Â
****
 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.
Â
 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."