Song of the Swans Part 4

Chapter 13

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.

Chapter 14

  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?"

Chapter 15

"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 Sprok, 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.

Chapter 16

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."

* * * *

Chapter 17

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."

Chapter 18

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."

Next: Part Five: Butterflies and Cyclones