were obviously out of whack.

"Try not to talk," Charles's voice advised him. "It takes a few more trips to get used to transdimensional travel. You'll be fine."

Cyclone still couldn't see anything through his eyes, which he blinked to no effect. So he lay back and just breathed, which he hoped he was even still capable of doing.

## Twenty-one

 A boy cracked his knuckles as he faced the ring shaped apparatus once again. "Alright." Intrepid said. "We threw the duck back in. Now let's do something useful with this."

"You can have this junk back now." Katie said, from behind the control panel of the Ring device. She threw a brick at Intrepid that would have barely missed his head, but he sidestepped anyway. The Ring had analyzed the brick, from Intrepid's backpack, to determine its original dimension. Once it had created a visualization of Intrepid's Nimbus Station, Ben had programmed the Ring device to open a low level rift straight into Intrepid's Nimbus City apartment. Now Ben stood near the Ring's power cells, watching the levels and making sure nothing was going to overload. The portal to "The Ducks Dimension," as Strange Odd Shadow had called it (or had he said Duckz?), had been a fully fledged Transdimensional Travel Portal capable of taking people, or ducks. But sustaining it had nearly taken out the Ring device in a fantastic explosion that they barely stopped.

*It's not junk*, Intrepid complained to himself, not to suffice Katie. He wondered if he'd ever find the patience to deal with them. Katie, at least, was the more annoying of the Figdroids duo, and Jay was sarcastically pessimistic.

"Well let's do this." Intrepid said. Katie threw a switch, then grabbed Jay by the arm and ran over to Intrepid's side of the ring when another portal opened up. The portal had a rippled surface, a distorted effect like light passing between air and water - but the picture it displayed was as familiar to Intrepid as if he'd been there yesterday. He had been, in fact. It was his apartment in his Nimbus City for sure, specifically the bedroom, and in it stood a brown haired boy, dressed in his casuals, facing away.

But at the soft, rumbling sound emanating from the portal, he turned around and faced the rift, and the people through it. His jaw dropped.

"Cyclone!" Intrepid called.

Someone shouted, "WHAT?!" in response but it wasn't through the portal, which proceeded to collapse on itself with a brilliant flash of light. Intrepid barely shielded his eyes with his arms, and was temporarily blinded, even after the light had faded as quickly as it had appeared. He waved his arms, unseeing. "BEN!" he exclaimed. "What happened?!"

"The power levels were normal." Ben reported.

Jay and Katie returned to the other side. "Something disrupted the connection, is all." Jay said, interfaced with the device's computer. "Some instability in Unverse."

Intrepid rubbed his eyes. "Try again." he said, and he turned around while the Figdroids and Ben set to priming the Ring again.

"Oh, he's back." Intrepid said of Stromling Cyclone, who now lay on the floor between Charles and Kate, the former crouched and the latter kneeling beside him. Kate was stroking his violet streaked hair, and his face, and asking him, "Are you alright?"

We're totally meant to be. Intrepid grumbled. I just want to get back to family - Luke, Mara, Alex - all of them.

*And Red*. She tapped his shoulder. "The portal's open again." she said. Intrepid faced it. Cyclone was back barely, as now Luke Mercury and Mara Mercury stood in front of him, blocking the view as they leaned close to the rift. The distortion effect served to enlarge their faces, making Mara look especially gawky.

"Can you hear me?" Intrepid called.

"OW!" Mara screamed, falling back into Luke's arms. "No need to shout, Intrepido."

"Great." Intrepid said. "We're trying to come back." He turned to the Figdroids, as if they were experts on the matter. "Can we walk through this portal?"

Katie looked back over Intrepid's shoulder, and asked Red, "Can we walk through this portal?"

"Tou·ché." Jay said.

From the other end, Mara threw a landline handset at them. Intrepid ducked, but as soon as it touched the threshold it vanished into oblivion.

"You can step through the portal," Red warned, "but only if you want to get lost in Unverse."

"Where were you when we needed tech support?" Katie asked.

"Watching," Red said uselessly, folding her arms, "and waiting."

"Enough of this." Intrepid said. "We need to think."

"I'm thinking a million exabytes a second." Jay said.

Cyclone pushed Luke and Mara out of the way. "There's another Ring device in our Nexus Tower." he suggested. "The Faction Leaders used it for Kate and me, when we needed merging with our Nexus duplicates. It might work as an exit point, if you try remotely activating it."

"Think it'll work?" Intrepid asked Red.

"Try it." was her response.

Jay made the adjustments, and nodded to Intrepid when he was ready dial in the other Ring.

"Any idea where the Ring is?" Intrepid asked.

"It was in Overbuild's Office, last I saw it." Cyclone said. His voice was becoming slightly garbled as their connection depreciated. It showed in the picture's edges. Luke and Mara started looking particularly stretched in certain places, and squeezed in others. Katie suppressed a giggle. "It could be in storage for all I know."

"We'll find out." Intrepid said. "Thanks." He considered for a moment, not yet giving Jay the go-ahead. He looked around, at everyone around. Red stood next to him, but she wasn't coming. Kate, Charles Bradfordson, and Stromling Cyclone had made a small group behind him. Ben and the Figdroids had ambled over to face the portal, and the odd Allison Ryder had approached from the sidelines.

*There are too many people.* Intrepid thought. "We'll talk later." he said to his Cyclone, who nodded. "We have a lot of things to figure out."

He knew Cyclone was regarding his Stromling self. "I see." he said. "I'll send word to Rover to meet you at Nexus Tower."

"Sounds good. Over and out." Intrepid saluted, Kate waved, Mara and Luke waved enthusiastically back, and Cyclone just raised a hand when Jay flipped the switch.

As the portal cut out, then reappeared to show a different image, this time of a brightly lit, white and blue room in the midst of Nexus Tower, bustling with tourists, traders, soldiers, and guards who all stopped to stare at the hole in space that had appeared in the Nexus Force's most secure structure, Intrepid gestured his friends and allies forwards. Skilled Honored Ninja grinned and tossed a stinky fish into the crowd, sending a lot of them of them running away screaming at its smell attached itself to their running forms. He grinned at Strange Odd Shadow. "I've wanted to do that since the war ended. May the best janitor cleant hem up first." Then he jumped into the portal, followed by he Assembly Engineer.

"You better get me back to my dimension!" the Engineer shouted before he passed through the brink. He exited on the other side as Skilled Honored Ninja and the stinky fish had, complete and unharmed.

"Who's coming?" intrepid asked.

"I'll be leaving for an undisclosed location." Charles said. "My favor to you is complete." He handed Red a pad, with some address on it. "If you could send some power cells to this address, I'll pick them up when I see fit." She took it, shook Charles's hand, and then the man disappeared down the stairs.

Kate took Stromling Cyclone's hand. "They can disinfect you there." she told him, and they jumped through the portal next.

"We've got work here." Jay excused himself and Katie. "Glad we could help. Maybe you'll see us again. Come on, Ben." They all followed Charles out the apartment's doorway, and Intrepid could hear their feet clunking heavily, metallically, for several floors down.

The last Intrepid saw of people jumping across dimensions, it was Allison Ryder, a mysterious girl, stepping through.

Then it was just him and Red left.

"So I guess this is goodbye." he said to her. Intrepid let a puzzled expression crossed his face. "Is there nothing more you can tell me about what we're getting into?"

"Can you tell me about Ben, and Allison Ryder?" Intrepid asked.

Red shrugged. "I know a stud's worth about Ryder, where she comes from, or what she's been doing here. As for Ben, he's your son."

"The-- what?" Intrepid shook his head in disbelief.

"Son-in-law," she corrected. "From another mother. I won't tell you anymore."

"Gee golly." Intrepid scratched his head.

"There are more important matters." Red shot hotly, startling Intrepid at her sudden boldness. She took a second, and then softer, she began to preface, "You had told me, at the Base Camp this morning, that you'd seen me when you were at Elistra." Red reminded him. "I denied being there."

She looked him dead-on. "There are dangerous forces at play here, Intrepid." she warned him. "Infiltrators and saboteurs, from the Maelstrom Dimension, are working to alter the futures of the other, relatively speaking, past dimensions. Yours was a target, but we stopped them. The second dimension, where you picked up Strange Odd Shadow, is still at risk."

"That's why you were there." Intrepid realized.

"I was chasing Luke Mercury's kids." Red retorted. "They've been caught up in something naughty, but not necessarily malicious. I don't know what. But Intrepid," she gave him the death-stare again, "whoever you saw on Elistra, it wasn't me."

"It was dark." Intrepid recalled. A chill went down his back. He had *thought* it was Red, but it could have been anyone.

"You could have met..." Red tossed her head. "I don't know. But watch yourself. Watch your back, everyone's backs. A lot of people are in your responsibility, now. Leek Works, as a transdimensional agency, is out of action now, so there'll be limited to no help from us. It was a miracle I got Charles to help the way he did."

"We're on our own." Intrepid translated, and Red nodded. He nodded too. "I got it." he said.

"Your future should be your own." Red said, taking a step back. "Do your best to keep it that way."

Intrepid backed towards the Ring. He felt the portal's warmth behind him, but his eyes stayed on Red. "Hope to see you later." he called.

"Live to fight another day." she responded.

Intrepid fell into the portal. The warmth gave way to a chill as he was surrounded, for an instant, the cold grasp of Unverse. Then he was in another dimension. Nexus Tower's bright lights washed down from the ceiling and reflected off the walls. Intrepid found this version of the Ring's controls, and with a yank he pulled a shutoff lever. The portal was terminated, and then rough hands grabbed him around the shoulders.

"Hey!" Intrepid whirled around, finding himself face to face with an Assembly grunt. Orange lining on the walls and the triangle shaped Assembly faction logos adorning every pillar told him he was in an Assembly floor - right outside the office of Albert Overbuild, perhaps! And of course the presence of Assembly grunts made it obvious. A small band of three surrounded his party, with reinforcements approaching from the hallways. Thankfully their spears were pointed at the ceiling. But even with the rest of their faces obscured by their visors, their mouths looked troubled none the less.

"How did you get in here?" the grunt holding Intrepid demanded. "This is a secure area."

Intrepid made a show of looking around at the fifty or so multi-faction minifigures standing about, watching the commotion. Some were still trying to wipe the stench of Stinky Fish off their clothes and selves. "Looks secure to me." Intrepid said.

"You're not a member of any faction." the grunt responded.

Strange Odd Shadow stepped forward. "I am Assembly, good sir." he said.

"And I'm Sentinel." Skilled Honored Ninja said. He puffed his chest. "And I'm, like, way more skilled than any soldier any of you have ever seen."

"There's a Stromling with you." another grunt said, pointing at Stromling Cyclone.

"You're going to disinfect him." Kate said firmly.

"You're in no position to order us!" the third grunt griped. "You six just broke into Nexus Tower and no one knows where you came from!"

Intrepid opened his mouth to speak, but then another voice pierced the hubbub of the curious minifigures that crowded around them, and that voice also got the attention of the Assembly grunts. The crowd quieted, and they all looked towards its source as a young woman dressed in Assembly Summoner gear strided towards them, her hand held in the air authoratively.

"You can unhand him, Miles." the girl ordered. "The boy, with black hair- but why am I describing him? You know who you're holding!" Intrepid felt the Assembly grunt, Miles, let go of him. He looked around, and saw that the other grunts had slunk back under her authority. Was she important here, or just well-known?

"I'm here with Cheerful Power Rover and some of his pals." She was finally in hand-shaking distance to Miles and Intrepid, and after smiling at Miles she grabbed Intrepid's arm and shook it fervently. "I'm sure you know Sergeant Ghost Mustache. He's been searching for you in the Sentinel Room, and Rover in the Venture hallway. I ought to call them and let them know I found you first."

"Yeah, probably." Intrepid managed to say. "We know Sergeant, and Rover." He was still surprised by this girl's sudden rescue of them. "Who are the others? And," he facepalmed, and quickly before she could answer, he added the correct question, "who are you?"

The girl grinned, took off her helmet, and tossed her head. She had brown hair and green eyes, and stood around Intrepid's height. "Me? Here's my Nexus Force designation: Epic Fivestar Empanada. Rank Three Engineer mainly, but I've got kits for all the classes. You can call me Jonna. Did I hear you wanted to get someone disinfected?" She noticed Stromling Cyclone. "Him?"

Intrepid nodded. "You got it..." was all he said.

Jonna looked serious. "We'd best get him to the Sentinel medbay immediately."

## Twenty-two

Meanwhile, in someplace else entirely:

Screams reverberating down the halls of the military hospital in Nimbus Station - they sent chills spinning across Edgar’s body, as if icicles had formed on his back. A cold sweat had fostered on his forehead since he’d arrived at the hospital, with the girl who now lay on the hospital gurney. He watched, and she twitched and writhed in resistance to the dark energy coursing through her, to no avail. Evelyne, Intrepid’s sister, had been entrusted in his care. Before, Edgar had been proud of his friend, and happy to picture him and his traits, courage, determination, and fearlessness, for he saw them in his teammate’s sister. But now when Edgar pictured her brother in his head, he only saw his shock, his disappointment, and his sadness – Edgar shared all these negative thoughts, and one more: failure, because he had failed to keep her safe.

Not that there was anything he could have done.

“Is there anything I can do?” Edgar pleaded to the team of Nexus Force medics who finally made their way to Evelyne’s gurney. One look at her symptoms prompted the lead doctor to point to a set of double doors: urgent care.

As she was wheeled out of Edgar’s grasp, the doctor turned to him, shook his head, and had one word for the broken man.

“Pray.”

He left Edgar in the lobby, sealed off through those white double doors. But Edgar could still hear Evelyne’s cries in his recent memories, and he could feel her pain through the wave of defeat that hit him like a knockout punch now. He slumped against the wall, falling to a seated position not even near the chairs. He buried his face in his hands, he prayed, and he wondered.

Was there anything I could have done?

…

Present Dimension;

Nimbus Station;

An hour earlier:

“So, what would you like to do?”

Over the chrome-edged, red plastic diner table, Edgar posed the question to his young companion. She looked up from her drink to respond, not immediately, since there was still a straw between her mouth and the gradually lowering surface of soda in her glass. Edgar smiled.

“Hm?” she murmured, letting go of the straw. “Well,” Evelyne admitted, stretching and extending her arms to crack her knuckles, “I’d like to see my family.”

An involuntary lump formed in Edgar’s neck, and he swallowed nervously. Evelyne must have noticed, since she gave him a perplexed look. “Sorry,” Edgar said, then he looked down and coughed. “Must’ve, ack, breathed in some of that, ah,” he stared at his plate, “macaroni.” He raised a hand. “Give me a second.”

What could he tell her? Intrepid’s teammates, and Gallant Strong Cyclone, had visited him on Elistra not twenty-four hours ago, for the exact purpose of finding Intrepid’s missing family. And in a year before that, before Edgar had set up his Elistran dojo, he himself had traveled with Intrepid and small band of Nexus Forcers, to do the same thing. But they had been too late.

Edgar remembered the names of his teammates, fallen and not. Their handsome pilot Quinn, and dashing fighter Hazel. The battle had been disastrous, and he hated to think about it. For the longest time, he’d thought Intrepid and Alex had smashed as well, but then one day Alex turned up. A year later, Intrepid stepped through his dojo’s front door.

But that was just the two brothers. Edgar gulped as he thought of how to tell Evelyne that they were the only members of her family left.

Although, he realized, Evelyne herself had been suspected smashed. But here she was, alive and breathing.

“Intrepid’s away.” Edgar told her, and she looked back at her glass, obviously crestfallen. “On a mission,” he added quickly, “I’m sure he’ll be back soon. In fact those were his teammates you met, Mara and Luke. A funny bunch, aren’t they? I just met them myself.”

“He always hung out with the strangest people,” Evelyne reminisced, still looking down, “when he socialized at all. I saw Mara and Luke had each other, but that means my brother’s alone, right?”

“I think he was with another teammate.” Edgar said. “And I’ve seen him hold his own in some very, *very* bad fights. If there’s anyone I know who can take care of himself, it’s your brother.”

Evelyne looked up. “Do you have any pictures of him?”

Edgar tried not to look taken aback. “I don’t, in fact, I’m afraid. I’m sorry....” he looked back Evelyne, and then his eyes fell on a newspaper article pinned to a corkboard in the diner’s opposite wall. “Excuse me.” He stood up and made his way down the aisle, past the line of other tables that were both occupied and empty, until he reached the newspaper. Something on it had caught his eye, or more specifically, someone.

“**Wanted for questioning.”** read the front page title, and under the byline was a picture, three pictures in fact arranged next to each other. They were taken from security camera footage from a local Nexus Force Correctional Facility, and having just seen two of the persons pictured, and knowing the third, Edgar easily recognized the blurry faces as those of Luke, Mara, and Intrepid.

Smiling, Edgar brought the newspaper back to Evelyne, who grabbed it with interest. “There you go.” he said.

Evelyne smirked as she read the details. “My brother,” she began, “is an idiot. Just read about this, one hundred percent crazy, stunt he pulled off – breaking into a jail? Breaking a prisoner out? Escaping through the cafeteria windows?”

“With all our facial recognition technology,” Edgar pondered, “it’s amazing they haven’t pinned them down yet. Although knowing them, they’ve probably purged all their records from the system to be safe. And it’s worked.”

“I hope he’s safe.” Evelyne said quietly, putting the newspaper down with a far away look in her eyes. As she did, Edgar noticed a stain on her sweatshirt. It looked like nothing more than a stain, at first, but he blinked and suddenly it stood out to him.

He leaned over the table for a closer look, and Evelyne noticed him staring. “What?” she asked.

Edgar raised a finger partway. As he visually inspected her, he saw that the same discoloration was on her sleeves, and a dark shadow seemed to cover her upper arms. “Evelyne,” he said quietly, “Could you unzip your jacket?”

Her arms, resting on the table, had begun to tremble, but it stopped as soon as she focused on moving them to do as he said. Edgar’s brow furrowed, and when she parted the sides of her sweatshirt, he gave an involuntary gasp, and he heard Evelyne’s own sharp intake of breath.

A large purple splotch covered the front of her previously white shirt, and a light mist seemed to rise from within its source, undoubtedly on her. Now Evelyne began to shake again. “What is it?” she whispered.

It surprised Edgar too, but he said what he knew it had to mean. “You’re infected.” he said, keeping his eyes on the Maelstrom infection, and he glanced to her face. She was breathing through her mouth and her eyes were widened in trepidation, while he mentally reached into his backpack.

“I have a disinfection kit.” Edgar told her. “I don’t know how this happened to you, but we are beings of imagination.” He placed a box, shaped like a first aid kit, on the table between them. He opened it, removed a Jet injector marked, ‘FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY’, and showed it to Evelyne.

“This won’t hurt, not as much as the alternative.” Edgar told her. He bit his lip, and at her nod, he held it to her arm and pulled the trigger.

He couldn’t have known at the time, but falser words could not have been spoken.

…

An hour later:

A nurse entered the lobby to deliver a message. Edgar, now seated on a bench, stood up at the nurse’s approach. “Is there anything?” he asked, the hope steeped in his voice.

“The doctor would like to speak to you.” the nurse informed Edgar, and then dipped away with her head down. The doors to urgent care remained open, and Edgar moved towards them. He began to run, down the painted white halls and tile floors, until he saw the open door with the lead doctor standing outside it, staring at the floor with his arms crossed, and a disquieted look on his brooding face.

Edgar felt the same troubled air from the nurse around the doctor. It permeated his thoughts like an infection. Before it could eat at him, he regained his composure. He didn’t want to lose hope. He couldn’t lose hope.

“This is a most abnormal case.” the doctor said. Like Edgar, he had sand-colored hair, but unlike Edgar’s his would be long and unruly if it were not kept under a surgical hairnet. He turned to Edgar to face him. “I’m Sandy Studs, a physician here, and also an assistant to Doctor Albert Overbuild. After we stabilized the patient, I went and used Overbuild’s credentials to access the Paradox faction’s files. You know they ran, I’ll say, experiments on captured Maelstrom creatures. When I say this case is abnormal, I mean for a minifigure. We are creatures of imagination, the two of us.

“But this girl,” Sandy lowered his gaze and shook his head, “while she is intelligent, and seemingly not under any visible physical or mental Maelstrom influence, her vitals are homologous to that of a pure Stromling, born straight from a dark Nexus.”

Sandy Studs gave Edgar a grave look. “I don’t yet understand how it is possible, and I pray the Paradox do not get their hands on her, but I must inform you this girl does not have an imagination spark.”

Edgar felt faint, and he placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. “I taught her Imagination Spinjitzu.” he murmured.

“You may have taught her Imagination Spinjitsu,” Sandy explained, “but she would have learned Maelstrom Spinjitsu, if such a thing existed. Her abilities are not from the energy we call imagination.”

“Can I see her?” Edgar said imploringly, staring hard at Sandy Studs. “Tell me she can speak, and I can speak to her.” he begged.

“She is stable now.” Sandy told him, and Edgar breathed out heavily in relief. “But she’s following very strict intake parameters. She looks like a minifigure, and she should be a minifigure, but if she even touches or comes into contact with imagination energy,” Sandy shook his head grimly, “it may kill her.”

…

“I overheard what he said,” Evelyne told Edgar, “the doctor, when he was talking to you.”

She spoke with him sitting up, with the head of her hospital bed in an inclined position. She looked better than Edgar had expected, and he was both thankful and overjoyed to see her without injury. Only a purple stain now adorned the chest of her hospital gown, and her face and arms, previously smooth like Intrepid’s, were now decorated with purple spots, not unlike freckles. She otherwise looked like any other minifigure. There were no characteristic signs of a Stromling growing in her; no patches of dead skin, no bones glowing radioactively. She was a minifigure, but not an imagination minifigure.

*A* Maelstrom minifigure*.* Edgar thought. He shook his head. The thought was otherwordly.

“He said I don’t have an imagination spark.” Evelyne repeated Sandy Stud’s words. “Does that mean my soul?” She didn’t let Edgar stop the train of thought. “I know I was dead before, but now, am I even alive?” she whispered. “Do I even have a soul?”

“You have a soul,” Edgar assured her. He stepped closer to her, and put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. Now that Evelyne was safe, he no longer saw Intrepid’s disappointed when he pictured the boy, but his determination, and it reminded him of the first time they met.

“Two years ago,” Edgar began. “I made a pact with your brother. I would go with him back to Elistra, and help him to do whatever it would take to help our families.” He stared Evelyne straight in the eyes, and as serious as he could be, he proclaimed to her, “As his friend and teammate, I say this to you, his sister. I will continue to do whatever I can to achieve that goal. I swear I will do everything in my power to protect you.”

## Twenty-three

A mobile phone sang its electronic ringtone. It's screen, pulsing in the dark, did little to light the study room around the table it lay on. Illumination was the job of the desk lamp.

Tiberius ignored the phone. It wasn't his, so he paid it no concern. But then his companion lifted it up and practically shoved it in his face, so he happened to see the Caller ID. Aiden, it read, and Tiberius smiled. So his older nephew was back. Now he had only to bring him here.

"Deliver a message for me," Tiberius instructed his companion, a dark haired girl with a fair, heart shaped face dressed in casuals, which Tiberius was glad to see. He ulocked the phone, texted a message, and handed it to the girl. "Take this to... anywhere but here. Send it to my nephew. Then come back."

The girl nodded, pocketed the device in her jeans, and left into the dimly lit hallway. As she did she passed a black haired boy, headed in the opposite direction to the study. Their gazes didn't cross, but he regarded her with a perturbed expression, turning around even as she rounded the corner. Then he continued on his way.

Alex entered the study and assessed the strange, tall man who called himself his uncle. Tiberius was leaning over a book, his head on a hand propped on an elbow, with many more opened books splayed out on the desk before him.

Alex coughed, and Tiberius looked up, squinting to discern his silhouette in the doorway. He put on his glasses. "Hello, Alex." Tiberius greeted him with a smile that made Alex want to frown. "What can I do for you on this lovely night?"

"For starters," Alex said, for maybe the ninth time, "you can tell me where this lovely night is being spent; where I am, where this is, who she is? What at all is going on?"

Tiberius sighed. "You sound so much like your brother, Aiden, and my brother, Abe, your father, when he was in the mood."

Alex looked miffed. "Are you trying to diss my father? He was a good man."

"Oh no," Tiberius defended, "everyone has their moments, ups and downs. I, unfortunately, saw a lot of downs in my childhood."

"No one knows anything about your childhood." Alex reminded him. "No one knows *anything* about you, or anything about anything that's going on with you." He didn't want to sound whiny, but he couldn't help it. Alex shook his head at himself. And it wasn't like Tiberius was the mature one in the room. "If you could just tell me-"

"There will be a time." Tiberius interrupted. "You may or may not learn my secrets, but, I assure you, you will soon see what this has to do with anything, what this is all about. Right now, we are waiting on your brother. His friends could carry through with my instructions, and it would speed things greatly if they were as reliable as others have been, but alas, they're not. Thanks to a little detour, your brother now holds one key to solving everything now. I only needed to open the first door for him."

Alex shook his head again, and turned around. "You make zero sense." he muttered, and slunk back to the living quarters of this... house? It was more like a jail that Tiberius lived in. As he headed for his bedroom, he felt a sudden gust of wind tear down the hallway. Loose objects clattered, and then the girl rounded the corner. Again, she paid him no mind.

It was another common occurence in this house, which Alex could only suspect, by its lack of windows, was built underground. Tiberius and the girl were always coming and going, while he was stuck, forced to utilize Tiberius's 'hospitality.'

Alex knew the real reason he was here. Tiberius was a negative man, and instead of nice things, he decided to use a hostage as leverage to get what he wanted from Intrepid and whoever his friends were.

Alex was sure Intrepid would try to rescue him from their crazy uncle. He just wished he could be a little faster.

## Twenty-four

It would feel good to be back home, if Intrepid could call his Nimbus City apartment that. He was stuck in Nexus Tower for now, waiting on a hearing with some Nexus Force officials. Apparently breaking and entering Nexus Tower was a more serious offense than it was made out to be. The problem was that Intrepid and co. had gotten caught. The Assembly Grunts had been happy to put them on house arrest, once they were out of Epic Fivestar Empanada's sights when she she gone to find the rest of her crew.

So Intrepid folded his arms and grumbled to himself. He was seated alongside Strange Odd Shadow and Skilled Honored Ninja on one of those uncomfortable industrial perforated metal benches that was just perforated metal bent into the shape of a bench. Where his clothes were ripped, the metal was cold on his skin. He would change, but was too tired to bother.

After a few minutes, some familiar faces appeared across the Assembly Floor's plaza, and Intrepid stood up to stretch. He immediately recognized the Venture Buccaneer, Cheerful Power Rover. A brown monkey was perched on his shoulder, with one hand on Rover's scarf and another searching his bandolier for food, maybe? Then there was Sergeant Ghost Mustache, also named Thaddeus, who frankly looked bored. Intrepid couldn't blame him. Avant Gardens was much prettier than Nexus Tower and never got boring. Jonna was also with them. Some other unknown minifigures were with them: a boy from Venture, one girl from Paradox, another Assembly girl, and then there was a fourth guy who wore only cargo pants and a gray tank top with no faction identification, but Intrepid figured he was a Sentinel.

Intrepid waved until someone spotted them, and then Rover's group made its way over. Rover himself broke out into a run, pushing through the throngs of other minifigures occupying the plaza. without a doubt, the Buccaneer was eager to see his friends again.

"Nice to see you again, Intrepid!" Rover shouted. "Where's Kate?"

"She's with Cyclone." Intrepid said. At Rover's confusion, Intrepid waved a hand. "Long story. There's two of him now."

"Let me introduce my new companions," Rover said with vigor, and his spread his arms to point out the Faction kids and the guy in the tank top. "These are Starkey, Hailey, Bob, and Victoria."

"Wassup." Hailey, the Space Marauder, said.

"You look tired, man." Bob, the Adventurer, said.

"Hi." Victoria, a Summoner, said. She was the only one who smiled.

"Grr." was all the last guy, Starkey, said. He was the Sentinel who wasn't wearing faction clothing, and not much else. The four of them were all bunched together like magnets, seemed to be whispering among themselves, and often one or two of them would burst into a short smile, stifle a laugh, or groan. They made Intrepid want to groan. He nodded to Jonna and Sergeant.

It took awhile, but then Intrepid saw *her*. There was no way he could have left Nexus Tower without missing her, with her dyed green and yellow hair tied up in a high ponytail, and her ghastly outfit, coveralls and a short jacket; the former was mostly denim but with glowing neon highlights along its length that made Intrepid shudder. At least the jacket was black. He folded his arms and sighed, and he was sure there was no way anyone could miss his cousin.

"Hello, Shrill." he greeted her.

Shrill Failed Brick responded with a mimic of his previous action. She folded her arms, strutted her jaw, and said very curtly, "I go by Shira now, Aiden."

Intrepid narrowed his eyes, and if he could he would have folded his arms harder. He turned to two of his companions currently with him, shrugged, and said, "This is my cousin, you can say hi or face her wrath." Then he swung back to Shira, walked right up to her ear and whispered, "What are you doing here with these lunatics?"

"I've been flying with Rover the last few months," Shira said. She tilted her head towards Starkey, Hailey, Bob the Adventurer, and Victoria. "These guys just showed up last week, on some secret assignment from the NFS."

"NF-what?"

Now his cousin whispered too. "Nexus Force Services." she hissed. "I would try to ditch them but Rover's second set of eyes is kind of stalking me, and of course *Rover* *doesn't want* to ditch them." By second set of eyes she meant his monkey. Then she smiled sweetly. "And now, mi primo, I'm here to lend a hand in helping you. What's up?"

"You can start by getting me out of this tower." Intrepid muttered. He was trying to figure out what else to say, when suddenly his phone buzzed. He fished it from his pocket and read the text message he received. "What in the world-?"

He faced Shira again. "Alright." he presented. "I need to speak to Luke and Mara as soon as possible. You, or any of you," he faced Strange Odd Shadow, Skilled Honored Ninja, Rover, Jonna, Sergeant, and even the other four weirdos in a silent imploration for help. Then he repeated, "Please, get me out of this tower."

## Twenty-five

The metal door to the basement of a decrepit building in Nimbus Station swung open and Intrepid entered. At last, he was back in his Leek Works. On reflex he moved his hand to flick the light switch on the wall, but then Intrepid's eyes narrowed, and he surveyed the little entrance room.

The lights were already on.

"I thought we agreed to turn the lights off before leaving." Intrepid muttered over his shoulder to the two people closest behind him, Luke and Mara. He and Shira had rendezvoused with them and Tornado at their Nimbus City apartment before hightailing it back to Leek Works, as Intrepid's mysterious text instructed. About that: someone had texted him telling him to get back to Leek Works for "further instructions."

Intrepid bet it was from Tiberius. Only someone in his family could be so vague.

"I did turn the lights off." Mara retorted.

"Think someone's here?" Shrill Failed Brick asked.

"I hear someone breathing." Calm Thoughtful Tornado panted.

"You hear yourself." Intrepid lead the way inside, and as a precuation he summoned a shortsword from his backpack. Then he heard a loud crashing from the next room and a dark haired man appeared.

"There you are!" the man shouted, stumbling over junk on the groung as he hobbled towards them. Intrepid put away his sword and sighed. The guy had a red baseball cap, a white shirt, jeans, and a bomber jacket with a badge on it that said, "Relationship status: Pizza." It was just a pizza guy.

And he wasn't really a man. He was just a teenage guy in need of a shave, with a mustache and beard, very big eyes, bushy brows, and a lot of acne.

"Did someone order a pizza?" the guy said at last. He balanced some boxes of said food in his arms.

Intrepid shook his head and turned around to face his teammates, Luke and Mara. "Did someone order a pizza?" he repeated.

Luke smiled and raised a hand.

Intrepid scowled and raised a hand to facepalm.

"My name's Ray." the pizza guy said.

"We'll take the pizza," Intrepid said, "but I'm afriad we don't have time for more introductions. Luke, tip him and get over here."

The Bat Lord ran for his office, Luke and Shira in tow, but on the way there they heard Mara say sweetly, "Hello Ray, I'm Mara."

Intrepid shut the door and stared at his table. Next to a terminal, between a keyboard and a stack of notes, was an enclosed letter, addressed to *A Certain Nephew*.

"What's this?" Shira asked while Intrepid opened it. He read the letter aloud.

 "'Dear Aiden,

We minifigures, and everything in our universe, is connected through an energy called 'Imagination.' Imagination has its rules. They are strong rules. Imagination is intrinically good, only through corruption can it be used for evil.'

Intrepid paused. "Debatable." he commented. Shira shrugged.

He continued. "'I, Tiberius Talmid, have broken the rules. It is by no new means, but one pioneered by another man you know as Baron Typhonus. I have dabbled in harnessing Maelstrom.'"

"Your uncle would be great in Paradox." Luke quipped.

"'Thanks to my efforts, and the recent assistance of some colleagues, I can now announce to you, my dear nephew, that I have forged my own proverbial Key of Revival of the Dead. In the same manner that the Maelstrom revives smashed Stromlings in the Nimbus System [an amazing ability, if I say so myself] I now have the answer to reviving *anyone* who is unjustifiably smashed.'"

"But wouldn't they be, you know, a little Maelstrom then?" Shira said.

"'But this comes at a cost of time, my own of which I have volunteered, and resources. To continue my project, you must get for me a hundred tons of Maelstrom Ore. You can find it at the attached coordinates at the end of this message.

"'Don't believe me?'" Tiberius's message continued. "'As proof of concept, I have revived your sister Evelyne. She is with your friends. Provide me with my Maelstrom Ore and the rest of our family will be next.'"

The message ended with a set of coordinates, and Intrepid looked up. "Evelyne is alive?" he questioned.

"We found her on El.. ele... elepharia?" Luke started.

"Elistra." Intrepid corrected.

"Yeah." Luke nodded. "She's here with Edgar. They're around here somewhere."

Intrepid suddenly looked very strained, and he gripped the table edge for support. To him, his vision began to blur at the edges as he focused on Luke's and Shira's faces. This was a lot ot take in. "Take me to her." he instructed. "And tell me everything that's happened on the way there."

…

"...So then we met Tiberius, he's a crazy guy, and he really wanted his ore," Mara chattered. "And he had an equally crazy companion."

"Companion?" Intrepid asked. He and Shira sat next to each other on the bus into Nimbus City. Tornado and Luke were behind them, and across the aisle in the next bench was Mara and... Ray? Intrepid couldn't answer what he was doing there, but he didn't object.

"Yeah, she could teleport." Mara said.

"She?"

"She was also mean. She teleported me onto an island in the middle of a lake. Very rude."

"That sounds horrible," Ray said, "I'm so sorry that had to happen to you Mara."

"Aw," Mara turned to the pizza boy, "you don't have to apologize for anything. You're sweet, though."

Out of the corner of his eye Intrepid saw Ray's cheeks turn as red as the sauce on the pizza he delivered. He closed his eyes and waited for Mara to continue the story. "We kinda, uh, fought Tiberius." she admitted.

"More like *tried* to fight him." Luke amended. "We got our backpacks handed to us."

"Tell me about his companion." Intrepid suggested.

"Well, she wore dark clothes." Luke recalled. "Form fitted, good for fighting, maybe with some gadgets. Like a ninja. Cyclone or Edgar got a better look at her than I did, probably. She had a mask that covered her entire head, except I guess for her eyes? Gotta see somehow."

"How do you know she's a girl?" Intrepid asked.

Luke glared at him. "I told you her clothes were *form fitted*."

Intrepid wondered who she was. He remembered Red's warning about imposters and saboteurs....

They arrived at the stop closest to Edgar's last published location on the Leek Works bulletin. Mara and Luke scampered ahead, with Intrepid, Shira, Tornado, and Ray trailing them down the crowded sidewalks. They soon arrived at a familiar location.

"I was at this hospital." Intrepid recognized its painted white brick facade, although he had last left it through the back door. "I wonder what Edgar's doing here, and Evelyne..." He could still barely believe Tiberius's message, and his teammate's reports that they'd seen her and brought her back.

Because the last time Intrepid had seen his sister, he'd buried her.

"Whoa Nelly," Shira said suddenly, taking a deep breath.

She had one of Leek Work's modified Nexus Force Plaques in her hands, which she was using to read some confidential Nexus Force files. Leek Works had downloaded them from an intercepted backup some time before.

"Turns out Uncle Tiberius isn't the only guy who's tried reviving smashed people," Shira said. "There's some Paradox test logs here, and they tried something close to the same thing Tiberius is doing now." She looked at Intrepid gravely.

"Well?" her cousin prodded.

"I think I know why Evie's in a hospital." Shira said.

"Explain." Intrepid asked.

"The pictures can speak for themselves." She shoved the plaque in his face and he drew in his breath sharply, before pushing it back to Shira.

"The Paradox had to re-smash all their subjects." Shira added. "They all acted like Stromlings, even though they started out looking okay, but after awhile they started looking the part." She scrolled down in the document a little more. "And worse."

"We gotta get Evelyne before the Paradox do." Intrepid muttered.

"You think they want her?"

"Luke, Mara!" Intrepid shouted ahead. "Did she seem like a Stromling to you?!"

Luke turned around, not really pausing as he and Mara pushed through the hospital's revolving front door. "Who?" he asked.

"EVELYNE!!!!" Intrepid screamed, chasing after them.

"Oh yeah," Luke said. "She was perfectly normal."

"You bet they'll want her," Intrepid hissed to his cousin. Once they were inside, they had to be discreet. "This is a Nexus Force institution. Any peculiarities are reported directly to Nexus Tower. There's probably a Paradox envoy already on the way. They'll want to see where they failed, but we're not gonna let them."

"What are you two whispering about?" Ray asked.

"Hush." Intrepid said. On the way down the halls, he sighted a team of Paradox faction members crossing the next junction. "Gee golly. They're here quickly."

"Are we breaking someone out?" Ray asked again. "Are we breaking the law?"

"It wouldn't be our first time." Intrepid said.

"I break the laws by walking." Tornado snorted.

"Why are you even here?" Shira asked.

Ray shrugged. "Delivering pizza is boring. I can't even eat them."

"You have a point." Intrepid agreed. "You can come with us, or you can turn back now. Let me know if I need to focus on keeping you safe too."

Ray nodded. "We should probably all turn around right now."

"Why?"

"I used to be in Paradox." Ray said with another shrug. "I was a Rank 3 Space Marauder until some Stromling smashed me. I know some Paradox strats. That team we just saw? They saw us too, and they're right around the corner waiting to ambush you."

"What do you suggest we do?" Shrill hissed.

"Turn around," Ray whispered, "and find another way around."

He had turned halfway before a Paradox Grunt stepped into the hallway. "Halt," he said. He was flanked by a Space Marauder and a Shinobi. "This place is under lockdown. Who authorized your admittance?"

"I did." Intrepid said, showing a fake business card. It was a picture of him wearing a borrowed Space Marauder helmet. It actually wasn't even him, just a random Space Marauder. "Don't you recognize your superior officer? I'm second to Vanda. Don't bother us or I'll get you fired."

The grunt scowled and waved for his guards to raise their weapons. "That only works in movies and books."

Intrepid rubbed the back of his neck and turned to face his teammates. "It was a worth a shot." Then he swung around to punch the grunt. Instead he got whacked in the face with the butt of the Space Marauder's laser pistol.

A little brawl ensued with his five teammates outnumbering and quickly overpowering the three Paradox, knocking them out. When Intrepid got back to his feet, it was to see three more Paradox troopers rounding the corner. Seeing their fallen comerades, they wouldn't hesitate to shoot this time.

"Why are we doing this again?" Tornado cried, but he ran with the others to charge the next guards. The first guard fired at Shrill who raised a shield to deflect them, and then hit that Space Marauder over the head with it. Ray tackled a Shinobi while Luke twisted his Cleaver to disarm the last Sorceror, and Mara yelled "Say cheese!" before stunning them with a Flash Bulb.

"Could you have done that first?" Ray asked, getting up.

"I like taking victory pictures." Mara said.

Intrepid peeked around the corner to see an even bigger Paradox squad approaching. "Sheesh." He threw a flash bang down that hall and was about to lead the team across before he swung around. "Where even are we going?" he asked.

Luke pointed to an elevator. "The roof."

A short elevator ride later and the six of them spilled out onto the roof, where an armored helicopter was hovering over a landing spot. Waiting for it was another platoon of all Rank 3s, and they stood around a wheelchair. Someone was slumped in it, sedated. Intrepid's heart skipped a beat when he recognized Evelyne.

He slunk around to join his teammates behind the cover of some strategically placed crates. He eyed a small water tower that may be useful. "We should get someone up there." he planned.

"On it," Shira threw on a hood and ran off.

"Anyone need any weapons?" Intrepid asked. He handed Tornado a Peashooter and Ray held up a service Blaster. Luke and Mara were armored up and Intrepid suited up his Bat Lord gear. "Let's go."

Intrepid activated his speedboost while the others licked quicksickles and they all vaulted over the crates, speeding for the Paradox. They covered the ground faster than the first Paradox they hit could react, and five Space Marauders were knocked down. There were twenty in total plus the crew in the helicopter. Luke threw a plunger at the helicopter's nose and it stuck. The craft responded by aiming its guns at the F2Per, but then the plunger sent an EMP charge into the aircraft. It ascended out of control and out of sight.

Wormholer bullets began to streak across the roof and impact against shields and armor. Intrepid shield slammed two Paradox over the roof's edge. Luke and Mara were carving their own path with stun blades, making their way to Evelyne. Ray was sniping out anyone they missed, and Tornado was shooting peas all over the place.

A bolt of energy suddenly struck Intrepid in the leg, piercing his armor, and he stumbled. Looking up at the water tower, he saw the last Paradox Space Marauder, a sniper, getting ready to fire again.

Intrepid raised his shield so there was something between him and the sniper. "Sniper!" he shouted, before he began hitting the nearest knocked out Space Marauder, not enough to smash him but to trigger his Bat Lord ability to replenish his health. It worked and he felt his energy coming back, before the next sniper blast hit Luke.

The next person to fall was the sniper, knocked out of the water tower by Shira. Ray finished him with a stun blast, while Mara ran to her cousin. "Stunned," she reported.

"Mhrlghlghfghm," Luke mumbled numbly.

Intrepid stood up and looked around for the helicopter. He saw it in the horizon, retreating. Then he saw Evelyne, still unconscious in the wheelchair, and standing behind her was a Paradox Shinobi.

"It's me!" the Shinobi shouted, and he pulled off his helmet, revealing sandy hair and a determined face.

"Edgar." Intrepid fell to the ground in relief.

"I disguised so I could keep her in sight," Edgar said, suddenly looking very tired. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands. "Intrepid, it's really her."

"I know." Intrepid said. He approached her tentatively, not fully trusting his eyes yet. But the sleeping girl's face was the same as he remembered. His sister, Evelyne, was alive and breathing.

He crouched down, noticing the purple tinge in the veins on the back of her hands. Studiously, Intrepid reached and swept her hair back. A purple streak had infected its strands, too.

"What caused this?" Edgar asked.

"You mean *who*." Intrepid said. "Tiberius. He used a Maelstrom method, that's why the Paradox were here."

"How can we restore her?"

"I don't know if we can." Intrepid muttered. "Her essence is Maelstrom now. Let's just... get her someplace else." He thought back to the letter Tiberius had given him. Their uncle wanted more Maelstrom ore to revive the others.

Or was he was just making their existence worse?

"We'll go back to Leek Works." Intrepid instructed the team. "We need to plan."

## Twenty-six

"These are coordinates for another Maelstrom mine." Intrepid reported, holding up the letter in front of the screen. On the other side of the video call between Leek Works and Nexus Tower, Cheerful Power Rover jotted down the numbers.

"I thought we destroyed the last one." the Buccaneer said. "The one with the skeletons."

"I'm sure everyone did." Intrepid agreed. "But now you know there's another. You need to destroy all of it. Everything."

"I can send a scouting party now," Rover conceded, "but a full scale assault will take the convincing of higher ups. I'm not a general."

"*Everything needs to be destroyed*." Intrepid repeated. "Make sure you tell them that."

Rover nodded. "Okay." The channel closed, and Intrepid turned around to face his teammates. Luke, Mara, Tornado, Edgar, and Ray were in the room with him. Shrill was in a guest bedroom, waiting for Evelyne to wake up.

"Wait," Mara said, "didn't you say Tiberius said he needed the ore?"

"To turn more people into Stromlings, yeah." Intrepid said. "I won't let him do that."

"But they're your family-" Luke protested.

"Who is Tiberius to play with fate?" Intrepid challenged. "Who are we to change things? Is what happened *not* supposed to have happened?"

"They shouldn't have been smashed." Edgar stated. "We went to save them. Just because we failed then, we don't need to fail now. See Evelyne, she's completely herself."

"I've seen her." Intrepid said.

"*Talk* to her."

"How do we know she won't fall under the Darkitect's control?!" Intrepid shouted. "Will she, or anyone else, even survive when we finish defeating the Maelstrom? And we can't disinfect them back without smashing them." He took a deep breath. "I hate Tiberius."

Mara stood up. "Calm down." she asserted. "Maybe there's another way to bring people back to life. Can't we rebuild from smashing?"

"We can because there's an Imagination Nexus on the world next door." Intrepid explained. "Even then, we lose a little of our imagination spark everytime we smash, and that amount increases with the time spent before rebuilding. Everyone who died on Elistra has been smashed for a couple of years now."

"Can't a Nexus rebuild them?" Mara asked.

A door opened and Shrill entered. She must have dyed her hair again, since she was a blonde now. "No," she shook her head. "it's been tried before. Have any of you heard about The Tragedy of Sir Dagator the Wise?"

"No?" Luke said.

"I didn't think so. It's a Crux legend." Shrill related. "Sir Dagator was the most esteemed of the Bat Lord clan, and he was even respected by the rival factions competiting for that face of Crux. Sir Dagator made diplomacy his goal, and he negotiated hundreds treaties between the Bat Lords, Mosaic Jesters, Exploriens, and Bone Suitors. All of his treaties would be broken within a week, but that didn't stop him from trying. A day of peace was worth more to him than his life, and one day, while traveling to a distant land, he fell in a pit and smashed.

"The leader of the Mosaic Jesters happened to find him a month later. They brought his body to the Mythrans, hoping they would revive him. The Mythrans brought him to a Nexus, and were successful in re-animating him, but his mind and character were wiped completely clean. The new Sir Dagator, reborn among the Mosaic Jesters, immediately took after them.

"And Sir Dagator the Wise was no more, replaced by Sir Dagator the Jester. There was not a more foolish man on Crux for a thousand years. The end." Shrill finished her story.

"Long story short," Intrepid concluded, "re-animating smashed people in the Nexus wouldn't bring our family back. They wouldn't be our family anymore. I think... we have to let them go."

Mara had tears in her eyes, Luke looked grim, and Edgar nodded resignedly.

"Please don't." a voice said. It was Evelyne.

For the first time in two years Intrepid heard Evelyne's voice. He did what any long-lost brother should do - he went and gave her a hug, and his sister gripped him tight.

"It's so great to see you again." Intrepid said.

"You can't give up on us, if you knew what it means to *me* to see you again." Evelyne sniffed. She released her embrace but still held her brother by the shoulders to look at his face. "I wish I could have seen you sooner. Our family would love to see you."

Intrepid nodded. "I can't put them at the mercy of the Darkitect. There's no way." he said.

"No, there's always a way." Evelyne urged. "I'm sure of it. We just have to find it." She looked around. "Isn't this some kind of research facility?"

"Not the usual kind." Intrepid said. "But,"

"I'm already looking into Assembly files," Shrill reported. "If anyone worked on this sort of thing, it'd be them."

Evelyne turned to her, and a moment passed before her face dawned with recognition. "Shira?"

"Hi Evie." Shrill waved. "Now hush, I'm reading."

Intrepid glanced to Luke and Mara and pointed to the computers. The two grumbled a bit before heading to the desks and the terminals they used to download confidential Nexus Force files, in case Shrill didn't find anything in the older load.

"Download started," Luke said, "and it'll be running for awhile. We should probably go do something while we wait."

"I'm down for a movie." Mara said.

Intrepid wrapped an arm around Evelyne. "There'll be time for introductions later. Remember the last time we went to a theater?"

…

Their ragtag group of six teenagers and a young adult left Leek Works dressed in casuals. Evelyne got a long sleeved sweatshirt, gloves, and a hat to hide her new specialties. They avoided Nexus Force checkpoints wherever they were unnecessary and had Evelyne carry a Fountain of Imagination through the gate into the movie theater in Brick Annex.

"They're showing a movie about ducks." Luke said.

"Space ducks." Mara clarified. "I've wanted to see it since I saw the trailer last year, even though I know how it ends."

"Don't you hate trailers that tell you the entire plot?" Luke asked rhetorically. "Not to mention it's a prequel."

"In the end the universe explodes." Mara said. "Then they bring it back."

"Why are we even watching it then?" Intrepid asked.

"There are lasers and space battles, and a post-credits scene."

"Go get us tickets and seats," Intrepid said, handing a gift card to Mara. "I need to use a restroom. Take care of Evelyne."

"I can take of myself." Evelyne reminded.

"I'm sure you can." Intrepid waved. "Take care." While the others headed for a matinee, he scoured the lobby for a restroom. His search finally found some WC signs, pointing him into a dark hallway with three doors in the end. It was too dark to make out their emblems, so he took the plunge and entered a random door. He held his hand along the wall until he found a lightswitch, he flipped it, and quickly figured out he was in the wrong room. There were mops, brooms, and hanging coveralls, and no toilet. This was the janitor's closet.

Intrepid turned around to leave, but stopped in his place. Blocking his way out, someone stood between him and the door. She took her helmet off, revealing a familiar face framed with flowing red hair.

"Hey." Red said.

"This isn't a good time." Intrepid groaned.

"Look what's up and running again." Red said, gesturing at herself. "Leek Work's Transdimensional Division is back in action."

"Good to hear."

"The Maelstrom Dimension attacked again."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Take this." Red held out a wristwatch, and Intrepid took it. The logo identified it as an Unverse Manipulator. "It should work for a while, and if it stops you'll know why.

"I saw your transmission to Rover," Red said, "and I have another reason why you should destroy that mine, ideally immediately."

"We got word from our Luke Mercury." Red disclosed. "First he thanked us for apprehending his kids, then he told us what they were up to, lugging around Maelstrom Ore."

"For Tiberius?" Intrepid asked.

"The world doesn't revolve around you. No, my step-cousins-in-law were in the employment of a Maelstrom Dimensional contact. Luke interrogated them, since he, at least, has a grip on his kids. They were collecting ore samples from various dimensions, and giving that to the contact."

"Why would they do a thing like that?" Intrepid muttered.

"The contact had a good way of disguising himself, or herself? We don't actually know, and I didn't care to hear Cailan and Crims' motives either. They're jerks. Anyway," Red continued, "the thing is, objects or people from the different dimensions have an identifying feature. Our sub-atomic elements are tilted slightly differently, or something like that. Luke had done his own scouting in the Maelstrom Dimension, and he told us that its Maelstrom has some galaxy-wide telepathic communications and teleportation network. A prior report from Charles Bradfordson corroborated its existence. What Luke had to tell us, is that the Darkitect plans to use it to send armies into other dimensions too. By knowing samples of the various dimensions' Maelstrom ore, he can connect the current system to the Maelstrom hotspots they originated from."

"Including the second mine on Crux Prime." Intrepid defined. "Has it started yet?"

"No, it takes time to manipulate the sub-atomic sector. I wouldn't give an ETA, since honestly no one on the good side knows." Red sighed resignedly. "But it's going to happen, and it will be soon."

"Can you make the first move?" Intrepid asked.

"We want to, but it means mobilizing an army and motivating the whole Nimbus System, and beyond, into prepping for war. We're facing an entire dimension's worth of Maelstrom," Red stated, "an entire *reality*. It took us long enough to clean the Nimbus System."

"Do you think our dimension stands a chance?" Intrepid proposed. "We're already in a state of war. We have recruits coming in every day."

"Taking into account the 20 year technological difference between the Maelstrom Dimension and your dimension," Red said, "no way in hell.”

"How many dimensions are at risk?" Intrepid pressed. "There are tens of us."

"Hundreds." Red corrected. "It's worth a shot, getting a message to them and combining our forces. It would be the biggest breach of Unverse yet. Such a thing, as I've explained, would destroy the multiverse."

"Sounds to me like the Maelstrom is on their way to accomplishing that themselves."

"Just wanted to keep you up to date." Red concluded. "I've loaded a few 'safe' destinations into your Unverse Manipulator, as a precaution, if you need to get away from someplace. This is an upgraded model that can take more than a small group. Try attaching it to a vehicle, if you want to."

"Cool." Intrepid said, despite the grave implications. He tested his jaw. "Stay safe out there."

"I'll keep you updated." Red said. Then she was gone.

Intrepid left the janitorial closet and bumped into Mara, sipping on a straw dipped in a can of Cola.

"Do you always talk to yourself when you're alone?" the girl giggled.

"I wasn't alone." Intrepid informed her.

"I didn't hear anyone else." she said in between slurping her straw. "We have seats and soda."

"Go on, I still need a restroom." Intrepid shooed her away.

He had trouble focusing on the movie later, except for the part where a duck destroyed the universe. He wondered if that would be their fate as well.

Intrepid hoped Red was okay. He hoped Rover's team wasn't in trouble, scouting the Maelstrom mine. He wanted to get back to Leek Works and back into action. Few times before had so many people mattered to him. Cyclone. Kate. Rover. His team, Luke and Mara, Tornado and Edgar, this weird guy Ray. His family, Evelyne, Alex, and Shira. He could count many more, before the demise of Elistra sent him into stifling, selfish despondency.

He used to be a cheerful person before the Maelstrom took that away.

But his friends had stayed with him. Intrepid could think of one more loyal then them. He had to take on the quality his chosen name meant: courage in the face of fearsome oppression. He owed it to his friends, and their friends, to do everything he could to protect them. And he was a Nexus Force warrior, tasked with defending his fellow soldiers and the innocent from danger.

Intrepid considered Red's gift to him. He'd broken his last Unverse Manipulator the last time he'd tinkered with it. But if he gave it to Luke and Mara, could they turn it into an Unverse Transmitter? Or could they steal the Nexus Force's Transdimensional Ring from Nexus Tower, and use that?

Or instead of stealing it, they could just ask the Nexus Force for help...

Maybe it was time for their dimension's Leek Works to get a Nexus Force-sponsored Transdimensional Division. It was time to make the future the present. It was time to act now.

## Twenty-seven

A more fitting room to plan a strategic Nexus Force attack on the Second Maelstrom Mine under Crux Prime would be the Sentinel Command Center in Nexus Tower, with its holographic map of Crux Prime. But before they could get in there, Intrepid and his company first needed to convince Nexus Force leaders that the target, as well as the greater transdimensional threat, was real. The Observation Lounge atop the tower, the room the heroes were currently seated in, was also comfier than the Command Center, so no one present was particularly motivated to leave.

There were twenty odd chairs and stone-pattern benches arranged in rings in the Observation Lounge, centered around an array of elevators, also centered around the glass windows that formed the Tower's most integral shaft: the passage for the Imagination Nexus to rise into the clouds, visible through the also-clear ceiling of the Observation Lounge for those who wanted to crane their necks to see it. Everyone was looking at each other, however.

"I thought we were past the brink of winning this war." a brown haired, well-groomed, bearded man in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts complained. Intrepid had to blink a few times before he recognized Beck Strongheart. The Sentinel Commander had had to be flown in from a vacation property. Since the end of the Faction War, the re-united Nexus Force had made undeniably grand progress in purging the Maelstrom from many of the Nimbus worlds, including Avant Gardens, and there was already talk of opening a museum in the former Paradox Lab. Beck had thus taken a long-deserved break, but wearing his vacation clothes now, he was now 99% unrecognizable to anyone else who had seen him in his armor for so long.

Also present were Epsilon Starcracker, Sky Lane, and of course the four Faction Leaders: Duke, Hael, Vanda, and Albert.

On the other side of the observation lounge, facing the Nexus Force leaders, were Cyclone, Kate, and Rover, Skilled Honored Ninja and Strange Odd Shadow, and of course Intrepid. Stromling Cyclone was also there, although he was no longer a Stromling. There was no one else necessary to bring, except for the weird girl Allison Ryder who no one really knew anything about. Intrepid had hoped Red would be there, too, but she'd made it clear it was up to him to convince his dimension's Faction Leaders to take action.

So Intrepid had brought living proof of the other dimensions. The only hard part was the proving part.

"You're telling us the reason there's no more Maelstrom out there," Beck continued, waving his hand towards the windows overlooking Crux Prime, "is not because our brave soldiers destroyed them all, which they did at heavy cost. But because the Maelstrom is hiding? In a mine of all places?"

"It's entirey plausible." mused Starcracker. "We've beaten them to the point they must retreat to build their forces back."

"That's not the point." Intrepid reminded them again, for maybe the seventh time. "The mine is gearing up to be a gateway between dimensions. They're going to get reinforcements, through that mine, from an entirely Maelstrom Dimension that's twenty years more advanced than we are."

"I've never heard something more preposterous!" Beck shouted. "Where is the proof?"

Skilled Honored Ninja waved lazily. "Us. We're sitting right here."

Beck glared at the Sentinel Janitor. " I told you, you could be an imposter."

Jonna cleared her throat. "The Assembly lab is still analyzing the tissue samples we got from our visitors," she nodded at Stromling Cyclone, Skilled, and Shadow, then turned to Beck, "but so far their story adds up. Intrepid said to look for 'tilted atoms' and we've found that."

"That is what my contact told me." Intrepid confirmed. "I trust her."

"And who is your contact?" Beck questioned. "Why should *we* trust her?"

"The proof is in here," Cheerful Power Rover cut in.

The Buccanneer's monkey handed him a Nexus Force data plaque, which Rover tossed into the room's center. Everyone in the room paused to watch what happened next. The room's intelligent lighting dimmed as the plaque lit up, and it proceeded to project a series of holographic imagery around it, slowly rotating to show everyone its contents.

It didn't look like much more than a cave entrance, in a cliff-wall at a basin of a Crux Prime ravine, but there were obvious Stromlings captured in the spyshots from atop the cliff.

"There's something important down there," Rover said, "and undoubtedly it's of interest to the Maelstrom, so it's of interest to us."

"Yeah, because it's a Maelstrom Mine." Intrepid said.

"You tell a very far-fetched story." Epsilon said to him.

"Next time I'll skip the story and go straight to the results-"

"Which we can all agree are real." Kate completed for him. "Commander Strongheart, you can send more soldiers to clear any doubts."

"Even better, we can send planes." Epsilon said.

"No need." Duke Exeter, quiet until then, announced. He unfolded his arms when he stood up. The other leaders followed suit, and Duke nodded to Overbuild.

"We already had a spy satellite aimed at the coordinates you provided us, for a few months." the Assembly leader revealed. "We have adjusted its lens array to subvert cloaking tech - a cloak *we* put on the site, which I'm afraid is the reason no one else has heard of it."

"Except for you," Duke said, gesturing to Rover and Intrepid, "and now everyone else in this room, too." He had a tone and expression that seemed to say, *and none of you were supposed to know.*

"How could you know about the mine, and not destroy it already?" Rover asked, looking surprised. Glancing around, just about everyone excluding the faction leaders, Beck, and Epsilon looked either stunned or unimpressed. Even Jonna, a senior Assembly operative, looked out of the loop.

"Maelstrom Ore is highly infectious," Rover continued, starting to look more aghast. "And dangerous..."

"In many terrible ways." Intrepid agreed.

"How could you *not* be actively trying to destroy it-"

"The site is contained." Vanda assured. "It's been since we found it."

"We'll let you know, now," Duke said, turning to Beck, Epsilon, and Sky Lane, "that contrary to popular opinion, we *have* formed a plan to destroy the site from the inside out. Paradox has come through and created a reverse-transmissible payload for us. Once exposed to Maelstrom Ore, it will reverse-infect infected matter with a destructive antitoxin. The Ore will link to every trace of Maelstrom in the universe. It's the ultimate end-game weapon, without us having to synthesize our own Ore."

"I know a guy who can do some of that for you." Intrepid said.

Duke cast a sidelong glance at the Bat Lord. "They shouldn't be here anymore."

"Or more accurately, we shouldn't be here." Overbuild said tactly.

"See us confidentially." Vanda instructed the Nexus Force subcommanders, then she vanished.

No one blinked. They'd eyes hadn't been tricked... or maybe they had. The Faction Leaders were there one instant and then they were gone, completely disappeared from the lounge they had never been in to begin with. In the transparent scaffolding holding up the glass roof, holographic projectors powered down. The Faction Leaders were 'safe' in some other location, perhaps not even in Nexus Tower.

Beck Strongheart, Epsilon Starcracker, and Sky Lane still remained, though.

Intrepid glanced towards Cyclone, who was closest to the door. He tried to push its handle discreetly, but Intrepid could see it was like pushing a wall. Cyclone shook his head. The doors were locked.

"Try to remain calm," Sky Lane said, before she and the others put on gas masks. A hissing sound became apparent. "The AMM, Anti-Memory Mist, will do its work and then you'll be free to go."

Everyone took deep breaths, even Rover's monkey, George. "I didn't come here to get my mind wiped." Intrepid retorted frustratedly, before tilting his nose into his collar. He could still smell the sweet aroma of the Anti-Memory Mist. Contrary to Evelyne's and Alex's complaints when they were younger and still lived together, the smell of his sweat wouldn't make him lightheaded.

Intrepid was getting lightheaded nonetheless, as was everyone else there, under the cruel gaze of Beck, Epsilon, and Sky.

"Trust me, this is better than going to jail." Epsilon said.

*We know that*, Intrepid thought of Calm Thoughtful Tornado.

"We might still incarcerate them..." Beck said, his voice muffled behind his gas mask. Or maybe it was unconsciousness making him hard to hear.

Intrepid blinked heavily, fighting back the crushing urge to lie down and sleep. And forget. And get jailed. He tried to keep his teammates in sight. Cyclone, the second Cyclone, Skilled Honored Ninja, and Allison Ryder were closest the vents, and were slumping to the floor, practically asleep already, probably already forgetting their encounter. Strange Odd Shadow didn't look as affected, oddly, or maybe he was used to sleeping standing up. Rover and Kate were still awake, barely, as was Intrepid. The vents would stay on until they all dropped.

Suddenly Intrepid's eyes shot open, he felt like he was falling - not unconsciously but physically, gravitatiously falling. And there was wind buffetting his back. The air was clear and cold and thin, and the air smelled fresh. It took him a few more moments of clarity to realize he had been teleported outside the lounge onto it's roof. The Unverse Manipulator, the new one Red gave him, was in his hand.

He was also slipping off the roof and had to stab a combat blade into the transparent plastic alloy to keep from falling off the edge of Nexus Tower.

Intrepid took a deep breath of the thin air, which at this high atmosphere wasn't much better than the Anti-Memory Mist. He pressed his head against the windows and heard, to his alarm, Beck shout, "We should have checked them before letting them in!" They knew he had escaped.

Now he could escape farther away, to anywhere in or out of his universe. Red had programmed some safe locations, Intrepid remembered her telling him. But she'd also told him he could bring, in her words, "more than a small group."

Cyclone, Cyclone #2, Kate, Rover, Skilled Honored Ninja and Strange Odd Shadow, and Allison Ryder constituted a small group. They were also his friends so he had to save them.

"Confound thee, Nexus Force." Intrepid muttered. The Anti-Memory Mist must have messed with his head for him to suddenly say something in some gibberish he didn't even understand. He grabbed his Shield of Shielding out of his backpack, taking care not to drop either, and hoped it would be protect him from the AM Mist. He would teleport out as soon as he felt its effects.

Then he willed the Unverse Manipulator to life and teleported in, behind Beck Strongheart who had darted around to the other side of the elevators, in search of him, obviously. "Sorry Commander," Intrepid said, then knocked the Commander with the face of his shield. He fell and did not get up.

He teleported behind Epsilon Starcracker and tried to execute the same maneuver, but the Mara soldier had put on his armor and all Intrepid's shield did was get a solid *Clang* out of Epsilon's blue helmet.

"I remember when I gave you your Basic Short Sword!" Epsilon said, turning around. He held a Spear and a Hammer in each of his hands. "I'll give you a once in a lifetime chance to reconsider.... YOUR PUNISHMENT!"

He proceeded to swing the Hammer, obviously something more powerful than a Basic Hammer, at Intrepid, who raised his shield to counteract it, but the force of the impact sent Intrepid flying across the room.

Intrepid got up quickly to see Epsilon storming over, and Sky Lane was coming from the other side of the elevators. He knew he had to act quickly to get his teammates, and himself, out of Nexus Tower without any lasting damage.

He lobbed a duo of Flash Bangs and the teleported to Allison Ryder. He grabbed her, warped, and threw her on top of Skilled Honored Ninja. He went and grabbed Cyclone, Rover, Jonna, Strange Odd Shadow, Ryder, and the other Cyclone, and lastly Kate. Fueled by adrenaline he'd managed to go back and forth between all of them before the Flash Bangs cooled off. Now that they were in a pile, he had to figure out how to transport all of them. They'd held hands before....

"Try attaching it to a vehicle, if you want to."

Intrepid heard motion to his side and darted to the windows, then teleported next to Epsilon Starcracker and tripped him into the glass. Sky Lane tried to kick him in the face but at the moment of impact, Intrepid teleported both of them onto the roof.

Then he came back and started moving all of his teammates's bodies into the elevator.

Then his Shield of Shielding died.

Intrepid covered his mouth and pressed the button the close the elevator doors. There were two layers of them, like an airlock. After they slid shut, Intrepid slumped back, somehow finding a space to lean on that wasn't occupied by someone's arm or leg or head. He had to think. If this didn't work, he'd effectively trapped them all.

*Attach it.* his inner voice reminded him.

Intrepid slid the Unverse Manipulator off his wrist and delicately pressed it against the elevator's wall. He slid it around but nothing changed until it reached the area of the control panel. Its dimensions began to expand, soon covering over the original panel with a faux control board of its own, with an LED board of its own, on which it read its source date in two calendars: 2034 / 3048. There was also a blinking warning in the corner, reading, Low Power.

The elevator doors were suddenly wrenched open, two gloved, power-suit assisted hands steadily pushing them apart.

"Here's Starcracker!" Epsilon whooped.

Intrepid grabbed the nearest weapon he could see, an Assembly Sidearm off Jonna, pointed it at Epsilon and shot him in the face. Epsilon staggered back. The force of the laser blast didn't even crack his visor, and Epsilon was unhurt, but his momentary removal was necessary.

Intrepid set the weapon to overload and threw it out of the elevator. He didn't want its internal Nexus Force certified tracking device where he was going. Then he grabbed at the Unverse Manipulator's Elevator Control Panel, conjured a picture of his Leek Works basement in his mind, and willed the Unverse Manipulator to get them out of Nexus Tower.

There was a loud grating noise as the elevator car scraped down against the unfinished, concrete floor of present-day Leek Works, and finally Intrepid allowed himself to breathe in relief. At the same time, the Unverse Manipulator fell to the ground in the form of some palm-sized box, complete with the same minimal controls and screen, which now read, Power Depleted, Emergency Charging Initiated. It would be useless for awhile.

But it didn't matter since they were safe for now, so Intrepid hoped.

"What the brick?!" Intrepid heard the voice of Luke Mercury shout out. Pulling himself out of the elevator, Intrepid saw Luke, Mara, and Shira looking into the room, one of the storage rooms, from the doorway to the main section.

"Is that an elevator?" Mara asked.

"Check for trackers." Intrepid ordered, and Luke grabbed a scanning device off the wall.

"No signals detected on Nexus Force wavelengths," the blond boy reported. His face twisted, reflecting the concern obviously visible in Intrepid's face. "Are we compromised?" Luke asked.

Intrepid took a deep breath. "No, I don't think so." he said at last. "We're still a secret to the Nexus Force."

## Twenty-eight

Later that evening...

In the old laundromat that housed Leek Works, the secret base and headquarters for the society of three fostering Intrepid, Luke, and Mara, there were three main rooms. The entrance was the most finished, with couches and a coffee table over false-wood flooring, and a small “Welcome” mat in front of the door – an existential oxymoron, considering the door was protected by ten deadbolts, large and small, and a padlock.

Next was the server room, from which the Mercuries frequently hacked Nexus Force archives. Cheap plastic desks lined its walls, and atop them sat laptops and terminals for different servers. In the concrete floor’s center were more server computers.

Past a door leading out the server room’s back was an unfinished hallway lacking wallpaper and insulation. Stairs lead down to the basement, used for storage. It held interesting things the trio felt like keeping, and whatever junk they picked up but couldn’t yet throw away, including their latest acquisition: a Nexus Tower elevator. A small closet also used as a storage room was behind another doorway.

The last door, made of wood, guarded a medium-sized room which Intrepid was working on converting into an office, or a laboratory. Half the floor was carpeted, and that side had a desk, shelves, chairs, soft lighting, a laptop, and a server terminal. The other half was tiled, with boxes full of junk, more shelves with tools, and more tables.

On a chair in the lab side sat Intrepid, wearing a red space sweater over his casuals, leaned over a black box opened at the top. Two wires snaked over its edge and across the table, ending at a PCB with an LCD and some switchboards. The boy was prodding each wire’s ends with a multi-meter, which beeped unsteadily. Then he went back to soldering. He was too focused on the job that he didn’t look up when someone walked in.

“Excuse me, do you work here?” a girl’s voice asked.

“I am working, yes,” answered Intrepid. He turned his head enough to identify who was speaking, since she had a voice similar to one other person. She wore a white and blue Nexus Force tee and cargo jeans, and had shoulder-length red hair.

“I was just wondering if you could point me to a water fountain. And on that note… a water closet too, while you’re at it.” Kate added.

“That way,” Intrepid pointed out the door and twirled his finger. “We don’t have one. You have to go across the street to the restaurant, Kate.”

“Thanks- but hold on a moment partner, how do you know who I am? I don’t *remember* telling you my name.”

Intrepid looked up, wondering for a moment if Anti-Memory Mist was more permanent than he thought. “Are you serious-”

“Relax, I’m kidding.” the red haired girl grinned. “Although I gotta say, I definitely don’t remember our Faction Leaders being so militantly secretive. Didn’t you say the Faction War ended, while Cyclone and I were gone?”

“Some sentiments extend into maritime...” Intrepid’s voice trailed as he returned to his soldering.

Kate sidled up next to the table. “Watcha working on?”

“I’m turning this Transdimensional Manipulator into a Transdimensional Tracker.” Intrepid said. He tested the multi-meter again, and this time it gave a steady beep.

“Trans-di-what?” Kate repeated.

Intrepid picked up a metal helmet, its inner surface containing six dish-shaped receptacles, and plugged it into the PCB. “So long as you’re here, you can put this on,” he said, handing it to Kate, and she handled it tentatively.

“And this is-?” she asked of the eyebrow-raising headgear.

“I haven’t yet reverse-engineered how the Manipulator interfaces with brainwaves,” Intrepid explained. “The last time I tried, it broke. Instead, Luke gave me this, a brainwave reader, and it should work just fine for visualization purposes.”

“It’s for reading brainwaves.” Kate repeated back.

“It’s harmless. I can wear it if-”

Kate put the helmet on. “Now what?”

“Think of somebody far away.” Intrepid instructed. He flipped a switch on the switchboard to power up the LCD, which immediately displayed a string of numbers: relative coordinates. Intrepid’s eyes narrowed in contemplation, and he pressed another switch to bring up a map. “There’s a planet there?” he asked aloud.

Kate nodded. “Yep. It’s right where I thought my sister would be.”

“You have family?” Intrepid asked. It was a stupid question, he realized, that he could have phrased better. “That’s neat.”

“Now for someone closer.” Kate said, smiling, and the numbers switched to a bunch of zeroes, indicating someone close by. Remembering the other feature Luke said the helmet had, Intrepid flipped another switch, and the screen displayed a bunch of scratchy lines, resembling what could have been a figure.

Intrepid and Kate scrutinized it. “That’s *not* how things look in my head,” Kate said at last.

“It doesn’t look like me, no.” Intrepid agreed.

“I was thinking of Cyclone.” Kate deadpanned.

“Oh.”

Kate set the helmet on the table and rubbed her forehead. “This headache better be psychosomatic.”

“There’s one more test I ought to do,” Intrepid added, “if this can locate people in other dimensions.”

“If it’s got ‘dimension’ in the name, of course it does.” Kate said. “So what’s the point of this thing? You’ve been down here for hours but none of your crazy teammates wanted to check on you, so I did. And,” she opened her backpack and spawned some pizza slices, “we got about fifty pies of this, courtesy of Ray’s employee discount. Are you trying to find someone?”

“Two someones.” Intrepid said gravely. “Tiberius, and Alex.”

The terminal on the office desk lit up, and then Luke’s voice came through. “We got trouble.” the blond said.

Intrepid stood up, and he and Kate barged out the door. They ran through the hallway into the entrance room, where they met with Luke, Mara, Shrill, Ray, Edgar, Evelyne, and the others from Nexus Tower. Since they were all fugitives for the moment, Luke, Mara, and Shrill had rather forcefully kept Jonna and Rover holed up in the basement, but they were here now.

“I said stay *back*,” Luke repeated, trying to shoo the crowd into the server room, while keeping his eyes on the door. “Unless you’re willing to shoot at Nexus Force grunts.”

“The Nexus Force is here?” Intrepid yelped.

Mara swung open a large suitcase and pulled out a bunch of wooden sticks, which after a double take everyone took a moment to identify as bayonets. Intrepid tsked. “That’s not what I meant when I said ‘buy discounted weapons’,” he said to the auburn-headed Mercury.

“Can you just let me and Rover speak to them?” Jonna protested. “We’re high-ranking, respected officers.”

Mara handed Intrepid a smartphone, displaying a camera feed of the Nimbus Station street outside Leek Work’s front entrance. It was roadblocked off with Faction Race Cars, and an entire contingent of Sentinel, Venture, and Assembly soldiers stood between them, weapons aimed at the ground. Standing in the middle of them was Duke Exeter.

“Exeter’s here?” Intrepid said incredulously. He zoomed in on the faction leader, who looked like he was saying something, but no sound came through. “Turn on the audio feed.”

“-know you’re in there.” Duke’s voice cut in mid-sentence. Uncharacteristic of him, he spoke like he was trying to sound humbled. He was somewhat successful. “Please, send someone out. We’re willing to talk now.”

“Get rid of these bayonets,” Intrepid muttered, and he approached the door. He turned around. “You all,” he ordered, “stay here.” He began unlocking the door, lock by lock, and slowly opened it. Then he stepped out to meet Duke Exeter.

This warm evening in Industrial Nimbus Station was full of grim, sweating soldiers. The men and women in Exeter’s contingent knew they were here to guard their leader, sure, but as to why *Duke Exeter* was here, that they didn’t know.

“I’m not one for apologies.” the Duke said, once Intrepid, fully protected in his Bat Lord armor, exited onto the sidewalk. The way the Sentinel Leader spoke and stood was staunch, statue-like in the middle of his guard in the middle of the street, in defiance of everyone else’s obvious discomfort and any associated twitching or wavering. The Sentinel Faction Leader had composure.

Since no one was pointing a gun at him, Intrepid figured it was safe to communicate. “What are you here for, then?” Intrepid asked slowly.

“I’m here to work things out, ascertain priorities, make sure our organizations are not in conflict.” Duke stated. “The last thing we need is another civil war.”

“Trying to imprison your own soldiers is totally in line with preventing another war.” Intrepid said sarcastically.

“When authority demands it, I’m sure you can understand leaders must do questionable things, at times.” Duke said. “Tell me, are you a soldier of the Nexus Force?”

Intrepid considered. *Not really*. He, Luke, and Mara were more like escapees using the Nexus Force as a means of change for themselves. The three of them openly touted their team-performance and combat-mastery as skills to help others. *For a time*. Intrepid freely admitted, to himself, that his involvement in the war at this point was majorly out of self-interest.

But more recently he’d gained a sense of family loyalty.

Although that wouldn’t be what Duke wanted to hear.

“My loyalty is to the Nexus Force.” Intrepid said with a nod.

“It *was* presumed you had an organization, a gang perhaps.” Duke admitted. "Let's assume my intel was wrong." The Faction Leader gestured to the array of storefronts and short alley entrances. “These old factory buildings, used by small businesses until the Battle of Nimbus Station, are now common hideaways for pirates, draft-dodgers, mercenaries, fugitives.” Gazing across at Intrepid, the leader’s blue eyes stared with the intensity of a powerful leader.

“This is rented space.” Intrepid said. “My friends and I share it for storage. I’m just a guy with nothing to hide, and some interesting friends.” He shrugged innocently for good measure.

“Your antics in Nexus Tower suggested a different impression, but I am a man of second chances. That is why I am here.” Duke wrapped up and took a deep breath for his next statements. “I and my fellow leaders have decided, this war has gone on enough. The Nexus Force has elected to immediately eliminate the Second Maelstrom Mine on Crux Prime, and the Nexus Force needs all of its forces for this final push. And its commanders.”

“Jonna and Rover.” Intrepid figured.

“I said all of its commanders.” Duke repeated.

“I haven't kidnapped anyone else-”

Duke raised a hand to cut him off. “I mean you. We *are* aware of your achievements on Avant Gardens, and on planet EL15 in the Epsilon Constellation.”

“Elistra.” Intrepid corrected.

“We’re mobilizing forces from the entire Nimbus System, even the factionless. You’re a team leader, Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, and a unique one – you don’t have a faction.” Duke explained. “One day the Sentinels would love to have you, but right now the entire Nexus Force, and the Nimbus System as a whole, needs you as you are, to help lead our rowdiest group of soldiers: the Failed-To-Perform-ers. The Avant Gardens Rejects.”

Intrepid shuddered, knowing all to well who Duke Exeter meant.

The “Failed-To-Perform-ers,” or “FTP”ers as they were more commonly known, was the common name for the serving Nexus Force soldiers fighting the Maelstrom on Avant Gardens. These soldiers, like Intrepid, had no faction. There were only two reasons why they could be on Avant Gardens. They either opted to stay and fight on the underappreciated world out of their own accord, like Intrepid – or they utterly failed the Faction Trials, tests of strength, intelligence, and wit required to join one of the Factions, so they were sent back to Avant Gardens where they could relax on the Block Yards or fight ‘easy enemies.’ Many of them went to Block Yards for good reason.

Of those that fought, many were unprepared for the madness of Spider Bosses, or sudden attacks by hordes of Stromlings that turned the world into a type of Survival of the fittest. Odd occurrences happened every once in a while on poor Avant Gardens, and many low-level minifigures would be smashed.

The most recent oddity was an attack by the Maelstrom Dimension on the Sentinel Base Camp, but Intrepid, Luke, and Mara had been there to defend it. They had been there to defend Avant Gardens from many threats before then. In a potential future, they may be there still.

So that’s what Duke was talking about.

It was a warm evening in Industrial Nimbus Station. In between a squad of sweating soldiers, Duke Exeter and Intrepid Fusion Eclipse stared each other down.

“Okay.” Intrepid said at last. “No wait. Let me get this straight. You’re sending the Nexus Force’s objective worst to attack the strongest Maelstrom stronghold on the most dangerous world, Crux Prime, and you want *me* to command them?”

“No, no!” Duke shouted. “You have it two-thirdsly wrong. While I *do* want you to command them, it is not to attack the Maelstrom Mine. *I* and the fellow leaders will lead an army of *Faction Members*, the Nexus Force's Marast, to attack the Mine. But during that time, the rest of the Nimbus System would be at risk of external attack. But they won’t be,” Duke said with a smile, “since you will be out there, helping the rest of my appointed commanders to lead the forces on Avant Gardens, Nimbus Station, Pet Cove, Gnarled Forest, and Forbidden Valley. Assembly will provide the transports to get the FTP soldiers to these locations.”

“You expect me to be on five worlds at once?” Intrepid asked incredulously.

“Even if you can teleport, I expect you to select your own subcommanders, and I did mention other commanders - you wouldn’t be working alone.” Duke said. “You’re not the first person I’ve sent a field promotion letter to. And in case of trouble, there will be a few Faction squadrons on call and in reserve as well. But a Sentinel word of advice, *there is strength in numbers*. Avant Gardens is full of bodies- I mean promising soldiers. With leadership to guide them, I know the Nimbus System will be safe.”

“Why even is everyone else going to Crux Prime?!” Intrepid exclaimed. “Are you planning a siege or something?”

Duke sighed. “Do you know how large the Maelstrom force in underground Crux Prime is?”

“No.” Intrepid answered.

“Enough to fill the entire Nimbus System.” Duke said gravely. “Or several, entire Nimbus Systems. Our scanners suggest millions of Stromlings, and possibly tens of thousands of bosses. It doesn’t make much sense, does it, how they could amass that many so quickly?”

“No, it doesn’t.” Intrepid said. *It makes perfect sense*, he thought to himself, based on the intel Red gave him. They were reinforcements from the Maelstrom Dimension.

“Paradox has theorized they’re a byproduct of the Maelstrom Ore amassed under Crux Prime,” Duke said. “Vanda believes the Maelstrom is spawning forces straight from the corrupted earth.”

*Close enough*. Intrepid thought. “Sounds to me you have a mighty task on your hands, then, to destroy it all.” he said.

“Exactly. Fortunately, we have the strength, soldiers, tools, vehicles, and weapons to orchestrate a campaign that will destroy them all." Duke concluded. "Unfortunately, it will take a long time, possibly months, to get a point where we can unleash the Paradox antitoxin on a Maelstrom Ore deposit itself. Our Venture Scouts believe the Ore is buried quite deeply.

“So," Duke Exeter posed the important question, "you’ll accept promotion to Nexus Force commander and lead the FTPers?”

“You’re a Faction Leader.” Intrepid said, and Duke tilted his head back to stare down at him. “I can’t say no to this honor.” Intrepid said at last, outwardly respectful, but inwardly resigned.

Just when he thought he was an independent, he was still a Nexus Force soldier. He was expected to be a co-commander of an army of peasants large enough to fill the entire Nimbus System, save Crux Prime, while the Faction Leaders focused their efforts on finishing off Crux Prime from Nexus Tower. It was a monumental campaign in a penultimate stage in the war the Nexus Force was ready to progress into.

“I accept the role of Nimbus System Commander.” Intrepid declared.

“You are hereby promoted, Captain Intrepid Fusion Eclipse.” Duke confirmed.

Captain. It was a nice title. For a second, Intrepid considered it paired with his family name. He’d never use it, but Captain Talmid had a nice ring to it.

So Intrepid smiled at Duke, waved, and the Sentinel Leader bid his farewell. Soon, Duke Exeter had boarded his heli-jet with some of his soldiers, and the rest of them meandered off to their new assignment: Transport to Crux Prime.

But inwardly Intrepid was screaming to himself that he had to leave too.

He swung open the door to Leek Works. “Hi Luke, Mara, Shira,” he greeted everyone present, “Evelyne, everyone.” He grabbed the nearest things: a laptop, some crates of bricks, and stuffed them in his backpack. “Everyone pack. I bet the Nexus Force will be back in the hour to raid this place."

"We're compromised after all.” Mara groaned. "I'll miss Leek Works."

“You two,” Intrepid said, pointing at Jonna and Rover, “are wanted on Crux Prime.”

“We heard.” Rover muttered, his mouth a thin line.

“We all did.” Cyclone said. He gestured to a stack of letters on the coffee table. “And we’re *all* wanted on Crux Prime.”

Kate kicked at the stack, turning it into a pile that slid to the floor. “Fresh out of the mailbox. It was nice knowing you all,” she said gloomily, “we may as well infect ourselves now.”

“Except you’d magically get a new body to survive in.” Rover noted. “Cyclone too.”

“This isn’t necessarily a suicide mission,” Cyclone said, though he didn’t sound so sure.

“So who are your co-commanders gonna be, Captain Intrepid?” Luke asked brightly.

“Can I be a co-commander?” Mara asked.

“No one here is being a commander!” Intrepid groaned. “Unless you want to, I mean, I’m not.” He rubbed his head and started pacing. “I need time to think." He turned on his heel. "There’s too much going on here." Pace. "We’ve got to clear this building and move house," pace, "before the Nexus Force gets back," pace, "but I’ve got to locate Tiberius and Alex," pace, "and I’ve got to figure out a way to fix Evelyne before the Paradox antitoxin smashes her-"

Intrepid suddenly felt like laying down. Before he knew it, the floor was rushing up to him. He spun himself around, blinked, and found himself staring at the ceiling, his ears ringing, all sounds muffled and his vision blurring at the edges. His teammates were staring down at him, saying his name, and someone picked up his hand as his eyes fluttered and his breathing went from shallow to halting to slowed. There was nothing they could do to keep him from blacking out.

## Twenty-nine

A white ceiling and dancing light.

Intrepid rolled over to face the flapping drapes. Past the open window were waving branches with autumn leaves, casting orange, red, and yellow hues into the plain room.

Where was he at? *How* long was he out?

He slid out of the covers, stood up, and found his backpack leaning against a night table. A quick check through its draws found only two mothballs and some dust bunnies. Giving the room a once over, there was nothing else of interest. Intrepid shouldered his pack and exited through the door into an upstairs hallway with wood panel walls. Past three more sets of evenly spaced doors, all closed, were the steps he took down.

He entered into a kitchen, its floor and counters empty and clean, with a wood table and four chairs. In one of the chairs sat a familiar person in this unfamiliar house. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and a mature face. She was someone on his team, but Intrepid couldn’t place her name at the moment. His brain still felt scrambled.

“I know who you are,” Intrepid said, thumping his forehead, and taking a moment to look around. He could see more trees out the window above the sink, and the front door was on the other side of the room. “Give me a moment. Aha, I remember you.” he said, and started edging his way to the door.

Allison Ryder nodded and smiled. “I also know who you are, Aiden Talmid.”

Intrepid stopped dead. “What?”

“Sit down,” Allison said, “I want to test my psychiatric analysis skills on you.”

“I take it back, I don’t know who you are.” Intrepid said, not sitting down.

“I’m a lot of things, whatever I want to be.” Allison said, sinisterly? Or just awkwardly? She weirded Intrepid out.

“How do you know me?” Intrepid breathed.

“I don’t know you *personally*,” Allison clarified, “just who you could be.”

“You’re from the other dimension.” Intrepid recalled.

“Righto.” Allison made a hand blaster and fired it. “And in there, our families shared an intertwined fate.”

Realization dawned on Intrepid. “You’re Kate’s sister.”

“Wrong.”

“I don’t have time to play games,” Intrepid equipped his armor. He looked outside again. “Where are the others?”

“Outside.” Allison answered.

“That settles it.” He started moving.

“Do you know Eclipse?” Allison asked.

Intrepid stopped in his tracks again, remembering the girl from Elistra. What did he know about her? Nothing. “How do *you* know an Eclipse?” he asked.

“I told you, our families are intertwined.” Allison repeated.

“That made no sense the first time, and it still doesn’t.” Intrepid muttered. “I need air.” *To think*, he thought to himself, and he walked to the door.

“You should ask your uncle Killian about the history of the Talmids and the Ryders.” Allison called to his retreating form.

“I know of no such history!” he called back.

“That’s why you should ask.”

“I don’t even know where- forget it.” Intrepid yanked open the door, crossed the threshold, and slammed it shut.

Glowing rays of sunlight warmed Intrepid’s face from above. It was morning, wherever he was, facing a grassy yard surrounded by trees. The air was fresh in his lungs. He could close his eyes and forget himself here.

But he needed to think. Intrepid rubbed his head again. It hurt to think.

His ears picked up the sound of swords clanging in the vicinity. Intrepid turned his head, trying to locate its source. It was somewhere else in the yard, maybe behind the house, which all he could see of now was the brick siding of its front patio. Wherever the others were, they were somewhere else outside.

– – – – –

Outside in the backyard, Cyclone steadied the sword in his hand. He balanced on his feet, barefoot in the grass, standing opposite his opponent – his training partner – his mentor – his apprentice.

His friend.

“Find your energy,” Cyclone instructed, partly to himself. He closed his eyes and could feel his imagination spark in his chest, feeling as if it were submerged in a pool of water. He willed warmth into it and the water began to bubble, like tea on a flame. “You can feel it, good, that’s good, now focus it through your arm and into the swor-”

He opened his mouth and screamed. Someone had whacked him. He shook his head and grimaced, but that someone was laughing. When she was laughing, it was difficult to be upset.

“Okay, that was funny.” Cyclone admitted to Kate.

She grinned. “You shouldn’t let your guard down. You were saying, ‘Imagine we’re in a battlefield,’ ‘Imagine there are dragons.’ If I were a dragon, you’d be toast with your eyes closed.”

“I’m trying to teach you,” Cyclone sighed, “how to harness our powers! Practice starts with patience, and cleared minds.”

“I appreciate it, Psyclone.” Kate said, and laughed again at her own joke.

Cyclone rolled his eyes. “When I first discovered my powers, it was in a situation of life or death, and I didn’t know the best way to harness them. I saved myself thanks to them, but it hurt. It’s safe to channel your power through a weapon, or a tool.”

He pulled a Force Blade of Lightning from his backpack. “This is a Force Blade of Lightning.” Cyclone said.

Kate squinted her eyes. "I see.” she said. “It is a Force Blade of Lightning.”

“What if the lightning came from your hands?”

Kate held up her hands and shook her head. “Sounds like it’d hurt. I say no thanks.”

“That’s exactly my point, because then our hands are the medium.” Cyclone punched the air and picked up his previous sword, a Short Sword of Stunning. “But metal doesn’t have nerves.”

“An alchemist may disagree with you.” Kate said.

“Do you know an alchemist?” Cyclone asked, though he did wonder for a second if he had been advocating hurting a sword.

“No,” Kate snorted, “and I know nothing about alchemy either.”

Cyclone facepalmed when she spent another five seconds snickering. “This is serious,” the brown haired boy groaned. “Tell me you weren’t like this in class.”

“I was,” Kate said seriously, “but I took classes from home, so there was no one to hear me complain.”

Cyclone twirled the sword and furrowed his brow, in concentration, and concern. “No one? Not even your parents?”

“Definitely not my parents.” Kate said, spinning her blade. She let it stop pointing upwards. “What were you saying again, about harnessing our power?”

“Find it,” Cyclone started again, “focus on it, and-”

A bolt of lightning suddenly erupted from the tip of Kate’s longsword, and Cyclone barely covered his ears in time before the booming crack of thunder accompanied the arc of electricity into the top of the nearest tree. Sparks flew and some branches hit the ground in flame.

Cyclone ran to put them out, blinking to fix his eyes which still saw the streak of light every direction he looked. “A little warning next time!” he shouted over the echoing in his ears, but he felt pretty exuberant. They were getting somewhere.

“Neat!” Kate whooped and grabbed Cyclone around the shoulders. “What other tricks do you know?” she asked eagerly.

“That’s it,” Cyclone admitted. “I didn’t really have a teacher myself. I guess lightning must come naturally?”

“Oh hey,” Kate said.

Cyclone followed her gaze to see Intrepid rounding the corner of the house. Its walls were stacked brick fin the front, and white painted wood in the back where they were now. It had two floors and an attic under its latitudinal-facing roof. The boy had equipped his Bat Lord gear, and slowed to a walk as he looked around.

“I heard combat.” he said.

“We were training.” Kate explained. “Things got explodey.”

“I heard.” Intrepid repeated. “Where is this? Where is everyone?”

“They’re probably awake now, or out of bed, now, thanks to Kate.” Cyclone said, checking his watch. “Everyone was pretty lagged when we got to this Avant Grove. It’s around 4AM, Nimbus Station time.”

“That explains it.” Intrepid said. “How long have I been out? And who’s property is this? Is everyone here?”

“We’re all here: your teammates, your sister, Rover, Skilled Honored Ninja and Strange Odd Shadow, even Jonna,” Kate said, “and some guy named Calm Thoughtful Tornado who Luke and Mara told us to check on.”

“Lucky for him we found him in a pizza place,” Cyclone related grimly. “The Nexus Force raided your Nimbus City apartment when he was gone. No doubt they’ve done Leek Works, too.”

“Did we get our stuff out?!” Intrepid exclaimed in alarm.

“We all donated backpack space. Everything’s here, even the elevator.” Kate said, and Intrepid sighed in relief. “As for how long you’ve been counting sheep...”

“You don’t sleep a lot, do you Intrepid.” Cyclone stated.

“Thirty-two hours.” Kate said flatly.

“No wonder I suddenly feel very hungry, and other things.” Intrepid said, looking faint.

Cyclone went to the back door and held it open for Intrepid and Kate. “Let’s go inside.”

“This is one of the properties I owned before Kate and I got stranded.” Cyclone explained as they entered the back hallway.

“How did you get a house?” Intrepid asked, taking in even more additional rooms. Archways in the hall lead into a lounge on the house’s right side and a study room full of bookshelves on the left. There was another doorway leading down to a basement. The kitchen and stairs to the upper floor were ahead.

“There was a team of Assembly guys who built houses on Nexus Tower." Cyclone explained. "Cool guys. I bought this house from them and put it here. It came in modules. Kate, Rover, and Blade helped set it up.”

“You said that when we left this universe, everyone in the universe forgot about us, or something along those lines.” Kate told Intrepid. “We’re counting on that to keep us hidden, since except for automated messages, like the latest recruitment notices, we’ve gotten no mail, from any living people, at all. Including old friends.”

“Rover certainly remembers you.” Intrepid said, as footsteps began thumping down the stairs to the kitchen.

“Yeah, and so did you, somehow. Crazy how nature does that.” Kate said. “I wouldn’t think too hard about it, though. And,” she added with a smile, “neither should you. You might faint.”

Intrepid nodded, even though he knew what had happened that caused Cheerful Power Rover to remember Cyclone and Kate. The Buccaneer was the one person Intrepid contacted after Red told him to bring Cyclone and Kate back, and it was Red who had reminded Intrepid about Cyclone and Kate.

It had been easy for Intrepid to find Rover. The Buccaneer had made himself one of the top generals of the Venture League. He was on motivational posters and magazine covers. Every Venture in Nimbus Station spoke his name in awe. The first time they’d met after Cyclone and Kate’s return, in Nimbus Plaza, Intrepid recalled an injured Venture Adventurer in crutches approaching them. The Adventurer had saluted Rover and said, “I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee.”

Intrepid didn’t want to admit, however, that it was *he* who hadn’t remembered the others in Cyclone and Kate’s circle of friends. He could remember some other prominent names, like Krill Mathias or Lord Brocktree. But it had been so long ago, and so many things had happened to and concerning *him* since then….

“I’m sure if you contacted your friends, they would remember you.” Intrepid said sincerely. It had been instant-realization with him and with Rover, and speaking of the Buccaneer, he was the first person down the stairs.

“There you are,” Rover yawned, stretching the sleep out of his body. “I thought it was raining? I woke up to thunder.”

“We all did, sleepyhead.” came Luke’s voice. He and Mara clomped noisily down behind Rover, but unlike Rover they were practically sleepwalking. They were still in pajamas too.

Mara opened one eye. “Oh, look, Intrepid’s alive.” Then she fell into a chair and dozed off. Luke kind of stopped at the end of the stairs and stood there holding the banister.

Rover sighed and pointed his chin at Mara. “Unlike some people, I sleep like a soldier, so I’m awake and at attention.” He glanced into the kitchen. “So, my fellow generals, what’s our plan to attack hunger today? Still cereal?”

“There’s not much else for breakfast.” Cyclone said apologetically. “Someone can make a run to Nimbus Station and get more food.”

“Skilled Honored Ninja is unrecognizable.” Intrepid said.

“He’s tagged, though.” Cyclone said. “When you were asleep, Luke and Mara figured out how the Sentinels found your base in the first place. They were able to track us based on the genetic samples Shadow, Ninja, and the other me provided to the Assembly lab at Nexus Tower.”

“Then can’t they track us here?” Intrepid questioned.

“We brought some sort of jammer with us from Leek Works, which Luke adapted to block the genetic tracker too.” Cyclone said. “Or so we hope.”

One by one the others made their way down to the kitchen to partake in Cyclone’s Everlasting Box of Corn Flakes. Intrepid was glad to see Allison Ryder wasn’t among them, she must have gone upstairs, although he did wonder about what she’d told him.

While the house had Everlasting Corn Flakes, it unfortunately had only a finite supply of bowls and spoons, so they had to take turns rinsing each bowl and rationing the precious gallon of milk they had, also not everlasting. There was water from a well outside, some quarts of orange juice, and spaghetti for later, but the general mood was one of urgency in the face of impending shortcomings.

“We can’t stay in this house eating cereal forever.” Edgar reminded everyone once he was finished washing his plastic bowl, which he gave to Skilled Honored Nina, who went to join Shadow, Shira, and Evelyne at the little table. “Some of us are expected to deploy on Crux Prime within the week.” the Shinobi continued, leaning against the wall and putting his hands in his pockets. “Even the reserves are being called up.”

“Whach’s the Facshon Leaders plan anyway, shrow sholdiers at the mine until there’s no more Maelshtrom?” Shrill asked in between mouthfuls of dry corn flakes.

“More like throw soldiers at the mine until there’s a clear path to inject the Paradox’s antitoxin into a Maelstrom Ore deposit.” Intrepid recalled. He imagined a single Paradox scientist running as fast as his legs could carry him through a tunnel full of Stromlings, chased by said Stromlings, holding a syringe and trying to inject it into a glowing rock. “I’m highly doubtful they can accomplish that anytime soon, though. Exeter said it would take months.”

“The Paradox antitoxin would be a gas,” Cyclone envisioned. “Duke’s ‘months’ probably referred to the estimated time it would take for Vanda’s team to refine another of it. Apparently the Faction War slowed Paradox’s R and D down, a *lot*.”

“So why are they attacking now?” Luke asked.

“*We*,” Edgar corrected, “have to do something about the Maelstrom’s growing army. They’ll attack first if we don’t.”

“Except our Nexus Force can’t win a war of attrition against the Maelstrom Dimension.” Intrepid said grimly. “There is a universe’s worth of Stromlings being supplied into that mine so long as out dimension is a target, or so long as they have a means to get here. The Paradox antitoxin may be our best bet to holding them off.”

“You have the Unverse Manipulator,” Kate stated, turning to where Intrepid sat on the stairs, “so we could probably use its teleportation ability to steal some of the antitoxin, then go and stick the Maelstrom with the antitoxin ourselves.”

“We’d just need to reverse-infect any sample of Maelstrom Ore in the mine.” Cyclone said.

“Thanks for reminding me about that thing,” Intrepid said, standing up. “Luke, where’s our stuff?”

“In the basement.” the boy replied.

“Thanks.” Intrepid headed for the other set of stairs, leading down, and Cyclone and Kate darted after him.

“Think we can actually do it?” Kate asked excitedly. “Finish this war ourselves?”

“It’s a good plan. I can try and get Red’s guidance.” Intrepid said.

“That mysterious girl you know.” Kate identified.

“Yeah.” Intrepid fell silent as he felt for a lightswitch. It was dark in the basement, and he didn’t want to trip on anything. He pulled a cord hanging from the ceiling, and a lone bulb clicked on above the landing, lighting up just about nothing. Intrepid, Cyclone, and Kate found flashlights in their backpacks and switched them on.

“It’s all Leek Works stuff down here.” Kate said. “We put the lab’s stuff in the center.”

Intrepid panned his flashlight to follow where she pointed, and settled on a stack of boxes. “Can I borrow your helmet?” he asked Cyclone, and the brown haired boy handed him his Space Marauder helmet.

With its infrared vision, Intrepid found the box with the Unverse Manipulator and brain activity monitor easily. He pulled them out and made sure all his wiring was still attached. The Unverse Manipulator looked fully recharged, so Intrepid activated it.

“There’s another command I want to try out,” Intrepid said, and he stared at the Unverse Manipulator in his hand. “Print the location of Tiberius."

“Voice commands?” Cyclone asked, as the Unverse Manipulator began to relay images for only Intrepid’s mind’s eye to see, but the attached LCD displayed a string of coordinates, which Intrepid wrote down in a notepad.

Intrepid nodded. “Find Alex.” he said, and the Unverse Manipulator went to work. He considered the rest of his family, who he already knew where on Elistra they were buried, unless Tiberius did an Evelyne on them too. Well, he’d find out eventually. He wrote down Alex’s coordinates alongside Tiberius’s, they were close to the same, meaning they were in the same location. “Anyone else we want to find?”

“There was someone else working with Tiberius,” Cyclone remembered. “Some girl.”

“Mysterious.” Kate commented.

Intrepid handed the Manipulator to Cyclone, and the Space Marauder pictured what he knew of her. Dark combat gear and a feminine figure. It wasn’t much, but through whatever cosmic means it had, the Unverse Manipulator knew who Cyclone was thinking about. Intrepid read off the coordinates it printed and began to write them down.

“They’re different.” Intrepid said. He took note of the numerous zeroes prevalent in the early digits. They were relative coordinates, so that meant…

Intrepid straightened. He listened closely to the sounds of breathing in the basement. He breathed in and held his breath. Cyclone was breathing in. Kate’s mouth was closed. Someone was breathing out

Someone else.

Someone behind him.

Intrepid grabbed the Unverse Manipulator from Cyclone right before he felt arms grabbing him around the chest. Then his lungs suddenly felt like they were about to explode, his heart stopped breating, and he felt like his essence was being ripped out of his body, leaving parts of him to catch up. It was the feeling of being involuntarily transdimensionally maneuvered.

When his body felt normal again, Intrepid was no longer in the house’s basement in Avant Grove. Where he was now it was dark but not from an absence of artificial light, rather an absence of natural light. It was nighttime on Elistra. He was lying on his back on a rocky hill facing the overcast sky, and someone was trying to put a mask on his face.

## Thirty

The stars went dark.

Air. Intrepid needed air badly as the mask that his unseen assailant pressed on his face both blocked his breathing in, and was like a vacuum sucking the breath in his lungs out – not to mention his unseen assailant was pinning him down so he couldn’t move.

But he could think.

The Bat Lord activated his Shield Slam and a wave of stunning was sent outwards – the force on him was lifted as his attacker was sent flying. He yanked the mask off and got to his feet, just when he saw the flash of an Unverse rift, and boots flying at his face.

Intrepid reacted quickly and telepositioned himself a pace back. His attacker fell short and he was able to shoulder his shield where their face should be. Instead it swished in the air and he held back a stumble, before he was struck in the back and falling to the ground.

Another transdimensional manipulation later and he transformed his falling momentum into forward motion, teleporting behind his attacker and knocking them down instead. But in the starlight he saw them twist acrobatically and jump-kick their body into the air.

Intrepid needed to move before that jump-kick came for him. He mentally gripped his Unverse Manipulator and sent himself to Elistra City’s Main Street. His attacker reappeared a moment later, and Intrepid dodged the kicks with a shift farther down the street. But now, bathed in yellow streetlamps, he could see *her*.

She was dressed in a type of suit that looked carbon-gray in the light, but nearly invisible in the dark. Her face was behind a similarly-constructed mask that covered her nose and jaw, but ninja-like with openings for eyes he couldn’t see, since they were obscured by a visor. Behind her mask, dark black hair billowed out, still held in the air from the immediateness of falling from the rift.

They were that fast.

She hadn’t touched the ground before re-entering Unverse. Intrepid didn’t blink and jumped in too.

They rematerialized at opposite ends of the street. They switched back without a pause – and back again – and getting closer as Intrepid’s destination was hers, and hers him. It was a test of endurance and Intrepid wasn’t sure how much his Unverse Manipulator could take, or if he would succumb from dizziness first.

So he sent himself lightyears across the galaxy and nearly knocked Cyclone and Kate back from the rush of air displaced by his intradimensional reposition. He saw their brown and red hair blown back from the faces in the glow of their flashlights before Intrepid fell into a stack of Leek Works boxes, in the center of Cyclone’s Avant Grove estate’s basement.

“Welcome back.” Kate said.

“You’re still wearing my helmet.” Cyclone noticed.

Intrepid was barely on his feet again before another blast of air signaled another Unverse arrival and he figured he was about to be pushed back into the pile. Cyclone shouted a warning, but by the time it left his mouth Intrepid had already gone into the space between universes, and come out of it falling from the basement’s ceiling, arms outstretched to grab the new arrival and pin her for a change.

As Intrepid fell, she executed the same maneuver and in an instant was above *him*.

Not to be a step behind, Intrepid zipped to the room’s corner. His attacker followed him, but by then he was at the room’s opposite edge.

Cyclone and Kate could only watch in bewilderment, and turn their flashlights aimlessly as flashes of light popped up all over the basement, above them, around them, here and there and back again. A few seconds and a hundred transdimensional manipulations later, Cyclone hissed, “Let’s set a trap.”

Kate opened her mouth to say, “I can’t predict where they’re going to go *at all*,” just before the flashes disappeared entirely.

Intrepid was in Unverse, willing himself to materialize as fast as possible *anywhere else* – someplace unpredictable. He landed on Monument Bob’s head – his attacker was there. He zipped to the Venture Explorer, in its infected state – he turned around and his attacker was behind him.

Unfollowable was impossible so long as she was following *him*.

In between Raven’s Bluff, Sentinel Point Zeta, and Vanda Darkflame’s office in Nexus Tower, Intrepid figured it out. He had to go someplace he already was.

Red was a firm believer that time travel was impossible. Intrepid wasn’t so sure he agreed, but for now it wasn’t necessary. He had an Unverse Manipulator, he had only to go to another universe.

Intrepid landed in Avant Gardens outside the Sentinel Base Camp, in the same place and dimension where he’d met Strange Odd Shadow. As expected, the person trying to capture him reappeared on top of him – but he hadn’t expected her to be *so* *close*. The heel or her boot caught him in the jaw – Intrepid heard a *Crack* as Cyclone’s Space Marauder helmet took the impact of it. He got away quickly, teleporting himself into the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by Stromling Mechs and screaming, shouting, brave Nexus Force recruits – here he reassessed his intentions.

Now that he was in the two-years-slow dimension, Intrepid only had to find himself. What was he like at 13 years old? He was best friends with fellow FTPer Sergeant Ghost Mustache. He hadn’t met Luke and Mara yet. 3026 was just one year after he followed Uncle Killian’s footsteps and joined the Nexus Force. He was a well-established soldier and do-gooder on Avant Gardens – he was having the time of his life.

Elistra had not been attacked yet.

But this dimension’s Beck Strongheart didn’t recognize him.

An Unverse rift opened and Tiberius’s henchwoman smashed through the metal body of a Stromling Mech – its parts went flying for miles.

No time left to dilly dally. Intrepid let the girl approach, then he equipped his Flash Bulb and took a stunning picture, leaving her stunned for a moment. Then he pictured the face he saw in a mirror, and he was yanked several lightyears out of the Nimbus System.

Intrepid reappeared in the air in his bedroom on Elistra, with light blue walls and an open window facing the sun - falling facefirst to the floor. He let himself hit the ground, it was carpeted, and incapable of hurting him in his armor. He heard a gasp as he stood up, followed by shocked silence as he pulled Cyclone’s helmet off his head, and turned to face the boy on the bed. An opened chapter book held in his hands slid from his grasp – it fell to the floor, losing its place.

*So I didn’t join the Nexus Force in this* dimension? *Intrepid figured. This* version of him would not go by Intrepid, his NF moniker, then. The younger Aiden Talmid looked about the same as Intrepid remembered from team pictures of the time, except maybe his hair was neater, shorter; his face was cleaner, and he was overall less scruffy looking than a boy fighting in a war.

“Who are you?!” the younger Aiden squeaked, in a high-pitched voice that Intrepid had willfully forgotten he had - Intrepid raised a finger to his face and shushed.

“Stay put,” Intrepid ordered, then he dove under the bed. His younger self’s head appeared over the edge, the opposite of staying put – but then Intrepid heard the rush of an Unverse Rift opening, followed by his younger self being pulled out of view, and his muffled screaming – *his* muffled screaming, as the gray-clothed girl forced the mask of asphyxiation on the younger Aiden’s face.

Intrepid grimaced and excused himself from this alternate reality – in an instant he was back on his dimension’s Elistra. He had no doubt the girl chasing him would figure out she had the wrong Intrepid, it would happen soon, he was sure - but in the time it would take for her to recalibrate her Unverse Tracker, Intrepid could turn the tables.

Intrepid took a deep breath and recharged his weapons. He put his Bat Lord helmet on. His shield and abilities were ready. He took another deep breath, gripped his weapons hard, and directed the Unverse Manipulator to take him back to the other Elistra.

He rematerialized in the alternate version of his bedroom. Intrepid saw his younger self lying wide-eyed on the bed, breathing, thankfully without the terrible mask on his face – it was clasped in the belt of the transdimensional ninja girl. Held furiously in her hands was her Unverse Manipulator, a device looking much like Red’s that she gave to Intrepid, hanging off his belt now. His assailant stood unmoving, her eyes were shut tight as she put her concentration into reprogramming the device, mentally ordering it to find *him*.

When her eyes shot open, Intrepid was already moving. He did not give her time to react before knocking her on the side of her head with his staff, and in her sudden loss of focus and balance, Intrepid shield slammed her facedown to the floor. There he hit her armor repeatedly with his shield – anti-kinetic forces of her suit kept repelling his arm back, but his strength, his will persisted. Slam. Slam. Slam.

Eventually his attacker stopped moving, stunned to immobility.

It was over. Intrepid had won.

Intrepid let himself collapse to the floor. He rolled to face the ceiling and closed his eyes, just letting himself breathe for a moment. His jaw would need some healing, and frankly his entire body was sore from the beatings he’d taken lately. He sat up and downed a Notion Potion to replenish his drained imagination spark. Each transdimensional jump took a bit of his energy, and his final shield slam just about depleted him.

The moment of rest passed and Intrepid stood and faced the other people in the room. He looked down at the young lady who chased him this far. His shield hadn’t knocked her out, just immobilized her so she wasn’t able to move. Intrepid looked to her face, which was turned away and obscured by a mask anyway. There was good reason to getting some identification.

There was also an Unverse Manipulator somewhere on her person. *It would be a good idea*, Intrepid realized, *to take it*.

Intrepid reached to spin her over but jumped back at the last moment, and there was a flash of light and an implosion of air as the gray girl disappeared from the universe. Intrepid flinched and braced himself for her return, but no more rifts opened.

He hadn’t been too late, he’d dodged another trap.

The last person there was the Aiden from this dimension. Intrepid gave the room a once over, before turning to face the younger boy. He was staring at Intrepid intently, first at his general form and then shifting his gaze to his face, once he’d turned around. Intrepid did feel bad about using him as a distraction, but it was necessary. It had helped him. *He* had helped him. For that reason, Intrepid figured he owed him some explanation.

How was he supposed to do that?

Intrepid tensed an arm. He held up a hand, awkwardly. “Hello. Aiden.”

“Are you, *me*?” the younger Aiden asked. “From the future?”

“Something like that.” Intrepid replied.

“What are you doing here?”

Intrepid considered. The truth of the matter was, it was to save his own skin. “I’m here to save you.” Intrepid said, which may have been a lie.

*But not* if I make it true. *Intrepid realized. I’m the transdimensional traveler* now*. He had enough with Red’s* beating around the bush, and him being kept outside the loop, waiting to receive important information. Here he was in a position to do better.

“You know the Nexus Force?” Intrepid asked. Aiden nodded. “Heard of the Maelstrom?”

“Uncle Killian went to fight them four years ago.” Aiden said.

“They’re going to attack this planet,” Intrepid warned, “and if they’re not stopped, they will smash *everyone*. You need to get help.”

“Who can help, where can I get it, and the Maelstrom is attacking when?” Aiden questioned.

Intrepid racked his brain. “Next month. Mid-February. There’s already Darklings here,” he recalled from when he and Kate were transported to this dimension. How that had happened still made no sense to Intrepid, but it was beside the point. “For help… do you know an Edgar?”

Aiden shook his head.

“Sergeant Ghost Mustache?” Shake. “Luke Mercury? Mara?” Shake. “Hazel Wentworth?” Earnest shake. Intrepid shook his head too. He forgot this Aiden hadn’t even joined the Nexus Force – he’d never know these people. “You know nobody.” Intrepid grumbled.

“I know my family.” Aiden retorted. “My father, uncle, grandfather – they’re all fighters. I can contact Killian.”

“Good idea.” Intrepid thought, although back in his dimension, his uncle had been MIA during this time according to Alex. Even now, Intrepid didn’t know where the older Talmid was. *Although I can find him now*, Intrepid realized.

“Go to the Nexus Force recruiting station,” Intrepid advised, “and tell them the Maelstrom are here. They’d better do something about it, but if they don’t,” he put his hand on Aiden’s shoulder, “You have to promise me you’ll get yourself and our family off this planet.”

“Where would we go?” Aiden asked.

“Nimbus Station is safe.” Intrepid said. “Avant Gardens is a warzone, but mostly under control - and there are good people there you should meet.”

Aiden nodded, and Intrepid stepped back. He was just about ready to go, when he remembered one more interesting person.

It was a long shot, and two parts of a larger puzzle, but these two pieces Intrepid had were worth trying to put together….

“Do you know an Eclipse Ryder?” Intrepid asked.

“We’re neighbors.” Aiden said surprisingly. “She lives down the road.” It was surprising because it was a difference to Intrepid. He never knew an Eclipse in his past. And her surname was Ryder?

“She might be able to help... keep an eye on her.” Intrepid ordered. Then his ears pricked, at the sound of footsteps approaching outside the door, his door, in his house.

His family lived here. He could see them.

Or he could not, Intrepid composed himself. “I’ll see you again.” Intrepid promised. “You’re not going to be alone when the Maelstrom attacks. I will make sure you will never be alone.”

Intrepid gripped his Unverse Manipulator and with a flash of light and a blast of air filling the vacuum he left, Intrepid re-entered the emptiness of Unverse.

He pictured his destination. He needed to get back to Cyclone and Kate, so they could plan stealing the Paradox Antitoxin and reverse-infecting his dimension’s Maelstrom Ore, to put an early end to the Future Maelstrom’s attack. But they needed to first plan on stopping Tiberius, rescuing Alex, and saving Evelyne. It was all back in his dimension.

And Intrepid was picturing his dimension, but not moving. He was in the space between universes longer than he should have been. Every other Transdimensional Jump was instantaneous, some slightly longer than others depending on the distance in space being traveled. But here he wasn’t conscious of any motion at all.

A terrifying thought permeated the blackness into Intrepid’s head.

The Unverse Manipulator was out of power.

Or low on it.

It ran on Imagination, Intrepid knew. He could power it, if his imagination spark was even relevant in Unverse. He didn’t even have a body in Unverse. But he imagined the device close to his soul. Sharing his essence, Intrepid felt ethereal relief when he comprehended motion again.

*Reserve* Power Mode Activated*, the manipulator spoke to him.* Unverse Drawing and Positioning Service disabled. In transit to Safe Destination hashtag Three, Code Red.

Red had mentioned loading safe destinations into this Unverse Manipulator, Intrepid remembered. He hadn’t the faintest clue where any of them could be. But he could see the light of an Unverse Rift opening in his path. He mentally set his jaw and prepared himself for landing. He was about to find out.

The rift approached…

The rift passed…

And Intrepid landed hard on a floor of dirt. His shoulder hit it head on and was immediately achy. Apparently the Unverse Manipulator didn’t do soft landings when in Reserve Power Mode.

Intrepid blinked several times, before realizing the place he was in was just dark, and musky. The floor smelled like decay. He pressed his hands on the ground next to his head, and found that he’d just missed landing headfirst in a puddle of mud when his right hand sank into it. He got to his feet quickly and wiped his hands on his armor.

He was in some sort of underground network, from the looks of it. Dim flickering torchlight gave minimal illumination at T-sections. The floor, walls, and ceiling were hewn out of dirt, with moss and fungus growing on the walls. Intrepid turned on his heel, trying to figure out which was out. The Unverse Manipulator was useless, so he would have to walk. He was in some sort of catacombs?

Someone coughed in the distance.

Or dungeons? Intrepid thought.

*It would help to have a map of this place*, Intrepid mentally grumbled to himself. He began walking to the nearest intersection. There were only nondescript dirt walls between where he landed and there. Looking down both directions, there were again no doors to be seen, but the paths did curve in opposite directions.

He stopped when he heard footsteps and the dancing of personal torchlights approaching around the right side path. Instinctively Intrepid ducked back into the hallway and pressed himself against the wall. Even if this was one of Red’s “safe locations,” and Intrepid was doubtful it even was, the place had not yet proven *itself* to be friendly for Intrepid to trust it.

The footsteps grew close enough for Intrepid to detect they were many in number, and then they reached the hallway entrance. Intrepid held his breath as they passed. They were a group of six. The three in the front held torches and looked like knights out of a fantasy book, clanking about in black armor, dark metal boots, and shiny chain mail, with swords and daggers at their hips. And the three in the back were Paradox Space Marauders?

Somehow the Paradox passed without noticing him, and Intrepid nearly stopped breathing when he saw them. He exhaled sharply and inhaled graciously when they were gone. There was no reason they *hadn’t* seen him, unless their tech wasn’t turned on….

Intrepid switched out his Bat Lord helmet for Cyclone’s Space Marauder Rank 3 helmet, which he still had for some reason. Putting it on, the device immediately complained of low power. Looking about, Intrepid could see several lifeforms separated fairly evenly behind the left passage. There were more people physically above him, on an upper floor, and that was all the range the helmet wanted to display. He was definitely underground.

Intrepid noted the position of the nearest patrol, coming up behind him, and all the others he could see, and darted off on the left path towards the evenly spaced lifeforms. As expected, he rounded a bend and found himself facing a cavern lined with metal barred cells. Some were empty, but most were occupied with ragged looking minifigures. There were few torches in this room, only with the assist of Cyclone’s helmet could Intrepid see them at all.

He stepped forwards, his boots squelching in the mud. No one perked up. Intrepid breathed heavily and recoiled, the stench was worse here. He doubted any of these prisoners –*people*, had showered in days. Or weeks. Or months.

He had almost cleared the last row of cells, when something caught his eye. Hanging over the top bars of the last cell on the left was a shield. There was something on it, invisible in the dark, but Intrepid had a flashlight. It took several noisy jiggles before it finally projected a steady beam of light. Intrepid gasped when he saw the shield’s crest.

There was nothing else in his universe identified by a yellow delta on a banner, except the crest of the Talmid Family since the days of the Talmid Letter Company.

If this is here, Intrepid wondered, is a member of my family here..?

Slowly Intrepid aimed the flashlight past the Talmidian shield, past the bars of the cell, to shine on the opposing dirt wall, from which a vest and other clothes hung. The flashlight also lit up the silhouette of a man seated on the cell’s one bench, in the middle of the floor, faced away from Intrepid.

The man wore a ratty sleeveless tunic on his torso, and plain pants covered his legs. His bare arms were pale in the flashlight glow. He had dark hair, thin and disheveled. His face, Intrepid could not see, until after several moments the man shifted in the light.

And he turned around.

“Killian.” Intrepid breathed.

Killian Talmid squinted in the face of the flashlight, and Intrepid quickly angled it downwards out of his uncle’s eyes, aimed so Killian’s face remained lit in the edge of its glow. Intrepid’s heart stopped at his uncle’s face. Sweat glistened on his forehead and his dark eyes were watered. When Killian opened his mouth, it was to cough. The moisture on his face did nothing to clean the dirt caked on his cheeks, in his hair, in his beard, if anything it made it stickier.

When Killian stopped coughing, it was to ask in an awfully tired sounding voice, “Art thou here to take me up to thou kangaroo court again? Sentence me to more punishment? Or hath thou finally considered my dire need for a bath?”

“What the brick did you just say?” Intrepid exclaimed in dismay.

Intrepid saw what could have been recognition flash on his uncle’s face at the sound of his voice. Killian flexed his jaw, sighed, and started to turn around again. “It can’t be.” Intrepid heard him mutter. “Just another Rogue guard confounded by the beauty of olde speech-“

“It’s me Aiden!” Intrepid screamed. “What are you doing here Uncle Killian?!”

“Thou shalt address me by Sir Talmi- what?” Killian turned back around again, wincing as he twisted his spine too quickly. When he opened his eyes again, they were still squinting. “Let me see your face.” he ordered.

Intrepid aimed the flashlight at his face, and then remembered to pull off his helmet. He held the light in front of his chest and tilted it up. “It’s me.” he said. “Aiden. Your nephew. I haven’t seen you in-”

“Four years.” Killian finished. “Thanksgiving day, 3024. You’re looking older than I remember. I didn’t think I’d see you again so late… so soon… here, of all places.” He coughed again, and wiped the moisture out of his eyes, smearing dirt from his arms across his face. He didn’t seem to notice or care. “You’re not with the Rogues, are you?”

“Rogues?” Intrepid repeated.

“Paradox Rogues.” Killian clarified. “They’re working with thedude, and Vladek.”

“Paradox Rogues from the *Faction War*?” Intrepid asked again.

“Not so loud,” Killian hissed. “The guards may come back any second.” He looked about furtively, uselessly in the dark. Intrepid put Cyclone’s helmet back on and glanced around. The helmet didn’t detect a patrol, *yet*.

“I don’t need to know how you got here then,” Killian continued, “but you need to leave. However you came here, for whatever reason, you must go. Now.”

“Not without you, buddy,” Intrepid declared. He studied the bars. They were a solid type, sturdy. It would take a sharp sword to cut them, or a shot with his drill to blow out the lock. “We’re going to leave this place, you and me,” Intrepid said, finding his replacement Drill of Blasting. He aimed it at the lock. “You’ve been gone too long from your family.” He pulled the trigger and nothing happened.

*What?* Intrepid pulled the trigger again, but the drill refused to fire. He equipped his Elite Cleaver instead and began sawing its serrated edge against the lock’s edge. It was cutting, slowly but surely…

“You can get me out of this cell,” Killian said, “but I can’t leave Militiregnum.”

“Why?!” Intrepid shouted angrily. “I’ve come all this way – by accident – *not* to just leave you here. There’s so much you need to know, so much you can do to help - so much you could have done…”

Intrepid finished sawing the lock. He swung the door open and rushed in to grab Killian’s arms, and with his help his uncle rose, unsteadily at first, to his feet. Looking down, Intrepid saw they were bandaged, quite poorly. Intrepid tried accessing his backpack to get some clothes for Killian, but to his dismay his mind drew a blank.

“We’re far from a Nexus.” Killian said. “We have to make do without imagination benefits here, not to mention the electricity ban.”

“Why did you come here, Uncle Killian?” Intrepid sighed, letting Killian put his arm around his shoulders – he walked him out of the cell. “Going on a crusade? Fulfilling a boyhood dream?”

“Have you heard of the Knights of the Olde Speech?” Killian said. “We were a mercenary organization,”

“Based out of industrial Nimbus Station,” Intrepid guessed.

“55 unemployment road, to be exact.”

“That’s next door to Leek Works.” Intrepid said.

“We got this job from the deposed king here, his majesty King Matthias Moracol-“ Killian stopped suddenly. “Guards.” he whispered.

Intrepid swung his Bat Lord staff off his back, and gave his cleaver to Killian.

 “We’ll smash if we fight them.” Killian said. “You can’t rebuild here, and I can’t burden you with protecting me. It’s time for you to go.” He slung his arm off Intrepid and nudged him weakly away.

 “I have an Unverse Manipulator.” Intrepid protested, grabbing Killian’s hand. “I got here with it.”

 “I hath not the faintest idea what an Unwhat Manipulator is, but pray you can leave here with it too.” Killian knocked Intrepid’s hand off him again, and handed him the sword. Intrepid could hear stomps of another patrol approaching behind him. “Now run!”

So Intrepid ran. He grabbed the Unverse Manipulator from his belt and willed it to work. It felt cold, dead, but a moment later it lit up and Intrepid sighed in relief. *Get me* out of this place*, he willed it, only for a picture to appear in his head* of the universal symbol for “low battery.”

He tried to find his Imagination spark, but reaching inside himself was like digging in quicksand, or reaching inside a full laundry basket of heavy clothes. Wet clothes. He couldn’t stand to leave Uncle Killian to be re-imprisoned. But he and Killian both agreed he couldn’t leave *himself* to be imprisoned either.

*I’ll come back*. Intrepid thought determinedly.

I’ll come back after. I. Leave!

An unverse rift opened in front of Intrepid and he fell in.

## Thirty-one

Like flying down a hallway, the rush of motion was dreamlike, perceived but not heard. Not felt either, except for a sickening twisting in the gut of Intrepid’s otherwise numb body, weightless in the void between universes. That, his inside out stomach, he could feel, and a pinching around his hand: the sensation of another hand grabbing his hand, pulling him through Unverse by it; guiding him.

He perceived a light at the end of a hallway, the exit from Unverse, at first only the size of a pinhole. But it grew larger into a distinct ring shape that soon encompassed his entire vision. It was then that Intrepid’s physical awareness, his blurred vision, sounds, and feelings returned. His first sensation was stumbling, and he flailed his arms, but someone yanked him strongly to his feet and spun him around.

Intrepid blinked several times, each mental refresh bringing something new of the person into focus. Their gray jacketed arm, gripping him firmly so he didn’t fall; broad, leather clad shoulders; a round face, clean-shaven, with blue eyes and blond hair, but older than the last time Intrepid had seen him.

“Luke Mercury.” Intrepid’s widened eyes took in the future dimension’s version of his best friend, who grinned back. The two of them stood in a brightly lit, white-walled storage room. Green wall-markings emblazoned it undoubtedly as belonging to the future dimension’s Leek Works.

“Think you can stand on your own?” the older Luke asked. Intrepid nodded, and instead of letting go Luke pulled Intrepid into a bear hug. “What the heck were you doing on Militiregnum? That place’s a death trap in your dimension.” He stepped back and stared Intrepid down. “I haven’t seen you looking like this in twenty years!”

“Well, there is a twenty year difference between our dimensions.” Intrepid stated.

“I know,” Luke said, “and the differences also include thousands of little details, and big details, but you’d know that, wouldn’t you, spending enough time with the people here.”

“Hardly.” Intrepid admitted. “You’ve said more in one sentence than Red in a day.”

“That’s because we’re best buddies!” Luke crowed. “Or,” he quieted down, “we, I mean I, and the you from here were best buddies. It’s been awhile since you, I meanhe and I have talked.” He scratched his blond head contritely. “But you’re different.”

Intrepid was curious too. “So why did you rescue me? From Militiregnum?” he asked, since what did this Luke care about him from another dimension? Was he a self-interested vigilante like Charles Bradfrodson, the future Cyclone?

“Honestly you remind me of the Intrepid I used to know. Did I say you look a lot like this guy I know named Intrepid Fusion Eclipse?” Luke joked nostalgically. “I happened to notice all of your zipping about when I was just in Unverse. I miss my old friend, and would still help him now if I could. I suppose this is some cosmic way of accomplishing that, if not for him, than for me, and you of course.”

Intrepid nodded wordlessly, not sure what to say to that. Except thanks? Instead he gave the thirty-six year old Luke Mercury’s jacket an optical inspection. Unlike Red’s, Crimson’s, or Cailan’s sweatshirts, Luke’s jacket bore no Leek Works markings. “What’s the salt between you and Leek Works?” he posed.

“I’m independent.” Luke declared. “The Leek Works I knew didn’t report to the Nexus Force, or Republic as it’s called nowadays.” Luke perked up at the sound of a sliding door whishing open in the next storage room. “I may be leaving now.” he said.

Intrepid shrugged carelessly, but inwardly he could dig this weird future Luke leaving. He wouldn’t mind leaving himself. *Get back to* my *Luke, and Mara, Kate, Cyclone, Edgar, et cetera*, he thought. He reached for his Unverse Manipulator, when a familiar person walked into the room that made Intrepid pause.

Red stopped in the doorway, looking between Intrepid and Luke. “You’re back.” she said amiably, despite her troubled expression. The sentence could apply to either of them, Intrepid realized, but Red made it clear by turning to him that her next words were for him only.

“I suppose I should let you know,” said the red-haired girl who was extradimensionally related to him, her expression grave with unconcealed solemnity, “My dad wants to talk with you.”

## Thirty-two

"Your dad wants to talk to *me*?" Intrepid repeated as Red turned on her heel and headed to the offices, and he felt required to follow her.

He glanced back at Future Luke, who gave a thumbs up. "See you around the polyverse, buddy." the blond said.

"I hope not." Intrepid said, "I'm retiring when this is done." He spun into the hallway and chased Red. He saw her turn right at the spiral, and used his manipulator to drop in next to her. She was walking fast. "What's he want to talk about?" Intrepid breathed.

"Probably he's looking for someone on the same brain-length to vent to." Red huffed. She gave him a sidelong glance. "Don't tell him I said that, of course." They stopped outside the solitary dark wood door.

*What's the deal between us here?* Intrepid wondered, although he knew better than to ask Red. Maybe he could ask future him? He stepped up to a retinal scanner, and let it scan his face to unlock the door. He considered Red as he pushed it open. She stepped back, not invited, *or not wanting to come in*, Intrepid figured. He still had so many questions. He turned away from her and stepped across the threshold.

The Future Intrepid, as he will henceforth be identified, must like sitting in the dark. Intrepid's shadow, projecting forth from the doorway, stretched to the one other source of light in the unlit office: a terminal screen that lit up Future Intrepid's face. He stared down at the terminal, but acknowledged Intrepid's entrance with the words, "Light switch to your left."

As the door shut behind him, Intrepid ran a hand over the sensor and the room lights came on, illuminating one of the better furnished abodes in any incarnation of Leek Works. Alternating wood floor and green carpets separated opposing mahogany wood and black obsidian shelves, filled with trophies or items and boxes of files respectively. File cabinets and more shelves lined the back wall behind Future Intrepid, who looked up from the terminal on his desk in the small office's center. He had a blue file in his hand.

"Take a seat please," Future Intrepid said, and he put the file on the desk between them. Intrepid pulled up a chair but didn't sit in it. He stared down at its labelled cover, which read *Notes & Observations ~ Dimension NS3-B*.

"You wanted to talk, about what?" Intrepid asked. "I don't want to be here for long." Looking around at all the files, he wondered what info he could get from this goldmine that would be helpful to him.

"I don't want to keep you long either," Future Intrepid agreed, "I'm sure, as leader of your Leek Works, you're very busy as well." They both raised their eyebrows, and Future Intrepid's eyes panned up and down Intrepid's face, no doubt trying to read his reaction. "You do have a Leek Works, don't you?"

"Yeah." Intrepid confirmed. *At least, we did*...

"As I suspected. I've read Agent Red's report on her interactions in your dimension." Future Intrepid informed Intrepid. "You helped her fight an invasion force from D-NS1-M, and stop an instance of Subject 19-NS-H from destroying the Nimbus Polyverse. You're friends with Luke and Mara, Gallant Strong Cyclone, and Kate."

Intrepid nodded. "It was all Red." he said, and stopped from adding, *you should be proud of her*. It wasn't his place to say.

Future Intrepid smiled slightly, but the look in his eyes stayed grim. "I'm proud of my daughter, she's Leek Work's best agent, she's loyal, smart, and dependable." He dipped his head and sighed wistfully. "I only wish I were as good a father to her. Nevermind that."

He stood up and pivoted on his booted heels, gesturing to the walls and beyond. "All this: my entire operation, Leek Work's Transdimensional Division, exists for one thing now. Not exploration. Not for evacuation." He turned to Intrepid. "We're here to fight, to stop the Maelstrom Dimension.

"I'm letting you in on our battle plans, because we can no longer do it alone." Future Intrepid continued. "Our Nexus Force isn't interested in fighting another war."

"But the Maelstrom Dimension - D-NS1-M - threatens everyone," Intrepid stated, "and everything in every dimension, including this one."

"The Nexus Force here would rather solve the issue of protecting ourselves, by blocking all interdimensional travel to and from here," Future Intrepid related, "than defeating the extradimensional Maelstrom threat. The lives we'd give up - it's not worth it to them."

"Not even to defend countless innocents?" Intrepid asked. "My entire Nimbus System would be speaking Stromling by now if it weren't for yours and Red's help. Are they that careless? What changed?"

The Future Intrepid sat down and drummed his fingers on the desk. "It's more like, they no longer think we can win. The Maelstrom Dimension is powerful. The Darkitect is considered unbeatable." He leaned forwards. "But now, we have your help. My Leek Works, and yours. Believe it or not, you're all the help I need."

Intrepid glanced at him sideways. "Red and I were thinking the Nexus Forces of various dimensions would join with us." Intrepid said.

"An intrepid idea. Unfortunately my Leek Works doesn't have the infrastructure to support the movements of such a large scale operation," Future Intrepid said, "not to mention, none of the relatively-primitive Nexus Forces stand a chance against an army of the Maelstrom Dimension."

"Can you at least send messages to the other dimensions, warning them?"

"Possibly. It's not part of my plan." Future Intrepid put another file on the desk, and Intrepid picked it up. "I've planned something more... covert."

Future Intrepid returned to his feet and began to pace the room. "Tell me, younger me," he began, "would you like to see the Darkitect die?"

Intrepid blinked. "I suppose...?" He would like to see the Maelstrom defeated, although he hadn't thought of it in... *personal terms*. His eyes followed Future Intrepid's alternating strides, which suddenly stopped at a picture frame on the wall. The older Intrepid stood tall, looking otherwise composed, but by the tone of the conversation, the arch in his shoulders, and the way he wiped imaginary dust from the glass - or was he just touching it? - Intrepid knew without seeing the expression on Future Intrepid's turned-away face was downcast. Sullen. Resentful.

And considering the picture was a photograph of Kate, it easily dawned on Intrepid what Future Intrepid had meant by his words, "see the Darkitect die."

"You want revenge." Intrepid pronounced. It wasn't an accusation - it was a statement of fact. It surprised him. Intrepid understood loss. He'd gone reclusive after the Battle of Elistra. It took a month after meeting Luke and Mara to get him out of his self-imposed, self-encapsulating shell of sadness. It took another two for him to break out a smile. But fourteen years had passed since the Future Dimension's Kate had died, and Future Intrepid was still haunted by her loss.

"There is an aspect of that." Future Intrepid said, turning away from Kate to face Intrepid. His visage almost entirely matched the mental image Intrepid had, with one detail missed: his eyes now burned with fiery determination. "The Darkitect killed my wife."

Intrepid nodded. "I understand the feeling. They killed my family too." he stated.

Future Intrepid hung his head. "I know. That, my extradimensional counterpart, is one of the consistencies between our dimensions, so I know everything you saw. And we were able to heal after Elistra. But Kate's death turned my life around, and not in a good way. It turned *everything* backwards. Which is why you need to help me end this."

Intrepid nodded again. "I will."

"It's not just for me," Future Intrepid clarified, "it's for you, and Kate, and Cyclone, and every instance of us in every dimension, and everyone else." He paused to chuckle. "Luke, Mara and I always joked that we served the betterment of minifigurekind. We cared just as much about ourselves. But now, I just want to be a father, if it's not too late."

Future Intrepid returned to his terminal, and removed a USB stick which he showed to Intrepid. "The file folders I've given you," he instructed, "are to be read first. It's our plan of action to which you've agreed to play your part. But this," he placed the flash drive in Intrepid's hand, "is a copy of our entire records."

"What's it for?" Intrepid asked.

"For whatever you need my or Tiberius's help for." Future Intrepid answered. "There's not enough time to discuss everything I'm sure you want to ask about. Everything I know, you have access to now."

"Like about reviving my family." Intrepid confirmed. "I take it..."

Future Intrepid shook his head. "That's a tragedy I won't speak about, but it's in my past - you never know what *your* future holds."

"There's no time for one question?" Intrepid asked, as Future Intrepid pushed him to the door.

"There will be," Future Intrepid said, "after you get back to your dimension, and do what I've instructed."

Intrepid held up the Unverse Manipulator Red gave him. "I don't need to leave this room to leave this dimension."

"Then who are you waiting for?" Future Intrepid chided.

Intrepid gave him a confused glance, before opening the door and exiting. It took his eyes a second to adjust to the bright lights in the spiral hallway, where he found himself facing six people.

"We're coming with you." Jay said, patiently tugging at the straps of his backpack. He stood with Katie and an annoyed looking Red, and Ben, and spray-painting graffiti on the self-cleaning walls were Luke Mercury's wayward children, Cailan and Crimson.

## Thirty-three

The Block Yards presented ample space for underground operations and staging posts. Intrepid hadn’t yet the time to delve in Future Intrepid’s and Tiberius’s records to discover, say, use of the Block Yards by any knightly vigilante groups, and be inspired by their trailblazing activities. Rather it was a locale he, Luke, and Mara were familiar with, so it was a place they preferred for hanging out.

Their group had reassembled in Cheerful Power Rover’s Block Yard property, which had a house like Cyclone’s and some storage cellars built into the ground, like bunkers. Cyclone, Kate, Tornado, Edgar, Evelyne, Strange Odd Shadow, Skilled Honored Ninja, Red, Allison Ryder, and everyone else, including the new arrivals from the Future Dimension known as D-NS0, or Dimension Nimbus System Zero, were there, and for the most part all was in order.

Although, two of the new arrivals in particular remained objects of concern.

"Are you sure we can trust these delinquents?" Intrepid hissed to Red as he eyed the group milling about Rover’s bunkers. Ben, Ryder, and Shira were sorting through the extra consumables and gear Rover had in his armories, while Ray, Edgar, Rover, and Jay and Katie were doing the boring work of laying the items out on the ground for Cyclone, Kate, Luke, Mara, and Evelyne to re-organize and later distribute among the team members. ‘The delinquents,’ as Intrepid called them, known by their given names as Cailan and Crimson Mercury-Crateris, were joy-riding in a rocket.

"No." Red answered, wrinkling her nose at the waft from a cache of firecrackers that blew up a minute earlier.

"Very funny." Intrepid said sarcastically. It was a particularly still day as far as wind was concerned, even up on the mountain where Red and Intrepid surveyed the property, and surrounding sky.

"I mean it." Red huffed. She followed Intrepid’s skyward gaze to the rocket that the Mercurys had commandeered, officially for scout and recon purposes, but everyone knew it was to get some wind in their hair. "I’ve no idea why my dad thought they'll be of any help to us.” Apparently it was Future Intrepid who had let them out of their containment pods.

Intrepid lowered his gaze as the open-cockpit rocket buzzed the mountain for the tenth time, and shook his head. He decided to head down the mountain and help with the distribution effort, and organize their workforce better since Jay and Katie had the carrying work covered – although, it was to be considered that, except for randomly exploding firecrackers, things were going smoothly already. His team members on the ground didn’t need him.

But maybe someone else did?

"Hey," Intrepid quietly asked in Red’s direction, "is there anything you want to tell me about you and your dad? Is there anything going on?"

There was silence between them for the moment, the only sounds being the droning of the rocket, and the cracks, bangs, and yelps of stuff being thrown about below, so Intrepid almost didn’t hear Red say in a low voice, "That’s the thing, there's nothing going on with us. Nothing is woefully accurate."

Intrepid kicked a stone off the mountaintop. “Your dad is proud of you.” he told her. “He told me he was remorseful that he hasn't been around for you, as a father."

“I know, I heard, the past few times he’s told associates that.” Red said. "It's alright though, I have other friends. And I have you."

She was looking away, and he as well, but in the corner of his eye Intrepid thought he saw a rare smile from her.

## Thirty-four

With care, Cyclone set four gleaming-blue Snapsicles™ in the pile next to a box of Big Ones. Their passive instability elicited discretion, and one of them had set off a cache of Rover's Firecrackers earlier. The Snapsicles were a creation of the Future Leek Works shared with them in generous number, but when distributed among the... eighteen of them? - they suddenly seemed sparse.

Cyclone felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around. He corrected his number. They were nineteen, including Stromling Cyclone.

"I'm just wondering what I should do to help." the other Cyclone said. 'Stromling Cyclone' was just what they called him, since he was infected when they picked him up from Strange Odd Shadow's dimension, but thanks to Future Leek Works's Ben, Red, and Ryder, he was completely Maelstrom free now.

*As Maelstrom free as me*, Cyclone thought. Genetically Stromling Cyclone looked like Cyclone, with the same styled brown hair and bright blue eyes, just two years younger. Cyclone looked around to find something for him to do, when Kate bounced over.

"Here, Cyclone," Kate was saying, and she pointed at Stromling Cyclone for disambiguation. "You can take over for me here, I'm going to see what else the girls, and Ben, have belowdeck. We could use more Thirst Quenchers, and other imagination replenishables..."

She gave the two Cyclones a knowing look, flipped her hand up, and casually brewed a miniature lightning storm in her palm. "The three of us, especially." Then she descended the steps into the closest bunker.

"We have powers." Cyclone explained. "A byproduct of our overcharged imagination sparks."

"To what extent?" Stromling Cyclone asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Cyclone admitted. "I suppose since it's based on imagination, anything should be possible."

They stood pondering, and Stromling Cyclone inquired, "What can we do so far?"

"I can conjure lightning, I haven't tried anything else, like..." he recalled what Kate had just done. "...forming a cyclone."

Stromling Cyclone went to between where Kate had five backpacks with sets of consumables to add to and the Figdroid's pile of unsorted goods, and he spoke while he worked. "Can I ask you more about you?"

"Sure." Cyclone responded. "Ask away."

"How did you meet Kate?"

"On Avant Gardens, we were infected as Stromlings, and amazingly we both remained sentient. So we had a plan to break into Nexus Tower, and ask the Faction Leaders to disinfect us. Along the way we met Cheerful Power Rover, and Master Blade." Cyclone paused to consider something.

"I wonder where they are now, my versions of them." Stromling Cyclone finished the thought.

"There's also the matter of yours, and Kate's, imagination alter-egos where you're from. You've got a lot of work to do. The way things turned out, it's really thanks to my friends that I got through it all." Cyclone voiced his musings. "If I hadn't met my friends the way I did, I'm not sure if I ever would have."

It bothered Cyclone to imagination his friends how they were two years ago, *not* as his friends, for each of their sakes. Rover had been infected as a result of their meeting, and was probably fine; but Kate and Blade, the halves he knew of them, were both Stromlings, and entirely alone. He cared for them, and he grimaced remembering the pain of infection. But despite the tug of war, slipping down the slope to preserve his mind and individuality; the constant whispering of the Darkitect in his subconscious, infecting his dreams; and the muddling of his thoughts, the heavy weight on his brain of the telepathic link with his imagination half -- Cyclone knew he would do it all again, even if it meant being infected, if it meant protecting his friends.

It was how things were meant to be, and the traversing of dimensions, the meddling with future-history, their fates, and their lives - Cyclone believed it was wrong.

He set a principle for himself. When this was over, and they'd completed Future Intrepid's mission to destroy the Maelstrom's interdimensional network, and smash the Darkitect, and the polyverse was safe - he would go with Strange Odd Shadow and Stromling Cyclone to their dimension and set things right for him, and the minifigures supposed to be his friends: Rover, Blade, and...

"Do you like Kate?" Stromling Cyclone asked.

Cyclone looked up and opened his mouth to protest, but didn't- couldn't find the words to voice that train of thought, because it hadn't occured to him. She had saved Stromling Cyclone's life, but he would do the same for a Stromling Kate.

Cyclone laughed. "We care about each other." he said. "We've been through some tough places, and we've always been there for each other. She's a great person, she has the best jokes, and you should really meet her."

"Well," Stromling Cyclone said, looking like he was remembering something, perhaps a past conversation in another dimension, "We have met, and Kate has talked to me, and I know when she looks at me, she's actually looking at you. And there's a way she speaks about you."

Stromling Cyclone said at last, "I think Kate likes you."

## Thirty-five

"I still think the plan is nuts." Shira Talmid was saying as Kate stepped quietly into the bunker. It was more like a storage cellar with its slanted wood doors, aggregate-infused plastic walls, and dim interior lighting. She moved with the noiseless grace and of a Samurai, but held the strength and authority of a mighty Sentinel warrior.

Apparently she had immeasurable access to Imagination as well, to a powerful enough effect to be described as Mythranesque. After her brief training session with Cyclone on his Avant Grove property was cut short, she'd had to conduct experiments herself. At first she'd taken inspiration from natural forces, and channeled fire to warm a cup of tea she drank that morning. When they departed Cyclone's property, she summoned a wall of wind to push their rockets to the Block Yards a little faster. Once there, she focused on the opposite: enforcing calm in a typically windy place. To help conceal their operation, she added fog, to the clouds that already hugged the property's underside, to cover its upper hemisphere as well. It was a task as easy as breathing in and out.

And to Kate's amusement, her teammates were none the wiser.

Now she drew inspiration from her Samurai training. By amplifying the inaudibleness of her boots and the other stealth qualities of her gear, she became practically invisible, even when she pirouetted into the cellar.

"We're luring, of all people, the Darkitect to fight us." Shira continued. She was leaning against a stack of crates, looking disheveled and worn out from digging in boxes for the last half hour, and she was still inspired enough to chatter. Ben and Ryder were around elsewhere. "I swear this is like a mass suicide."

Kate stopped in front of Shira. Despite facing her general direction, Shira didn't look up, or respond to Kate's entrance at all, as if she didn't even notice her. Amusedy Kate snapped her fingers. As Kate expected, the girl with multicolored hair didn't even blink.

"I see you've discovered your Nexus powers." a voice said from behind Kate.

It was Allison Ryder.

Kate studied the dark-brown haired girl, who stood fifteen feet away with a neutral expression on her face, like she was waiitng. Kate's eyes narrowed. She knew Allison Ryder was a Leek Works agent by word of mouth, she knew that much about her, but not much else any other way, until now.

"What do you know about my powers?" she inquired.

"Everything. And more." Allison took a step forwards. "There are some things you need to know."

## Thirty-six

The sound of pounding feet up the steps of the nearest storage bunker diverted Cyclone’s attention from his sorting. *Sounds like trouble*. Cyclone thought, turning just as Shrill Failed Brick burst out through the cellar doors. Her sweaty face was unusual, since she was developed athletically and the exertion of stair climbing should be nothing to her. Cyclone set his pack of armor shine down and set his jaw. If her visage could hint to what transpired to inspire her perspiration, she'd seen something scary - she was pale as a sheet.

Cyclone was about to ask her what happened when Shira blurted out, "Your girlfriend and Ryder just appeared out of thin air."

Cyclone coughed through his nose in protest. "You mean Kate?" *Did everyone see them together?*

Then Kate stormed out followed by Allison, and Shira danced out of their way. Ryder had a poise of passive observing-complacency, walking with her head cocked to one side, one brow raised, and her lips set like she’d already said her piece. On the contrary Kate looked stormy and about to spill her mind.

"Look at you.” Cyclone noted with concern. When Kate faced him, the look on her face was puzzling; there was upset, with a tinge of... hurt? *What happened?* “What happened?" he asked worriedly.

Kate looked about to speak, when she looked up, past him, and Cyclone pivoted stiffly to see Intrepid and Red, approaching from the back of the property. "What's going on?" Intrepid asked, looking between everyone, and his eyes narrowed on Ryder. As well, Stromling Cyclone, Luke, Mara, Rover, and others paused from their tasks to glance over, they sensed something was up, and Shira sidled to her cousin.

It took a few seconds before Kate responded. “The more the merrier.” she said, and then her words spilled out, fast and accusatively to Intrepid, "You knew. About my death."

Cyclone drew in his breath. "Your-"

"-Death?" Shira gasped, turning goggle-eyed to Intrepid. "This *is* a suicide mission?"

I don’t think that’s what this is about, Shira. Cyclone thought.

"*I* already died." Kate announced coldly. "In the dimension where Intrepid and I were married.” Cyclone stepped back, Shira gasped again, and Intrepid stared at the ground. “You could have told us about that, too."

Unable to retreat, Intrepid looked up from his feet, although his voice faltered and his neck twitched. "I’m sorry. I should have been the one to tell you.” Keeping his eyes on them, Cyclone imagined Intrepid barely keeping himself from glaring at Ryder, while trying to keep a level gaze with Kate. He held out a hand to Kate, and noticed someone’s shadow, Red’s, shift behind Intrepid, a quick and preferably discreet motion, but he noticed it. *She's involved too*.

Kate either also noticed or she already had a piece of her mind for Red, since her next statement was directed at her. "It was you whotold him everything, didn’t you."

Intrepid said quickly, “It’s not her fault."

 “I did.” Red confirmed.

Intrepid had already edged a toe’s-length in front of Red, almost protectively. What it meant, Cyclone wasn’t sure, and the extent of Kate’s sudden unease and subsequent need for confrontation was still a mystery.

Being with Kate all these years, he understood one thing though. She didn’t like being lied to, and being kept out of the loop was close enough.

"I also know why you rescued Cyclone and me in the first place." Kate said. "Because Red is our daughter in the other dimension.” More gasps. “The point is, either of you could have told me. Everyone here deserves to know. If we’re going to work together as a team, we need to be open with each other, okay? No more hiding information.”

Intrepid nodded. “Alright. So what do we do now?”

“You mean relationship-wise, or in team terms? We have a few more hours before our rendezvous on Crux. Cyclone and I will train our powers until then.” Kate spun around and grabbed Cyclone’s arm. “We’re finished for now. Come on Cyclone.”

## Thirty-seven

Swing, *clang*. Swing, *scrape*. Push, *clang*. Swing, *swish*. Miss.

"Try to cool down. You're angry and it's not helping." Cyclone advised. Their training session had started with swords, basic shortswords, and so far all of Kate's moves were blocked or swiftly dodged. At the fifth swing she guarded for the planned switch, but Cyclone lowered his sword instead.

Kate breathed heavily and spun the sword down. "I'm sorry, Cyclone."

"You wanted to train our powers. Let's switch to that." he suggested.

Despite the hurt lingering in the front of her head, Kate smiled and turned to face the bunker's empty wall opened to the edge of the World, the sky and clouds beyond. This subterranean bunker was built up to the Block Yard's edge, and could be entered by rockets behind disguised hanger doors. Some tools and machinery were off to the corners, allowing Kate the breadth and room to cool off.

She pushed her arms forward and sent twin jets of fire into the open air. Dark orange reflections danced over the gritty concrete walls from the moving flames. They stretched fifty feet out of the hanger doors before blowing out in bonfire sized puffs; a small distance in the overwhelming space separating the Block Yards, but a overflowing range for close combat, and she wasn't giving it her all.

Heat built up in the hanger and Kate let the flames end. She dropped her hands to sides, then flapped them in the air and blew on her fingers. "Stuff's hot!" she yelled, spinning around to see Cyclone standing slack-jawed.

"That was an impressive display." he managed.

"Supposedly we can do anything with our powers." Kate told him, which raised Cyclone's eyebrows. "I think some testing is in order."

"Where do we start?"

"Use your Imagination."

"Nice one." Cyclone ran a hand through his hair. "There has to be a catch. Using our powers takes enough focus already."

Kate considered. "Think it'll be something cliché like getting consumed be the power?"

Cyclone shared her glance. "Possibly. I bet Interpid has a file on it, from the Future Dimension."

Kate masked her glower with a one-eighty degree twirl. "Where do we get that?"

"We ask nicely."

On the surface they found Intrepid close to where they left him. The others were still milling about and all the sorting work had been done.

"It's two hours till we're expecting on Crux Prime, like you said." Intrepid told the two. He looked more haggard than usual; he was exuberating confidence in comparison fifteen minutes ago. No doubt about it, Allison Ryder's reveal and their subsequent encounter had a thing to do with it.

"Plenty of time for a cursory glance. Or more." Cyclone said brightly. "Who knows, what we found out might come in handy."

Intrepid handed him an unlinked laptop computer. "Everything's downloaded to this."

Cyclone got to his knees and Kate crouched behind him as he began browsing. "Look under 'Nexus'," she suggested. "That's what Ryder called our powers, 'Nexus Powers'."

There were about 1523 entries beginning with Nexus. Cyclone glanced backwards and put a hand on the lid. "Sure we're not better off asking her?"

Kate stood and looked about. "Where's she anyway?"

Intrepid was still standing nearby, hands in his pockets, and turned the other direction. "Red gave her a chewing out." he said as if absentminded. "She's on the scouting roster though. Probably skipped town." He then stalked off towards their fleet of rockets, to oversee loading of supplies.

Inwardly Kate felt a little sorry for flipping out like she did earlier, at him, but she didn't say anything.

"Speaking of the devil," Cyclone caught himself at the swear, then continued, "there's a file on Miss Ryder." His eyes scanned left and right, before he returned to the index. "There's a lot of history in these files... but it wouldn't be history to us."

Kate returned to behind him, curious. "What's it have on us?"

"That's not why we're here." Cyclone reminded. "Nor do I want to read about my future. Or yours. Or anyone's for that matter." he added quickly.

"It's another dimension, silly. Nothing that happens there affects us."

"I just don't want to know anything that will change how things *should* happen." Cyclone sighed.

"And how *should* things happen?" Kate inquired.

"I don't know and that's the point, I don't want to know. Here, this article on Creation Sparks has a subsection on 'Anomalous Variations'-"

Cyclone was cut off by an invisible shockwave that rippled his skin and toppled him sideways, and knocked Kate the other way. Less firmly planted items took to the air, including the laptop, which flew over their heads and probably smashed into more than a few pieces. Funnily, Kate imagined how long it had taken for Intrepid to copy the database, since that progress was likely gone now, before the flash of light and thunderclap of an interdimensional rupture hit them. That sent another shockwave of the auditory type over the Block Yard.

When Kate could hear again and her brain wasn't being marauded by high pitched ringing, she got up and blinked to bring the dark mass looming behind the Block Yard's mountain into focus. It was a Venture Class starship darkened by the combined shadow of several smaller Pirate ships and Maelstrom dragons flying above it, headed straight down towards them.

It was a Maelstrom Dimensions Invasion Force, arriving early, and Kate knew immediately it was coming for them.

## Thirty-eight

*Not again*, thought Intrepid as he faced the impending doom of Rover's Block Yard property. He'd already seen and defended the Fun Party Place, another Block Yard from an invasion force just like this. Pirate ships, ✓; Dragons, ✓; from the Maelstrom Dimension, ✓.

Terrible pictures flashed in his mind. He gulped and they caught in his throat. *Not everyone there had survived.*

Not this time, if he had anything to do about it. Intrepid stared the onslaught down. They were a mile long, a mile off, and closing fast. The infected Venture was large enough to see inside its bridge.

"We have to slow them down. On three we'll hijack the lead pirate ship and turn it on the others." Red said from next to him. The unverse manipulator was in her hands and ready to be used again.

Intrepid slipped his gear on. He eyed the pirate ship, which was indeed closer. It looked easy enough to board, with an open top, and only a hundred armored Stromling Pirates on the deck. "Why not the Venture?" he asked.

"The Venture is too technologically sophisticated. They could have traps on board. On my mark."

Intrepid gripped the manipulator in his pocket. He counted *one*, *two*.

"Three."

They relocated to the prow of the pirate ship and immediately began shooting. Despite their golden armor Stromling Pirates fell all around Intrepid to the piercing bullets of Red's laser pistol. Intrepid allowed an Admiral to grapple his shield, switched out his gun, and smashed the monster with his staff.

In the middle of the boat was the wheel, controlling more than hydraulic rudders to make the ship fly. These Stromlings felled pretty easily, Intrepid noted, as he battled his way to the steering mechanism. Red shot the head off the Stromling manning the device, and after Intrepid spun the wheel left he smashed it. They returned to the Block Yard to watch the pirate ship careen into the starboard shields of the Venture. Its wood hull splintered on impact and Stromlings either smashed or fell off but the Venture barely wavered off course.

"I don't think that did anything." Intrepid said.

"No, it didn't." Red agreed. "Worth a shot."

## Thirty-nine

After successfully disabling the rest of the Pirate Ships, Intrepid and Red ran to the Avant Gardens launcher where Luke, Mara, and Shira, Jay and Katie, and Rover, Cyclone, and Kate were loading the last segments of their supplies. “Fast!” Intrepid panted before he dropped to his knees, howling.

Cyclone cocked his head. “Fast what?”

“He means we need to get off this rock fast.” Shira translated gruffly and with a tremendous heave shoved the last box of Armor Shine into Rover’s Pod Rocket. “I’ll take this if you don’t mind,” she asked of nobody before swinging into the cockpit and blasting into the sky.

Rover blinked. “She took my rocket. Anyway, we need everyone out of here now.”

“And fast.” Intrepid rolled into a sitting position and grimaced. “I think I sprained myself landing on that last Pirate Ship.”

No one wasted time to ask what he was doing on a Pirate Ship. A shadow passed over the launch area, a shadow with wings. The first of the Maelstrom Dragon wing swung around and swooped down to attack. In its dive it rolled over, revealing the Stromling-manned machine guns, four of them, on its back. A bomb clutched in the dragon’s claws was aimed right at the launcher.

“Everyone out!” Rover shouted. The others were already running for the bunker with the underground hanger. They intended to launch from there. Meanwhile machine gun fire strafed the ground around them and took off armor points. The dragon was about to drop its bomb when suddenly its neck was cut off. Rocket fired laser beams pierced its scales and the neutralized dragon parts, its crew, and its bomb fell over the Block Yard’s edge harmlessly. Cailan and Crimson’s rocket streaked by.

“They’re useful for once.” Intrepid commented. Jay and Katie reached the cellar doors first and held them open, then Intrepid and Rover.

“Make yourself useful and check the other bunkers for stragglers.” Rover suggested.

Intrepid reached for his Unverse Manipulator but dropped his hand when Red, running with the othres disappeared from view. She was already on it. Cyclone, Kate, Luke, and Mara had taken time to exchange weapons fire with the approaching rest of the dragons. Gripping each others hands, Cyclone and Kate dashed in and the Figdroids looked anxious to shut the doors.

Then the bombs began to fall.

Intrepid shouted for Luke and Mara to run faster. He would whisk them in if recent maneuvers hadn’t depleted his manipulator’s already limited energy. So he could do nothing as target reticles created a minefield between his two companions and safety, and all around them. The first explosions began to send dirt flying from orange bursts of flame and their flashes grew brighter as they neared. Intrepid saw Luke throw Mara and then dive after her but a flash from the nearest explosion blinded Intrepid. Dirt rained down and he heard Jay and Katie slam the doors shut.

He also heard screaming.

When his eyes resumed working, Intrepid’s heart almost stopped. Mara had made it in, and so had Luke but not in one piece. The color drained from Intrepid’s face, but not as much as the energy that drained from Luke where he'd been injured from the blast. He was partially smashed and his legs were gone. “Oh-”*god*. Intrepid wanted to move or do something to help the blond boy but his own legs had gone numb. Luke coughed in a way that suggested additional injury.

“Stay with us, Luke.” Mara had ran to Luke’s side. She grabbed his hand and locked eyes. “Stay with *me*,” she repeated as his breathing became labored.

So much loss.

Intrepid was dimly aware of people moving around him. They could try to save Luke. Intrepid couldn’t even turn away. When he shut his eyes he saw memories.

So many people smashed…

Luke took a shuddering breath.

Some were killed before they could smash.

“Noooooo…” Mara began to wail.

Smashed or not, there was nothing he could do to help them.

He slumped to the ground while Mara buried her face in Luke’s shoulder, and Intrepid blacked out.

…

Cyclone put his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “He’s gone.” he said softly.

“He’s not.” Mara shook him loose.

Cyclone glanced at Rover. “We have to go.” Cyclone repeated, and crouched next to the garnet-haired girl. “Mara-”

“NO!” she whirled on him with such a ferocity it made Cyclone step back. Her eyes were glossed and her face burned with flush. “We’re all we have left!” She choked on a sob. “Luke is, was all I have left.” she repeated, crestfallen. “Now-”

“You have us.” Cyclone said firmly.

Unexpectedly Mara flung her arms around Cyclone and nearly knocked him over from the sudden embrace. She sobbed bitterly, her tears dampened his shoulder. After a moment, he gripped her back.

There was a gasp from next to them and Cyclone stared saucer-eyed over Mara’s shoulder as Luke’s chest heaved with an intake of breath. Then he was knocked down when Mara pushed off him and grabbed Luke’s arms. She hauled him to his feet.

*His feet*. Mara pulled Luke into a tight standing hug that the boy took without toppling. He looked in perfect health.

Cyclone’s eyes shifted to Kate, crouched next to where Luke had laid, and leaning on the wall. Her eyes were closed and her hair floated as if flowing with electricity. Stray Imagination energy discolored the wall behind her back and cloudy wisps of it still drifted from her open hands. When her eyes opened they glowed a shining blue that slowly faded to normal white. Her hair lost its shine and drooped back down and Kate drew a ragged breath. She tried to stand, but then she collapsed - into Cyclone’s arms.

“I’m alive.” Luke gasped, looking down at himself and his uninjured body, as much as he could with Mara clinging to him, and then at Kate. “You saved me.”

“You saved him?” Cyclone echoed, bewildered. Leaning against him for support, Kate nodded weakly. “You can save people from dying?”

“We… can.” Kate sighed. Then her eyes shut from exhaustion.

Now Cyclone felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Rover, and behind him stood Red with Allison and Ben. Edgar and Evelyne were fetched as well. Intrepid, who was still out cold, was draped in Edgar’s arms and Evelyne stroked his face.

“Ray, Jonna, Crimson and Cailan, Skilled Honored Ninja, Strange Odd Shadow, and Shira are already in rockets.” Red reported.

“Then there’s the rest of us.” Rover said. Dust fell from the ceiling as another bombardment began above that shook the walls. “We should really be going now.”

“We’ll need to use two-seaters.” Cyclone said.

“We have them.” Mara affirmed.

“Then let’s get out of here.” Rover proclaimed.

## Forty

That morning the invasion had begun. Only small steps at first, but Intrepid knew it would get worse.

“Here are reports of ex-space attacks on properties all around the Nimbus System.” Mara reported. “Around twenty Block Yards, five Avant Groves, a Chantey Shantey, a Raven’s Bluff.”

She sat at the edge of a carpet on a dirt-packed ground with a laptop in front of her, in a small hidey-hole in the hills of Avant Gardens. The others she’d escaped with from Rover’s Block Yard were outside except for Rover, Luke, and Red, and Intrepid (who had woken up in the flight); they were inside. The others who’d escaped in rockets even earlier, by themselves, were still unaccounted for, namely Shira, Jonna, Shadow, and Skilled Honored Ninja. Some, like Cailan and Crimson and Stromling Cyclone, were just missing and they weren’t even sure if they had escaped. But they could hope.

“Hold on, what are the names of the properties?” Rover asked. “Better question; who are they owned by?”

“According to these news bulletins, the Chantey and the Bluff are owned by you, Rover.” Mara said. “The Avant Groves belong to you, Cyclone, Rover, Jonna, Edgar, and our version of Skilled Honored Ninja; the Block Yards are owned by just about all of us, save for Evelyne.”

“So they’re specifically attacking *our* properties.” Rover stated. “Wonderful.”

“They’re sending us a message.” Red suggested.

“Yeah, they want to kill us.” Luke said with a grimace. “I’d know.”

“Both.” Intrepid reconciled. “They want us dead, and they’ll keep trying to get us for as long as we’re alive, or not infected. You guys keep working down here, I’ll check with the others outside.”

He went to the ladder in the middle of the room and climbed it. The hidey-hole, with its few desks and desk chairs and carpeted floor and a map table, had plenty of server equipment in it with antenna links on other mountains. It used to be manned by Suave Able Cat, lieutenant of the legendary Lord Brocktree, who had first shown them the place. It was a good hiding place, Intrepid remembered, from that time two years back. He had just met Kate and her friends. Even Shira had magically showed up. It seemed so long ago.

Suave or Brocktree weren’t here now, so they commandeered it.

Intrepid climbed the last rung and stuck his head out the camouflaged entrance. It was still plenty sunny, even in the late afternoon, since trees were far and few in the grasslands. He surveyed the rolling landscape until he saw the rest of their team, hidden in a valley between two of the steeper hills in a grass-covered shipping container. It was designed to be invisible from the air, as was the gulch where they stowed their rockets. But their rockets with supplies had disappeared with Jonna, Shadow, Skilled, and Shira.

*We don’t have a lot of hiding places left*. Intrepid thought depressingly. As he walked over to the valley, he became aware of someone behind him. He glanced back, but he only saw Red.

**…**

Night had fallen when Edgar returned from scouting. By now distant cracks of gunfire, clangs of swords, and flashes from explosions small and large were apparent elsewhere in the green world. “We have to get moving soon if we’re to stop this.” the Shinobi reminded. “We have to assume the others won’t get here in time.”

Intrepid sat in the middle of the container’s walls. Evelyne, Allison, and Ben shared a couch towards the entrance where Edgar stood. There were some weapon racks on the walls. In the back, seated crosslegged, Cyclone kept an eye on the still girl lying on their only field cot. They’d given Kate a medicine chest’s worth of Imagination supplements, but she remained comatose.

“They’re probably out fighting,” Evelyne said. Cyclone glanced at her. The black haired girl was looking out at the hills. “So should we.”

A laptop beeped next to Intrepid and he turned to its screen. “Finally.” he muttered. “Future Intrepid’s database has finished de-encrypting, for the second time. Cyclone,” he called, “if you want to learn more about Creative Sparks-”

“Ryder told me everything.” Cyclone responded more abruptly than he’d meant.

“Well,” Intrepid removed the flash drive and glanced over to to the couch, “Kate would want us to share what we know.”

“If you’re willing to listen.” Allison spoke up. “We all have the power of Imagination, some more or less than others, although in Evelyne’s case, not at all. Cyclone, Kate, and I have abnormally powerful Creative Sparks.”

“You too?” Intrepid said. “Who else has secrets?”

Cyclone didn’t have any secrets, but he added, “Master Blade 9 has a strong Creative Spark.” Blade was the only one who hadn’t yet responded to the mail he and Kate sent out when they returned. He hoped he was alright… he gave Kate’s a hand a squeeze. He hoped she was alright.

“It’s not so rare.” Red said, moving to join Intrepid at the laptop. “Supposedly Allison, Ben, and my dimension’s Leek Works has a list collected of everyone in the Nexus Force who we know has the trait. I never saw it, but I listened in on those who did. Tiberius told me it numbered in the hundreds.”

“Then it should be on this computer.” Intrepid said with realization.

“The key is knowing what you can do with a Nexus’s worth of Imagination.” said Allison. “And what you can’t do.”

*You can save people from death*, Cyclone noted, looking at Kate. *But at what cost?* “What will we do with such a list?” he called. “Find them and recruit them to our cause? Will we even be alive that long? We’re running out of time.”

“We can split up.” Red suggested. “Intrepid and I can find other people with powers. The rest of us who can, proceed with the plan to neutralize the Maelstrom Mine with the Paradox serum.”

“But that will kill Evelyne.” Intrepid protested.

“You dolt, I’m already dead.” Evelyne retorted. “I don’t care what you do if it’ll stop the invasion. Just revive me later.” Evidently Evelyne had been revived before. It should be possible to do again.

Intrepid breathed deeply and got to his feet. “Fine, but I’m going to Crux Prime. Who else?”

Allison got to her feet and Edgar nodded at the entrance. Eventually they turned to Cyclone. He shifted his gaze back to Kate’s face. She was so helpless, and he didn’t know how to bring her back. Except… he closed his eyes, willed his Imagination to show itself, and he channeled some of his supposedly-Nexus-level reserve into his companion. He felt it leave his soul, and go into hers. Then he let go of Kate’s hand.

Cyclone stood up. His legs needed some stretching after he’d sat for so long. But he was ready.

“That makes a full team of four.” Intrepid said. “Rover, Luke, Mara, and Jay and Katie will stay here to guard, as well as in case anyone else shows up.” he decided.

“I know where the Paradox serum is.” Red said, picking up Intrepid’s laptop. “I’ll get it to you there.” There was a shift in the atmosphere that made everyone's ears pop as air rushed to fill the space she left.

Intrepid held out his hand, in it was his Unverse Manipulator. Enough hours had passed to recharge it, however that worked. Edgar put his hand on top, then Allison, and Cyclone walked over to add his.

*To Crux Prime*, Cyclone thought, and so did Intrepid. They were whisked away.

The silent thrill of an Unverse tunnel was unfamiliar to Cyclone. He felt the presence of Intrepid’s, Edgar’s, and Allison’s Creative Sparks around him. Intrepid’s was small, but determined and effervescent; Edgar gave off courage and foundation; and Allison was a hidden powerhouse. But he also felt something sinister, the presence of dark forces, and the sensation of being watched. By the Maelstrom, or something else?

They arrived on a clifftop on the Crux Prime, far beyond Rivendark Canyon and the ruins of a defunct Nexus Temple. At the cliff’s edge stood four older people. Two of them had Leek Works badges. Cyclone recognized the adult faces of Future Intrepid and Future Luke and Future Mara, but the fourth was facing the other way, over the cliff’s edge. His suit was vaguely Paradox in design, Space Marauder in essence. His helmet was on.

“Good, you popped up in our containment zone, or the Maelstrom would have detected your entrance.” Future Luke stated. “Mind you we’ve been waiting here for hours beyond the original rendezvous time.”

“We ran into complications.” young Intrepid said sourly.

“The invasion. So we’ve heard.” Future Intrepid said.

“Some of our teammates are still missing.” Edgar related, and Future Intrepid turned to the Shinobi sadly.

“We all lose something in war.” he said. “Unless you have nothing to lose.”

There was a flash of light and a rush of air, and Red dropped out of a rift. She dropped a small box in Future Intrepid’s hand and he handed it to the nearest person, Cyclone. He handed it off to his Intrepid.

“Welcome back.” Intrepid said to Red. She looked up, seeming a bit harried for some reason, but after a moment she smiled reassuringly.

“There’s a ten-thousand strong advanced Stromling between us and the Ore Deposits.” Future Mara reported. “We’ll distract them, so you can get in and use the antitoxin.” Intrepid opened the box. “We should all carry a plunger, so we each have a shot.”

“You can’t just teleport in without being detected.” Future Luke explained. “We’ll go first and clear a path, then you come in when it’s safe.”

“He means less unsafe.” Future Mara said. “That being said, let’s go.”

The Space Marauder turned around then, and that’s when Cyclone recognized his Future Dimension counterpart.

The Future Dimensioners all disappeared and a moment later rumbles rang out over the cliffside. Cyclone, Intrepid, Edgar, Allison, and Red darted to the edge to see orange and red flaming debris and dust shooting out of previously invisible vents in the ground. More explosions rocked the ground that crumbled rocks on the opposing cliff face. At the ravine’s bottom between cliffs, guarding the Mine’s entrance, Stromlings and Mechs and Camel Spiders responded to the commotion and assumed attack positions.

Then a blue light shone out of the Mine entrances. The pure energy grew to such an intensity that the stronger Maelstrom forces were stunned and the Stromlings were vaporized.

“That’s your cue.” Red ordered. “Go.”

Cyclone felt Intrepid’s hand grab his arm, and then they were off on the most dangerous mission of their lives.

## Forty-one

There was a change in atmosphere going into the Maelstrom Mine. The jump was intradimensional so fast enough to disorient Intrepid. The first thing he felt was the heat.

He, Cyclone, Edgar, and Allison had emerged in a long hewn tunnel. Steam jets blasted in through holes in the rocky floor and puddles of water collected in low spots, while condensation dripped down from a stalactite studded roof. The tunnel ended with a large fan built into the wall that lazily tugged the steam elsewhere in the facility. There was a constant sound of dripping water.

The Future Dimensioners had set up a shield zone, similar to a building zone, not far ahead. Leading the team, Intrepid ran into it and they were instantly protected from the heat and noise.

"The primary Ore repositories are directly below us,” Mara said, “that’s where all this steam is coming from, since Maelstrom fog is separated from the Ore in steam vats. The fog is directed to power the Maelstrom’s Unverse Gateways, while the leftover steam is just blown around in these tunnels and re-used.”

*So this is just harmless steam.* Intrepid said, considering the steam jets in the tunnel. *Harmless*, *except scalding to touch.* “Wouldn’t want to touch Maelstrom fog, though.” he said to himself.

"Maelstrom fog has Unverse breaching properties." Future Dimension's Cyclone, Charles Bradfordson, clarified. “It’s an aspect of their chaotic nature. Needless to say touching it, or traveling through Unverse infected by it, would infect you too.”

“So it’s conventional transportation going forwards.” Future Intrepid said. “There’s too much Maelstrom interference in the Unverse here. Use of a manipulator any further into this Mine will infect you. So no Unverse breaches, inter or intradimensional.”

Edgar folded his arms. “I thought this would be an in-and-out operation. What’s our escape plan?”

“You can leave now.” Future Intrepid said.

“There will be fighting.” Future Luke advised, cracking his knuckles.

“I’m not leaving.” Edgar stated.

The Shinobi shared glances with the rest of the team. They all nodded. “We’re not leaving.” Intrepid declared.

“Now that that’s settled,” Charles projected a holographic image from the arm of his suit, “this is what a Maelstrom Unverse Gateway looks like.” Illuminated over his arm were schematics for something like a giant metal box, cube-shaped, with a drawbridge-style ramp that became its sixth face when closed. Numbers indicated the container was a hundred feet in each dimension, large enough to move a small army and tall enough to fit the Darkitect. Maelstrom Fog was fed into the cube by tubes.

“There are a few Gateways here.” Charles continued. “Our primary target is the Ore collectors, if we take them out we take out the entire Maelstrom, but if we can’t hit them we’ll crash the Gates instead.”

“We could split up and hit both.” Cyclone suggested.

“We’re already splitting up.” Future Mara said, twirling a revolver, while Future Intrepid unsheathed a Long Sword. “I already said, ‘We’ll distract them, so you can get in and use the antitoxin’. You four are the strike team.”

Intrepid also remembered Future Mara counting the Maelstrom forces at over ten-thousand Stromlings and other assorted Maelstrom monsters. Cyclone also remembered. “You’re going to die.” the brown haired boy warned.

Future Intrepid shrugged it off while Future Luke pretended to inspect his weapons. “I’m not planning on it,” the former said, “and besides, we’ve got each other.” He turned to Charles, Luke, and Mara. “It’ll be just like old times, right? *Right?*”

“Let’s just go.” Charles huffed before his visor closed, sealing him behind his helmet. With that he backed out of the shield, turned to the fan, and raised a laser pistol. A piercing shot rang out smashed the contraption.

Without a doubt security forces would convene on them soon. Charles lead the way into the newly opened tunnel, followed by Future Intrepid, Luke, and Mara, while ambient alarms blared from deeper in the tunnels, farther in the mine, with over ten-thousand Stromlings between them and their target….

## Forty-two

With no way to go but forwards, Cyclone steeled himself and followed Intrepid and the rest of the team into the ventilation tunnels. The first Stromlings they encountered looked typical enough. Purple complexion, red eyes, tools for arms. Mine workers with construction gear, maintaining equipment along the tunnel walls. The Future Dimensioners smashed them before Cyclone could care. Not that he cared.

Except the further they proceeded, the more he noticed the Stromlings looking more Nexus Force in their appearance. They carried swords or guns and wore armor. Passing the fallen, Cyclone identified emblems, Sentinel, Paradox, Venture, Assembly. As greater numbers of guards intercepted them in the tunnels, enough to bypass Future Intrepid and Charles that Cyclone raised his wormholer to defend himself, he saw these Stromlings had distinct faces.

They were now fighting Maelstrom Dimension Stromlings. Minifigures working for the Maelstrom, willingly or not. The influence of chaos had corrupted them.

When Cyclone aimed his weapon at a Stromling Samurai, he thought of Kate. He’d left her on Avant Gardens, comatose and injured. He hoped she was alright. He needed to succeed in this mission and prevent the Maelstrom Dimension from killing her again.

And him.

And everyone.

The Stromling Samurai moved quicker than he expected and Cyclone squeezed his wormholer’s trigger too late to hit its fast moving form, the energy bolts striking the wall instead. As the Stromling moved to strike, Cyclone leaned back just enough to dodge the katana slicing for his neck, before another set of katanas cut off the Stromling’s arm, whipped back through the air, and smashed the Stromling. Armor clattered to the floor.

“Watch yourself.” Edgar said, before he ran ahead to relieve Intrepid from a duel with an infected Daredevil.

*You should use your powers*, a voice in his head said. The hair on Cyclone’s neck pricked when he realized it was Allison telepathically talking to him. She stood well behind him, out of the combat, or guarding the rear. He hadn’t really kept track of her.

“I don’t know how.” Cyclone hissed. He thought of Kate again, and how she’d overextended herself saving Luke. “I don’t-”

*Trust in yourself*, the voice told him.

Cyclone nodded. He could use his powers with reservation. What good were they if he didn’t try?

He breathed deeply, but he felt the connection with his Imagination so suddenly that he realized it was truly a part of him, unlocked, accessible.

And he was aware of his capacity.

Like dipping his toes into water, Cyclone called up the slightest amount of his Imagination to lighten his feet. He instantly felt stronger and faster. He steadied his wormholer and aimed it ahead, past Intrepid and Edgar, Future Luke and Mara, and Charles and Future Intrepid currently locked in combat with a Maelstrom squad of Brick Furys, or mechanized Stromlings.

He ran past his teammates and lifted the wormholer like it was a feather. Then he brought it down like an anvil on the first Mechling’s shoulder plates. Sparks erupted as the chainsaw cut, the Mech’s legs buckled, and it smashed after Cyclone lifted the blade to slash the next Mechling, and the next one. He moved fast on his feet like a lightning bolt dancing between targets, slashing and cutting and spinning with the whirring destructiveness of a hurricane. Or a cyclone.

“Good job.” Future Intrepid patted Cyclone on the shoulder when he came to a stop over the last Mechling's empty shell, the Stromling in it smashed. His wormholer idled down to a purr, and he wasn’t even breathing heavily.

*I’ve discovered my powers.* Cyclone thought. It was his voice, not Allison’s.

## Forty-three

After a break in the combat the two teams split up. Intrepid, Cyclone, Edgar, and Allison traversed the tunnel to its end at a vent grate, which they exited through onto a maintenance balcony that overlooked a network of intersecting tunnels, the last step between them and their target.

Also between them were hundreds of sentry forces in the tunnels around. The Mine’s guard was well-alerted to their presence by now; a lone Stromling Mech aimed its laser-eye around the antechamber, and plenty other creatures occupied the tunnels. Infectious fog had already been diverted into the vent shafts in an attempt to infect them there, but they’d protected themselves with Shielding-enchanted gear and smashed whatever Stromlings teleported in.

Now Intrepid switched out his Shield of Shielding for his Bat Lord Shield, in the temporary reprieve of fresh air the balcony gave them. He downed a Notion Potion since keeping the shield up had drained more than a few Imagination points. He did it before Cyclone or Allison could have moved to restore him; they had to keep their strength up too.

They were a very disjointed team. Nexus Force strategists stressed the importance of a Faction-balanced team. The faction kits were designed to support each others strengths, counter weaknesses. Plenty knew the “Tale of 4 Heroes.” At least Edgar’s abilities could restore Imagination.

Should they get into a mess, Cyclone and Allison would work overtime to supply Intrepid and Edgar, but protecting themselves was their own job.

Luckily for now, cleaning the way would be the job of their ‘Future’ counterparts.

Red and white flashes and fireworks sounds began to appear in four of the various tunnels, the effects of Flash Bangs and Big Ones, and laser guns and suped-up swords. The Stromling Mech looked wildly between each tunnel, and that’s when Intrepid snuck up behind it and stabbed it to oblivion.

He spun around and pointed himself at one of the dark tunnels. It went for a long time dark as any other, up to a dimly lit curve with dancing shadows. If he squinted, the shadows looked like the jointed legs of a Spider Boss. His observation was confirmed when six orange eyes appeared in the dark. And six orange eyes behind that. And six more.

Edgar twirled his katana. “We’ve fought worse.”

A clutter of Dark Spiderlings dropped down from the ceiling then. Intrepid spun to smash one but the spider deflected it with an armored leg. Cyclone fired his wormholer in a wide arc but the spiders moved undeterred, absorbing an abnormal amount of bullets. A frying pan slid from Allison Ryder’s sleeves each and sent out a shockwave when she clanged them together. It made the spiders freeze and Edgar beheaddc one, before the others snapped out of their trance and continued to advance.

“Time to go!” Cyclone urged, focusing his fire to a narrower angle and backing to the tunnel. Another Spiderling smashed while Intrepid lead the others into the tunnel. Cyclone’s wormholer took on a charged glow, no doubt as he poured some Imagination power into its bullets. Spiderlings exploded in one hit.

Cyclone lobbed a Flash Bang that exploded into a wall of fire that alighted the Spiderlings, an effect much like a Samurai’s flaming arrows. That and the efforts of the Future Dimensioners should keep the rest of the mine’s guard separated and at bay. Then Cyclone turned to follow Intrepid, who already set his gaze on the approaching Spider Bosses. The Bat Lord and Shinobi guarded.

They approached rapidly on skittering legs, then came to a halt a wormholer’s range from Intrepid and Edgar. The first Spider Boss shot a canister of Maelstrom fog out that created an opaque purple wall, out of which a squad of Nexus Force Stromlings materialized. Spiderlings, possibly from the same squad they just fought, appeared out of the unverse-breaching cloud too, and more yet dropped from cracks in the ceiling behind them. Intrepid risked a glance back before gripping his shield close.

*Oh, this isn’t good.* Intrepid thought. All their distraction plans were for naught if the Maelstrom could teleport around. He turned around and swung low to upend the nearest little spiders, since smashing them would take too long, but the rest just climbed over them, all legs and hissing and glowing eyes. Intrepid blanched and activated a Flash Bang, which Allison amplified to blind every Spiderling behind their group.

“We have to move forward.” Edgar reminded. He charged up a Shinobu rush and his katanas cut through the Spiderlings front of him while Cyclone sliced off legs and mowed down weaker Stromlings with his wormholer.

“Yeah,” Intrepid agreed, but there’s a hole in the universe between us and ahead.

Each of Edgar’s attacks sent a bit of imagination coming Intrepid’s way, and he considered if that and a few Notion Potions would be enough for him to survive speed boosting through the fog wall. When he cut down enough Infected Nexus Forcers that he could get close enough to the fog, he recoiled. Touching it would infect him.

Then he felt something like a chilled spike digging into his back. He staggered, before realizing the chill was a waterfall of Imagination being forced into his body, surging and looking for places to be used. It took all his willpower not to activate every ability in his gear. The Imagination energy wanted to be used.

But could it protect him?

“Go!” Allison shouted. He looked back and saw her hands were in the air, palms aimed at him, and he took an involuntary step forwards towards the fog wall. Was she trying to get him killed?

But instead of the tingle of infection, he now felt the cold void of broken unverse, shattered by chaotically induced breaches, tugging for his life near the fogwall. It wasn’t the infection he had to worry about, it was surviving with his underlying life force intact. But not even a Nexusfigure’s worth of Imagination could keep his soul from falling into oblivion, which was what would happen if he touched the chaotically induced rift.

But Intrepid was a Bat Lord, this was why she’d chosen him. His gear focused on preserving his life. That could save him.

A distant roar filled the tunnel and Intrepid felt a wave of flaming heat from behind them. He stiffened. A dragon could end them all, sandwiched against the fog all. Allison’s connection came to an end but the power she’d poured into him remained. His creative spark couldn’t contain it all, so it hovered around his body, attracted to him nonetheless. He could tap it.

She'd given him a lot of energy, no doubt at the cost of herself. But Intrepid didn't turn around to see what became of her.

We’re all going to die if I don’t try. And if I do try and we still die, no harm done, right?

The imagination invigorated him and Intrepid nearly blew it all on a Bat Lord speed boost. He curbed himself just in time as he ran into the Maelstrom fog wall and passed it, then the ability ended, his life force and his creative spark compromised. Purple sparks shot off his gear, the effect of repulsed Maelstrom that failed to infect him since he was protected by the Imagination, which was now all used up doing that. But while his body passed through the rift unharmed, a part of him remained caught. His life force, his soul. Stromlings could pass through just fine since they didn’t have souls, but he was going to die if he didn’t smash something fast.

He felt his life draining. His breaths stopped fueling him and the color disappeared from his vision.

Luckily a Stromling stood nearby and Intrepid smashed it. His Bat Lord gear converted the act into energy. The rush gave Intrepid strength for a second and he took a step forwards, but still the rift pulled at the life-aspect of his creative spark.

The first Spider Boss stood right in front of him, and Intrepid swung his staff and cut off its front claws. It staggered and Intrepid heaved his staff upwards, cutting into the monster and it was felled, and that was enough to restore Intrepid completely.

Two more Spider Bosses and some Stromlings remained ahead. Intrepid drank a Notion Potion and activated a Shield Slam that stunned the Spider Boss, and he smashed the Stromlings, before running to the next Boss. Every stride he put between himself and the rift weakened its hold on him and he no longer felt like he was dying. The Spider Boss swung at him and he ducked, raising his shield to catch the blow and use its momentum to fling him out of the way. Arcing low through the air, he pointed his staff to trip every Stromling he passed, smashing many. He rolled to his feet.

Then he activated another speed boost and careened down the corridor, arriving at the entrance to a large chamber that held rows of conveyor belts carrying rocks of hewn Maelstrom ore into furnaces, with pipes to collect their exhaust, ore and steam, and divert them to different collection zones of the facility.

Intrepid equipped his shot of the Paradox Antitoxin. He took a step forward and didn’t notice a hole in the ground in front of him. He fell in.

## Forty-four

Rubbing his head, Intrepid got up looked around the new room. Here the stalactites glowed with Maelstrom and a light fog emanated from the floor. The entire room was hewn from Maelstrom Ore; now *this* was a mine. It was completely accidental, but acceptable, that he’d landed in it.

He checked the vial for damage. It was unharmed, thankfully, for the mission’s sake. Intrepid tensed up loading the vial into a multipurpose blaster, a gun which he aimed at, well, the wall. Maelstrom ore was everywhere and linked to everywhere so anywhere would hit home. The antitoxin would shred the Maelstrom’s interdimensional transport from the inside, and kill any Stromling within the fog’s influence. Those connected only telepathically, the smallest degree and ‘normal’ level of Maelstrom interconnection, would still be effected. Stronger bosses would survive, but every Stromling-sized creature would die.

Intrepid could not squeeze out his anxiety. This would kill Evelyne. Somehow their group of twenty plus had been whittled to eight, then four, and now him. *He* had to be the one to save his universe.

Intrepid breathed deeply.

He put his finger on the trigger but he couldn’t pull it. He could not kill Evelyne.

Something growled elsewhere and Intrepid swung around to see a Stromling in the far corner, its blade-arm raised menacingly. In response Intrepid reflexively shot the Stromling clean in the chest, and it staggered to the ground, dead but not yet smashed.

Intrepid’s chest heaved. He’d shot it with the antitoxin. He checked the clip, half a dose remained. He shook his head.

“I love you Evelyne.” Intrepid whispered. He turned and aimed the gun to a hollowed, perforated area in the rock wall where a high concentration Maelstrom ore glowed from within.

He returned his finger to the trigger. He was about to fire when something growled nearby, closer than the last time.

Intrepid turned around again. The Stromling he’d shot dead was back on its feet again, but now it had grown in height, stature, and danger. Spikes protruded from its spine and ribcage, its shoulders had widened and its arms thickened. Its blade-arm had morphed into a deadly curved cleaver, serrated and sharp.

“What the brick?” Intrepid threw the gun to the side and leaped in the other direction as the Stromling brought its other hand down, catching him and flinging him into the wall. He hit the rock headfirst with a loud crack, the impact silenced his ears and blacked out his vision for a few seconds.

When he came to Intrepid got a closer look at the menacing Stromling. It reached down and yanked him to this feet, hoisting him by his neck which had the inadvertent effect of squeezing more blood into his brain, increasing his alertness. Then the Stromling prepared to smash him with the sharp edge of its blade.

In that instant Intrepid equipped his Elite Longsword and pressed it to his body’s side, so the Stromling’s blade struck the metal and he was punted from its grasp to the other wall, but this time he rolled to his feet with only minor scuffing.

He swung his multipurpose blaster back out and set it to bullet mode, then squeezed a series of piercing spreads that tore through the Menacer’s overgrown Stromling body. For its size and strength, it was still a Stromling with Stromling weaknesses, a lack of armor or smarts.

Intrepid aimed slightly upwards and blew the Menacer’s head off. Then it fell and smashed for good.

Then he raised the Paradox Antitoxin and smashed it in his fist. He threw the glass to the floor.

It was a ruse. He had been tricked, set up.

He heard the rush of a Transdimensional Rift opening and closing behind him.

And he had been trapped.

Intrepid turned around to face the girl who’d distributed to him and his teammates what was supposed to be the weapon to end the war and save the universe. The Menacing Stromling was evidence of betrayal; that, and the fact that she’d teleported in without becoming infected.

One does not become what they already are.

“Run into a problem?” Red asked, eyeing the glass shards on the ground between them. Her eyes darted up when Intrepid leveled the Longsword at her.

“You’re not Red.” Intrepid stated. “Not my Red.”

Her curt lips parted into a sly smile. “How do you figure that, Intrepid?” she asked, maintaining eye contact.

“Real Red doesn’t smile as liberally.” Intrepid huffed, while mentally preparing himself for a fight. She could attack from any direction. With a shield deployed he might be able to last long enough to counterattack. “You’re too happy.” he continued. “You didn’t think I’d know my own blood?”

“But you didn’t.” evil Red laughed haughtily. “Not in time to save yourself from this elaborate plot of the First Darkitect’s.”

“Bio-weapons field testing.” Intrepid said of the ‘Antitoxin,’ which had the better effect of being a steroid for Stromlings. This Red was cocky, and quite talkative. He mustered as much of his limited Imagination as he could into the Shield of Shielding in his backpack.

“Also to capture three more Nexus Figures for the Darkitect to absorb into his power.” The evil Red grinned evilly. “With each zenith of Creative Imagination corrupted, chaotic energy is distributed to our unverse breachers and hundreds more dimensions enter the reach of our influence. Soon, we will cross the divide to other universes.”

“If you destroy unverse all of reality will disappear.” Intrepid warned. “Even the Darkitect will die.”

“Not necessarily,” she batted a hand at the air like it was a problem of minuscule concern.. “I wouldn’t consider it beyond the Darkitect to survive where others cannot, but for the sake of having a world to rule over, the smartest of you *may* be repurposed to solve our small Unverse-longevity problem. As for the rest of you,”

She took a step forward and Intrepid pointed the sword at the Leek Works logo on her chest. She pretended not to notice, because she advanced another step.

“It’s in my discretion whether you live or die.” She cocked her head. “I’ll let you know I’ve killed you before, so don’t try begging for mercy. You’re no better as a Stromling than any other infected. Therefore you will die, an individual unnecessary to the master plan.”

Intrepid didn’t dare blink or shake his head. Every muscle in his body threatened to quake as he held his ground. He let her make the first move. As he expected evil Red disappeared into another Unverse rift, no doubt about to attack. He activated his Shield.

The blue sphere saved him from a hail fire of bullets above his head, then a flying kick breached his shield. He feigned being caught off guard and allowed her boots to strike them. He was sent sprawling to ground.

“The others resisted better.” His face on the ground, Intrepid saw Evil Red approach and heard the preliminary charge-up of a blaster. Then he dove forwards and speedboosted straight for her. The blaster fired early and struck him in the shoulder, but he was too fast to be stopped.

He would have body slammed his opponent if she’d not displaced herself to avoid the impact, but he still had his unverse manipulator and with it he entered an unverse rift of his own, right behind her. Immediately he felt the effects of the Maelstrom’s inundation in this unverse, he had to get out quickly to not be infected. In the extradimensional void between spaces he found Evil Red’s presence and mentally locked onto her. With an esoteric tug he yanked her out with him.

They reappeared out the other side of his rift with Intrepid tackling evil Red to the ground. He hadn’t been exposed to the corrupted unverse long enough to for an infection to take hold, but its effect on evil Red was revealing. Her Leek Works disguise had degraded to typical ragged Stromling garb. Her face, hair, and limbs were mottled with infection spots, and she had a blade-arm that sliced into his left wrist.

Intrepid screamed but couldn’t let go, so she could not escape. With his other hand he couldn’t reach the blaster on his hip, so he fumbled for the hilt of her blaster instead. He yanked it from its holster and aimed it underneath him, then he squeezed the trigger, hitting its target point-blank. Evil Red was no more.

## Forty-five

Intrepid hurried to a tunnel in the wall before he could waste time comprehending what he’d just done. There was a rocky incline that he pulled himself up with his right arm. He needed to regroup with his teammates and organize an escape.

He ignored his left wrist as best as he could, adconsciously equipping bandages and mentally relegating Imagination to heal the wound, although it just made him numb. Evil Red had cut him deep, in more ways than physical. She wasn’t really his daughter, no less than Red, was, but smashing her was still bothersome to dwell on. Intrepid swallowed his feelings, trying to keep them as numb as his fingers had become.

Intrepid stopped and looked at his left hand and drew a sharp breath. His reaction to Maelstrom unverse was worth than he’d thought, or Evil Red had diced his Creative Spark too. With his right hand he touched the affected fingers. They were cool to the touch, like the metal of a sword, or a blade. He was getting infected.

Lovely, Intrepid thought. I’m getting infected.

He climbed faster.

In a minute he was back in the conveyor belt room. He was in no shape to fight with his sword so Intrepid spilled a Notion Potion on the Multiblaster to recharge it and let it do the dirty work. Each hit spilled into pools of flame, which failed to last long on the stone floor or metal conveyance structures, but sparks flew out to hit Stromling workers and light them aflame.

Intrepid pivoted on his feet as he headed back into the tunnel the way he came so he could shoot as he went, hitting normal Stromlings, Maelstrom Dimension Nexus Forcers, Spiderlings, and Mechs. Once in the tunnel he found it surprisingly clear of the Stromlings and Spiders that were there before. He speed boosted down its full length to the tunnel intersection. There was no sign of his teammates either. Not even the dragon.

This was bad. Evil Red had said three Nexus Figures were captured, of course counting Cyclone, Charles, and Allison. Could they have been apprehended right after he left? What about Edgar, and Future Intrepid, Luke, and Mara?

*What about Red?* Intrepid tried to pin down the last time he’d seen the real Red minifigure, not as a disguised Stromling. He couldn’t.

Intrepid whirled around to aim himself down the path to the Unverse Gateways. Delivering the Paradox Antitoxin was out. With his firepower he could at least try and take down a Gateway before he escaped… more like *if* he escaped. In the belly of the beast, it was up the Maelstrom if he would leave.

After a brisk jog Intrepid entered the Unverse Gateway room. It stretched long and wide like a warehouse with a ceiling around 150 feet, to accommodate the Cube-Gateway structures that already accommodated machines of war, arms and armor, or a Darkitect.

There were other designs too. A tall heptagonal structure, not unlike The Ring breacher in its spiric design that lacked depth, was 70 feet tall and a ways away, between two Cube-Gateways. Also between Intrepid and The Heptagon was a delegation of Wormholer Stromlings wearing blue sashes, indicating some elitism.

Like The Ring, the Heptagon had steps to a platform to enter its event horizon. Also on the platform were its minifigure-sized controls, manned by normal Stromlings. Also on the steps Intrepid identified two more of the Wormholer Stromlings flanking a Stromling that must have been their leader.

Then a bunch of familiar heads climbed the steps into view. Intrepid only saw them from behind, but recognized Cyclone, Edgar, and the rest of his team ascending the platform. They were walking as if voluntarily, without obvious bindings. Then he noticed the blinking lights from bands on their heads. Mind control. Typical.

A Stromling swung a lever on the platform controls and a warm hum filled the air. The Heptagon Breacher was powering up.

Intrepid ran faster, shoving his way between the first Wormholer Stromlings, not bothering to smash them since there wasn’t enough time. He vaulted up the armored back of another to dive over the rest, then somersaulted on the ground into a crouch, multiblaster in hand. He fired a piercing shot that passed through the back of the Stromling at the controls, vaporizing the Stromling and destroying the power switch.

He was too late, there was an infrasonic roar that popped Intrepid’s ears, lights in the Heptagon’s corners flashed, and then a breach burst open, revealing a subterranean cavern not unlike the mine, but no doubt from the side of the Maelstrom Dimension. Out flew a dragon that he recognized as Torchblight, although this version of her had seen some upgrades like laser guns on her face and Maelstrom infused armor. She was one of the original Forbidden Valley dragons, Intrepid knew, but there was something else about it he couldn’t recall at the moment, since opened her flamethrower of a mouth and swung straight for him. At the same time Wormholers warmed up around him as the Hammer Stromlings finally decided to do something about him.

Intrepid dove low and swung with his re-equipped Staff to upend five Hammer Stromlings and throw them behind him, between him and Torchblight, just as she roared to unleash a hellfire. The flame burnt through the Hammer Stromlings, smashing them, but Intrepid slid out of the way. He doubled back just as Torchblight passed and grabbed her foot, vaulted himself up, and swung over her red back where a saddle and reins awaited., and he was pulled into the air, away from the Wormholer Stromlings. He pulled the reins but Torchblight had a mind of her own and swung back towards the Unverse breach.

Torchblight was a mountable dragon, Intrepid remembered for some reason. Then he remembered that reason and his blood went cold. *Torchblight was Demonstrait’s steed,* and if Torchblight was here…

A rifle blast suddenly fired from the breacher platform and Intrepid couldn’t guide Torchblight to avoid it. Rather she sort of tilted herself so the energy arced straight for him. It hit him in the chest and knocked him off the dragon’s back to fall onto the platform right in front of his captured teammates and slide to the feet of the Wormholer Stromlings and their leader.

Intrepid looked up into the barrel of a rifle, held by none other than Demonstrait. “Get up.” the Stromling leader spat, then kicked him backwards.

Intrepid found he could not move. Some sort of paralysis spell kept him from moving except to breathe, and probably speak, as Demonstrait stepped over to him again. “Who are you?” the Stromling asked. “Do you even know who I am? I know many foolish minifigures, but it takes an extra amount of stupid to attack *me!*”

“This is a bleary place for the Darkitect’s right hand, eh Demonstrait?” Intrepid puffed. He received a kick to the face. “Seems you got demoted to field commander-” another kick silenced him.

“Wait, I know you.” Demonstrait leaned close. “You’re Intrepid Fusion Eclipse. You’re supposed to be *dead*.” The Stromling shouldered the rifle, grinned, and held out a hand for one of his Wormholer Stromlings to hand him a gun of that type. “Don’t worry, I’ll make this painful.”

Intrepid rolled his eyes backwards to see Cyclone, staring straight ahead, effectively as paralyzed as him. But he didn’t look infected yet. Then Intrepid shut his eyes and he reached inside himself as Demonstrait activated the Wormholer’s chainsaw. It spun to life and he felt the rush of air as he brought it down.

It was milliseconds from impact when Intrepid gave his Creative Spark a mental yank to smash himself, and the Wormholer cut harmlessly into the platform floor. Now as a free-floating Creative Spark he felt the immense level of Imagination emanating from the Creative Sparks of Cyclone and Allison, but not Charles for some reason, like his had been damaged. No matter. He rebuilt himself off Cyclone’s Nexus-esque power and shot Demonstrait.

“Ah!” the Stromling fell down, the multiblaster shot still smoking in his chest, but then he bounced back to his feet. “A multiblaster, eh? Powerful, but a single one won’t kill me.” Demonstrait cackled.

“Good thing I got two.” Intrepid held up Evil Red’s in his infected hand and fired both straight ahead. Demonstrait dove to the side to avoid them so they hit the edge of the Heptagonal breacher instead, tearing through the structure and setting it aflame.

Intrepid was then struck from behind and he whirled around to see Cyclone attacking him.

“What in he-” a fast uppercut from the mind controlled Space Marauder knocked Iintrepid into the air.

“Fools!” he heard Demonstrait yelling. “Guide them into the breach, now!”

Cyclone’s headband flashed, then he rejoined the rest of the captured team. The Wormholer Stromlings ushered them into the breach, then Torchblight flew through, and finally Demonstrait paused in front of Intrepid, who was standing up.

“You have failed.” he mocked, raising his Wormholer again. “Now you will die when this breach is destabilized and the mine collapses.”

“Did you say the mine will collapse?” Intrepid repeated.

Demonstrait glared and charged the Wormholer, but Intrepid was faster and shot Demonstrait in the chest again, knocking the Stromling backwards and into the breach, sending him on an irrerversible trip to the Maelstrom Dimension, presumably.

A piece of flaming debris fell next to Intrepid and he looked up.

The Heptagon breacher was oddly flammable, or the multiblasters had some chemical-altering properties to their rounds, since flames now fully encompassed its obsidian structure. Its lights flickered and the Unverse breach warped and distorted, no longer sustained, as the Heptagon breacher looked about to explode.

How damaging the breacher would lead to breach destabilization, Intrepid could understand that, but *destroy the mine too?*

Not really a failure in his book, unless he died. He gave his vitals a once-over and doused himself in a Notion Potion again. This caused his entire left forearm to sting painfully, since Maelstrom infections don’t react well to Imagination, but it replenished him. He considered smashing himself, since without a physical body to worry about he could probably survive the resulting explosion.

But then he’d still die, his Creative Spark slowly draining until he ceased to exist, since there were no Nexus Figures standing around or Rebuild checkpoints set up for miles.

There was no other way to go. Intrepid activated his Unverse Manipulator and immediately his infection surged. He landed far outside the mine on the same cliff where they had planned their ill-fated mission before, just in time to see the flat plain underneath of which the mine was situated explode upward into a geyser of rock, flame, and metal fragments. Intrepid shielded his eyes until the fire abated and the rocks stopped raining.

Where the mine used to be was a massive blast crater, inside of which was a massive hole, something like an Unverse breach, but completely matte and gray like dust, devoid of light or darkness, luminosity or reflection, without a destination. It was more than just a tear in the reality of this dimension, it was a hole in Unverse. Oblivion.

## Forty-six

*Not good.* Intrepid thought. At least the hole in Unverse didn’t seem to be growing. Maybe it wasn’t damaged beyond repair, and hopefully it would close up, since a giant hole leading into oblivion wasn’t a safe thing to have, Intrepid didn’t really think.

Passing through the infected Unverse had also accelerated his infection, and now a sickly purple mist emanated from his entire left side. He felt a coldness in his Creative Spark. He could apply more bandages to at least hide the misty effects, but he really needed a disinfection. He could get that back at Avant Gardens, which meant more Unverse travel.

Intrepid shook his head. Everything had gotten worse. His team was captured, Red was missing, many friends were unaccounted for, and the Polyverse was falling apart. This invasion needed to end but he had no idea how to stop it, until his eyes fell on the Unverse Hole again and that gave him an idea….

…

A low boom like distant thunder passed over the plains and Kate’s eyes snapped open. It was dark where she was, lying blanketed on a hard cot of sorts. She raised a hand to touch the wall, it was rough like metal. She heard the soft pattering of rain and focused on that until, in the corner of her eyes, she saw colored light flickering.

Kate threw off the blanket and swung over the edge to bump into her backpack. She was in what looked like a shipping container, with the lights off and alone, meaning her teammates had to be outside. She hadn’t been removed of her Samurai gear, she noted, which was a good thing, since the colored lights, coming from behind a heavy fabric divider that swayed slightly from wind, looked like weapons fire.

The last thing she remembered was pulling up a literal Nexus’s worth of Imagination to rebuild Luke. She’d blacked out just as they were about to escape. Now, she picked up her katana and bow from the bedside and headed for the exit. If there was still a fight going on, she ought to help out. *Without knocking myself out*, she thought. She was no use in a battle incapacitated, but if another of her teammates was felled, she wasn’t sure she could hold herself back from overextending herself to save them.

*I’d do it again*, Kate thought.

Resolved, Kate swung the tent-flap to the side and burst into battle.

A chill air and sloshing rain under a dark gray, overcast evening sky greeted her. She recognized the rolling hills of Avant Gardens but didn’t see any enemies at first, until she rounded a green mound to come face to face with a squadron of matte black colored Stromling Mechs and obsidian-armor clad Stromlings holding a variety of Nexus Force Faction weapons. She gasped when she recognized the Stromling that lead them, his rank identified by a blue sash, his face committed to her memory.

It was Stromling Cyclone.

“You’re a Stromling again.” Kate started.

“Again?” Stromling Cyclone echoed. “Oh, right, you meant my infected half. They found my Imagination half and infected him too. Then we got merged and now I suppose you’ll try to smash me?”

Kate held herself back from responding. Inwardly she wondered if she had the power to disinfect him. The only limit to her power seemed to be capacity, but there was a difference between normal Imagination and the Imagination used by disinfection kits. It had to go through some hoops to avoid smashing infected victims in ways she didn’t understand, yet. Better just use a disinfection kit. Rover had some that Edgar gave him.

“We can save you.” Kate said.

Stromling Cyclone shrugged. “It’s too late, I no longer want to be disinfected. I am fully subservient to the Maelstrom hive mind. Now you can join me willingly or you can make this difficult. Set to stun.” He waved a hand and the Obsidian Mechs aimed their cannons at her, stun charges loaded.

“I thought your Darkitect wants us dead.” Kate retorted. She took a step back and the Stromlings followed.

“There are dissenting forces at play.” Stromling Cyclone said. “Some, like my commander, believe our powers are too useful to waste, and the Darkitect has allowed him to try his way.”

Another Stromling stepped forward, next to Stromling Cyclone. He was heavily infected but retained some facial features like a mustache. While the right half of his head had bony spikes growing from it, the other half had the start of a slick black comb-over, and he wore chain mail over ripped garb that was distinctively Limited Recruit in origin.

“I don’t know you.” Kate said, puzzled.

“I am Spakybob, right hand of the First Darkitect.” the leader identified himself. “What Cyclone told you is correct, I will accept your tergiversation and see that you are not excessively harmed in the transformation. It is a multi-stage process, infecting a Nexus Figure-”

“Save it. I’ll never join you.” Kate cut him off.

Spakybob nodded. “Then you will die.” The Stromling Mechs fired and Kate blocked the stun charges with a summoned shield. She nearly fell to one knee as her gut spasmed, a protest from her Creative Spark, evidently still strained from rebuilding Luke. She grit her teeth to hold in the pain and decided to only use conventional abilities going forward in this fight.

The Obsidian Mechs reloaded with lethal charges this time, but then Stromling Cyclone ran toward her, hands raised. “This is what you could have become.” he said quickly, and then his forearms took on a metal glint and morphed into rocket launchers. She had no time to dodge or even see what hit her, they impacted with the center of her mass and it was several seconds before she hit the ground below her, and several more seconds before she stopped skidding. She sat up and her black Samurai breastplate fell off, cracked.

She donned the alternate color version and guarded as Stromling Cyclone and Spakybob approached from well over a hundred feet away. Cyclone waved his hands, no longer rocket launchers, and a gust of wind lifted the entire Mech and Stromling division and carried them toward her.

Three things happened at once. There was a crack of lightning and then an unverse rift opened up in front of Kate, and Intrepid fell out of it to land facedown in the mud. She noticed his left side was bandaged. At the same time a flurry of laser and bullet fire *pling*ed off several of the Obsidian Stromlings, taking out some that were hit in the head.

Kate turned to see Rover, Luke, Mara, and Jay and Katie running over from a nearby hill. Rover’s pistol was ever-firing and hit with almost perfect accuracy, while the Figdroids missed no mark, and Luke and Mara just kind of had their fingers taped on the triggers of their laser pistols and shot everywhere.

“Deal with them!” Spakybob ordered the Mechs who aimed their cannons at Rover’s team. Jay and Katie grabbed the others and threw them back over the hillcrest before the cannonfire struck them, sending up clouds of dirt. When it cleared the Figdroids lay dazed and Kate nearly cried out. The Mechs continued firing, preventing the others from returning to fight.

Then Spakybob and Stromling Cyclone turned their attention back to Kate. On the ground between them Intrepid groaned. Kate took a deep breath, knowing what she had to do, and used her powers to pull up a large mound of dirt and bury him with it, for his own protection. Then she drank a Sentinel Super Soda to keep her Creative Spark from complaining. She didn’t think the Stromlings noticed the injured Bat Lord.

Kate turned and ran for the nearest hillcrest, and was almost up its slope when a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and froze her limbs like a tazer. She fell back and rolled into a ditch, barely able to twitch her fingers and her Creative Spark felt inaccessible, like a wall had been built between it and her thoughts, and then Spakybob put a boot on her back. Her helmet was yanked off and she felt the cold edge of a gun bite into the back of her head.

There was a hesitation on the part of the gun’s wielder, since Kate hadn’t been smashed yet. She still couldn’t move so she mentally prepared herself for the end.

“What are your orders?” Stromling Cyclone asked.

“She is not worth the trouble.” Spakybob decided. “Kill her.”

There was a bang and Kate felt like her lungs had been ripped from her body, followed by her heart, her bones, then the rest of her followed into some sort of dark abyss. Still her insides felt detached. This was the most painful way she’d ever smashed and her free-floating mind felt no gravitation to any Imagination source to rebuild at. This was probably permanent.

It took a moment for her to realize she wasn’t smashed, just traveling through Unverse. The exit came so suddenly that she would have fallen if strong hands didn’t grip her around the shoulders. She was spun around dizzily to land sideways on something soft and cushioned?

Kate blinked. The world still spun but she identified the color orange, reflecting off white wallpaper in a dimly lit room. The world stopped spinning and she turned her head upwards to see an electric chandelier on a wood panel ceiling. She took in her surroundings, half of a small square room with a coffee table, bulletin boards, and no windows, and she was on a couch in the room’s middle.

She pushed herself off, then vertigo struck and she crumpled to the ground. While she squeezed her eyes shut, she heard two distinct voices that were familiar but also foreign, a man and another man. They were arguing.

“What are you doing here?”

“What are *you* doing here?”

“This is my secret base.”

“What are you doing with her?”

“She’s not your responsibility. Don’t you have teammates to take care of? Did you leave Luke and Mara to follow me?”

“They can take of themselves.”

“Don’t tell me you left them-”

“They *got out*.”

It was Intrepid and Cyclone, Kate realized. *No*, she corrected, *Future Intrepid and Charles*. When she trusted her brain not to turn to mush, she opened her eyes and stood up. She saw them in the other half of the room behind the couch, a satin beige sofa, standing at opposite walls. Future Intrepid was in a trench coat and Charles was in his rogue Space Marauder suit, blaster in hand and pointed at Intrepid.

“Stop!” she shouted, and they both turned to her, as if they’d forgotten she was there. “What are you two doing?”

“We’re saving you.” Intrepid said.

“*I* saved your life.” Charles corrected. “He tagged along.”

Kate glared in disbelief. The two were actually fighting over her. “Well I have to get back. My friends are hurt.” She thought of Intrepid – the one from her dimension – with the bandages. Were they covering an infection? She’d also seen Rover, Luke and Mara, and the Figdroids who got knocked out, but only them. Were the rest of their group alright?

“It’s not safe.” both Charles and Intrepid said.

“I know the Darkitect wants to kill me!” Kate screamed at them. “I know your Kate died in your dimension! But keeping me from doing my job, taking me from my friends who need my help, to ‘save me,’ that’s really immature, you know that? Grow up.”

Charles stiffened and Intrepid looked at the floor. “I’ll take you back.” Future Intrepid said.

…

Avant Gardens was a beautiful world even on a stormy night. Intrepid had landed there alright, but then someone threw a mound of dirt on him.

By the time he dug himself out of it, he was surprised to still feel dirt flying in his face. Looking about, Intrepid saw he wasn’t the only thing digging himself out of the ground. Stromlings emerged from purple colored earth and a figure was crouched in front of him, hands to the ground, purple mist flowing from them.

It was Stromling Cyclone, and he was infecting the ground himself. Putting his emotions aside, Intrepid summoned the multiblaster to his hand and prepared to fire. He’d already smashed an evil version of Red with it. If Stromling Cyclone was serving the Maelstrom he was too far gone.

He must have sensed the threat since Stromling Cyclone spun around and a blast of lightning sent Intrepid soaring backwards for a long distance, and the multi blaster flew from his hand. He landed stunned and unable to move, and apparently not alone, since Ben’s face popped into view and he heard Evelyne shout, “Aiden!”

“I go by Intrepid now,” Intrepid groaned, and then he heard Stromling Cyclone’s voice.

“It’s time to complete your infection.” Cyclone stated and a Maelstrom fog filled the air. But instead of feeling his infection spread, Intrepid felt his Creative Spark surge and the infection weaken, since Ben had injected him with the shot of a disinfection kit. He broke free of the paralysis and held up evil Red’s multi blaster, but someone kicked it from his grasp. Someone behind him.

Complete your infection.

Intrepid froze, not from lightning, but from the terrible realization of Stromling Cyclone’s words. He had been talking about Evelyne.

Something whipped past them, cutting through the air and knocking Intrepid and Ben to the ground, but not stunning them. Looking up, Intrepid saw Stromling Cyclone on the ground, motionless. He spun around and saw Evelyne knocked down as well, and beyond them stood a Bat Lord. Future Intrepid. He swung around, shield and staff in hand, but the weapon fell with a thud to the wet ground when they both stared stricken at Evelyne.

The stun from Future Intrepid’s shield slam wore off and both Evelyne and Stromling Cyclone got up. Then twin bolts of lightning sent Future Intrepid flying into the sky.

“Evelyne!” Intrepid shouted, but she stared down at him impassively, any semblance of her personality vanished, replaced with the mindlessness of a Stromling. Her blue eyes shone completely red. He reached a hand out to Ben. “The disinfection kit. Give it to me.”

“It won’t work.” Stromling Cyclone said. “She has no Creative Spark. She never did.”

“Neither do you anymore.” another voice said, and Intrepid and Ben turned to see Kate, one side of her face glowing red from flames dancing around the blade of her katana, the other side glowing blue from a conjured orb of Imagination energy hovering in her left palm.

She threw the orb straight at them. Intrepid felt its power immediately, its nourishment to his Creative Spark, but he shouted, “No!” and spread his arms as if to catch it all from striking Evelyne. Stromling Cyclone was, unfortunately for him, between Intrepid and Kate, so there was nothing to shield him from the full blast of pure Imagination striking him, and his shout mirrored Intrepid’s as his Stromling body was vaporized.

Then another Stromling teleported next to Kate and kicked her behind the knees. She crumpled to the ground and he disappeared.

Intrepid spun around. “Evelyne!” he repeated, facing the Maelstrom minifigure.

She was not alone. Standing behind her was the Stromling, and Intrepid recognized him. They had met briefly two and a half years ago, before Cyclone and Kate were lost, before Elistra, before everything. In Intrepid’s dimension, this Stromling had been killed, but he wasn’t always a Stromling. He had been turned too far and in the end his friend had to slay him. Everyone made sacrifices in that battle against the Darkitect, everyone except Intrepid it would seem. His turn for tragedy came later, and it was his turn again now.

“Spakybob.” Intrepid said, throwing his armor off and holding his hands up in surrender. Intrepid knew this Spakybob was from the Maelstrom Dimension, and like Demonstrait, he was not completely mindless, not like other Stromlings. “I’m begging you, don’t do this. Release her and take me instead.”

“Didn’t our Rowana tell you?” Spakybob asked.

“Rowhowhat?” Intrepid shook his head, not recognizing the name.

“Right, you know her as Red.” Spakybob amended, but he didn’t let go of Evelyne. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “Kate should not have killed our new Maelstrom Cyclone, he would have been more merciful with you then I will be now.”

Intrepid shook his head. “Please-” he repeated.

“Didn’t Rowana tell you that you were useless to us as a Stromling?” Spakybob continued. “Before you killed her in cold blood? Now you realize the idiocy of your proposition. On the contrary, our Rowana Talmid was of much use to us, she was one of the First Darkitect’s favorite servants, and valuable too. She will be missed, but you will never be.”

A blaster appeared in Spakybob’s hand and he pointed it at Evelyne’s head. “And neither will this Stromling.”

Then Spakybob and his weapon disappeared into an Unverse jump that drowned out the sound of the weapon firing, to reappear behind Intrepid, but Intrepid could only stare straight ahead as Evelyne’s Stromling visage faltered and the glow in her eyes dimmed.

“You took someone very important from us.” Spakybob breathed in Intrepid’s ear. The blaster was on his temple. “Now, you will pay the price-”

He was cut off by the shriek of a blaster shot into the back of his head by Ben. Spakybob grunted, but like Demonstrait he was a Stromling dexterous in self-preservation, and he jumped into an unverse rift to escape. Intrepid no longer felt the gun on his head and he ran towards Evelyne, shouting her name, just as she fell to the ground.

Her blues eyes stared aimlessly at the sky above them. She hadn’t been smashed but the Maelstrom was removed from her body. So was her life.

Thunder crashed and Intrepid saw red. Evelyne’s body shook in his arms as his whole body trembled with anger, hate. He’d done the best to put his anger away, after what he’d seen on Elistra, back when it threatened to destroy him, but it was happening all over again. The name *Tiberius* flashed in his mind, and in a flash Intrepid was no longer on Avant Gardens but careening through unverse, to a location he didn’t know. But in that destination he would find the man who had the answers, the man who worked with Maelstrom, the man who’s fault it was that Evelyne had died again.

He wanted to kill Tiberius.

## Forty-seven

Intrepid landed, gasping and wheezing, on grass that was green and soft under a dark gray overcast sky, the same as before. He rolled onto his back and watched the clouds swirl until the pressure on his brain subsided and his eyes reoriented themselves. Avant Gardens. He was back where he was supposed to be gone.

He scrunched his eyelids shut and pictured Tiberius again, a twenty-years younger version of the old man in the Future Dimension, probably black haired like Uncle Killian was and Abe had been. He replayed the sound of his voice, but to no avail. He did not feel himself moving any closer to Elistra. He wasn’t moving at all.

Just as well, his feelings hadn’t left either. The rain wasn’t enough to cool the heat in his florid face. Someone needed to pay for killing Evelyne.

A coil in his Unverse Manipulator emitted a high-pitched whine until it popped and an acrid stench made Intrepid cough. He sat up and eyed the imploded black box. Blue and purple smoke emanated from its edges. *Blue*. Like Imagination. *And purple*. Like Maelstrom. Like Tiberius’s Maelstrom ore. Intrepid’s fingers tightened until a vacuum formed in his fists, then he assessed his surroundings. He was over a hill from Ben and… Evelyne. Some obsidian-armored Maelstrom forces remained on the battlefield around him, effectively abandoned by Spakybob and Janitor Dimension’s Cyclone, but they were the mindless type who would fight to the death. Rover, Luke, and Mara were behind a ridge to the north and firing over it but the mechs had them pinned.

Intrepid’s hands found his Elite Longsword and he charged the Mechs from behind. Each swing of the blade cut a mech in half, their dysfunctional pieces clattering to the ground. A laser blast coming from behind Intrepid stunned a Mech farther ahead, as Ben assisted from his position, and the rush of air characteristic of a Bat Lord’s speed boost followed by several Mechs getting knocked on their sides indicated Future Intrepid’s involvement.

In no time the Stromling Mechs were eradicated and Rover, Luke, and Mara were able to join in smashing the rest of the Stromlings, including the ones necroed by Janitor Cyclone. Suddenly the hills were filled with minifigures, like an entire small army, and Intrepid did a double take when he saw a flash of blond hair with highlights around a familiar triangular face run past him.

He chased after Shira and stumbled when she spun around, as she noticed him as well.

“You’re alive!” she yelped.

“Barely!” Intrepid shot back. “What happened with you?”

“I got to the Launch Area in the middle of a ground attack,” Shira reported, “this was five hours ago. There were Stromlings and infected people popping out of thin air the whole way to the Base Camp! Then we were joined by Space Maelstrom which dropped Spiderlings on us.”

Intrepid looked about at the throng of Faction grunts and Nexus Forcers chasing down what Stromlings remained in squads, surrounding them and smashing them with ease. He was relieved to see some of their MIA teammates, Jonna, Skilled Honored Ninja, and Strange Odd Shadow in a in a bunch together, wearing their Faction gear. They looked battle worn and harried, but they were alive and that’s what mattered. *Unlike Evelyne*, Intrepid thought.

“Something's wrong with your eyes.” Shira noticed.

Intrepid knew they were glossy. “Who else is here?”

“We all made it.” Shira said, taking into account those who Intrepid already saw. “Cailan and Crimson. Ray and Tornado showed up. Some old friends joined us too. How about you?”

“We lost some people.” Intrepid said numbly. “We screwed up attacking the Maelstrom Mine with the Future people. At least Future me is here, somewhere. Cyclone, Edgar, and Allison are MIA. Stromling Cyclone got turned, so Kate killed him. Red’s missing too...” *or is her name Rowana*, he thought. The accuracy of either name was now questionable, but he'd keep calling her Red. “And Evelyne.”

“Oh.” Shira dipped her head. “I’m sorry.”

“She’s dead.” Intrepid blurted out.

Shira said a word that wouldn’t make her mother proud.

“We should bury her.” Intrepid said. *Again*.

Shira looked about aimlessly and motioned for him to lead the way. “Right.” she agreed. “Let’s do that. Then we need to get our team back together, see who’s alive and dead, and figure out just how we can fix this.”

“Can we?” Intrepid asked, although the Unverse Hole on Crux Prime and his inability to land on Elistra may be the source of some answers.

“If I know you, which I do, I bet you’re on it right now.”

“You’re damn right.” Intrepid muttered. His cousin knew him well. He already had a plan forming…

## Forty-eight

With Spakybob gone, his attack force was quickly decimated by the combination of defenders from the Sentinel Base Camp and Nimbus Station. Calm soon settled over Avant Garden’s hills, and coincidentally the skies cleared.

Intrepid looked up at a navy blue sky after shoveling back the last of the dug up earth. Evelyne lay in a deactivated Nexus Force stasis tube. It was the best they had as it would protect her from Maelstrom.

No words were said then, as there was nothing productive to do with such things, except to plan on how to stop the Maelstrom Dimension. Defeating them was fitting. It was the Maelstrom that killed Evelyne both times.

“Still no sign of Red?” Jonna asked Intrepid as they headed back to the shipping container.

He shook his head. “Guess who’s also gone.” Future Intrepid hadn’t shown up either after the battle, but Intrepid was used to a lack of communication with Red, and by extension the entire Future Dimension. With his Unverse Manipulator out coordinating with them was impossible, unless they could get to The Ring in Nexus Tower, but every world including Crux Prime had been hit, according to reports. Only Avant Gardens and Nimbus Station had overcome the first wave of attacks.

Intrepid held up his dysfunctional Manipulator. “We need to fix this.”

Jonna wrote it down in a battered notepad. “That’s on the list, as well as rescuing Cyclone, Edgar, and Allison. And finding more Nexus Figures, but with Red gone we have no way of following the lead she might have had.”

“We might not need to.” Skilled Honored Ninja, also walking beside them, cut in. “I just remembered something about that term, Nexus Figures.” He scratched his hair. “Okay, this might make me seem like a stalker.”

“Well, inferior janitor, tell us what’s on your mind!” Strange Odd Shadow urged him.

“I need a moment to recall… now I’ve got it!” SHN pointed at Jonna. “Write this down: Verbina Ingram.”

Jonna inscribed the name carefully.

“Some type of flower?” asked Shira, perplexed.

“It’s the name of a scientist who used to work for Leek Works.” Skilled clarified. “I was cleaning her office once, as any good janitor would, and this is the stalker-ish part. I saw a document on her desk with the title ‘Nexus Figures’ on it.”

Intrepid stared at him. “You’re sure?”

“I’m ninety-nine percent positive.” Skilled affirmed. “Make that ninety-eight. I could be wrong. Don’t sue me.”

“I was about to call my attorney.” Shadow joked, but no one smiled.

“So this Verbina worked, past-tense, for Future Leek Works?” Intrepid repeated. “What did she do there?”

“She built the original Unverse Manipulators, that’s all I know.” Skilled shrugged. “The whole organization is very secretive. I didn’t even know Tiberius lived in the basement until he came up one night for a midnight snack, the same night I was going for a midnight snack. Scared the bricks out of me.”

“That’s great, Skilled.” Jonna interrupted. “This is a great lead for us.” She shut the notebook and let a smile cross her weary face, which had been expressionless the past few hours, due in no small part to the conflict. “We kill three birds with one stone by finding Verbina. We learn what we can about the Nexus Figures, fix Intrepid’s Unverse Manipulator and maybe build more, so we can then go to the Maelstrom Dimension to save Cyclone and the others.”

The five of them and Rover reached the shipping container and found two Sentinels inside. Kate was sprawled on the cot again and barely waved a greeting. The other was a white colored Sentinel wearing gear from all kits. A zip gun hung off his left side, a sword off his right, and a Samurai’s helmet and arrows were behind his back.

“Suave Able Cat!” Rover shouted the Super Sentinel’s name. They both drew wide grins. “Haven’t seen you in a few years, buddy.”

“You’d think I’d be second in command now with Brocktree still missing,” Suave said, letting his face turn grim at the mention of Lord Brocktree, who had gone missing on a mission three years before, “instead I’m still working behind the scenes. I thought I’d come back here, to see if I left any notes behind that would give a clue to this sudden Maelstrom resurgence. Instead I run into old friends. Come here.” The two shared a brotherly hug.

“This isn’t a typical resurgence.” Jonna said, getting to business. “Intrepid?”

“Do you know about the Epsilon Experiment?” Intrepid queried.

“We sent explorers into another universe using the Ring device.” Suave answered and shook his head. “Don’t ask me how the thing works, Overbuild built it, not me.”

“There are other dimensions, not like that universe, but based on ours and separated from us by unverse.” Intrepid said. “Similar and different. There’s a Maelstrom Dimension where the Darkitect has completely taken over the Crux System, maybe more, and they’ve developed Unverse breaching tech that uses Maelstrom. Now they’re attacking us.”

Strange Odd Shadow opened his backpack and held up a notepad of his own, opened to a drawing. “Here’s a cleverly illustrated illustration of the Polyverse as we know it, drawn by myself.”

“Janitor Dimension?” Suave stared at the drawing, a perplexed expression on his face. “Who came up with these names?”

“I’m a janitor where I come from, one of the best.” Shadow explained. “For that reason my source dimension is named after me. And for the sake of familiarity, your dimension is called the ‘Original Dimension’, as about everyone here sees it, exceptions being me and the inferior janitor.”

“Hi.” Skilled Honored Ninja waved. “I respectfully disagree with his claims that I am an inferior janitor.”

Suave looked up. “Alright, I believe you about the dimensions. So do you have any plans to stop this?”

“We’re working on making one.” Jonna said. “Right now we’re looking for someone else who we think can help us.”

“Can you take us to a Verbina Ingram?” Skilled asked. “Given time, we could just hack the Nexus Force databases to find her, but we don’t have that, so...”

“I know who you’re talking about,” Suave said, “but you really shouldn’t be hacking our stuff. That said, she works in Nexus Tower.”

“Good, we were headed there anyway.” Intrepid said. “Having your authorization also means we don’t need to steal the Ring.”

Suave folded his arms. “You talk about breaking into Nexus Tower like you’ve done it before.” He cast a sidelong glance towards Kate. “Oh right, some of you have. Well, I have no more business here. Thanks to you, I got what I came for. I’ll come with you.”

“The more the merrier. We should all stick together this time.” Shira advised. “There are some people from Nimbus Station who’d like to join us.”

Kate swung off the cot and followed them as they headed out, and Intrepid noticed her downcast expression. He walked slowly so she could catch up, then he asked, “How’re you doing?”

“I should be asking about you.” she said huskily. “I’m sorry about Evelyne. She was a brave girl.”

Intrepid nodded. He could tell she was bothered about killing Janitor Cyclone. “You’re thinking you should have been able to save them.”

“I know it’s not my fault,” Kate said, “but I should have been able to do more. Being like a living Nexus has to mean something.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Intrepid said. “Our primary objective is getting Cyclone, Edgar, and Allison back.”

"That means going to the Maelstrom Dimension.” Kate translated. “Charles was adamant against me going there.”

"He can’t play god.” Intrepid declared, and Kate sighed.

"Neither can we.”

Intrepid knew what her words meant, and he knew they were true. *We can’t save everyone*.

“But we can try.”

## Forty-nine

The sky was beginning to lighten when they approached their rockets. The Avant Gardens and Nimbus Stations defenders, lead by Beck Strongheart and Epsilon Starcracker, had set up camp over another hill, and Intrepid watched as teammates and friends, old and new, came down the hillcrest to join them, lead by Shira who had went to rally them and Luke and Mara.

"Hello, Sergeant.” Intrepid greeted a sterling Assembly officer dressed in Inventor gear who walked behind Luke.

"How come you never visited me, Intrepid?” Sergeant Ghost Mustache asked with a scowl. “It’s a rocket’s flight between Avant Gardens and Nimbus Station. I could have been there for you, these last two years. Your friends have filled me in.”

"I plead guilty to laziness.” Intrepid admitted. “So we’re still friends?”

Sergeant clapped him on the back. “Do you even have to ask? I’m glad to see you again.”

The two surveyed the rest of the new arrivals, five familiar persons in total. A black haired Sentinel Knight was showing off his latest rare acquisitions to Kate. Two Rank 3 Space Marauders, one blue-haired and the other brown-haired, stood alongside Shira. Another Sentinel, a Space Ranger, was cleaning his zipgun. The last of the entourage was a lean, bearded man with sand colored wavy hair dressed in a matte gray, carbon-mesh armor suit with no faction identification, signifying his independence from the Nexus Force. He held a modified Paradox Heavy Bolter and a Sniper Rifle was slung on his back. Other small weapons, pistols, blades, hooks, and tazers, and plenty of supplies were secured to his tool belt.

"Remember these guys?” Shira pointed at the Space Marauders.

"I’m Stunt.” said the blue-haired one.

"And I’m Rare Spiffy Agent.” said the other.

"Of course I remember them,” Intrepid said, “and Master Blade Nine and Argon Dragon Udon.”

"Don’t forget me.” the faction-less man said, and he looked over Intrepid’s shoulder as Rover walked to Intrepid’s side.

"I’ll never forget you, Krill Mathias.” the Buccaneer greeted his old nemesis, then he turned to the Sentinel Knight. “Good to see you, Blade.”

“Shrill told us everything. Cyclone is captured again.” Blade confirmed. “Of course we’re here to help.”

"So we’re going to this so-called Maelstrom Dimension?” Krill asked.

"We need to see Verbina Ingram first,” Skilled said, “so we can get an army of Nexus Figures and build more Unverse Manipulators.”

"I'll pretend to know what you're talking about. Are you sure we have time for this lady?” Krill questioned. “If we have a way into the Maelstrom Dimension, which we do with the Ring in Nexus Tower, we should go now.”

"He has a point,” Rover agreed, “and how do we know it’s not too late for Cyclone and the others?”

"We’re still going to try.” Kate reminded. “We’re going to see Verbina since she can help train my powers so we can save Cyclone.”

"You have powers?!” Blade exclaimed.

"I owe Kate my life.” Luke said, which made Mara cling to his arm.

*Guess Shira didn’t tell you everything, Blade.* Intrepid thought. “You’re a Nexus Figure too, Blade. You, Kate, and Cyclone are the greatest threat to a Darkitect, which is why the Maelstrom Dimension one wanted you all dead… now he wants to infect you again.”

"So what are we waiting for?” Rover asked, summoning his Venture rocket.

"More like who.” Intrepid added, looking over the people assembled. Ray and Tornado were present. Ben was there. Cailan and Crimson were drinking soda. He whirled to Luke and Mara. “Where’s the Figdroids?”

"They’re not here,” Luke said worriedly, “which can only mean one thing.”

Intrepid took a deep breath and let it out raggedly, while he tallied in his head, *Cyclone. Edgar. Allison. Jay and Katie*. “Spakybob must have gotten them. They’ve been captured too.”

The group of twenty-one delayed no further in boarding their rockets and launching to Nexus Tower.

## Fifty

Cyclone awoke with a throbbing in his head, a side effect of the mind control. He didn’t conceal his groan as he sat up in the prison cell that the Maelstrom Guard had put him in. There was no bed, water, or food provisioned for him, just the hard stone floor and obsidian-tiled walls and a narrow view into the hallway through the shimmering force field in place of a door.

His larger surroundings were like a palace of sorts. Cyclone remembered seeing, at times, even velvet flooring in one hallway, although most coloration came in hues of purple or black. *The Leek Works guys might like it*, he thought stupidly. It fit with their goth theme.

He hadn’t time to react when the electrical bars of the force field suddenly dissipated, and Jay and Katie were thrown inside his cell. Just as quickly the force field went back up and obsidian-clan Stromlings quickly left his view. Apparently the force field blocked sound as well, since Cyclone hadn’t heard even a scuff of their feet from outside, and he again heard nothing now, except for the Figdroids, who were sniffling or whimpering or something.

Cyclone went over to Jay, who was lying on his side with his face tilted down and his arms splayed out in opposite directions. “Are you okay?” he hissed.

Jay turned to him with tears in his eyes and his cheeks uncharacteristically puffy. Also his mouth was open and he seemed to be gasping for air. “...Can’t…” he whispered, “...breathe!”

Then Jay burst out laughing and Cyclone stepped back from him, mortified. He heard Katie laughing too.

“Why are you laughing?!” Cyclone exclaimed.

“We can’t stop!” Katie giggled, she tried to rise but opted to roll into a ball instead. “We’re ack - hic - shually being tortured. There’s a evil Sandy Studs here and hahahahaha! Jay!”

“He hacked our brains and tripped our tickle sensors.” Jay managed to say. “We’re to suffer until we tell them everything we know.”

Cyclone stared at the two compromised minifigures. “You weren’t with my team.” he said.

“Spakybob captured us!” Katie chortled.

The name sounded familiar to Cyclone, but he couldn’t put a distinct face to it. He figured he was a Stromling, although there were independent forces in the Nimbus System that sometimes came into play as well.

“Is there anything I can do to help your… state?” Cyclone asked, although he knew as much about programming futuristic sentient robots as talking to ducks. Since he couldn’t talk to ducks, he obviously couldn’t help the Figdroids ease their suffering.

“Use the kill switch.” Katie said with sudden seriousness.

Apparently he could? Cyclone shook his head at the ominous sounding switch. “What… no, I can’t put you out of your misery, not that way!”

“It’s a sleep switch,” Jay corrected, “not a kill switch. They’re behind our heads and we can’t touch them. Only authorized Nexus Forcers can get near them.”

“What makes you think I’m, as you say, authorized?” Cyclone protested.

“You’re probably not.” Katie said. “Just try.”

Cyclone sighed and stepped behind the robotic girl. He keenly separated her brown hair, which felt like real hair, and spotted an obvious red plastic button with some glowing alien text written on it, saying sleep. He aimed a finger to press it but then Katie punched him in the face.

“Ha, you have to move faster!” Jay guffawed.

“Whoever built you is crazy!” Cyclone decided, and when he tried to deactivate Katie again her arms swung backwards and she grabbed him around the shoulders, lifted him off the ground and threw him against the force field. He bounced off and face planted on the ground.

“Sorry!” Katie laughed. “It’s an involuntary response, I swear.”

Getting flung around made Cyclone’s headache worse, and sufficiently annoyed. He extended his arm towards Katie and willed her to stop moving. Imagination swirled around her and propped her into a standing position and rooted her feet to the ground. Just in case, Cyclone stunned Jay too.

“Good idea.” Jay said.

“Hey, we’re not laughing anymore.” Katie pointed out. “If you keep us like this-”

“I can’t keep you rooted forever.” Cyclone said. “Sorry.” He stepped behind Katie and pressed the button, immediately starting her sleep cycle. He did the same for Jay, and then he let go of them with his powers. They automatically assumed supine positions, and all was quiet at last.

“Good work.” a voice cackled.

Cyclone rolled his eyes and turned to face the force-field, which was now temporarily disabled again. Standing in it was the Stromling that had captured him, Demonstrait, flanked by two of his royal blue-wearing Stromling guards. Now that he faced them up close, Cyclone realized there were other blue things about them. The outfit of one of them still carried a Sentinel logo, and where the armor was intact looked vaguely like that of a Sentinel Knight’s. The other more resembled a Samurai, and the connection made Cyclone’s heart worry if Kate was alright, since if Jay and Katie were captured…

A sudden ringing in his head interrupted Cyclone’s trance, and he could not raise his hands to cover his ears, because when the ringing stopped he had been put in a different trance. Demonstrait released the button on the remote control in his hand, and smiled menacingly at Cyclone, who tried to move but failed. Demonstrait’s forced control of his muscles was effectively paralysis, until he made Cyclone walk to the Stromling guards and join them in the hallway.

He was then walked a short way to a teleportation pad, and the four of them were reconstituted in another part of the palace in a hallway that was much taller, outside a giant set of doors. Their height, well over 70 feet tall and over ten times the height of a standard minifigure, could only mean one thing, Cyclone knew with dread.

Demonstrait pushed the doors open and stepped through. Then he was struck by lightning and sent skidding back into the hallway.

“You fool!” the voice of Baron Typhonus bellowed. “You bring my gravest threat, an Imagination Electi, straight to my doors?!”

“You unlocked the doors!” Demonstrait wheezed.

The Darkitect rose from his seat, a massive structure built of solid-Maelstrom ore and laced with silver, and laughed. There was nothing Cyclone could do except mentally reach inside himself for his greatest strength, his Creative Spark’s Imagination, and attempt to use it – but his body remained paralyzed. But his Imagination continued to ‘bubble.’

“Look, he’s trying to resist!” the Darkitect noticed. “Well, Demonstrait, it would appear you are correct, this time. They can be controlled, to a point-”

Cyclone’s Imagination exploded out of him in a spherical shockwave that blew the Darkitect’s hat off and sent bolts of lightning towards every Stromling in the room, although they dodged the blasts and were not smashed, and the Darkitect responded by swinging his staff and summoning Maelstrom spikes around Cyclone. As soon as his lightning struck them the energy was infected and bounced back to hit him instead. Cyclone’s vision went black from the pain, but he still heard what the Maelstrom leaders said about him.

“Have I gone to the effort of capturing him only for you to kill him?!” Demonstrait protested.

“No,” the Darkitect said, as he aimed his staff downwards and directed for Maelstrom fog to surround Cyclone. “Your plan has merit. Your loyal replacement, Spakybob, has already shown me that it is possible to turn an Imagination Electi. Unfortunately his specimen was smashed, but he demonstraited extraordinary potential, before his emotional shortcomings got the better of him.

“This one, on the other hand, must suffer so much pain that his conscience is completely eradicated. He will be as brainless as the Stromlings of old, and completely under my control!” Typhonus cackled.

Cyclone felt like he was being split in two. Then he felt an Imagination double of himself being built alongside him, a new form to escape into as his current form was infected. His infected body went numb as his mind began moving, entirely out of his control, to the new form. His mind and his Creative Spark.

But then that duplicate of him was smashed by the Darkitect’s lightning. Cyclone felt like all his bones had been snapped when his mind rushed back into his original body, but his Creative Spark could not be felt. In fact he could feel nothing at all, he realized with horror. He could only stare ahead through unblinking eyes as the Darkitect tilted back his staff and the Maelstrom spikes retracted into the ground, freeing Cyclone from their stunning effect, but his body refused to listen to his thoughts.

Instead, dark instincts that he had not felt in two and a half years took over. His view shifted as his body, completely taken by Maelstrom, assumed a kneeling position before the Darkitect. A pool of black sludge, shiny like oil, pooled under Cyclone’s body. It dripped from him. In its reflection he saw the glowing red orbs that were his new eyes, in his new face, that of a Stromling whose only purpose was to serve the Maelstrom, and completely separated from Cyclone’s conscious mind. Rather it was his mind that was isolated. He was a prisoner in his own body.

“Arise, Cyclone.” the Darkitect commanded, and Cyclone stood. “Good, good. Now, why don’t you show us what powers you have for us?”

Arms that were not his own appeared in the sides of Cyclone’s vision, dark palms with blades for fingers aimed upwards. Orbs of Maelstrom energy appeared in them, and then the entire room shook as the massive stones in the floor were overturned. Stromlings began to scatter and Demonstrait shouted orders as dust billowed upward and the ceiling began to buckle, raining smaller stones that smashed the Stromlings that stayed put. Cyclone was blind in the dust storm that his Maelstrom powers created, and the rumbling of stone was loud in his ears, but not as loud as the laughter of the Darkitect.

## Fifty-one

The Avant Gardens team stopped at Nimbus Station to commandeer a faster transport, a Sentinel Starchief with a warp drive, that would get the twenty-one of them plus thirty more Nexus Forcers, a small army under Sergeant’s command also working as the ship’s crew, to Nexus Tower half an hour faster than on rockets.

Five minutes into their estimated fifteen minute trip they encountered a fleet of spaceborne Maelstrom in the darneu above Forbidden Valley. The Starchief just soared over them and passed them with minimal damage, thanks to flying expertise of Luke Mercury, with Suave Able Cat and Ray Handerson copiloting the craft. Then they rounded a large asteroid only to crash into another one.

“Oops.” Luke said, and he activated the ship’s reverse thrusters just as Maelstrom spaceships surrounded the 10-50. He banked the ship to aim its well armored dorsal side towards the nearest infected Nexus Koi class transport while Suave pressed a button alerting the crew to man the guns. They would have to fight their way out of this one.

In the rear cargo bay, Intrepid shoved some the gear and consumable boxes that had toppled over into force field alcoves where they should have been, as the boxes were hastily loaded and had been left in the main section. He activated the force field so they wouldn’t slide out, then turned to face the other people in the room, Cheerful Power Rover, a monkey, and Krill Mathias. Rover was pushing boxes as well, the monkey was sealing the top on a box that had spilled open, and Krill wasn’t doing anything.

“Hey Krill,” Intrepid waved.

The vigilante looked up. “If you’re asking me to help you push these stupid boxes, the answer is no, I rather save my energy for hauling posterior when we’re boarded.” Then he lowered his head and dozed.

Rover happened to push a box between them. “Don’t bother, Intrepid.” he muttered.

“I was going to ask him about my jetpack.” Intrepid told the passing Buccaneer, and turned to Krill again. “Krill, you took a jetpack from me three years ago that I really liked. If you still have it, can I have it back?”

Krill looked up again. “Do I even know you, kid?”

“Three years ago.” Intrepid repeated.

“Oh yeah.” Krill pushed off the wall and headed for the doorway to the secondary cargo bay, and he paused at the open door. “ I didn’t recognize you for a second. Teenagers grow fast. Anyway, the jetpack’s gone and I have no regrets. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll find a quieter place to hibernate.” He left and the door slid shut behind him. Before it shut, Intrepid noticed that there were many more boxes in need of sorting in the secondary cargo bay.

“What’s he doing here anyway?” Intrepid asked Rover, who didn’t respond immediately. The Buccaneer extended an arm for the monkey to jump onto, and from there to his shoulder, before stuffing his hands in his pockets and turning to Intrepid.

“He’s being paid, obviously.” Rover said discreetly. “We don’t know by who and God knows he won’t tell.”

So we’re not the only ones looking for Cyclone. Intrepid thought.

“You remember, it was the Darkitect trying to capture Cyclone the last time Krill was here.” Rover continued. “But now the Darkitect, or another version of him, has Cyclone, so this means there’s a third-party involved.”

There was a crash from someplace else in the ship and suddenly the inertial dampeners were disabled, knocking Intrepid and Rover off their feet. As the ship shook, they also heard Krill exclaim some curses as he was most likely slammed by lots of boxes.

The ship continued to shake as Intrepid and Rover danced out of the cargo bay into the ship’s cafeteria, where a few other team members were, and from there to the Starchief’s bridge.

“Everything’s under control,” Luke greeted when they entered.

“We’re still here?” Intrepid exclaimed. His heart sank when he saw through the windows that they were still in the darneu. Then he caught sight of the gray colored object in the rearview camera that seemed to be growing larger, not because they were backing towards it, rather they were going forwards as fast as possible; but because it was chasing them. “Oh.”

“That’s no ship.” Rover said.

“What is it?” Intrepid asked, looking into the screen. It was a space organism of sorts, with two pincers alongside an obvious mouth that was thankfully closed, but guns and engines and other machine parts protruded all over the rest of its body.

A hatch slid open and Sergeant and Kate climbed in from a gunpod. “None of our weapons are having an effect.” Kate reported.

Then the space monster opened its jaw and Suave shouted, “Sharp left!”

Luke made a quick turn that sent everyone who wasn’t seated tumbling into the wall, as a laser shot past them.

“What is it?!” Intrepid repeated after strapping himself to a seat.

“It’s a Haedelra!” Sergeant Ghost Mustache shouted at him. “They’re incredibly rare and usually hang around the Venture Explorer, but there’s enough space wrecks in the darneu that it makes sense there’d be some here. It takes whatever it scavenges to use as armor for its body.”

“We’re almost past the worst of the rocks,” Luke said, “then we can warp outta here.”

“I admit you’re a better pilot than me.” Intrepid said.

“Hey, Suave and I are flying too.” Ray retorted.

“Yeah, but you got smashed by a random Stromling.” Intrepid reminded. Everyone on Avant Gardens had heard of the Rank 3 Space Marauder that had been smashed by the lowest of the Maelstrom’s minions.

“Oh, the shame. That’s why I quit the military.” Ray grumbled. “At least I didn’t crash a rocket into the Paradox Lab like that guy.”

“I heard of that guy too.” Intrepid said.

The rocks became sparser and Luke easily guided the ship to dodge the Haedelra’s next laser attack. Then he aimed the Starchief towards Crux Prime, visually identifiable by Nexus Tower’s Imagination spire, and activated the warp drive. Thankfully the intertial dampeners had been re-enabled by then or they all would have smashed.

“Whew.” Luke got up from his seat and stretched. “Intrepid or Mara can have my seat. I’ve had enough flying for a week.”

Another harrowing journey complete, but if they thought the Maelstrom was bad here, which it was… Intrepid could only fear the Maelstrom Dimension was worse.

## Fifty-two

After reaching Crux Prime, Mara docked the Starchief at the tower’s 850th level, which Suave got them clearance to do to avoid the combat below. They had to move quickly so Nexus Force spaceships could resume their orbital bombardments, having paused when the Starchief entered the scene, so everyone on the bridge looked a little sick until they descended onto the landing pad. Ray cut the primary engines with gusto.

“A service crew will take care of the ship.” Suave said while he activated the signal to disembark. “Meet you at the Ring?”

Kate nodded. “We’ll get Blade and see this Verbina.” she said.

“Keep an eye on Krill.” Rover advised. “I don’t think his intentions are entirely altruistic.”

“Will do,” Suave said, “if he’s even still here.”

Indeed, Krill was nowhere to be found on the ship. After they disembarked, Suave lead the thirty Nexus Force troopers and the rest of the team to the main Assembly plaza where the Ring Breacher had been displayed. Now it was looped off behind energy fences and Sentinel Guards had been called in to protect it. In preparation of using it, Suave pulled rank so Ben could set it up. The plan as it stood was to dial-in the Maelstrom Dimension and go from there, without consulting the Future Dimension first. They were effectively going in blind, but the team agreed to do all they reasonably could to rescue Cyclone, Edgar, Ryder, Jay, and Katie before proceeding with the next stage of the plan. Intrepid hadn’t shared the details of his plan, it was a fairly terrible plan, but if successful they could never enter the Maelstrom Dimension again.

That step needed a working Unverse Manipulator, and for that they needed Verbina. Alternatively, Intrepid could pay a visit to the Future Dimension, but the last they’d heard from that dimension was that it was under worse assault. Considering they hadn’t heard from Future Intrepid, Luke, Mara, Charles, or Red, Intrepid had to consider there might not even *be* a Future Leek Works to land in and get resources from anymore. Activating the Ring Breacher in the middle of Nexus Tower presented enough security risks that they didn’t want to overdo it.

Eventually Kate, Rover, Blade, Intrepid, Jonna, Skilled Honored Ninja, and Strange Odd Shadow took the elevators to the research and development level, a minimally lit area. So long as there was a raging battle being fought outside the lights were dimmed in alert mode, they cast a dark blue hue in the windowless interior hallways.

Jonna went to an information plaque on the wall. “Most Assembly researchers are working on the field,” she reported, “but Verbina’s in the northern Inter-faction-cooperation lab.”

“Assembly and Paradox work together in there.” Blade explained. “I’ve been there a bit to get my gear upgraded. Lots of cool stuff there.”

They rounded a bend and went through a short connector way to enter that lab. Jonna entered a passcode to open the door, and then they were in a suddenly bright room. There were few personnel present, the highlight of the room were hundreds of creations placed on tables all around the room. There were existing items being upgraded with experimental tech, like a Bat Lord helm fused to a vest of armor that Intrepid held himself back from gravitating to, and even entirely new concept items.

Strange Odd Shadow picked up a particular weapon in the style of a double barreled sidearm. “Should this be here?” he asked, and he held the weapon next to the two multiblasters hanging on Intrepid’s side, one from each Red. Intrepid looked down. There was a distinct similarity between the weapons.

“A lot of Leek Works’s standard tech is former Nexus Force experiments in my dimension.” Skilled said. “It was part of our agreement when working for the Council; they get our subservience, we get their tech. Looks like you found a prototype multiblaster.”

Shadow tested aiming the prototype multiblaster then set it down. “I wonder if there are Unverse Manipulators here?”

“Probably not.” Skilled said. “Those only got introduced eight years ago for me. They took a few years to build too.”

“Like what you see?” a woman’s voice asked, and they looked up to see a lady wearing an Assembly coat over Inventor clothes. She was tall, obviously an adult, but her face looked young for an older person, putting her age around thirty years. Her bright blond hair was styled up in the back professionally but at her face it draped around an expression that was all smiles.

Skilled coughed and flashed a grin. “Verbina, I presume?” he said.

“That is my given name.” Verbina confirmed, still smiling. Her eyes danced over each of them curiously.

“Right.” Skilled stuck out a hand. “I’m Skilled Honored Ninja, and you can call me Shard. I’m from a Future Dimension.” The introductions went from there before he could elaborate further.

“I’m Kate.”

“Cheerful Power Rover.”

“Master Blade Nine, Sentinel knight and collector of antiquities!”

“Epic Fivestar Empanada, or Jonna.”

“The Original Janitor.”

“Intrepid.”

“I was about to explain,” Shard continued, “I’m from another Dimension. Set in the Future, a whole twenty years ahead. Oh, and your counterpart and I are colleagues. I gotta say though, before the chance evades me, we’re a better match like this-”

Shadow hit him with his broomstick. “Stop flirting!” he ordered. “Get to the point! Tell her about the Nexus Figures!”

“I know Multiverse theory, but what’s ‘the Nexus Figures’?” Verbina echoed, interested.

“Nexus Figures?” Blade repeated too. “Explain.”

“They’re a little like Superians, in the sense they have super abilities.” Shadow said.

“That’s nice, but you’ve still explained nothing, since I have no idea what a Superian is.” Blade complained.

“You mean you don’t understand me. That’d be your problem, not mine.”

“Super abilities, like Maelstrom Minifigures?” Verbina asked.

“I have no idea what those are either.” Blade groaned, and even Jonna and Rover looked clueless.

“You’re not supposed to. Tell me more about these Nexus Figures?” Verbina said, switching the subject.

“You should know,” Shard stated, “you research them.”

Verbina laughed. “I don’t think so.”

“Maybe not yet?” Shard suggested.

“If you read my resume, I research Nexus *Shards*, Shard.” Verbina clarified. “It’s an obscure term I’ve coined for remnants of former Imagination Nexuses. Like Maelstrom Shards, just with Imagination. In the right conditions, Nexus Shards can be fostered and cultivated into full Nexuses; that’s my theory at least.”

Shard grinned and bowed out. “Ah, you’re right. My bad.” He turned around to face his teammates. “The document *did* say Nexus Shards, not Figures. I have failed you all.”

She can still help. Intrepid thought, and he stepped forwards to show the Unverse Manipulator. “Can you fix this? It’s for traveling to other dimensions. It’s called an Unverse Manipulator.”

She took it, which was a good sign. “Mind if I disassemble this?” she asked.

“It’s good as broken now.” Intrepid said, effectively relinquishing the device.

“Like a paperweight.” Verbina set it on a table and activated its tabletop building zone. Inside the blue hued shield, the Manipulator split into its individual components. After giving the parts a once-over, she went to a supply cabinet, talking all the way. “Do you know how this ‘Unverse Manipulator’ works?”

Intrepid shook his head.

“It has two energy sources. The primary: an Imaginite Crystal.” Verbina looked up and raised an eyebrow. “The secondary: Maelstrom Ore. This is how you get Maelstrom resurgences, in case you were wondering.”

Intrepid sighed. The more they dove into Future Leek Works’s secret workings, the less he liked it. “It’s there for a reason.” he figured.

“Whoever built this better have had a damn good reason for using Maelstrom.” Verbina grumbled. “Anyway, Imaginite is a conventional energy source. Here it serves the dual purpose of sustaining an Imagination shield bubble around the user and establishing a neural link with the user. The Maelstrom Ore is kept inert in a passive shield container, but the shield can be ‘pierced’ to stimulate the Ore, like a spark-plug.”

“To breach Unverse.” Intrepid said. “That’s what Maelstrom Ore does. That’s how the Manipulator works.”

“If you say so. The problem here is that the Imaginite Crystal got overloaded and all the circuitry is shot.” Verbina reported. “I can rewire it in minutes. Grab me a wiring kit from the supply closet?” She pointed to the opposite wall.

“Sure.”

As Intrepid passed, she said quietly in his direction, “You’re a Talmid, aren’t you?”

Intrepid slowed to a stop. “How did you know?” he asked.

“I didn’t ask how you people knew me.”

Intrepid scrunched his face and went to get the wiring kit. After returning, he saw the rest of their team had meandered elsewhere. He figured Verbina would appreciate info, so after setting down the tools he told her, “I’m Abe and Hafwyn’s son. Did you know them?”

“I knew of them. Abe is Killian’s brother.”

Intrepid didn’t correct the tense. “So you know my uncle.” The man in the prison on Militiregnum had never mentioned a Verbina. Just one of many surprises about him. At least she seemed nice. “Did you know he’s on Militiregnum?” he let her know.

“He went back there?” she echoed. “I figured he was off world or put away somewhere, since we’ve been out of contact more than two years. Funny he’d go to Militiregnum of all places.”

Intrepid had no idea the deal with that place and he didn’t ask. He began prefacing a question instead. “It’s a fact that chaotically induced unverse breaches are damaging to unverse.”

“Damaging, how?”

“Destroyed unverse impedes transdimensional travel. There’s an unverse hole on Crux Prime now, ripped open when a room full of industrial chaos breachers exploded.”

“Rip in peace.” Verbina joked.

“Right.” Then Intrepid asked his question. “Can you build me an unverse ripper? ”

## Fifty-three

In the hour after meeting Verbina, Intrepid made his way back to the Assembly plaza lugging a bright yellow backpack. The hazard markings defied his preference for discreetness, but the visibility kept personnel away from him and his volatile cargo, which was nice. It took reverse engineering the Unverse Manipulator and accessing emergency resources, but Verbina was talented and quick. In twenty minutes she produced two boxes of Unverse Bombs for Stage 2 of their plan.

After stowing those weapons and his repaired Manipulator on the Starchief, Intrepid went to meet with Suave and the rest of the strike team. The plaza had been cleared of civilians, nonessential personnel, and uninvolved soldiers so the least amount of people were in harm’s way: only Suave’s team of thirty Sentinel commandos and the rest of their team. Including Suave they totaled forty-eight. Krill Mathias was excluded since no one knew where he was, and Luke and Mara were staying behind on the Starchief.

Ten rifle-equipped Sentinels were placed on the room’s balconies with Sergeant Ghost Mustache leading them, their weapons trained on the Ring. Everyone else was on the ground including the Super Sentinel, who stood before the Ring Breacher with one hand over his zipgun and the other over his stubble.

Suave spoke when Intrepid approached him. “There’s reason to believe that opening a connection with the Maelstrom Dimension will open us to attack, hence this arrangement.”

He gestured to the balcony-based Sentinels. “I see,” Intrepid nodded.

“We can’t have any fatalities.” Suave said grimly. “Rescue missions just aren’t viable if you lose more people than you save. I value the life of every individual here.”

“Me too.” Intrepid said. “Here, and there, and wherever.”

“Good,” Suave shifted on his feet. “Depending on what happens, I might be better purposed staying here, in which case you’re the effective leader of this operation going forward. Just remember every life matters. Our friends will understand if we can’t save them.”

“If they’re even still alive,” Intrepid added, since they were leaving no words unspoken, until there was nothing more to say. Suave turned to join the squad closest to the Ring, with Blade, Argon, Rover, Shadow, and six unfamiliar Sentinels. Intrepid continued on to the next group with Skilled, Kate, Stunt, Rare, Shira, Jonna, Ray, Tornado, Cailan and Crimson, and Ben who held a remote Ring activation switch.

“Don’t be a pessimist.” Shira said once Intrepid took a combat stance next to her. “I mean, there’s a healthy amount of pessimism, you know I’d know.” She laughed. “I don’t want to see you exceed that.”

“Thanks for looking out for me.” Intrepid shrugged.

“I’m all in favor of optimism.” Kate said, and they turned to her. “I also heard what Sauve said. Keeping our team safe is noble, I can agree with stopping the mission short to safe lives. But personally, I won’t leave *without* Cyclone and the others… or until we know what happened to them, if they… you know.” She gave them a small smile, but her eyes looked pained to even suggest what she didn’t want to say.

“Don’t tell Suave, but I am with you and I agree with everything you said.” Intrepid said.

“I think we all do.” Shira pointed out. “We’re with you.” she repeated.

“I don’t even know you, or your friends,” Ray said, “but I followed you this far, so I can confirm Shira is right.”

“Of course I’m right.”

Their headsets clicked and Suave’s voice came through. “The teams are positioned, we’re ready for the breach.”

“That’s you, buddy.” Intrepid said to Ben who still held the remote switch. He had built it, he may as well be the one to press it.

The red haired boy’s mouth was a thin line as he held up the radio box. It beeped to confirm its connection with a robotic arm sitting next to the Ring Breacher’s controls, in the potential line of fire, while the minifigures kept a safe distance away.

“T-minus three.” Ben whispered. “Two. One.” He pressed the button and the robotic arm extended to pull the activation lever on the Ring.

The Ring lit up and there was a rush of wind as the air pressure in the room lowered, then returned to normal levels. Purple clouds formed at the Ring’s event horizon as it opened a wormhole through Maelstrom infected Unverse, and Imagination water started to rain from the ceiling mounted anti-infection suppression system. The clouds were dissipated and a scene appeared in the Ring’s event horizon: several parked crafts, spaceships large and small and lines of personal sized fighters and rockets. Boarding the spaceships were columns of Stromling soldiers, mechs, and Spiderlings. Every five seconds, a spaceship would just disappear from thin air. Then a Stromling in Maelstrom Engineer clothes happened to walk past the other end of the breach, before it stopped to retrace his steps. For a moment it stared through, marveling in the view from one dimension to another, until a zipgun blast smashed it.

Intrepid took off running, his team behind him, Suave’s team ahead of him. He glanced sideways at Sergeant and the rifle contingent who were making their way down from the balconies. The lack of resistance meant they were all going in together, to the Maelstrom Dimension, to save their friends.

## Fifty-four

Invaders in the hanger.

The statement roused Cyclone from hibernation and he turned to the barracks exit. A barred gate lifted up into a crack between black stone, under which he strode forth. As he walked his skin hardened with blood and Maelstrom energies into a tough biological armor of sorts, and spikes grew from his arms. Other combat-armed Stromlings joined him, they all walked in the same direction to form a single unit headed directly to the hangers, where the attackers were.

The Nexus Force.

Something stirred in Cyclone as he comprehended the name of their opponent. Nexus Forcers must be smashed and Imagination must be corrupted, that was the Maelstrom’s mission. He had been Nexus Force, he and others with him, and he had no loyalty to them…

*Go*.

Smash.

The others.

Smash the others.

…not anymore.

The state of his mind could not be described as alert. As a drone-type of Stromling, his mind was activated, enough to move, fight, answer questions, and follow orders. But he wasn’t like Demonstrait or Spakybob. Not yet, at least. He could also aspire. Every Stromling could aspire to be more powerful, to get closer to the Darkitect.

To become a Darkitect.

He was also aware of the abilities he held. As a former Nexus Figure-turned-Stromling, Cyclone had powers no other Stromling did. He retained his indefatigable creative spark that could manipulate so much Imagination. Like the Imagination Temple’s Nexus on Crux, the one found by the Four Explorers, it too could be corrupted. It had been.

Then something clicked in his brain. Comprehension. In front of Cyclone was a steel-plated door. He had reached the end of the line. The combat zone. He was no longer a mindless drone.

Dark forces had appointed him mission commander.

The door rose and smoke billowed into the hall. It cleared enough to reveal the base’s hanger in a state of war. Fog from flames of the fiery type filled the hanger’s massive airspace. Fuel containers were ignited and damaged spacecraft were in various states of disrepair all across the hanger. Laser fire from all angles formed a haphazard no-man’s-land between it all, and Cyclone ran into it. The Stromlings from the hallway followed suit.

Their orders were to find the Nexus Force and smash them.

The massive reflective face of a spaceship appeared out of the smoke in an arcing descent. With a metallic screech it struck the ground to Cyclone’s left and crushed ten Stromlings while sliding into a pile of fuel canisters. The impact ignited the combustible product and the subsequent explosion sent Stromlings flying all around Cyclone, but he maintained his footing.

The shockwave pushed the smoke aside and he spotted a Nexus Forcer. The Sentinel soldier stood atop the tilted hull of another spaceship. With a Knight’s sword in his right hand he cut down Stromling after Stromling as they climbed the ship’s curved hull and attacked, one by one, from various directions. *Uncoordinated*, Cyclone thought, and he directed a telepathic order to the Stromlings in that arbitrarily defined area to standby.

A rocket, small, single-seat, flew out from the smoke on a descending course like the spaceship. Cyclone put all his attention on the rocket. It was spinning end over end, so quickly that he could barely see its details. He only caught a smidgen of its cockpit section with each tumbling rotation. A little more, a little more, and he kept getting closer to the ground. It crashed and skidded into a wall, taking out a row of Mechs, but by that time Cyclone had already turned his attention back to the Sentinel.

As he suspected, the rocket was unmanned.

Someone was throwing rockets.

He thought back to spaceship that had crushed ten Stromlings and sent flying many others.

Someone was throwing rockets to smash the Maelstrom forces. Obviously it was a Nexus Forcer’s doing, and it was a good idea, apparently. Cyclone could use it too.

Coils of Maelstrom energy began to expand from his arms when he raised them, reaching out like the chains of the Blades of Chaos for the first spaceship that had crashed down after his entrance to the hanger. The flaming mass was lifted into the air behind Cyclone, and he pointed it right at the lone Sentinel atop the other ship in front of him.

Suave Able Cat.

Cyclone remembered the Sentinel’s name just after the thrust the mass of flaming carbon and steel on an arc through the air that would crush the Sentinel to oblivion.

He knew he was a high ranking officer in the Nexus Force, and that smashing him would demoralize the Nexus Force invaders. Time was running out for Suave in his dangerous position, vulnerable to falling spaceships. If he did not jump out of the way soon, he would surely be crushed, Cyclone predicted. Crucial seconds passed before the Sentinel noticed the shadow growing around him, and the flaming spaceship. Lethal seconds. Cyclone knew it was too late for him.

The spaceship suddenly stopped in midair and its velocity shifted from a forward arc to a straight-down descent. It fell with a crash well clear of Suave Able Cat’s perch, to crush one the group of Stromlings Cyclone had ordered to standby.

Apparently Cyclone hadn’t been the only one to notice Suave’s otherwise imminent demise.

Another Sentinel had her hands extended forwards at the aflame spaceship now shattered on the ground. Her arms dropped and came back up with a glowing katana and a drawn bow held in hand. The latter was pointed at Cyclone, but only for a second.

He watched as she tilted the weapon downward, no longer at his heart. Not that it mattered, he could have deflected it in an instant. Not that *that* mattered, since Kate would never kill Cyclone.

Or would she?

A stray piece of information entered Cyclone’s consciousness from the Maelstrom hive mind. Important information directly concerning him, or rather his survival, based on the fate of... another Cyclone. A version of Cyclone from another dimension had successfully been turned. He had battled this same group of Nexus Forcers on a third dimension’s Avant Gardens, and they had killed him.

The data was more specific.

Kate had killed him.

She could kill *him*.

And Cyclone was gripped with fear. He recalled all his energies, the coils of Maelstrom, around his body. A shield. They could be enough to protect him from-

Kate’s voice rang out. “I won’t kill you, Cyclone!”

Cyclone blinked and looked out from his shield.

Kate’s bow was set on her back. Her sword was still held protectively before her, but above her left hand, upturned, glowed a surging quasar of volatile Imagination energy. The same energy that had killed the other Cyclone, he noted through narrowed eyes.

“You can be disinfected.” Kate said. “Think about who you are!”

Cyclone did think. His infection had been complete. During the process, an Imagination clone of his had almost been created, but it had been smashed immediately. The link that had sustained his connection to Imagination in the time when he had first been infected, three years prior, did not exist now.

So when he thought about himself, he saw himself as a Stromling

A minion of the Maelstrom.

A commissioner of chaos.

A Servant of Darkness.

“Do you think that lowly of me?!” Cyclone heard a Stromling’s voice shout out. He experienced a moment of disassociation, as the voice was low in pitch but clear unlike other the voice of other Stromlings. He’d never heard it before and it resonated with power. He realized it was *his* voice. It was the voice of a Darkitect.

He was like a Darkitect.

He *was* a Darkitect.

“I am a Darkitect.”

“No,” Kate shook her head. “You’re Gallant Strong Cyclone. You’re my friend and I owe you everything to save you!”

“You don’t owe me anything!” Cyclone roared in anger. “Only… your death!” And he directed all his stored Maelstrom energy toward Kate. It engulfed the air around her.

Then he felt a searing pain in his back and Cyclone screamed. The spikes in his shoulders extended two feet and he wanted to whirl around and kill his attacker, but his legs were suddenly disconnected at his knees, first his right then his left, and he fell to the ground.

His arms were dislocated next. It wasn’t like Cyclone needed them to direct his Maelstrom energies, since he controlled them telepathically. But then the back of his neck was pricked and all feeling below his jaw was lost, including his connection to his infected creative spark. Even a bag was thrown over his head for good measure. He knew it must have had even more stunning properties.

He was completely immobilized, as good as dead as a fish out of water, but he wasn’t dead. Whoever had done this to him had acted with the specific purpose of keeping Cyclone alive. They wanted to ‘disinfect’ him, they wanted to ‘save’ him. It was insulting! He could not let that happen.

He urged his body to work. His spinal cord hadn’t been severed… only his nerves were temporarily numbed. He found his vocal cords and began to scream. A little farther down his torso, pulsing with the beat of his heart, he felt his corrupted creative spark… he called on his Maelstrom energy-

A boot smashed into his head and Cyclone was knocked unconscious.

## Fifty-five

Krill Mathias lifted his armored boot off Cyclone’s head. A quick visual inspection confirmed the disjointed Stromling was, indeed, unconscious. He replaced the pistol gripped in his left hand, previously aimed at the nape of Cyclone’s neck, to the holster at his left hip. He then swung a modified wormholer over his head into his hands and spun around to send a spray of bolts into a gaggle of growling Stromlings collected behind him.

Once his immediate area was cleared he aimed the wormholer at Cyclone and pressed a button on his wrist. An energy net shot out and surrounded the fallen Stromling and his parts. The energy net then began to levitate and Krill broke into a run toward a nondescript door at the hanger’s side.

Until Kate swung in front of him, katana scraping on the ground. She swung the weapon up at Krill. Maelstrom traces still sparked off her armor from Cyclone’s attack, but she had survived it and except for a few scratches some armor shine would fix up, didn’t look worse for the wear. She *did*, however, look angry.

“What did you do to Cyclone?” she demanded.

“Chillax, Kate.” Krill set his jaw. “I just saved everyone’s lives here. Incapacitated, Cyclone is no longer a danger to anyone - himself included.”

Kate didn’t break eye contact with the mercenary, but she did turn her katana to a slightly less threatening position. “Thanks?” she ventured. “Is that what you want?”

“It’s not *that* sort vanity I’m after.” Krill reminded.

“Right.” Kate did some quick calculations. “Who’s paying you and how much?”

“That’s non disclosable.” Krill shifted his weight, and Cyclone’s net bucked slightly to match his movements. “Now, as much as I’d love to chat, you can see this ain’t the time or place.” He feigned a dart to Kate’s right and she followed, then he spun on his heel and Cyclone’s net hit Kate like a flail. It had the effect of a taser and Kate stiffened a moment before falling to the ground. Krill completed his rotation and punched his right arm upward. A zipline shot out from a wrist launcher, snagged the roof, and yanked him into the air. Once sufficiently above the ground, the battle, and the fire, Krill severed the first line and fired another from his left arm, aimed toward the hanger exit.

As soon as possible Kate popped back up and scanned the area, but Krill and Cyclone and the glowing net had disappeared entirely into the smoke show. Just like that, they were gone. Once again, Cyclone was gone.

## Fifty-six

He eyed the silhouette at the top of the hillcrest, a black, morphing shape against the blue night sky. The time was right, he checked, and he began his ascent.

“Krill Mathias,” the man called down to him. The shape became a billowing trench coat as he neared.

“Tiberius Talmid,” acknowledged the visitor.

They exchanged goods. For Krill, a sum of coins. For Tiberius, the disjointed parts of a very powerful Stromling.

Then Krill turned around and descended to his rocket parked in the strip mall lot. Client business wasn’t his business, he knew, yet he still gave the exchange some contemplation, as he began unlocking the cabin. He paused to consider if he should enter the nearby convenience store and stock up on refreshments. It was dark inside the store, despite the absence of a “Closed” sign, and the only person in sight, half the lot away and leaning against the outside of the storefront, seemed to be checking her phone, so he returned to his thoughts. The mercenary and Gallant Strong Cyclone had a history that he acknowledged, and maybe he felt a little bad handing his pieces off to certain doom. But that wasn’t his problem.

Krill felt a rush of air and suddenly the girl with the phone was standing behind him. He could tell by the direction of her voice. “How much to get him back?” she asked.

“To the point,” he noted, turning around, and he stifled a gasp. She didn’t look good. His excuse for not noticing before was the distance, not a factor now. Her hands were in the pockets of what could pass as a sweatshirt, although its condition, thoroughly tattered, would get it thrown out of a thrift store. Her face wore the long dried effuse of some nasty cuts and bruises, and the hair that stuck out from her hood, when not burnt a charcoal gray, was an identifying red. “No, I won’t backstab your great uncle. It’s a policy of integrity to not backstab any client. You’ll have to pay someone else.”

“No,” Red sighed, “I won’t have to. The job might just be a little harder, for those that take it.”

“Speaking of them,” Krill pointed with his eyes, for a second, at the telltale sign of rockets in reentry, several trails of flame in the sky above. “Yeah, they’re probably angry with me.”

“You’d best depart.”

“Took the words out of my mouth. Anything I can do for you?” Krill sucked in his breath. “Yes, of course. Of course that’s why you’re really here.”

Red looked up and met his gaze, and again Krill was taken aback by her appearance. Wherever she’d been last, it must have been bad. He’d heard of the transdimensional girl, of course. Tales of her travels frequented the trading spots, and other locations, he often found himself in. Well, not always of her specifically. Transdimensional travelers weren’t a new development. He’d become one himself not three years prior, when the job required it.

“I need a Manipulator.” Red said.

Krill nodded gravely. The implications were obvious. What would a transdimensional operative, who no doubt already had her own Unverse breacher, need in another such device? He didn’t say what didn’t need to be said, so he got to work. He fired up his rocket. Rolls of Imagination energy, fire, and steam blew out to cover the parking lot. When it cleared he was gone, high in the sky and climbing rapidly. He knew Red was gone, too.

Once out of Elistra’s gravitational influence Krill pointed his rocket to an obscure vertex of the Nimbus System, reclined his seat, and took a nap.

## Fifty-seven

The tracker on Krill Mathias’s rocket pointed them to Elistra.

*So it’s come full circle,* Intrepid thought as he settled his pod rocket in an open area in Phoenix Park, blowing a circle free of fallen leaves on the ground. He disengaged the thrusters and threw open the cabin. His objective on Elistra and Kate’s dedication for Cyclone had coalesced. Only Tiberius could have hired Krill Mathias to get Cyclone in his current state: the strongest source of accessible, manifestable Maelstrom, for his Maelstrom reanimation project

Three other rockets landed and their occupants exited while Intrepid surveyed the landscape. Back on Elistra again and always late, just hopefully not too, for Cyclone’s sake. And Kate’s. And whoever else Tiberius wanted back from the dead. He took a deep breath and started walking to the road. It lead him, and Kate, Rover, and Blade who followed him, to the blue brick house that was the Talmid residence. The door, he noted, didn’t have a lock, there was only a hole where one should have been, courtesy of past visitors. He eased it open and switched on a light. The dinette was illuminated and as expected its condition was... unruly, with papers and light furniture strewn about. The staircase and halls were dark. His eyes flicked to one shut door with a conspicuous keypad next to it.

*Too easy*, Intrepid thought. Tiberius was right under their noses the entire time. So things would end here.

He raised Red’s blaster and smashed the door.

Behind it, cellar steps descended into a dim space lit similarly to the basement floor of the future Leek Works, which was future Tiberius’s workspace. Just like the basement floor of the present dimension Talmid residence was the workspace for its Tiberius.

It’s too easy.

It’s a trap.

The shift in pressure and suppression of all sound signature of a transdimensional breach alerted Intrepid to the opening of a rift right behind him. He swung around and caught sight of Rover gripping his cutlass, Blade unsheathing his sword, and Kate already held her samuraizor. She was on edge, he figured, just before the rift exploded into a spiralling, sideways facing typhoon. He was ready to fire into it, but it faded as suddenly as it had manifested. In its place crouched Red, holding a briefcase.

“Don’t scare us like that,” Rover was the first to find his wits and speak. Blade just nodded, resheathed his weapon, and looked to Intrepid. He just stayed, blaster in hand, watching Red, as she stood up.

“Sorry to drop in on such notice,” she said, eying each of them a moment. She looked different in a few ways: hair cut a decent amount shorter in various places, a plain Nexus Force jacket. “The war is ending right here, right now.”

“Yeah,” Intrepid said. “We’re stopping Tiberius.”

“I mean, I’m carrying what we need to end this war.” Red threw the case down to Intrepid’s feet and it popped open, revealing a device with wires, gears, dials, and a countdown timer.

“That’s a bomb.” Blade said.

“It’s an Unverse cementer,” Red said, “hastily constructed by the brilliant minds of both our dimensions combined, designed to on detonation permeate the entire multiverse and solidify Unverse...”

“...impeding any and all Unverse travel.” Intrepid finished. “Why bring it here?”

“Because the largest Unverse rift is about to open right here,” another voice said. It belonged to Tiberius Talmid, a middle aged man standing at the top of the cellar stairs, dressed in a tall black trench coat and boots, and holding a pointed blaster in his left hand. But it was not that Tiberius who said it.

Standing in the other doorway, between the house and the outside world, was another Tiberius. He had gray hair, as opposed to black, signifying twenty years of increased age.

“I would know,” old Tiberius continued, “because it’s what I attempted to do, in my timeline, in my dimension.” He stared across the threshold, past Intrepid, Red, Kate, Rover, and Blade, to maintain eye contact with the present dimension’s Tiberius. He tilted his head back a slight degree, as if in contempt of his younger counterpart, then he let his face drop, in shame. “But I didn’t have the Darkitect to help me.”

Young Tiberius shuddered, then responded, “Old man, what do you know of the progress I have made in our mission? Where the Nexus Force failed, I succeeded! I revived Evelyne - I can revive her again!”

Intrepid looked up.

“Yes, nephew,” his uncle said, now looking to him. “The battle in which you could not save her, it wasn’t the end for her, or the rest of our family. I was there too, doing my research, and I saw the creation of the rift in our planet’s upper atmosphere. In the edge of our dimension, a tiny pinhole was torn by the chaotic forces brought on by the Maelstrom assault. And through that hole went the creative sparks of every being that was smashed here that day. It’s not a full rift, it leads only to a pocket dimension, filled with creative sparks waiting to be rescued. Using the pull of Maelstrom, I- we can rescue them, the technology is perfected!”

“But it’s not perfect.” Red protested. “The energy you plan to take from Cyclone is straining that fissure into the largest rift the multiverse has seen yet. If it doesn’t tear this world apart, it’ll be a gateway for the army of the Maelstrom!”

“Is Cyclone down there?” Kate demanded.

Tiberius looked between both girls, then back at Intrepid. “We can save them,” he repeated, and silence fell.

Intrepid said nothing.

They all stood, rooted as if, in their places. No one made a sound except to breathe, then the Unverse bomb beeped.

“It’s been remotely activated!” Red exclaimed. “It’s part of the plan. We have ten minutes to send it into Unverse and book it.” She glared at Tiberius. “And don’t think of shooting it. Imagination is part of its catalyst.”

Tiberius wrung his hands, and with a huff holstered his blaster. “Ten minutes, then, to save our family,” he said to Intrepid, again. “Your choice is with them, with me - or with this group.”

Again, Intrepid said nothing.

“You’re not seriously listening to him?” Kate yelled from behind him.

“No!” Intrepid shouted back. “I’m thinking.”

“Well don’t think, say!”

“I think we don’t need Maelstrom to save anyone!” Intrepid said.

Tiberius stared at him, blankly.

Everyone did, for a moment.

The countdown timer passed 9 minutes, 45 seconds.

“Maelstrom and Imagination are equal and opposite... we don’t need to use Maelstrom, or Cyclone’s, er, power as a Darkitect. We can use Imagination.” Intrepid said. “We have Nexus Figures.”

## Fifty-eight

Red was saying something but Intrepid pretended not to hear her. “What you’re asking these people to do has already been tried... and it failed.” Of course he heard her, and he respected her, but something else inside him overpowered his usual deference.

“I have hope,” he said, and he looked Red in the eye. She stared back. “You gave it to me. A month ago, when we stopped that cataclysm on Crux, I knew we had a connection. How, I didn’t know yet, but I spent the next days hoping to find it. And you gave it to me.”

“That’s touching.” Red said softly. “But you can’t bring people back from the dead.”

“It hasn’t been tried like this,” he argued. “We’re not just... researchers. We embrace our relationships, it’s our feelings guiding us, not scientific discovery. We don’t have a hypothesis, we have a *goal*. And I’m going to try to get it. So I’m going to ask something of you, too. There’s this spot on Avant Gardens...”

“I know.” Red said, and she stepped back, resigned. “The payload *will* activate in eight minutes and when that happens, I’d advise some distance between it and you... ideally, a distance of a dimension or two.”

Then she winked out, and Intrepid turned to Kate. She had watched the exchange, and she held his gaze for a moment, before turning to the Tiberius in the cellar steps.

“Let’s get on with this,” she said.

Tiberius smiled. “I knew you’d choose right,” he said to Intrepid.

“Just lead the way.” Intrepid retorted. “This isn’t for you.”

“Of course not, it’s for our family.”

“It’s for my friends, too.”

He turned around and lead the way, and Intrepid followed Kate down into the stony abyss. On the way he picked up the briefcase that contained the Unverse bomb. He didn’t pause to consider the repercussions of going through with that mission. Transdimensional travel would cease. He’d never see another dimension again. He’d never see some people again. Countless loose ends would never be tied.

But to save the universe, so be it.

The steps reached a landing, then continued in the opposite direction, still going down. At that level they reached the ground floor, where a number of glow heaters kept the subterranean temperature palatable in the open space, which extended larger than Intrepid expected from the size of the house above. This chamber had to reach across the street, and several houses down each way. The glow heaters also provided the only source of light for the moment, and in their wake a large, curved silhouette extended from the backdrop. A flashlight permeated the darkness, held by Rover, that illuminated a metallic shine on the hull of the object.

“It’s a spaceship.” Blade said.

“It’s *The One Ring*,” Tiberius named it, “used by my family for three generations. Now, she’s my primary base of operations.”

As he spoke its boarding lights clicked on and a motor began to run. There was an atmospheric hiss as a ramp began to descend, and dust particles swirled around from the pressure change.

There was little else, some dust covered boxes and other miscellaneous along the floor’s edges, to be interested in. They boarded the ship single file, entering a white painted hallway with open doorways lining each side, and at its end, in a windowed observation deck, a stairwell was visible to lead to the next floor up. Tiberius guided them into the second room on the right, where a confined chamber behind Imagination shields had been set up.

Kate immediately ran towards it. Intrepid noticed it too.

Between machines with flexible hoses, a gurney sat in the middle of the chamber, and on it lay a Stromling of unmistakable identity. Gallant Strong Cyclone.

The room suddenly took on a blue hue. Imagination effuse swirled in Kate’s hands and washed up her arms in a form of mist. “We have to disinfect him.” she stated.

“Careful,” Rover warned, stepping forward with a hand towards Kate. He rested it on her shoulder, and her manifested Imagination decreased in intensity, slightly. “Remember, he won’t react well to Imagination, not in his current state.”

“I know,” Kate said, “I already smashed his... other...” she looked away and her release of Imagination came to a stop.

Rover kept his grip on her, until she turned toward and pulled him into a hug. Rover held her back as she squeezed her eyes shut, to keep the tears from spilling out.

“This chamber has a disinfection function,” the older Tiberius spoke up, already on his way to a control panel.

“That’s really convenient.” Blade said.

No one stopped him as he glanced between the unconscious Cyclone and some dials that he adjusted, then he pushed a button that glowed green when pressed. A fan began to whirr as Maelstrom mist filled the room’s confines, blocking the view in. Electricity crackled like lightning strikes, and Kate gripped Rove harder. But the vents worked and when the fog cleared, Cyclone remained lying on the gurney, but he no longer looked like a servant of darkness. His skin and brown hair were back, and also restored was his Space Marauder attire, only it took on a silver luminance and no longer glowed with the energy of harnessed Maelstrom.

They watched as his eyes opened, their color a normal blue, and he got up on his feet. He seemed to wobble a bit. When he didn’t fall, he took a step forward.

Tiberius all but disabled the Imagination shields in time for Kate to launch herself off of Rover’s person and onto Cyclone’s, and that nearly tipped him. “You’re back, you’re back, you’re back,” she sang over and over again with increasing falter, and increasing grip, until Cyclone reached up to her touch her arm and she peeled back.

“Yes,” he said softly. “I’m back... and I have no idea where from.”

Young Tiberius cleared his throat by the door. “I presume you still have your powers?”

“Rude,” Rover muttered.

“Time is of the essence, and its running out,” the man said curtly. “Now,” he paused.

Cyclone answered by conjuring a ball of lighting that hovered just over his palm, closed within the sphere of his grasp, but not burning him.

“You and your girlfriend better be as powerful as your previous Maelstrom self,” continued Tiberius. He looked at Intrepid. “You owe me that.” He turned back to the Nexus Figures. “Now, to our next stop...”

He turned on his heel and was into the hallway, headed to another room.

This one was filled with cryogenic stasis pods, at least 50. Many were full, with some in between empty and powered down. Inside the ones that were on, visible behind layers of frost and ice, where the still, shadowed shapes of minifigures long not animated, but preserved...

“You didn’t dare dig them from the ground-” Intrepid started.

“No, nephew,” Tiberius said, “these bodies are reconstructed. Rebuilt, with Imagination, like you do when you smash. My work utilized Imagination, as well as Maelstrom. You wouldn’t want to wake up a pile of disjointed limbs.”

“I think I might have a few times on the way here.“ Cyclone said, rubbing his forehead. “I’m starting to remember... things.”

“So how will we access the pocket dimension?” Intrepid demanded.

“Not we; they.” Tiberius pointed two fingers at Cyclone and Kate. “It’s about six miles up, and a conduit of fractured dimension must be maintained between it and this room. With chaotic forces, implementing such a conduit would be easy. But to destroy Unverse with Imagination means concentration, and finesse. You, Nexus Figures, must imagine the world around you like a single strand in a twisted, intertwined mass of fabric... and rotate that strand in the certain spot where it meets with our pocket dimension enough that it loosens so slightly. Twist too much and you rip a hole in Unverse, like Red so eloquently described.”

Cyclone and Kate had closed their eyes as he spoke. They stood separately, Cyclone’s face the pinnacle of calm, while Kate’s lines were scrunched up in concentration.

The room twitched ever so slightly, with vibrations barely perceptible, growing in intensity over time. Rover, Blade, the Tiberiuses, and Intrepid looked for handles to hold onto, while Cyclone and Kate stayed rigid still. A low ring because to increase in frequency, becoming piercing. Flames of Imagination erupted around the Nexus Figures’ bodies. Blade jumped toward them but Rover held him back. The ship shook. In the corner of their eyes, they could see but not discern a glowing white light, as the Unverse between their dimension and the pocket was separated.

Then the stasis pods began to swing open.

## Fifty-nine

Ice fog misted out from each of the yawning cryogenic pods.

Intrepid, Rover, Blade, Tiberius, and Tiberius stared at the rows of them, expectantly. Cyclone and Kate didn’t stop releasing Imagination.

“Think someone should tell them they can stop now?” Blade hissed.

“Wait,” Intrepid said, as the first person stepped out from cryogenic sleep.

They were clothed, surprisingly, in a tattered jacket, pants torn at one leg, and a stained black backpack. They also had a pointed quartz blade for a left arm.

“Yeah, tell them,” Intrepid jerked his chin at the Nexus Figures while grabbing whoever was closest to him and jumping back, pulling Old Tiberius and Rover towards the door. More Stromlings had exited the pods now. Blade shouted Cyclone’s and Kate’s names while running towards them. Cyclone opened one eye, then grabbed Kate. The Imagination fire that surrounded them instantly shut off.

Intrepid ushered them through the doorway, once they were out he shut the door. Then he wheeled on Tiberius. “You said-”

“Rift!” Tiberius shouted. “That’s what went wrong. They,” he pointed at Cyclone and Kate, “couldn’t hold the dimensional connection in the necessary balance so chaotic forces have arrived and infected it all!”

“No,” Old Tiberius shook his head, “it was a failure from the start.”

“Couldn’t we disinfect them all, like you did for Cyclone?” Rover asked.

“What did you say about chaotic forces?” Intrepid repeated.

“The ship is still shaking.” Kate alerted.

The door began to bend outward as the Stromlings hammered it from the other side.

“I think we can divert the disinfecting solution into the ventilation system of that room,” Rover said.

“No we can’t,” Intrepid shook his head forcefully, “because there’s now an Unverse rift open right above our heads, and I can assure you there’s Maelstrom coming out of it this second.” He lifted up the briefcase. “And we need to throw this in. Tiberius, you’ve done nothing but waste my time, our time, the entire multiverse’s time.”

“That’s not set in stone.” Tiberius seethed.

“I’ll make it.” Intrepid swore.

He spun on his heel briefcase in hand, about to dart down the ship’s hall to its exit, to climb up the stairs, to leave the house, to get up in a rocket, to fly the Unverse bomb into the rift, to go with it if it came to that.

He would have if an Unverse Manipulated rift didn’t open in front of him, a foot above the ground,and several things were wrong. First, the rift’s clouds were not their usual blue hue. Their color was purple, an indication of Maelstrom infection in the surrounding Unverse. Then Red jumped out, Evelyne in her arms. Fast moving fog spilled out around them until the rift closed. Intrepid leaned forward and spread his arms. Red’s knees buckled as soon as she touched the ground and she pitched to the side, sending Evelyne tumbling. Not that it would hurt her... Intrepid grabbed Red and eased her to the ground. Her shoulders were cold to the touch and where his arms rushed her jacket he recoiled, it was stained purple in many places. Intrepid flinched, then gingerly pulled up her sleeves. Her left forearm had a crystalline hue.

“You’re infected,” he muttered. “Breathe.”

“I know,” she panted, “but you were expecting me, and Evelyne... I had thought, for once, maybe this plan would work...”

“We both hoped.” Intrepid stood up, then swung to Old Tiberius. “Get that disinfection chamber prepped again.”

The old man nodded and turned to go, when Evelyne growled.

Noticing her reanimated, Intrepid recovered from his double take and amended, “No wait, Rover, do what you said. Rewhatevering the disinectiowhatever.”

“It’ll take a few minutes,” Rover said. His hand was instinctively reaching for his holstered pistol, but consciously he kept himself from pulling it out and shooting at the imminent Stromling threat.

Intrepid glanced at the timer in the briefcase. “You have five.” He reached into his backpack, searching for something. “Anyone have a stungun-”

“I got this,” Blade slung off his backpack and sent his hands spiraling in. They came back with a dark, chipped sword that he guided in a pattern around Evelyne’s Stromling form, but not hitting her. On the third pass an energy shield surrounded the Stromling’s feet. “Scimitar of Rooting,” Blade said with a nod, then he joined Rover at a computer terminal.

“I’ll divert it through the entire ventilation system,” Rover said, “since that door aint gonna hold and we’d better get off the ship. But it’ll take who knows how much longer...”

“And,” Blade said, inspecting a radar reading, “there’s Maelstrom landing across the city.”

“We’ll deal with them,” Kate said, cracking her knuckles and sending sparks of Imagination out with each pop. Cyclone nodded.

“Let’s move.” Intrepid waved Cyclone and Kate, then the Tiberiuses, down the ramp. Rover and Blade stepped around Evelyne, who remained rooted. Blade gave Intrepid a pat on the shoulder as they departed. Then Intrepid reached for the last remaining person, still seated on the ground and breathing quite heavily, but she shrugged away.

“I stay on the ship,” Red said through grit teeth. “I need dis...infection as much as Evelyne... as the others.”

“It’ll take time to fill the atmosphere, you heard Rover.” Intrepid said. “We can find a personal kit outside-”

“Just go.” she ordered, closing her eyes.

Intrepid left.

## Sixty

The rift looked like a long scar, jagged, purple, and pulsating in the dark sky. It was scarred in the sense that a pocket dimension had existed therein for a decent amount of days. Now torn open, spiderlike Maelstrom creatures with spindly legs and glowing undersides descended out of it, coming through it from their own dimension to infect this one.

So blowing up their mine had slowed the Maelstrom down somewhat, Intrepid thought as he darted to his rocket. Without their industrial scale breachers, the Maelstrom could not send their entire arsenal of spaceships, tanks, and pirate ships across Unverse. Instead they sent basically the sent thing, just smaller, and organic. Each lander was large enough to carry two normal spiderlings, or three mechs, or ten Stromlings on its back. Their genetic code also seemed to contain rocket science, with the glow in their undersides suggesting some chemical reaction directing thrust downward to slow their descent.

“Think we can make a shield to protect the entire city?” Cyclone asked.

“No,” Kate shook her head, “we definitely don’t have enough mojo for that. Best save it until we really need it.”

“So plain old basic combat.” Cyclone said, unholstering his weapons.

“Yeah.” He aimed his rocket launcher upward and Kate her arrows. The landers with their spinning, articulating legs were still several hundred feet up, but with Imagination anything is possible. Their weapons hit several of the closest landers, either tearing holes in their armor in the case of the rockets or setting them on fire in the case of the arrows. Spiderlings and mechs began falling downward in small groups, disappearing behind buildings and trees and out of view as they neared the ground. Some Stromlings deployed parachutes from their backpacks.

“I wish we had those,” Rover grumbled. He went to a semi-smashed Stromling that fell close enough and completed the deed. He raised special binoculars that detected Maelstrom to his face and looked around. “This is hitting more than we can cover, we need to finish this.”

They turned to Intrepid who already threw the briefcase into his pod rocket and was climbing in, until Kate called, “Wait!”

Distant roars came out of the rift, followed by a dragon, followed by another dragon. Within ten seconds a line of fifty flying dinosaurs were on a helical flightpath out of one point on the rift toward the ground, then splitting up to cover various points of the sky. Then another line of dragons spawned from a different point on the scar, corresponding to a different point in Unverse. From another dimension? Or traveling between the one they were in? It didn’t matter, they were all problems.

*That’s a problem*, Intrepid thought. In between multilegged landers, spiderlings, mechs, and parastromlings rocketing to the rift was hard enough. Adding dragons to the equation made a hard job harder. His neck was still craned upward when someone started banging on his rocket. He looked over as Kate swung herself over the cabin edge and took a seat at the rear. “I’ll be gunner,” she said. This pod rocket didn’t have turrets. They both knew she meant her powers.

Then another sound came out of the rift that made all else go quiet. The landers paused their descent, the dragons stopped roaring, and the minifigures watched in silent distress as a trail of fog shot out of the rift, from the same point as the first dragons, and twisted straight to the ground. The dragons swooped alongside the fog in escort, and Rover aimed his pistol up and fired, spurring the others into action. Intrepid only had Red’s gun but he fired anyway, just for the sake of resistance, and knowing they tried. Conjured lightning brought down some of the dragons and an Imagination whirlwind buffeted the others, but the pillar of fog was unperturbed in its path to the ground. It impacted on the other end of the park and a rippling wave of Maelstrom shot outward, turning the ground black and like a bomb blast trees and statues were knocked down, benches overturned, and water bodies vaporized.

If not for Cyclone and Kate throwing a glistening protective shield in front of them, they would have all been infected when the Maelstrom reached them. The Maelstrom wave bounced off and went around and over, and a chill surrounded them. Next to Intrepid, Kate grit her teeth and noticeably trembled from the exertion of keeping the protection active.

Then the wave stopped, the shield dropped, and Kate took a deep breath, then they all nearly had heart attacks.

At the end of the park, megasized and grinning his terrible smile, trunk sized feet planted in the blast epicenter: the Darkitect.

## Sixty-one

“I saw your laser fire on the way down!” the corruption of Baron Typhonus’s likeness boomed sinisterly. “Did you really think you could stop me?”

“No,” Kate whispered so only Intrepid heard her since they were both in the rocket.

“I heard that!” taunted the Darkitect. “Now, foolish minifigures - I gave you the choice to accept infection when I first arrived, but you stupidly rejected it! So now you will all die.” He tapped his scepter on the ground and a ball of electricity appeared over its crystal, fizzing wildly and bouncing off its invisible containment. “Only, I have to choose... who wants to die first?”

He pointed the scepter at a nearby complex and let loose, the electricity arced out and as fast as light, covered the entire structure. Flame burst over it and in seconds the building fell, each speck of debris staying alight with the destructive sparks until they were demolecularized, and nothing tangible remained.

“A very painful end, as you can imagine, haha!” the Darkitect turned his attention back to the Nexus Forcers. He tapped a wrist and shook his tophatted head. “If no one steps forward now, I’ll just kill you all and then infect this planet-”

He was interrupted by an energy blast hitting him in the face, but it came at an angle of depression from above his line of sight. Another transdimensional rift had opened, and like the one Red had emerged from it was tainted purple from the infected Unverse. But the spaceship that emerged had shields to protect it. It was a Venture class painted black and green, moving too fast for any logos to be discerned, but Intrepid could guess what they identified.

“Wish I’d thought of that,” he said, of the shields.

The Darkitect raised his staff to protect himself but the Venture engaged its hyperdrive, and suddenly the Darkitect’s staff began a long, tipping fall to the ground. His left hand was gone, and there was a large, Venture Explorer sized hole in his face. Two miles behind him a column of flame erupted over the cityscape, followed by the sound of the explosion.

Despite no longer having a face, a chilling sound still came from the Darkitect, the bending and twisting sound of reconstructing bone, that morphed into a deep roar as dark forces rebuilt his face. “Arrrghourhghrrrrfffffooools!” he shouted into the air. “Foolhardy minifigures!” He spat a toxic goo with bone fragments onto the ground before him, from which spiderlings began to climb out.

But the rift that the first spaceship had exited did not close, and more spaceships, these ones painted in Nexus Force white, came out from it to take various places in the sky. There were fighting cruisers and transports, the latter from which Sentinel, Venture, Assembly, and Paradox forces began rappelling out. By the appearance of their uniforms, they were from their own dimension. Suave Able Cat was one of the first Sentinels on the ground, and Rover ran to meet him.

“Nexus Tower is all clear,” Suave told his colleague, “and then some Future Dimensioners showed up, telling us to come here. We got here as fast as we could... admittedly, faster than I thought possible.”

The others heard the update on their personal communicators.

As immediately as they showed up the Nexus Force spaceships began firing all means of ordnance, rockets, guided missiles, lasers, artillery at the Darkitect, who defended himself with a shield. By this time several of the landers had landed and Maelstrom ground forces advanced from their side of the park, and wherever else they landed in the city. Those ones seemed to ignore passerby, focused only on getting to the park where the Nexus Force had congregated. This was where they would stand.

Intrepid glanced at the briefcase. The two minute marker passed as he watched. “This has to get up there,” he repeated, concerning the scar in the sky, as he watched the battle. He began launch preparations on the rocket when Kate tugged his arm. “Look.”

Not only Stromlings were entering through the outskirts of the park. From the same direction Intrepid, Kate, Rover, Cyclone, and Blade had entered from, the direction from the Talmid’s house, came a group of at least fifty minifigures, armed with a variety of handguns and some basic melee weapons, swords and axes, bats and hammers. Leading the procession was Red, completely disinfected.

Intrepid’s heart stopped, and he immediately looked for Tiberius. He was due some credit. His plan had worked, not at all how it was meant to... but in the end the effect was the same.

“I see we have our first volunteers!” the Darkitect proclaimed, and Intrepid’s heart restarted, radiating a surging pain throughout his chest. The Baron had turned to face the revived Elistrans as well, and like a magnet his staff flew to his hand, and he pointed it at them. He was going to kill them all, and kill Red. Intrepid worked at the rocket faster and engaged the throttle, the main engine roared to life with a cone of flame shooting loudly outward, its crackle drowning out everything but the Darkitect’s terrible laughter as an arc of electricity formed.

He wouldn’t be fast enough to intercept the shot with the rocket, Intrepid thought, he didn’t even know if it would stop it from continuing on, still he tried - but maybe, he realized, with a manipulator he could place himself right in the destructive arc’s path, sacrificing himself to save Red.

And that is how events proceeded to transpire. A personal unverse breach opened in the air between the Darkitect and the arriving defenders, through which Intrepid emerged. He began to fall as soon as he jumped out, but his backpack was open and all manners of objects flew out behind him, weapons and models and bricks and clothes, like a pillar of falling objects, some falling faster and others slower, like a lightning rod. The arc struck the topmost item and worked its way down, vaporizing each one until it struck Intrepid Fusion Eclipse and in a flash of light and a burst of flame, he was gone.

Across the park, Red stopped moving. Her grip on her weapon tightened, her other first flexed and unflexed. Her mouth opened into a scream that could not be heard across the distance. Inside the rocket, Kate shouted, “No!” Beside her, Intrepid felt like he’d been fatally shot. In a way he had been. Future Intrepid was dead.

## Sixty-two

Heart hammering in his chest, Intrepid finalized the launch procedures and pulsed the throttle. The rocket roared and threatened to take off. “Get ready to do some shooting,” Intrepid said and disengaged the landing brake, then he and Kate were thrown into the backs of their seats as the rocket nosed up to the sky, the scar directly ahead and closing. Between them and in, hundreds of Maelstrom landing craft, dragons, and the Darkitect.

“Just focus on flying,” Kate said, and suddenly it all darkened.

Fog filled the environment outside the windows, blocking all view of the Maelstrom, while rain plattered down in long drops. Thunder rumbled blatantly close as lightning flashed around them, it hadn’t been raining a moment before, but still the rocket pushed itself higher. Flashes of white and sparks of yellow indicated the moments Maelstrom landers were struck by the lightning and set aflame, their burn casting orange glows around the path of the rocket. Dragon roars sounded miles away, and the battle was miles below and increasing.

Intrepid turned off his earpiece, it had gone staticy in the deluge anyway. The Nexus Force was managing, with extreme difficulty, to hold off the Maelstrom forces. But he could not concern himself with that. The scar in the sky was close, and he heard it before he saw it. It was the sound of nothing.

He must have blinked. When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing either.

He remembered this nothingness. It was Unverse, the emptiness between Universes. But he was still in the rocket. He still felt the seat fabric behind him, and the faux leather briefcase leaning on his shin. He clenched his fingers around the handle. Then he heard a sound that he did not remember, something just outside comfortable hearing range, that if he strained to hear sounded like crackling radio static.

Lines of visual noise come out of the blackness, static and gray, jagged and irregular, the effects of broken Unverse.

Then he began to hear sounds that he did remember. Soft, unintelligible hissings that in all the time he’d heard, he never understood... and a low droning roar like waves, crashing over and over.

He ignored it. He focused on doing his job. Light seemed to work differently in Unverse so he felt blindly for the canopy latch and pushed it open. There was no change in pressure. The briefcase was still gripped in his left hand. He heaved it up and out of the rocket, and in his mind’s eye pictured it floating into the abyss. He had delivered it. Now he had to get out, except he had not gotten in with an unverse manipulator that he could now tell to take him out.

Then the whispers became louder, and another crack in unverse appeared. It was strange, how spontaneous things were in this realm. This crack was a different gray than the others, solid instead of stippled, and it was not jagged.

*Another pocket dimension?* Intrepid thought. The whispers seemed to separate as the line seemed to uncoil. Then a light shone through, a whiteness that illuminated the interior of the rocket, and real sounds began to return. The burn of the rocket’s engine. Reality was leaking through... or they were leaking into reality. He heard the sound of his breathing. He heard the sound of Kate’s breathing. He’d forgotten he was not alone in the rocket.

The glow of the pocket dimension nearly entirely encompassed the rocket now. He saw the colored lights of the instrument panel, the swirl of the canopy glass, droplets of water that had stuck to the rocket from the storm, now sliding off and falling to an unseen ground.

He tuned in on the whispers again, except now they were words.

Then reality came crashing through and the rocket split apart. They were falling, like the water, through a gradient black and whiteness. Grabbing his left arm was Kate. And grabbing his right arm was Red. In her other hand was an Unverse Manipulator.

He felt whiplash as they were concussively yanked out of the pocket dimension and through unverse back to their original dimension. After an amount of time he could not discern, he blinked and tried to sit up, but found he could not move. There was a ringing in his ears that was slowly quieting, so he could hear someone yelling, “Don’t move your head! Your neck is broken!” Did thinking count as moving his head, he wondered, before dipping back into unconsciousness.

## Sixty-three

“Name?”

“Intrepid Fusion Eclipse.”

“Date of birth?”

He provided it.

“Sign please.”

He set down his duffel bag and did so. The front end receptionist smiled. “Have a good day, Mr. Eclipse,” she said, and he picked up the bag and left through the glass doors.

It was a week after the battle when Intrepid was set free from the residential care ward in Nexus Tower. Proximity to the Imagination Nexus, according to experts, would accelerate his healing, which it did. The field medics on Elistra had quick-fixed his spinal cord, which was one of the reasons he was still alive. There were other reasons, he suspected, that he hadn’t yet been able to confirm from a hospital bed. But now he was out and about, so ideally he only needed to find some acquaintances to get that answered.

He didn’t need to go far, he ran into seven in the lounge across the hall, watching the transport ships dock and undock at the landing pads. Most were seated facing the windows, but Shira was leaning boredly on a pillar, earbuds on, but when she saw him enter she perked up.

Instead of saying anything, she began to clap.

The others turned around. Luke and Mara Mercury tore off their couches and nearly sent Intrepid back into the recovery ward with their suffocatingly tight embrace. Luke let go quickly enough. “You’re baaaaaack,” Mara sobbed, clutching him around the ribs tighter.

“I appreciate the reception,” Intrepid said, trying to push her off. Then he glanced at the others.

Edgar was taking long strides toward him. “Good to see you back,” the young man said, hand stretched forward. Intrepid reached around Mara to grip it and they shook. He saw Cyclone and Kate off to the side, standing together, and at them Intrepid nodded. They smiled back. Then he saw the other girl standing next to Shira, and time seemed to stop.

Mara let go of him and he took a halting step towards them. Then another. When she was within an arm's length he raised a hand, tentatively, and felt the fabric of her coat, held up by the firmness of her shoulders. She reached up with her own hand and cupped the back of his.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again,” Intrepid said at last.

“No, me neither.” Evelyne said.

He held her gaze for a long while, only looking away to look around. Shira and Evelyne were the only others of his kin present, which could only suggest... some things had changed, and some things hadn’t.

He continued looking around. In both directions the Nexus Tower hallways were empty to the next cross junctions, where no one he recognized were visible for the fleetest of moments. He would have expected one more person to be around. “Where’s Red?” he said at last.

No one spoke. Cyclone and Kate glanced at each other. Edgar opened his mouth, and closed it again, as if he had something to say but wasn’t sure how to phrase it. “She is,” he started.

“She’s gone,” Shira inserted. “But... not like, dead, or missing.”

“I saw her,” Cyclone said, “after you and Kate reappeared. You were both out cold, but one moment she was standing there with you, the next,” he made a flashing gesture with his hands, “poof.”

*Typical*. “So the battle was... won?” Intrepid said. “Is the war over?”

“We have a lot to fill you in on.” Edgar said.

...

After the Unverse cementer went off and the scar was sealed, evident by the blackness between it turning a nondescript gray, all Maelstrom activity from the other dimension began to self destruct, as Cyclone put it. The Maelstrom landers had smashed, the Spiderlings died, the mechs deactivated, and Stromlings keeled over and died, smashing and leaving their stolen Nexus Force armor. The Darkitect had deformed into a pool of sludge that evaporated within seconds, before having a chance to fully pool. Without a link to their source dimension, none of the purely Maelstrom manifestations could be maintained across the divide. They had killed a Darkitect, but not before many brave fighters were felled.

As expected, all transdimensional devices were rendered inoperable by the change in Unverse state. Assembly and Paradox researches who had begun to study it, with the help of those from the Future Dimension who had crossed over, theorized that the device had altered the entire composition of matter in the space between spaces. It could not be separated by Maelstrom anymore. The technology developed to traverse it so far all incorporated some amount of Maelstrom energy. Unverse travel as they knew it was now impossible, the ability to travel to other dimensions was gone, but so was the threat of transdimensional Maelstrom.

The Future Dimension’s Grand Masterly Shadow, Elite Distant Tofu, Skilled Honored Ninja, Cailan and Crimson Mercury, and Tiberius were known to be permanent residents now. Strange Odd Shadow, from the so-called “Janitor Dimension” that was named after him, was accounted for as well. So unless she’d very quickly skipped out, Red was still around somewhere, too, and Intrepid intended to find her.

The revival of fifty Elistrans whose creative sparks were somehow maintained in a pocket dimension also had ramifications regarding the others in the Talmid family who were smashed. They were not among the fifty, and neither were Hazel or Quinn. Another variable to consider was the existence of another pocket dimension, which Intrepid and Kate had nearly fallen into, before Red rescued them. The agglomeration of Unverse meant reaching these dimensions for the possibility of recovering more creative sparks was simply impossible. But it brought about a change in status for all those lost on Elistra two years before. They were no longer KIA, but MIA. It was a change that allowed for hope.

...

Night had fallen and cool winter air turned Intrepid’s breath to frost as he approached the coastal cliffs of Nimbus Station, overlooking the ocean expanse. The grass was frosted beneath his boots, crunching with each step. In the sky, the comet Frostburg was visible on its annual pass through the system. Its otherworldly glow added to the myriad of other worlds, and the pillar of Imagination, casting their spectral reflections off the water, and illuminating the hillside in this undeveloped part of Nimbus Station.

She was standing at the top of the incline, the edges of her cloak twitching in the slight breeze. As he got close she turned around and withdrew her hood, so Intrepid could see her face. She had done good to clean herself up, he was glad to see. Her layers were cut uniformly shorter and her bangs were swept back. Gone were the bruises of combat, and only one scar had formed on the right of her face, upon closer inspection.

They were face to face.

“Thirty days.” Intrepid broke the silence. “People have been looking for you.”

“I’ve counted too.” Red said evenly. “I’ve come to a decision that required dislocation... it’s the time it took for me to reach it myself. I couldn’t let anyone sway it.”

He regarded her, and all that she’d been through, that he knew of, which admittedly didn’t amount to much.

“You don’t need to be alone,” Intrepid stated with firmity. “There’s people who care about you. I care about you.” He removed a hand from his sweater pocket, held it out in the frigid air, a beacon of warmth. “Come with me. Where else can you go?”

She slid a hand out from her own cloak, started to repeat the gesture, to join hands and never separate them, but she stopped midway. His hands lingered, waiting for contact. He stared at her face. She was looking down.

“I’m sorry.” she said softly. “Maybe one day, you’ll understand.”

A whirlwind of blue clouds, spinning and expanding larger and faster opened behind her and she jumped backward. There was light at the end of the tunnel, like sunlight. Another world. Another dimension. Intrepid lunged forward, as if to grab her, but once she passed the threshold the vortex collapsed. He stumbled through the space where she had been, falling into the frost and cursing in disbelief.

He stayed on the ground, puffs of breath adding condensation to the blades of grass across from his face. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, and unsteadily rose to contemplate what he’d just seen.

A transdimensional maneuver. Impossible, but she’d done it. If she could do it, he could too.

She could run, but he would find her.

*End*

Instead of an Epilogue