"Justin, are you ready to smash some meat together until we produce a couple of genuine wrestle-boys?"

-Griffin McElroy

Over the course of the next few weeks, Hiro ran more and more experiments with his power. Sometimes he got Ando to help, and other times he did it alone. Ando had to admit that maybe he shouldn't have been so worried about it; so far everything was going fine. It was pretty exciting, and Hiro was always able to get them back in no time. So far, they still hadn't been able to get out to another planet, but each time Hiro took them out into space they seemed to get just a little further from earth. Hiro hadn't started running the same tests with time travel yet, but he seemed eager to.

Ando was still worried, though. Maybe it was just his nature to be overly concerned, but every time Hiro did one of his experiments, there was always a moment right after they reappeared when he just looked so tired. He was clearly overexerting himself, and he didn't seem willing to stop anytime soon. Ando had known Hiro long enough to know that his friend didn't like to admit to needing help, but these tests were obviously taking quite a toll on him. He talked less, and he was less attentive. Recently, he had fallen asleep at work a couple times. Now, as they took the subway home after a long day at the office, Hiro spoke of his plans to start experimenting with how far through time he could travel.

"You wouldn't think so, but I actually find time travel easier than moving through space," he was saying. "So I think I can get us to prehistoric times if I try really hard."

Ando rolled his eyes. "I'd say that's a bit far-fetched."

"I've travelled to the Feudal Era before, remember?" Hiro reminded him. "With you supercharging me, I bet I can get to at least caveman times."

"I bet you can't."

Hiro shrugged. "I'll just have to prove you wrong, then," he said. Then, after a pause, "Or maybe I should do the future first. I haven't been too far in the future yet."

"Right, because we always have such a good time when we go to the future," Ando said. He suppressed a shudder as he recalled the time when they had visited one particular bad future in which he had been dead and Hiro had been a ruthless killer.

"This would be way farther into the future than that," Hiro told him. "It'd be long after we're dead-"

"Oh, that makes it so much better."

"It does, because it would be a time period that we'd otherwise never get to see!" Hiro wrung his hands as he spoke. "Don't you want to see what things will be like centuries from now?"

Ando did think it would be cool, but he was also worried about what they would find. If the future turned out to be darker, a far cry from the utopian future from Star Trek, Hiro might be disappointed. It was probably foolish for Ando to want to protect Hiro, who had already been exposed to the cruelness of the world firsthand, but he just couldn't help it. When his friend acted so much like a kid, it was hard not to want to keep him sheltered.

It was rainy on the day that Hiro decided to run his first time-related test, so rather than the park, they just went to Hiro's apartment. Perhaps it wasn't quite as thematically appropriate a location, but Hiro thought of it this way: if he opened his eyes to find his surroundings totally different, he would know that he had succeeded.

"Today we're going to try to get as far into the future as we can," Hiro said, pushing up his glasses as they stood facing each other in his apartment. "I want you to supercharge my power this time so I can get as far ahead in time as possible."

Ando nodded, looking reluctant. He placed his hand in Hiro's, and red sparks began to dance around them. Taking in a deep breath, Hiro closed his eyes and focused on the future. However, as he felt himself begin to fade from his current location and into another, he began to worry about what he might find. He always liked to think that the future would turn out at least kind of similar to the one in Star Trek. If it didn't, what would that say about humanity? Of course, he was no stranger to dystopian futures, but one that was too many years ahead for his friends to prevent scared him. Suddenly Hiro realized that he didn't want to find out what the future held. He wanted to stay right where and when he was.

Still concentrating on using his power, which was strengthened by Ando's supercharging ability, Hiro changed his destination at the last second to… well, he didn't really have one in mind anymore. He didn't want to stay in the same place, but he didn't want to go anywhere else in particular either.

In that instant, Hiro felt something happen. He wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't feel entirely pleasant. It was like a shift of some sort-like the whole universe had just changed around him. His stomach churned and his ears rang, giving him a headache.

As Hiro was reeling from this sudden sensation, cheers erupted around him, with the volume of a jetplane taking off. Eyes snapping open, Hiro covered his ears and looked around. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness-why was it so dark?

His apartment was gone. In its place was what appeared to be a large stadium. Hiro and Ando were in one of the further-back rows of seats, all of which were packed with spectators. Below was a ring closed off with a rope barrier-were they at a wrestling match? It was a random location to end up at, but that was certainly what it seemed to be. The people in the ring at the moment were a tall, muscular man who looked like he could have been part of the yakuza holding an axe, and a smaller but still imposing enough man who was armed with a sword. Hiro was too far up to be able to see either of them very well, and the ring was illuminated with bright lights which made it even harder to make the fighters out, but somehow it looked like the swordsman was winning. There was something oddly familiar about the way he moved, but Hiro couldn't quite place it.

"Um, Hiro?" Ando's voice was quiet, and he clutched at Hiro's hand like his life depended on it. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Hiro admitted. "I don't think this is the future, though…"

As his eyes adjusted to the dark of the stadium contrasted with the brightness of the ring, he watched as the axeman lunged at the swordsman and took a swing. The swordsman blocked the attack, but he was pushed back up against the edge of the ring. Then, as Hiro watched in confoundment, the swordsman withdrew his sword, leaving himself open to an attack. His opponent wasted no time in putting his axe to use. Hiro looked away as a sickening schlick rang through the air; when he looked back, the swordsman's body was no longer in one piece. The crowd jeered as the axeman held up the swordsman's detached torso, limp hand still grasping the sword, by a handful of his short blond hair.

"Victory goes to me," the axeman bellowed. "None can defeat… The Weaponizer!"

As he lifted his axe up for the crowd to see, Hiro realized that it wasn't a regular weapon. It looked like it was coming out of his hand-or like part of his arm had become the axe.

As the crowd booed at the axeman, the dangling arm of the dead swordsman swung back and forth. Then, suddenly, it bent at the elbow and thrust the sword forward. The axeman was caught off guard, and he was too slow to react as the sword slid into his back, through his stomach and came out, bloodstained, through his front. At this, the crowd erupted into thunderous applause. The axeman sank to his knees, dropping the swordsman's torso. As it hit the ground, the body melded back together and he stood up, facing the crowd with a smirk. The axeman laid unmoving on the ground, blood pooling from his stomach.

Now Hiro knew why he recognized the swordsman's fighting style. But this was impossible-it couldn't be-

"We have our winner, ladies and gentlemen," an announcer exclaimed. "Let's hear it for… Kensei the Unkillable!"

The crowd went wild. A shiver ran through Hiro's spine as, for an instant, he and Kensei-no, Adam was his real name-locked eyes. This can't be. Adam was dead, wasn't he? And even if he wasn't, why would he be fighting in a… wait, exactly what kind of event was this, anyway? Hiro had thought it was a wrestling match at first, but the last time he'd checked, wrestling matches weren't to the death.

Hiro gripped Ando's hand. "Let's get out of here," he said.

He teleported them out of the stadium, trying to get them back to his apartment. Instead, they ended up outside the stadium, where a bright neon sign was flashing. It read, in big blocky capital letters, "TONIGHT: THE WEAPONIZER vs. KENSEI THE UNKILLABLE!" The building itself was a massive black dome with a huge parking lot, jam-packed with vehicles. Apart from that, the surrounding area looked normal. Hiro could even see the convenience store a few blocks away from what was supposed to be the apartment complex where he lived.

So, clearly they were in the same place, but they couldn't have been in the same time period. If Adam was still alive, maybe it was the past? But Hiro was pretty sure that there had never been a place like that in his neighbourhood. His mind spun, full of questions which he couldn't find the answers to. But maybe somebody else from this… future, or past, or whatever it was, would be able to fill them in.

"Let's go to New York," Hiro suggested. "Or Costa Verde, or LA. We need to find our friends."

"You think they'll know what's going on?" Ando asked.

"They should," Hiro said. "At least that way we can figure out what time we're in."

They decided to try Peter's apartment first. However, immediately upon appearing in what should have been the paramedic's living room, Hiro could tell that something was off. The apartment was lavishly decorated, a far cry from Peter's sparse living space, with pictures of people Hiro had never seen before hung up all over. There was a rocking chair in the corner of the room facing an old-fashioned television set. In the rocking chair was an old woman watching Jeopardy. She didn't seem to notice Hiro and Ando, which Hiro was thankful for. The last thing he wanted was to have to explain to some poor old woman why he had suddenly materialized in what appeared to be her apartment.

Hiro got out of there in a hurry, taking them outside. Out there, everything looked normal; all the buildings were in place, and the cars driving by were current models. So if they were in the present, what was going on? Peter would have told him if he'd moved, right?

"This is really weird," Ando muttered.

"You don't need to tell me that," Hiro said. Looking around for any other little differences in the city, he pursed his lips in concentration. "Something strange is going on here, that's for sure."

They spent the next hour or so wandering around New York City, trying to get information. Apparently everybody knew who Peter was, but nobody knew where he was, which wasn't much help. After quite a bit of walking around, Hiro complained that he was getting hungry, so they stopped to eat at the least expensive place they could find: a run-down pizza place. After eating, they were about to leave when the doorbell chimed and a familiar face strolled in-actually, two familiar faces, one of which Hiro was more than a little surprised to see.

"So then I zapped the dude, of course," the older woman was saying, summoning a little blue spark at her fingertips to demonstrate. "Fight won, right? Well, turns out he had the power to absorb people's attacks and send 'em back their way, which he then did to me."

"Oh, no, that's awful," the second woman said. Well, calling her a woman was a bit inaccurate. She was really more of a girl. An adorable blonde girl with bright green eyes, to be specific. "How did you manage to win?"

Elle smirked and flipped her hair, which had grown out quite a bit. She now kept it in a braid, with a bright blue highlight for colour which matched her tank top and tight-fitting jean shorts. "I punched him in the gut and then tripped him," she said. "Had to spare his life, though, since it was for a kid's birthday party and all."

"Yeah, can't exactly go killing people in front of children," her companion agreed with a giggle. Then her gaze wandered over to where Hiro and Ando sat, staring at her in bewilderment. "Oh, hey, Hiro! Long time, no see!"

Hiro gave her an awkward smile and wave. "Hello, Claire."

"Ugh, those guys?" Elle made a face. "Let's not sit by them, okay?"

Claire ignored her, walking over to take a seat next to Hiro. "You know, I heard a rumour that you had died," she said. "But I guess I should've known better than to believe that."

"Yeah, he's alive, alright," Ando said, patting Hiro on the shoulder affirmingly. "Nobody's going to take this guy down."

He shot Hiro a questioning look. Hiro shrugged. I don't know what's going on any more than you do.

"So, what brings you two to New York?" Claire asked, fiddling with the wrapper from Hiro's straw.

"Oh, not much," Hiro said. He wanted to ask about Elle-why she was alive, why she was with Claire-but he decided not to be so upfront. "What about you? Why are you here?"

"Elle wanted us to go someplace not too fancy," she said. She motioned to Elle, who was up at the counter placing an order. "We're still kinda trying to keep things on the down-low, y'know?"

Hiro very much did not know. "But why are you in this city?" he pressed.

Claire tilted her head. "Um, I live here?"

No you don't, Hiro thought. What is going on?! Just then, he recalled the Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror", in which the characters found themselves in a dark alternate universe. Could this be something like that?

"Anyway, as if I'd be out of town for tonight," Claire went on. "My mom and my uncle are fighting tonight at the new stadium, and I'm totally going to be there to cheer them on."

"Your mom?" Hiro echoed, confused. "Sandra doesn't even have a power-how could she fight in one of those battles?"

"Who the hell is Sandra?" Claire asked. Frowning, she placed her hand on Hiro's forehead as if to check for a fever. "Seriously, is something wrong with you?"