AN: I own only my Characters and lore

"Quick move!"~ Person talking

'Bang'~ telepathic communication

"Time to attack."~ Synthesized voice

"Three dog here. / Daddy! / Report in."~ Radio/Shade/Comm. Speech

Critical Systems failure~ Computer text/ Speech

Chapter 10: To Skin a Snake

(Mindscape)

A shockwave ripped across the land, tearing up the ground as it passed through the air. Orochimaru cried out in pain as he sailed through the air only to get kicked higher into the air by Jason as he suddenly appeared in the doctor's flight path.

"Damn." The doctor muttered through bloody teeth. "Damn it!"

Alex appeared above him and propelled his fist forward into Orochimaru's gut. Blood leapt from the pale man's mouth as his assent was halted. Then Alex pulled back and threw a second punch, this one launching Orochimaru back into the ground, the impact caused a crater several feet wide and deep to form. The pale doctor groaned as he silently cursed himself. He had been content to play with them before he killed them. His telepathic powers gave him more control over the mindscape than the average human, but it wasn't much. When he had entered the minds of his prisoner's be them raiders, paladins, enclave, or just slaves he was like a storm, a hurricane that ripped through their minds plucking every little thing out of them and adding it to his own growing power. But when he separated that maelstrom and entered the minds of Alex and Jason, he felt something strange. What should have been a simple task of ripping their minds asunder was so much more. Suddenly all his power counted for nothing. Somehow, their minds were both equal to half of his own strength. His usual powers were reduced to manipulating the environment around him.

The doctor winced as he pushed himself upwards, his body aching in pain. Now all he could do was reinforce his mental body so he would survive the beating the duo gave him as he attempted to find a way out of his current predicament. He wasn't sure as to how but the two had merged their mindscapes, thus bringing together his two halves, but also combining their natural mental prowess. Form then he could only amplify his speed and strength. Then that girl had appeared, his assault on her seemed to awaken that power, and now they had mastered it. But that wasn't the reason he had run before. When Alex had finally understood and gained mastery over his mind in this world he felt the man's mind grow, and grow, and grow until their seemed to be no end to it, then Jason mastered his mind and the very same happened. It was then Orochimaru realized what he had unleashed upon himself. They were gods, and he was but an ant in their presence, hopelessly outmatched in every way possible. Unable to stop them from demolishing him, unable to leave because of some unknown influence that prevented him from doing so. As he pulled himself out of the crater Jason and Alex landed, looking positively giddy at their newfound powers. Alex turned to Jason and said something Orochimaru didn't catch as his ears were still ringing from his impact.

Alex then crouched down, turning so his left shoulder was facing the doctor, his arms cupped back behind him, his face set in concentration. Just as the ringing in his ears stopped the doctor could hear a faint sound leave the man's lips.

"Ka."

Orochimaru frowned in confusion, 'what the hell is he doing now?' he thought, as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Me."

The doctor scowled and decided not to test his luck and began to run in the opposite direction.

"Ha."

The man frowned at the sudden increase in Alex's voice, it seemed to echo slightly, and an energetic ring filled the air. He glanced backward to see a brilliant blue glow emanating from behind the gray eyed man. Orochimaru's eyes widened in alarm as he doubled his pace, only for Alex's voice to ring out loud across the blank field of gray.

"Me."

Even as the doctor ran, the blue light rushed past him making his panic rise. Then Alex appeared in front of the doctor, a sphere of blue energy bubbling between his hands, demanding to be set free. Alex opened his mouth only for an otherworldly roar to escape it.

"HAAAAA!"

He thrust his hands forward, launching the attack toward the pale doctor. Orochimaru couldn't move as the blast hit him head on. He screamed as a burning sensation flooded his whole being, the physical force of the attack, as he tried to push against the attack he heard another call.

"Galick Gun."

The doctor was able to turn his head enough to see Jason, whom he was closing in on, a ball of purple energy nestled in his hands.

"Fire!"

He thrust the ball outwards, the purple glow enveloped his whole being and burst forward. Orochimaru couldn't even blink before the attack met Alex's, halting his movement and doubling the pain. The doctor screamed as the two forces fought one another for dominance. After what felt to be the longest time to the trapped man the two forces suddenly stopped, causing the doctor to fall harshly to the ground. The second he made contact with the ground, a bloody torrent rushed up and out the man's mouth, painting the ground with blood. Then when he just then picked up on something peculiar, I strange ring and… chirping birds? The doctor glanced up wards to see one of his assailants high over head, Alex to be presence. His hand held high above his head head and above that a massive transparent blue ball of swirling energy, several other balls of smaller size orbiting it like moons around a planet. Suddenly the chirping was loud in his ear and he could just barely turn his head to see Jason as he thrust his hand into the doctor's chest, his fingers closed together, cloaked in a storm of black lightning.

"Kuro Chidori Esiō!" He cried out, the lightning forming into a narrow column and expanded outwards, pushing the doctor upwards and into Alex, who brought his hand down and the myriad of blue orbs down on the doctor.

"Chou Odama Wakusei Rasengan!" Orochimaru couldn't scream as the blade of black lightning dissipated only for his body to suddenly become assaulted by Alex's own attack. In that moment it felt like his body was being drilled into, a torrent of violent rotations tore into the mental shield he had constructed around himself, within the first few seconds of the attack the shield had fallen and he was taking the full brunt of the attack, soon after he was launched back into the ground, only to see Jason holding what looked to be an oversized meat cleaver of a sword.

"Getsuga…" The gatekeeper began, a shining white energy engulfing the blade; he then swung the weapon in a wide arc, the energy blasting off and towards the doctor. "Tenshō!"

The attack slammed into him, launching the pale man to the side. When he crashed back into the ground Orochimaru found that he could not move, he demanded that his legs move, his arms push himself upwards but they defied him, remaining immobile.

Eventually the doctor stopped struggling all together, his body refused to move, and he could feel his blood leak out onto the floor.

'This is the end.' He thought, 'I've taken to much damage, even now I can only just hold this form.' He chuckled bitterly. 'If I had known that I would die like this I would have experimented more. Maybe, just maybe I could have learned the secrets to the Star Dragon's immortality. Oh well… guess it'll be up to the rest of the Legion to combat these two.' Suddenly a rough kick in the side forced the injured doctor to roll over onto his back with a pained groan. Through half lidded eyes he looked upon Alex and Jason as they stood over him, looking proud in their victory over the him.

"Any last words?" Alex asked as he rolled his shoulders.

Even though it pained him so, the doctor smirked through bloody teeth. "Your wills are strong." He began, earning slightly confused looks from the two men, "And you do not give up easily. This just means he will have more fun breaking you." Anger flashed into their eyes and both held out their hands towards him, fingers spread, azure orbs materializing in them. In that moment the multiverse flashed though the mad doctor's head. Time seemed to slow as his mind processed what he saw. Then his smirk turned to a smile.

'It makes so much sense now.' He thought as the energy beams fired, crawling toward his prone form. 'I guess that makes dying here a little more bearable.' This was his last thought as the twin blasts impacted his body, obliterating it. In the end, much to Alex and Jason's irritation, the mad doctor died with a smile on his face.

ΩΩΩ

Back in the base, hours after Alex and Jason's assault had begun, the two stood still as statues, Orochimaru standing not far away from them. Suddenly however the doctor's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed with a heavy thud. At the same time however Alex and Jason stumbled forward, just barely catching themselves as they exited the mindscape they were forced into. The two coughed a few times, their throats dry and rough, hunger gnawed at their insides.

"Damn." Jason groaned as he stretched, his muscles aching in protest.

"Think we can get back to what we were originally here to do?" Alex asked idly, giving Orochimaru's head a good kick, resulting in a series of sharp cracks. Signaling that he had broken the pale man's neck.

Jason winced at the sound but shook it off quickly enough and gestured to the machinery around them, "You think we might be able to find anything of use here?"

Alex shook his head, "I get the feeling we aren't that lucky." He sighed and rubbed the back of his armored neck. "Still it would be moronic of us not to check. So let's go at it."

"Gotcha."

ΩΩΩ

"Well isn't that unfortunate." Said a monotone voice. "One of our best telepaths beaten by two children with no clear mental training." a grunt echoed in the large room, a man walked to the hologram that displayed the two new gatekeepers, his eyes focused on them, or rather on Alex.

"That one." He said, "He is advancing in his abilities rather quickly. If this continues then we will have to terminate him."

"Send Vector in. He could kill the two of them the second he saw them." Said a voice.

The man shook his head. "We do not yet know how far along Vector is, and on the off chance they survived, we would have given way our best man. No we will deal with them as we would anyone else."

"Are you sure that is the best course of action? At the rate the two of them are going they could become quite the threat in time." Asked a third voice

The man brought a cigarette to his lips and took in a deep breath, holding the smoke in for a moment before he released the cloud. "I don't remember asking you for your opinion on the matter." He said lightly, looking over the hologram as the image changed to a room full of vats filled with red liquid, then to a man as he was injected with the very same liquid. He convulsed once before blood began to leak out of his nose and ears.

"We are not here to hold this universe, thus we do not need to react immediately to this. It was a rather small facility and there wasn't much on the computers that will help them." He shook his hand gently, shaking the ashes off the smoke stick, before taking in another drag. It was quiet for a moment before one of the voices spoke up.

"How far are we in development?"

The man shrugged uncaringly, the image switching off. "Well within acceptable ranges."

A tense silence followed, the other voices remaining silent as the man took in another long breath of the cigarette. "Is that all?" he asked, idly flicking the cigarette butt.

"Yes sir." Said the second voice, clear and tense, obviously none too happy with how it was brushed off so easily.

"Then I will contact you when there is a significant development." Although he said 'significant development' he really meant, 'when I can be bothered to contact you.' after a second a short beep signaled that the connection had been cut. The man sat back into his chair, two images springing before him, one held headshots of Alex and Jason, the other much larger image was a map of the multiverse the Legion had thus far discovered, each of the 'stars' lighting up briefly as it was highlighted. Each universe had an energy signature, each one different from the other. Even daughter universes or parent universes the energy signature was similar, but ultimately different. Because of this people also emitted the same energy signature. Thus this could be used as a form of tracking system. The man waited patiently as he waited for the result. It would take some time given the vastness of the discovered multiverse but it could help narrow down the universe they hailed from by similar signatures in any of the universes the Legion had discovered. This was the reason the man was surprised and confused when a beep echoed through the room signaling the search's completion.

His eyes widened when he saw the number of 'stars' that became highlighted, yet blinked at the same time.

"How is that possible?" he asked himself, his eyes darting over the hologram.

Every single 'star' on the image was highlighted, and yet blinked at the same time. Somehow the energy signature the two gave off was just enough to say that they could be from that universe, yet little enough for it to not be their home universe. The man glanced at the headshots of the two men, his eyes narrowing as suspicion clawed at him.

"Just what are you?" he asked, his mouth upturning into a smile. "Alexander Miles. Jason Vickers, What are you?"