Chapter 9: Epilogue
The first to land was Taryn, who landed right in front of the two humans who stood there; his friend Rez and his father Ty. The bird and the bat landed a distance away, and even though he waved them over, they were still scared. Taryn convinced his father to leave and his friend to assume more animal friendly form, that of a hamster.
After this, the crew came up and Rez attempted to revive Gadget. Though he was able to repair her body, which upon using his powers healed almost immediately, her mind was another matter. They all tried to wake up Gadget, but to no avail. Rez immediately rushed her to the hospital, which left Taryn to deal with the guests.
They had survived, but there was little reason to celebrate. RR117 had been destroyed. As what happens to a dimension whose lock is opened, the universe itself was ripped apart piece by piece, molecule by molecule. Only they had survived.
The mouse inventor that held that dimension together was in critical care in the hospital. Unable to awake from the coma she was in. Doctors worked around the clock to revive the Hero of the LWC. But everything they tried led to nothing. They even placed an Omni-gauntlet on her arm and transformed her into a human, thinking maybe that would rouse her, but alas, nothing.
Taryn had taken the others to quarantine chamber. Their bodies would need to adjust to their new surroundings, and since they had little experience with this, it would take some time. After a while, they were still having trouble adjusting, so to help them out, they were also given Omni-gauntlets to regulate their body's molecular structure, and allow them to assimilate to the dimension's native format. Also, to better help them interact with LWC personnel, they assumed human form.
After they stood up in human form, Taryn ripped the power damper collar off his neck, and knocked Tammy out, dragging her away. The Rangers and Orville gave chase, but the door locked behind Taryn, trapping them inside. They thought they might be able to escape in some other animal form, but quickly found their gauntlets locked.
Suddenly, a voice came over the loudspeaker in the room. "Do not be alarmed." They looked around, and noticed an elevated window had appeared in the wall near the ceiling. Inside was Ty. "Relax, and allow me to explain."
Tammy awoke, strapped to a chair by her ankles and wrists. There was a table in front of her, and across the table sat Taryn. "Hello, sunshine." He said mockingly.
"What are you doing?" Tammy said.
Taryn ignored her, placing the power damper collar on the table. "We have the same kind of tech here. One of the first things I learned after becoming a TIPA agent was how to get out of them."
"How did you break it?" She continued her inquisition.
"This is some weird kind of interrogation we've got going on here, where the capturee questions the capturer." He would indulge her now. "Still, it works, I guess." He stood up, and picked up the collar gingerly. "Physics 101: law of conservation of mass: Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Shrink something, it gets denser…" He then pinched part of the collar, which crumbled immediately. "…blow it up…"
Tammy finished his sentence. "…and it gets brittle."
"Exactly. Also…" He lifted his left arm to display a wristband that looked similar to the collar. "…this is our version. I've been dampened this whole time." He then grabbed the wristband, grunted and ripped it off of his wrist. "Warriors train not only their power, but their physical and mental strength as well. We are the peak of human conditioning."
"So, you were never under my control."
"Sort of. I knew how to rip ours off, what points are the weakest, and all." He set down the tattered collar, which broke apart on the table. "Yours I was unfamiliar with. Although I certainly had the strength to break it, I chose not to until the odds were in my favor."
"Here at home, among your people."
"Yeah, that's right."
Tammy leaned forward, leer in her eye. "So, why fake it, then?"
Taryn pulled out a handle. He pressed a button on its hilt, and a beam of light about two and one half inches long appeared. It was very thin. It was clearly a knife. He approached Tammy, who cringed and closed her eyes. She heard a ripping sound, and looked down to see her right arm freed, Taryn leaning over to free her left. "Trust." He said simply as he freed her. "You believed you couldn't trust me."
Tammy rubbed the back of her head. "Now what would make me think that?"
"You had that coming." He pointed at his eye.
"So why lock us up?" Chip demanded.
"So you would not disturb the proceedings." Ty explained, as he walked in through the door. "We are sorry for that. You are, of course, free to go."
"Good." Dale said as he tried to shove Ty out of the way. He, however, could not move the warrior. "What are you made of, granite?"
"I heard you're the well read one…at least of us. You should know better."
"Yeah, yeah. Most powerful dark warrior. Right." Dale retreated back to his friends.
Ty continued. "Gadget's status here is legendary. She will be looked after by our best and brightest, and treated as royalty. You, however, are not. You are refuges of a dead world."
The gang held their heads down on that, the realization sinking in for some that they will never see home again.
"But, since you are friends of Gadget's, out of respect for her, you will be given citizen status, should you choose to take it. You may travel around New Venture City, but without supervision, you may not leave the mountain."
"Why's that?" Chip asked.
"You are not of this world, thus you impact here must be minimized."
"What if we refuse?" Orville asked.
"You are not of this world, and thus will have to be detained."
"So are choice is confinement to jail, or confinement to a much larger jail." Dale said.
"In simpler terms, yes."
"Not much of a choice." Chip said.
"Good. Here are your ID cards." Ty passed out ID cards to each of the Rangers and Orville. He then stepped away from the door. "You are free to go."
Taryn laid an ID card in front of Tammy. "Do you trust me now?"
"What's this?"
"That is your TIPA ID card." Taryn explained. "You've been conscripted. You are now a member of the Temporal and Inter-dimensional Protection Agency."
"Why?"
The door opened, and Rez Whitcraft walked in. "Because we know talent when we see it." Rez sat down at the table, while Taryn leaned against the wall behind him. "Taryn tells me you were a covert agent with something called the RAS."
"Rescue Aid Society. And it's 'am'." Tammy shot back.
"Not anymore." Taryn said.
"Quiet you!" Rez snapped. "We're not trying to drive a wedge here."
"What does it matter, she's conscripted. She's joining whether she wants to or not."
Rez looked back at Tammy. "You're not technically conscripted. You may choose not to join."
"But…" Both Tammy and Taryn said in unison.
"But, if you choose not to, you must be detained."
Tammy sat silent for a moment. She was contemplating her options. 'So, my choice is be an Agent of TIPA, or go to prison.' She thought. 'Not much of a choice.' "So, when do I start?"