The Quest for Clint Eastwood's Br-Wait not that one? OH! Right, to save another Dimension!

The quiet calm across the world was disrupted by the sounds of something fast striking glass, but not breaking it. All across the Earth this crash happened, mere seconds apart from one another and each one was accompanied by a surge of electrical, kinetic, and cosmic energies before they were quickly snuffed out. It was as if someone somewhere was banging on the glass cage. Knockings or bangings that quickly started condensing in on the continent of North America before only appearing in the United States, as if honing in on something. For the scientists and secret, or not so secret, governmental agencies that were watching the dimensional barrier was being assaulted and no one and nothing could get a clear enough answer and just what was going on on the other side.

None of those scientists or government spooks would have guessed that the cause of those dimensional cracks would have all come from the same person. Or even that it had come from a human being who was actually native to this plane of existence, this planet we call Earth even. But the fact of the matter was a certain seventeen year old Australian was trying to get home. Darren Cross had been stuck in an alternate universe for the last couple of years. While true he greatly enjoyed his time in Valerontia and probably would have stayed there a lot longer the joyus fun and experience of something new came to an end just as quickly as it began when another traveler made their way to Valerontia.

A would be conqueror. A purple skinned shrivel of a ‘man’ with the dastardly mastery of the magical power of Necromancy. His sickly visage did not scare the peaceful inhabitants of Valerontia as they sought only to help and heal this new traveler but their helpful intentions were quickly taken for granted. Shokzod the dreaded, using his dark magic harnessed their innate speed, taking it for his own before turning the people and animals of this new world into his undead army. His attempt to conquer this world was rebuffed by Darren, a hero in our world known as The Swordsmaster and perhaps one of the fastest beings alive even in this world of ‘speedsters’. But even his speed and heroics were not enough to defeat Shokzod alone. He was defeated and captured, taken by the Lich like Necromancer to his new ‘castle’ so that his innate powers could be studied.

After days, or weeks of torture, Darren with the help of the young twin children of Valerontia’s King and Queen was able to make his escape vowing to return to his dimension to get help and return to save this world. So, he did what he did best. Drawing upon the innate energy of this dimension from the teachings of Lummel and Emendros he ran. Faster and faster than ever before, lines of energy not just coating his entire being but trailing off after him. Speed booms echoing in his wake as he pushed himself forward mentally and physically. Honing in on his home dimension, on thoughts of safety and help. Knowing that his friends, wherever they may be, would not hesitate to help.

With one final push and a final crack against the barrier to our universe the Swordsmaster, the fastest boy alive, raced through into our world once more. At speeds never before reached by the young man, not even back when he raced around the world on christmas eve helping Santa Claus deliver presents. One, two, three laps around the Earth in literal seconds before his excess speed was siphoned off, not gone, no not yet. Just resting around him in an orange and yellow glow. Darren made his way to Chicago, the place of his entrance into our world, and came to a stop with an extra large authentic New York style pizza box in his hand. The sudden decrease in movement however did not go unnoticed by the rest of the world. A resounding *crack, thoom!* echoed out in all directions, a rush of wind howling past him that knocked over anyone and anything that was not nailed down. A smile on his face the boy blunder breathed in, taking a breath of the ‘fresh’ city air. It was good to be home. And hey! It looked like he found one of his friends, as he was pretty sure that was Tyuki flying towards him . . .and she didn’t look too happy.

In the basement of a certain ground floor flat in Chicago little could be heard but the scratching of a pen on paper. It belonged to a now muttering academic who had sprawled herself across the small desk in the corner. "Results of the wavelength test were inclusive. Further testing required with better equipment," she murmured exhaustedly mimicking herself into the page. She leaned back into her seat distancing herself from her desk for a moment. She took a long breath to calm her frustration. With her limited resources not much progress was being made in her research and it was infuriating how close she was.

Suddenly she could feel a lull in her energy, she had been working for some time now. Looking back towards her desk a warm mug of coffee waited patiently for her. She reached across attempting to grab at the handle but it was just barely out of reach. Before she knew it it had collapsed over sending a tidal wave of scholarly nightmares across her notes. She immediately cast the mug aside jumping into action as fast as she could even launching her chair out from under her and into the nearby mess. It crashed through piles of papers and knocked over some equipment to boot. She frantically fought to wrest control of the chaos but on top of everything, a loud and obnoxious alarm-like tone invaded the space.

She was alarmed at first but was quickly snapped out of her panic. It was coming from a computer haphazardly set up on one side of the room. She quickly darted over and brushed aside the clutter which partially buried it. The screen didn't turn on at first but a small slap to the top of the unit did the trick. She knew there was vastly more sophisticated hardware out there for detecting extradimensional anomalies. But despite that, right now she was ecstatic that she'd taken the chance and thrown one together just a couple of months prior. So far it had only picked up the tiniest blips nothing remotely worth her time. It was extremely low range barely even covering Chicago.

This wasn't just any old blip, however. It was the largest she had ever seen by a long shot. "How is this possible, it's filling my whole range! Something crazy is about to happen these readings are off the chart." she exclaimed to herself as she clutched the monitor examining the figures. She quickly began noting them down with a plan to document the occurrence, after all, anything could happen. As she continued to track it however a realization crossed her mind. "Wait these numbers.. they're increasing around a certain point I'm sure of it," she said as she began plotting the numbers onto a graph. She dropped her pen satisfied with her conclusion. "That's just a few blocks away." she trailed off as she spoke just staring at the figures in disbelief.

She suddenly lept to her feet betraying her notebook as it was cast to the ground. She began to rush around her lab grabbing anything and everything she thought she might need. She brought out her nebula and a wispy mist of purples and blues began to encompass her stomach and waist. Into it, she began shoveling all kinds of equipment inside the bizarre opening it created. As far as she was concerned she could be walking into anything and was certain to be prepared. By the time she was finished the lab almost looked tidy with how much of her equipment she had decided to bring.

She returned to her desk to slam down what little was left of her coffee and just as quickly darted for the door. She produced a small tablet as she moved through her apartment and out into the streets. She had linked it to her detection system so that she could monitor the situation as she moved. However, as she moved out of her dark apartment and into the busy streets the light intruded her eyes. Not wanting to waste any time she immediately hurried into the road. One might think she was completely unawares considering how she was glued to the screen in her hand. That is if not for her rude waving gestures in response to some angry drivers.

She was only thinking about time, she would never get a chance like this again. Whatever it was, being able to experience and study it firsthand would surely broaden the horizons of her research. The signal was increasing, seemingly ever focusing on one single and tight location. She continued to blunder through the city as she suddenly realized the reverberations around her she was close she was sure of it. Sure enough, as she came sliding around the corner she could see it just across the way. It was faint but it was as if the space itself were bending. A truly bizarre sight, she had to see more. She began to rush towards the anomaly while shakily producing a camera from her nebula to carry alongside her tablet.

The next few moments were hard to recall. A loud and skull-shattering sound was the first thing she remembered followed by a blast of force that had knocked her off her feet. She could feel it continue to ring past her as she lay there now bringing her arms up to protect her face. But just as quickly as it began it was over. She carefully and slowly inspected herself suddenly realizing that her glasses had been thrown in the blast. She seemed to feel well enough although perhaps still in shock. There was a small sting in her head but nothing too severe. Sitting up to look for her glasses, something else caught her attention. It was hard for her to make out any detail but she could see a figure standing before her.

Realizing the pressing nature of the situation she began slowly bringing herself onto her feet and continued searching for her glasses. Whatever caused this event was right in front of her she needed to pull herself together. The frustration of the moment was visible on her face as she struggled to make contact with her frames. As she searched her eyes would frequently dart back to the unknown figure as she hoped to gain some insight into his motives. It was futile however that is until she noticed something. A scent drifting through the air. For a moment she thought she was mad. "Pizza?" she questioned the open air with bemusement rubbing at one of her eyes to try and get a better look.

Summary:

Yup. It was definitely Tyuki, and she got a new costume! That was so cool. Darren didn’t remember what her old one looked like but he was pretty sure this was a different one. Maybe whatever Phoenix had said that one time about girls and changing clothes a lot was true. Darren wouldn’t know, he never took the time to ask or find out. Which he probably could do now but that would take away precious time from eating his pizza and man did he miss pizza. He hadn’t been in Valerontia for very long but one thing they didn’t have was pizza which should be a crime; crimes were bad and not having or even knowing what pizza is, is bad. Ergo, not having pizza equals a crime. ‘Great job Darren. Wonderful math Darren. Thank you Darern.’ He grinned, finishing all but the last slice of the pizza by the time he realized Tyuki had landed, helped some poor scientist lady find her glasses and then was talking to him.

Except she also looked like she was sad? Which was definitely not the emotion he expected when he found her. If he had found her. He knew she’d probably be the easiest one to find, with Tyuki being a pop star and all. Unless of course she had gotten kidnapped again. Then he’d have to actually go find her, or have Forcewave help him go find her. Or maybe see if he could have someone hook up the Talons Dog Tags again. They used to work like ‘hey look im over here’ devices. At least he was pretty sure that was how A.I. explained it to him. He honestly hadn’t been paying attention back then. COuld you blame hi-Oh wait Tyuki was saying something. She didn’t like it when Darren ignored her.

Focus Darren. Think. Replay the last few seconds. What did she say. The last couple of seconds raced through Darren’s mind at speeds that would baffle even the smartest of individuals. Allowing the young shirtless speedster to view his memories once more, almost instantaneous. She asked where he had been? Oh! That was an easy one! He knew that. “I was in Valerontia! Oh! It’s a great place, there’s electric lizards and fish that breathe fire and everyone there has super speed. Or I guess it’s just normal speed there and technically they’re all prisoners of some evil dark ‘blah blah blah im going to rule the multiverse with my undead super army’ guy. But it’s so great to see you again. Man, I think the last time I ran into you was with that weird girl who claimed to be yours and Force’s daughter from the future and called me Uncle Darren. That was weird. I’m not anyone’s uncle. I don’t even have a cat.” The seventeen year old rattled off rapid fire, not giving anyone anytime to react. Almost.

Of course he wasn’t done there as he noticed the other person for the second time, and it seemed she was just getting her bearings back. “Oh! Hey I just realized, I definitely came here for a reason. Gotta grab some super powered people to take back to Valerontia to help save the king and queen and their trapped kids, and then you know like the entire dimension. Defeat Mr. Purple face, free whatever it is he’s doing his weird experiments on and save the day. Tyuki, obviously you should come with me. Are you a superhero too Miss Glasses or should I go find someone else to help? Also I’ve been totally rude, would either of you like this last slice of pizza? It’s still fresh from New York” Good job Darren, not only did you remember to mention why you were here in the first place you also offered your food. Such a good host and friend.

It had only been a brief pause but before she knew it there was another unknown figure floating down into her limited view. The variables were increasing by the moment and she knew nothing. This could be life or death, they could be villains or who knows what. If she didn't find her glasses quickly she could be in serious danger. How could she be so careless, she had prepared for so many scenarios but hadn't thought to bring a spare pair of glasses?

However, just as she was beginning to think about running, her train of thought was cut off by the reassuring voice of a woman. "Oh, uhm. Thank you. Yes." she meekly offered her response distracted by something she didn't expect. A light was radiating from the figure before her and were those wings? Not only that but a warmth was beginning to kiss her as the light drew nearer. Suddenly an entirely new fear threatened to take over. Was this an angel? Was she dead!?

She looked at the light approaching her with increasing mixed feelings of fear and forfeit until finally, she could see. It was a huge relief to finally be able to see the two who stood before her. She brought her hands to her face unsure of what had happened but confirming her glasses had been returned to her. She could feel what she now saw as a long tendril that was warm to the touch. It was calming and she could feel her panic melt away. She couldn't help but feel a small remorse when the tendril seemed to fade from reality taking the warmth with it.

She was about to thank her properly only barely opening her lips to loose some air when the woman's attention snapped back to the other figure. She seemed pretty upset about something. It seemed like it was pretty personal so she decided to keep to herself for the moment. She began brushing the dust from her lab coat and putting herself back together. The dull pain in her head was starting to throb and worsen signifying that she was coming back to her full senses. She paid little mind though as she saw fit to gawk at the two of them speaking.

The woman was clearly some kind of hero by the way she was dressed and she looked pretty familiar but she couldn't quite place her. Either way, she was clearly someone she could trust at least to some degree. On top of that, she seemed to care about the lad maybe in a similar way to how an older sister might look out for a younger brother. It was very reassuring. As for the boy, he seemed wired as if he was seriously hopped up on something or other. But there was no doubt about it, he was the one who came through the anomaly. He had to have been.

She had been a bit overtaken in her own thoughts but suddenly the meaning behind what the boy was saying started to sink in. 'rule the multiverse', 'undead super army', 'electric lizards' she was having a hard time believing what he was saying. If his words rung true, this situation was far larger in scope than she had begun to anticipate. But all this talk of other worlds had peaked her craving curiosity and it was all she could do to stop herself from drooling at the prospect. She immediately began trying to figure out a way to join them in this endeavor. There was no way she would let this pass her by she'd never live with herself.

As it turned out her formulating was for naught when the boy addressed her. Find someone else? Absolutely not she couldn't allow it so instead she decided to let him have his assumption. She figured so long as she didn't say she's not a hero they'd bring her along. In that case best to use her alias. That seems to be all the rage these days so that would help to keep the impression she's after. "Yes! Right! Of course." she said rushing over to extend a hand to the boy's free arm which she would shake quite wildly if he let her. Her hands were kind of sweaty, her hair was a mess and she was probably too close to boot. Her social etiquettes were definitely leaving room to be desired.

"Not miss. You can call me Dr. Nebula. I heard everything and I'm in. You see interdimensional occurrences are a core facet of my research. If another dimension is in peril it's my duty to help them." she announced with a certain staleness. She really wanted to say the sort of thing a hero might say but there were a lot of cracks in her delivery. She didn't like to lie but it was close enough to the truth she thought. "And so I will. But first I need more information like how did you get to this place speak of? You know interdimensional travel is an extremely difficult feat. Whatever you did was crude who knows what you could have done." she said now looking him dead in the eye and with much greater confidence as her acting had come to an end. From this distance, it was clear to see the vast cosmic patterns behind her eyes a blatant signifier that she was no ordinary human.

She looked towards the angelic hero and let her cheeks become slightly flushed with embarrassment. She'd shaken the boy's hand and barraged him with questions but she'd left the girl standing. Now it felt like too much time had passed. She opted to give a small awkward wave as she scratched the back of her head. "I think I caught your name. Tyuki right? Thank you for.. you know and uh you can have the slice if you want" she nervously stated before looking away entirely. She began to walk off slightly as she spoke turning her back to the other two.

She had wanted to distance herself from the earlier embarrassment. Not only that but her head was still aching and she was starting to feel a lull of energy. She needed some coffee. She stopped only a few feet away and slumped over onto something. Something that hadn't been there before. Her back was to the others so they were limited in what they saw. but from in front of her a strange flash of purple, orange and blue light had flashed followed by the thud of metal and the clatter of glass. It happened rather quickly but suddenly she had a coffee pot in her hand. Not only that but an entire coffee table with a miniature coffee machine and all the relevant accessories including a solar-powered battery. And just like that, she began to pour herself a mug.

Unlike the boy, she didn't seem to have any intentions of offering to share. She made no acknowledgment of what she was doing instead she simply continued on. "Oh, I should ask, who are you both exactly? This one looks rather familiar but I'm not sure on your name." she said as she gestured to Tyuki without looking. "I don't mean to offend but I'm not usually one to mingle."

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