The sight of Calvin and his gang suddenly appearing in his special fortress filled Mangus with rage. He stammered incoherently for a few seconds as he tried to formulate a plan of action, and after a few moments, he thought he had something. "KILL THEM!" he shouted. "KILL THEM! KILL THEM! KILL THEM!"

Some aliens obeyed and started to descend on them, but something stopped them at the last moment. It was time itself, which seemed to have frozen where it was.

Hobbes looked around at their frozen attackers in surprise. He reached out and touched one of them curiously. "Did you use the Time Pauser?" he asked.

Calvin shook his head. "Haven't even got it out yet." He looked in the direction of Mangus, who was still moving. "What gives?"

Mangus looked terrified, but not of them. He looked in the direction of the creatures near the machinery.

Calvin raised his eyebrow at the Collective, unimpressed. "Nauseating, I must say," he murmured. "So this is the all-powerful Collective we've been hearing so much about?"

"The very same," one of them hissed in a voice that seemed to resemble a liquid.

"Is it wrong that we're focusing so much on their appearance?" Andy asked. "I feel like we should be better than that."

"I take it these guys froze their underlings," Sherman said. "Otherwise Mangus over there wouldn't be so nervous."

Mangus stood straighter. "How did you know my name?!"

"Oh, we've grown very familiar with you," Hobbes replied. "We've been here for days, changing our appearances every few hours so we could go anywhere we wanted throughout the complex."

"Had a heck of a time finding a little boy's room," Andy muttered.

"Observe our power," one of the Collective said, gesturing with a sloppy tentacle.

Everyone felt a ripple in the air, and all of the frozen attackers dropped to the floor. They staggered away from our heroes nervously, having been aware of what was happening the whole time.

"So you guys have the power to freeze your underlings," Calvin said. "How come you need the equation to control the universe if you can do that?"

"Our power is… limited," the Head Chill explained raspily. "We require the knowledge of all of time and space – the very building blocks of creation – to completely bend the universe unto our will."

"And it's all locked away in my noggin," Socrates spoke up. "Effectively, I've got all the marbles."

The Head Chill hissed at them. "How did you enter our world?" he growled.

"We snuck in through the back door," Hobbes replied.

"When the Head Klein and Mangus were having their little meeting a few days ago, the other Kleins held the entrance to the dimension open."

Jangadod looked at Mangus with frustration. "The one you opened," he pointed out.

Mangus spluttered indignantly. "It's hardly my fault! I mean, I don't see how it's my fault!"

"You didn't have someone guarding the entrance," another alien said.

"Well, of course I didn't! I couldn't let anyone hear what the Klein and me were talking about! It's a matter of security! You know I can't trust any of you!"

This was clearly the wrong thing to say, because now everyone was glaring at him with barely disguised irritation.

"You have jeopardized our entire operation," the Head Chill hissed, raising a tentacle. "You must be punished."

The aliens all took a step back, leaving Mangus standing before the Collective with an increasingly terrified expression. He tried to move away, but his joints had all simultaneously locked up. The only part of him that was moving was the perspiration trickling down his face. He tried to say something, but his lips wouldn't part. His teeth felt glued together.

The entire Collective raised their tentacles above their heads. There were no special effects – no electricity, no bolts of lightning, nothing that would serve us a warning that something was happening. Mangus just disappeared into thin air.

Everyone stared at the spot. The aliens were unmoved.

Calvin, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman and Socrates tried to hide how frightening this was.

"Now then," the Head Chill growled. "You have been here for four days. You have learned much, I would imagine."

Calvin managed to shake himself back to his normal thought processes and uncertainly resumed his usual way of doing things. "Yeah… you guys and the equation, you brought all these aliens from a number of planets and brainwashed them into being your underlings without actually changing their personalities so as to create the illusion of free will."

"Plus, you guys have been subconsciously manipulating the universe to get the equation where it needed to be," Hobbes added. "You've been lying in wait until it was finally properly formed in someone's head, and it's really just coincidence that it happened to be Socrates."

"And when the time came," Andy continued, "you put us in a floating timeline to ensure that no matter when you tracked Socrates down, you'd be able to pick him up whenever you felt like it."

"Plus, your little underlings made sure that we were all separated from each other to reduce the chance of us protecting him," Sherman put in.

"Not to mention you went to the ever-so-lovely added bonus of making my parents bigger jerks than usual to make sure I would be sent away," Calvin added bitterly.

"It was an effort to break your spirits," Jangadod explained halfheartedly. "We took a shot."

"Great," Hobbes grumbled. "And with me locked in an attic? Wonderful."

"One thing we couldn't figure out," Andy spoke up. "What's the deal with the human Chill family on Earth? It strikes me as just too big a coincidence that there are two brothers named John and Rupert who just happen to have evil alien counterparts named John and Rupert."

"An early test of our use of the equation when we still possessed it," the Head Chill replied. "We scattered our name all over time and space to let the universe know who would be ruling them one day."

"… I don't think anyone noticed," Socrates said. "Next time, you may want to be less subtle."

"We of the Collective have no individual names. The one known as Rupert took the name of the human when he deserted us and inflicted the idea of individual names on the people of Zok when he usurped their original leader. The one known as John followed in suit when he deserted."

"What a rich and boring history," Calvin sighed.

"We have given you information," the Head Chill hissed. "Now you will give us what we want."

"What's that?"

"What is the purpose of the transmitter?"

There was a long pause as all eyes fell on the quartet in the middle of the room. They looked like deer caught in the proverbial headlights.

Socrates cleared his throat. "Yeah… I was actually wondering that one as well," he said slowly. "Guys…?"

Calvin held the tiger's gaze for ten long and heavy seconds, silently weighing his options and wondering what he should do here. He looked over at Sherman, his cohort in the whole scheme, and the little hamster had never looked so small before. He simply hung his head, looking appropriately ashamed.

Calvin finally found his voice. "We put it there," he said, slowly but bravely. "It… started out as a prank. Sherman and I were both ticked off at you… and we decided that we would implant a transmitter and receiver chip in your head that could contact other planets. We've been using it primarily as a way to keep in touch with Galaxoid and Nebular – that's how we knew to go and save them from the Plantonians. We've kept it a secret from you because… well, it's hard to explain. I guess we just got used to it being a secret." And with that, he seemed to run out of steam and looked at his feet awkwardly.

Everyone looked at Socrates, waiting for his reaction. For the first time ever, the tiger had a genuinely thoughtful expression.

"So…," the Head Chill rasped. "It would seem that the human boy has been faced with the consequences of his actions… We shall remove the chip so that we may get to the equation."

"How are you going to do that if your equipment doesn't work?" Hobbes asked.

"We shall remove his head first."

Socrates was jolted from his musings by this announcement. "Hey, whoa! Wait a minute!"

"You are not required alive anymore. You are merely the carrying case for the prize. Now that we have you…"

"Yeah, about that," Calvin said, looking sheepish. "I'm afraid that won't be possible. You see, the thing is, we're here to stop you."

The Head Chill glared at him. "And what makes you think you can do that?" he hissed.

Calvin simply looked in the direction of Socrates. "I know this is probably a bad time, but do you remember a certain number that has come up rather frequently lately in your life?"

Socrates blinked. He searched the deep recesses of his memory for an answer, and in his own time, he realized where this was going. "Ohhhh… You mean 98462?"

The effect was instantaneous. The tiger immediately went into transmitter mode, and his arms literally wrenched themselves from the binds that held him. He back flipped through the air and landed on his tail, arms in the air and his mouth acting as a speaker.

Calvin shouted over to him. "Your Highness – the door is open! Sic 'em!"

"Copy that, Earth Potentate!" a familiar voice replied. "I shall give the order!"

With that, Hobbes went over and pinched Socrates's nose, bringing him out of it. "So that's why Frank had me counting off all those numbers," Socrates murmured. "It's like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle clicking into place!"

Jangadod looked uncertain. "What's going on? What've you done?" he demanded.

"Oh, the entire time we've been here, we've been sabotaging your defense systems, leaving you guys wide open to attack," Sherman replied. "Took me a while to learn how to do it, but after a few minutes, I managed to get it working."

"The Kleins have been holding the door open, and they're letting our reserves slip through via teleporter this very moment," Andy added.

"What reserves?" the Head Chill snarled in a saturated voice. "What are you talking about?"

"I called in a few favors," Calvin replied, smiling pleasantly. "The people of Annkor owe us big time for saving their planet. They've studied the battle tactics of nearly every culture in the universe. Suffice to say, you guys are going down."

"You lie!"

An explosion then shook the room, causing everyone to stagger around grabbing something for support or falling flat on their faces. Even a few members of the Collective were knocked down, hitting the floor with sickening splats.

Calvin stuck his tongue out at them in response.

"So King Stor, Galaxoid and Nebular are swarming the place with their army?" Socrates asked eagerly.

"Well and truly!" Hobbes replied.

"So what if they are?" Jangadod snapped. "They'll never get in here!"

Not more than two seconds later, the room lit up with electricity, and the room was suddenly filled with numerous Annkorians with no arms, several tentacles for feet and singular eyes in the middle of their heads with large pointy hats. It didn't stop them from training some heavy-duty guns on the various aliens in the room. Several aliens panicked and raised their numerous limbs in surrender.

There was a second flash, and Elliot, Galaxoid and Nebular appeared in the room. They were wielding badges of authority.

"We are here on behalf of the Universal Galactic Confederation Coalition," Galaxoid said.

"On behalf of those guys, you're totally under arrest!" added Nebular.

"We give!" an alien wailed. "Don't hurt us!"

Several more voiced their agreement, backing away in fear, and these ones found themselves being teleported out of the room, one by one.

Elliot, meanwhile, moved in the direction of Socrates and immediately hugged him. Socrates was taken by surprise, but he soon returned it.

"What's going on?" Jangadod demanded.

"We're teleporting them to a prison ship in the main universe," Nebular explained. "King Stor has arranged for us to take them back to our planet for deprogramming."

"Deprogramming?"

"I'm afraid that you have been mentally manipulated," Galaxoid explained. "That's the whole reason you've been working for the Collective. We shall repair your minds and send you home in the hopes that you can lead normal lives."

Jangadod could only watch as they were teleported one by one out of the room, and within seconds, the room was empty, and he could only look helplessly at the Collective before he too was taken away.

The Chills were starting to lose their cool.

"You will not get away with this!" the Head Chill growled. "You have been very fortunate so far, but we have yet to display the full force of our powers!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Calvin smirked. "Soon you'll be teleported out of here and into prison with the rest of your little team, and then we'll see how tough you are."

There was a long pause as everyone waited.

Nothing happened.

"… Aren't they supposed to be… going somewhere now?" Elliot whispered.

Calvin threw an uncertain glance in the direction of Galaxoid and Nebular, who both exchanged glances before Nebular put a tentacle to the spot where his ear would've been if he had one, apparently listening to the person on the other end.

"… They're saying the teleporter has stopped working… They've got all of the organization locked up… except the Collective themselves."

Everyone looked up at the Collective uncertainly. They didn't even react.

"Halting the particles of a teleportation device is hardly difficult," the Head Chill explained evenly. "We are not going anywhere without that calculation."

"And how precisely do you intend to get it?" Calvin asked.

One of the Chills flicked a tentacle vaguely in the direction of Socrates.

The tiger's head jerked backwards, and he fell over backwards onto the floor, unconscious to the world around him.

Elliot was by his side in a second. "Socrates! What did they do to him?!"

Calvin immediately used the MTM to scan the fallen tiger. "MTM, how is he?" he asked urgently.

MTM scanned a great big green laser across Socrates, scanning all his vital signs. "Still alive… Pulse still strong… Brain activity… I'm not sure what they've done to him."

"We have simply stopped him," the Head Chill replied.

"What's that mean?" Hobbes asked.

"We… have stopped him."

"… I don't think they actually know," Nebular whispered.

The Chills hissed. "Allow us to demonstrate the extent of our power…"

Everyone who wasn't a Chill began backing away from them, watching in silent terror as their tentacles began to rise above them menacingly. They all began to cower nervously in the corner realizing their great big clever plan wasn't really working as well as they had been hoping it would – all except Elliot as he was still trying in vain to wake Socrates from his unconsciousness.

"Socrates, please wake up!" the boy practically wailed. "Please! It can't end like this! Come on!"

He didn't notice it in his panic, but behind his closed eyelids, the tiger's eyes were flitting back and forth skittishly.

Socrates was dreaming.

He came to in a dark void. The whole place was like a sketch book full of strange modern scratches and scribbles with only a small white spot in the middle where he stood. He looked around curiously. He wasn't sure where he was or how he got here, but something about it felt familiar. He couldn't place it, but he somehow knew that he had been here before.

To make matters worse, he sensed someone was here with him.

He turned around to face the stranger in the darkness.

It was a large figure that towered over him more and more the closer he came. He was hulking large black mass that at first seemed to have no shape, but it became clearer once he was in sharp focus, allowing his sinister red eyes to dominate his face.

Socrates's eyes widened with recognition. He knew where he was and who his large friend was.

"You…," he whispered.

The figure let out a low throaty chuckle. "… YES… ONCE AGAIN, WE STAND TOGETHER…"

"Well… Jambo, Dark Me – how's tricks?"

"DON'T THINK YOU CAN GET OUT OF THIS WITH JOKES AND SARCASM, SOCRATES… THIS IS THE MOMENT I HAVE ALWAYS TOLD YOU ABOUT."

Socrates rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the moment you keep talking about, but you never seemed sure when it would come."

"I AM A PART OF YOU. I KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU DO. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… How do you get out of here?"

"YOU KNOW THE WAY."

"Alternative exits, maybe? Fire exit?"

"YOU'VE BEEN AVOIDING ME AT EVERY TURN, SOCRATES. YOU'VE REPRESSED ME FOR SO LONG NOW. BUT NOW YOU KNOW THE TRUTH. THEY DID THIS TO YOU. THE COLLECTIVE PUT THE CALCULATION IN YOUR HEAD. YOUR FRIENDS PUT A CHIP IN YOUR HEAD. IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO TAKE ON YOUR REVENGE."

Socrates responded by putting his fingers in his ears and sticking his tongue out at his Dark Self.

"YOU KNOW ACCEPTING ME IS THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE THEM…," Dark Socrates hissed. "IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO BECOME WHOLE."

Socrates was wavering. "I… I can't…"

"YOU CAN, AND YOU WILL…"

"No…"

"YESSSSS…"

Socrates struggled. He knew he had to make a choice. He had always wanted to avoid this day, but now it was here, and his dark self was holding out one of his great big black paws for him to take.

In the end, he sighed as came to the conclusion that his friends needed him. He looked as hangdog as he could about it.

"Fine…," he mumbled, and he held out a paw of his own and grasped his darker self's.

Dark Socrates grinned. "AT LONG LAST… I WILL RULE YOUR MIND… I WILL HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER… WAIT… WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

Socrates simply smiled. "You think you can control me? Sorry – not happening. I am whole. I am in control. You're only one small part of me. And I will use you like the tool you are, bub."

Dark Socrates was horrified to find that he was growing smaller and smaller. He struggled to free himself from the other tiger's hand, but he couldn't wrench himself free. It was as if all his strength was being sapped from his body. He growled and hissed, but he soon descended into hacking and coughing pathetically. He doubled over as Socrates maintained his firm grip.

Finally, he found himself dangling from Socrates's hand. He was practically bite size now.

Therefore, it only made sense that Socrates tossed him up in the air and caught him in his mouth, devouring him in one bite. He grinned his usual grin before feeling a new power course through him, and he could feel his eyes opening.

Everyone reeled back as Socrates suddenly sat up with the fiercest growl any of them had ever heard. He bared his teeth, surprising everyone with how sharp they looked. Elliot was almost knocked over as the red-tailed tiger jolted forwards onto all four of his feet, his tail flicking around violently with the angriest expression that anyone had ever seen.

Even the Collective stopped in surprise. "How did he get out of that?" one exclaimed. "How'd he escape?"

In a low, angry voice that no one had ever heard Socrates use before, the tiger replied, "Ohhhh, bubba… Sheer force of will. Care to see more?"

For the first time since they had entered the room, the members of the Collective were showing some emotion – fear. They tried to stand their ground, but that didn't intimidate the feline, who suddenly reminded everyone in the room that he was a homicidal psycho jungle cat that could, if he wanted to, rip apart a buffalo with his bare paws.

He wasted no time in rearing up and catapulting himself across the room. He slammed into the Head Chill and took him out, knocking down several of the other Chills in the process like bowling pins. The aliens cried out, taken off guard by the unexpected assault, struggling to get themselves up so they could manipulate reality, but they were having trouble focusing with all the pain they were experiencing.

Meanwhile, the others were watching Socrates in silent wonder. They'd never seen this side of him before.

"Should we…? I mean, should we help?" Hobbes asked.

Calvin watched as Socrates singlehandedly pounced three of the Collective at once. "Well… I don't know…"

MTM electronically cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should see to getting rid of them?"

"But they jammed the teleporter," Andy reminded him.

"Only so they couldn't be taken out. Suppose we used it to bring someone else in?"

"Someone like… say… the authorities?" Sherman suggested.

"Sounds good to me."

Galaxoid immediately pressed his earpiece. "Rowan – teleport the proper authorities here to apprehend the Collective," he ordered.

A few seconds later, much to the relief of everyone, there was a sudden flash of electricity, and six Kleins stood in the middle of the room, all wearing pristine white suits, meaning the only thing that made them distinguishable from each other were their colored neckties. The one on the end wearing a yellow tie held out his hand in the direction of the brawl.

In an instant, Socrates was lifted up off of the Chills, and he was carried by the scruff of his neck into the air. He clawed at the air a bit, but he couldn't quite manage to get himself going again from where he hung.

The Klein wearing a blue tie held his finger to his lips. "Shhh… Relax…"

A few seconds later, the tiger's thrashing and growling finally ceased, and the feral look in his eye faded back to his normal appearance. He gasped for breath, nodding in acceptance. This prompted the Kleins to gesture, and he was set down on the ground next to his friends.

Elliot immediately ran over and hugged him. "Socrates, that was incredible!"

Socrates just nodded, trying to get his breath back.

"Man where'd that come from?" Hobbes asked. "Have you been secretly pumping iron when we weren't looking?"

Seeing as how the Kleins were still attending to the Collective, Socrates decided he still had time for an explanation. "I've… had issues with my darker side," he said in voice that was surprisingly calm and thoughtful. "I try to keep it under lock and key… I never thought any good would come from embracing that side of myself… But it would appear… I have finally realized that all it takes is balance. I can embrace my inner darkness, but I don't have to let it control me."

Calvin nodded. "I can dig that," he replied. "I did the same thing with my light side."

Everyone looked at him with curiosity, but no one really wanted to ask questions.

Meanwhile, the Kleins were standing over the Chills, who were rapidly healing themselves, but they were rendered powerless with the Kleins focusing on them.

"So…," the Head Chill hissed. "What will you do with us?"

"Oh, so many ideas," one of the Kleins said thoughtfully. "We could lock you away in the heart of a star…"

"Or we could put you in suspended time to give you that immortality you wanted so badly," another one said.

"Force you to sit through a twenty-four news network for a week. That'd be intensely unpleasant…"

Hobbes cleared his throat. "Er, guys? What about us?"

The Head Klein looked at them. "Well, we'll be sending you all back home in a bit. We just need to wrap up some business here."

"But what about the equation?" Elliot asked. "Don't we need to get rid of it?"

A brief moment of silence greeted this question before one of the Kleins cleared his throat. "Well… naturally, we'll make sure no one can access it. We'll see to it that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

Socrates rubbed his head. "How, pray tell, do you intend to do that?" he asked warily.

"Not to worry," the Head Klein assured him. "It won't hurt. Just relax…"

"Why? What are you…?"

Socrates trailed off as his head lolled backwards and his mouth hung open. Then he spoke in a robotic voice normally reserved for when his chip was in use. "Eight… Seven… Five… Four… Six…" His head shook back and forth for a few moments before he suddenly came back to life, and his head snapped back up, throwing him off balance. Elliot and Andy helped him steady himself.

"What the heck was that?" Andy asked.

Sherman cleared his throat. "That was the deactivation code for the transmitter chip," he explained. "He's never needed to use it before."

"And now, we have access to the equation," the Head Klein said. "Concentrate, my brothers…"

The Kleins all closed their eyes and focused. They tilted their heads back in perfect unison.

Calvin was growing suspicious. "Wait a minute, what are you guys…?"

He was interrupted when a colorful glow began to fill the room. They watched as the chamber filled with a geyser of numbers and squiggles. They lined the walls and swirled around them for a moment before rapidly focusing into a glowing sphere in the middle of the room.

"What's that?" Nebular asked quietly, stunned by the wonderful world of color before him.

"The equation…," the Head Klein whispered. "In all its glory…" He reached out towards it with his index finger to touch it.

Calvin spoke up. "Question – what are you guys going to do with it?"

The Head Klein stopped to address him. "Nothing major," he assured him. "We will simply erase all the influence the Collective has had on the universe with their limited powers. They've been manipulating it for a long time. Need I remind you of how old you should be by now?"

Exchanging a wary glance with the others, Calvin nodded. "Yeah, I remember… Okay, go ahead."

The Head Klein started to reach for the sphere again.

Calvin suddenly interrupted him again. "Hold on! Another question – what about the good things the Collective did?"

That brought the Kleins up short. They froze where they stood, looking confused.

"What good things?" the Klein with the green necktie asked.

"Well, there are clearly some things they did that weren't horrible. Okay, fine, they were going to ultimately reshape the universe into their own image, but in the meantime, they've clearly influenced things that are good. And to add to that, who's to say we'll all still be friends after you reset everything?"

"Hey, yeah!" Hobbes said, latching onto his friend's way of thinking. "And how do you know that a universe without their influence will be better than the one with it? Can't you just leave everything the way it is and lock them up?"

"Regrettably, that is not possible," the Head Klein said sagely. "In order to ensure that the universe is safe forever, we must purge reality of their influence. We will do everything we can to ensure that order is maintained."

Calvin thought about that for a moment before shrugging. "Okay… I guess I can't refute that logic… Go ahead."

The Head Klein nodded and reached for the sphere again.

"Oh, wait! Yes, I can! I can refute anything!" Calvin suddenly exclaimed, slapping his forehead as if he'd just remembered this fact. "So, you guys aren't just eradicating what the Collective did to the universe. You're going to rewrite it so that it conforms to your ideas of what the universe is supposed to be!"

The Head Klein froze, and in perfect unison, they all looked at him. "We're doing what's best for the universe so that it will survive," he said quietly.

"And who decides what's best for the universe?" Calvin demanded, taking a step towards them. "You guys?"

"Calvin…"

"If you ask me, we're just trading one Collective with a god complex for another! As soon as you touch that sphere, the calculation will transfer to you guys, and then who knows what the universe will turn into!"

The Kleins all glared at him. "Calvin, if we have to stop you, we will," they hissed in harmony.

"Oh, yeah? Well, what if I stop you?" he snapped, pulling out the Transmogrifier Gun.

"You think that can stop us?"

"No, but it's a nice distraction."

He fired a laser at the ceiling, causing a shower of sparks and smoke to rain down over the Kleins, taking them by surprise. As they were all ducking down, Calvin ditched the gun and jumped through the air, raising his hand up as high as it would go, and before anyone could grab him, his hand touched the sphere.

There was a blinding flash as it erupted and sent all its data swirling through the room like a hurricane of numbers and symbols, and then, like water pouring down a drain, it all swirled into a whirlpool, straight into Calvin's head.

He staggered, jerked backwards, and when he opened his eyes, they were replaced by two shining green orbs. He turned to the Klein Collective and the Chill Collective with a lethal expression.

"Ohhhh, boys…," he singsonged. "Come out and pla-a-a-a-y-y-y-y-y…"