Hey everyone, after last week's hiatus we're back with the next arc of Dimensions and Time. Thank you so much to everyone who read, followed and reviewed my story, it really does mean a lot. This is where we start to get some pay off to things set up earlier in the story so let's see how you guys and gals like it. Here we go.
Chapter 15: Steel Blood
Ryan Wilde watched the mirror on his desk go back to showing his own reflection and wanted to scream in frustration. Until a moment ago he'd been talking to his sister from another dimension; Robyn, but the connection was based on her concentration and was thus fickle by nature. Damn it Robyn! You…, Ryan sighed and composed himself, "You're probably going through some of the most stressful days of your life on top of whatever it is that your team put you through." He let his anger at his sister's lapse in concentration fade as he sat back down in his desk chair. Annoying as it was, it also made total sense.
It had been a week and a half ago when he'd first seen Robyn in one of his mirrors and ever since he'd just wanted to get the chance to sit down and talk with her, without bad connections getting in the way. He'd had that chance when she'd contacted him while in Reginald's world, but she was so preoccupied with her current situation that the talk was more of a detailed status update. It was frustrating, of course, but she was holding her recently rescued son at the time, so it was hard to muster any real anger. The kid had looked just as tired and weary as his mother and expecting a good parent to focus on anything else was too much to ask.
Ryan leaned back in his swirly chair and waited, provided Robyn wasn't suddenly distracted, which he found unlikely given how urgent she was, she would probably be back in touch within a few minutes. He took the time to admire his new room. He'd moved in shortly after his first meeting with Robyn and it already had the look of a combined bedroom and laboratory. Basic sleeping setup, a single large monitor, the desk he was sitting at, but what drew his attention now were a pair of display tubes in the corner of the room. Both were tinted so the contents couldn't be easily seen.
Curiosity compelled Ryan to walk over to the tubes, one finger print scan later and the tint on the left faded to reveal his hero outfit: that of Ruby Rose. An anime ninja, a pastel cop, a Halloween decoration and a showman, for the retired outfit before him was indeed that of stage magician. The pants were a dark red, they looked like dress pants: very sleek and stylish, but they were actually very resistant to damage and held shape with almost no effort. The shirt was a white, long sleeve piece that was form fitting and comfy. His belt was a simple black strap but the buckle head was a big RR for his initials. He wore a necklace that had a golden star of Ceartais at the end. The real eye catcher was his large jacket which was bright red, sleeveless, went down to his ankles and had overly big shoulders. His ears were hidden by a stylish hat, like a larger version of the one Luna wore as Andraste. His least favorite part had been the red scarf that hid his hybrid short snout from public view. The irony wasn't lost on him that said scarf was the one consistent design feature between all four outfits. The palette of two shades of red along with white as the primary colors was also the same as the other three outfits. The multiverse has a weird way of keeping things consistent, Ryan thought as he lowered the tube's tinting, again concealing his former outfit from view.
The minutes crept by and Ryan began to suspect that something had gone wrong on Robyn's end, she's been desperate earlier so why not get back in touch? His musings were interrupted by a signal from his monitor; someone was approaching his door. A quick glance confirmed it was his paternal grandmother: Marian Wilde. She was dressed as ever in her leather jacket and had an ear bud in one ear, no doubt playing some old punk song. Ryan walked back to his desk and opened the door with a wave of his hand across the computer screen.
Marian entered Ryan's room, clutching a tablet in her left hand. "Something bothering you Ryan?" she asked almost immediately.
You always read me like a book, Ryan chuckled to himself. "Another interrupted attempt to talk with Robyn and company," Ryan reported.
"Again? The poor dear must be so stressed out right now," Marian replied.
"I tried to get her to come to our world, seeing as, you know, we're actually equipped to deal with this sort of thing," Ryan added.
"Well I'm sure you'll get her to see your point of view, you are rather good at it," Marian teased.
"Oh come on Nana," Ryan blushed, "what are you here for?"
"Ah yes," Marian straightened herself up, "we had an unregistered powered mammal brought in a few minutes ago, medium sized mammal."
"Unregistered?" Ryan tilted his head, "Jeez how'd a criminal manage to escape notice?"
Marian sighed, "It might've been a civilian who was scared of registration."
"I guess, but you'd think mammals would be sure Mayor Bellwheather's laws protecting powered mammals were completely sincere by this point," Ryan pondered.
"You know what that ewe is fond of saying," Marain countered.
"Fear always wins if you let it," they said at the same time.
"Right," Ryan conceded, "guess there'll be doubters even after, what almost two decades at this point?"
"Three months after your parents and their friends solved the savage powered mammals case of 2016, so a little over two decades at this point," Marian confirmed, "I suppose hero teams being outlawed for awhile put a damper on things."
"Until we came along," Ryan bitterly remarked, "can you imagine the PR field day if the public found out no one on Ceartias actually has traditional powers?"
"I had some plans in place for when or if that happened, not that that matters now," Marian informed her grandson, "I take it you've thought about that scenario too?"
"I seriously considered just outing the whole team and its history after...that happened," Ryan's casual complexion turned venomous for a second, "but it would've been more trouble than it was worth."
"And potentially harmful to many innocent powered mammals?" Marian inquired about that seemingly obvious moral reason for not going through with the action.
"Yeah, yeah that too," Ryan agreed, "speaking of which, we should probably do something about this unknown powered mammal."
"Right, I'll send a message too...wait a minute, incoming message from Ceartais!"
"What for?" Ryan was instantly alert.
"They engaged the other half of the team, but during the battle a group of unknown mammals appeared out of nowhere and started intervening with the battle," Marian quickly read off.
'"Out of nowhere? What does that even...wait a minute," Ryan's eyes widened in horror, "the last time Robyn lost contact with me she wound up getting dumped into Reginald's world, you don't think the same thing…"
"Happened here," Marian realized in mirrored alarm.
"Get in touch with the team! We have to warn them before anything happens to Robyn and her friends!" Ryan shouted as he ran out of his room to head to the small control room they'd set up.
"Ryan!" Marian shouted as she ran after him, "the powered mammal from before, what if it's…"
"Oh no, oh no, oh please please please tell me nothing happened to one of Robyn's friends!"
"We may be too late," Marian lamented as they arrived at the control room.
000
For the third time in a row Robyn tumbled into another dimension and was at the bottom of a pile of mammals, and for the third time in a row they were in the middle of a battle. Kodi had learned from his past experiences and had his shield up before he even hit the ground. He let out a sigh of relief that it worked even as he was sandwiched between the Wilde trio below and Clara and Fuli above.
"Aaron!" Robyn called in alarm.
"He's not here!" Fuli shouted back, "Luna got him and Chief Wilde out of the way."
"What is going on here!?" Reginald tried to get himself free with no success.
"Let's wait and see," Ronan tried to get a hold of things, "It's pretty obvious we're in Sahara Square." Ronan was right, a quick glance around them revealed they were in a desert region of Zootopia's hottest ecosystem. They were right outside a deserted gas station at the base of a cliff. The road went straight out through the desert on their left but curved to the right, hugging the cliff wall. That was where the action was happening.
The image they'd seen in the mirror in the Dungeon played out before them; three mammals were locked in combat with two others. The disturbing part was that these were mammals who, in their respective homeworlds, were on the same team.
Roar was the most recognizable, the towering lion was chalk white with a red mane as he was back in Robyn's world. The sight of him made Reginald drop his jaw as he'd never seen an elixir pump powered mammal before. Fighting at his side was Andraste, though several mammals mistook her for The Hood at first. The vixen archer was wearing what looked like the Maiden outfit but with The Hood's color scheme; a full body suit with a hood but colored dark green.
Bullet was fairly similar to versions of her the mammals had seen throughout the various dimensions; blue and silver body armor and dual pistols. The difference everyone noticed was the more staced belt of gadgets and the larger rifle she was currently using. The red sword scabbard gave away the next mammal's identity, though this Alice once again had a new outfit. She wore a long trench coat that was pure white with red trimmings. The coat was closed at the top but opened below the waist to reveal a pair of simple black pants. The most striking feature was her choice of headwear; a traditional japanese geisha mask covered her face; its expression a fixed look of serene determination. Robyn and Kodi noticed that the sword had an ethereal red glow around it, similar to the blue flames that their Alice used as Yueri. No one knew who the final mammal was. She was a lioness with dark brown fur and deeper brown eyes. Her attire consisted of a colorful sports bra looking chest piece, a short pair of pants and a mask. All three were a vibrant purple in color with orange trimmings and the mask had several feathers coming up from the eye ridge section. Everyone was shocked when Roar hurled a huge chunk of rock at the lioness and her entire body turned into a mass of fire and the rock went through her harmlessly. She rematerialized moments later.
The six mammal group hunkered down in the shield bubble, with the various heroes putting on their masks and hoods.
Saying the battle was three on two was a bit inaccurate, really it was Bullet fighting Andraste while the other two battled Roar. The goliath lion sent his signature roar at his two opponents, but both dodged easily. The lioness by turning into a fireball and darting to the side while Alice somehow turned intangible just as she escaped the sonic blast radius. She hurried away as she became solid again.
"She's like me," Sirius gasped.
"Doesn't look like she can hold it for very long though," the Mage observed.
Indeed, Alice was hurriedly sprinting away as Roar tried to angle his roar to clip the phantom bunny. His focus on one opponent left him vulnerable to the other, the lioness materialized as a ring of fire around Roar. He was engulfed in flames and suffocating smoke, causing him to gag and cut off his attack. Alice immediately tossed a grenade of some sort at Roar's feet, dodging an arrow Andraste tried to clip her with in the process. Bullet took advantage of Andraste switching targets to fire a shot from her rifle at the ledge above her. A small stream of rocks and debris forced Andraste to abandon her position and roll away. The grenade exploded without interruption, sending a stream of knockout gas up towards Roar that mixed with the smoke already coming from the lioness. The fire dissipated as the lioness reformed a few meters away.
"Damn you Pyre!" Roar bellowed while groggily gasping for air.
"Alice just stop this!" Andraste pleaded as she regained her footing and knocked an arrow, "we don't need to fight!" Her pleas went ignored by her opponents and Bullet fired at her with her tranq pistol. Andraste dodge rolled away and fired an arrow just as Alice's left hand opened up to reveal a mechanical cannon. She fired at Andraste with an energy blast that sent the vixen to the ground. Andraste lost her grip on her bowstring and the arrow was sent skyward.
The six mammals in Mage's shield watched the battle with looks of horror. Watching mammals they knew, at least from other worlds, duke it out in such a brutal fashion was a truly unpleasant sight. The utterly cold and focused looks on Bullet and Pyre's faces were especially unnerving. Then a voice screamed.
"GET AWAY, IT'S AN EXPLOSIVE!" Andraste called from her position on the ground. The arrow that had been thrown upwards earlier was falling back to the ground...right towards the gas stations gas tanks. The mammals in the bubble had mere seconds to react. Mage tried to throw up an earth wall but it was too late. The arrow hit and the entire station vanished in a massive explosion. Mage ducked behind his too small Earth wall, which at least absorbed some of the blast before he was blown back. Sirius just turned intangible, but the other four could only turn and run very briefly before the blast caught them. Crimson, Scarlet, Fuli and Red were blown back into the sand. The hybrids were mostly just shaken, but Fuli wasn't moving.
"Fuli!" Sergeant Red shouted as he crawled to his girlfriend's side in panic.
"They need help!" Andraste tried to argue, but her three opponents continued to press the attack on her and Roar. The massive lion was almost down for the count, and Andraste was firmly on the defense. None of the other three mammals spared the mammals downed by the explosion a backwards glance.
Sirius was at Mage's side in an instant, being the only one to dodge the blast completely. Mage's shields had at least partially protected them, but he was still a bit groggy. "Okay, we need to help Kion and Luna, sometimes up with the others," Sirius argued.
"Be careful," Mage coughted.
Scarlet had helped Crimson out of the sand dune he'd been partially buried it, after which he promptly started trying to spit out the mouthful of sand he'd accidentally swallowed when his scarf had fallen off. For once his regeneration powers weren't helping him.
"Oh thank goodness," Red wept as he checked Fuli's pulse and confirmed she was still alive Scarlet felt guilty leaving her brother to tend to his girlfriend all alone, but they were still in the middle of a fight.
"On your feet Banshee, we need to help Sirius," Scarlet told the still coughing hybrid. He shot her an indignant look, but nodded and put his headgear back on.
Back with the main fight, Pyre was just about to launch another ball of fire at Roar when a sudden surge of light to her right forced her to dodge instead. Sirius's energy blast had been a warning shot though, and she quickly positioned herself between the two opponents. With one hand aimed at each lion, both of them crackling with energy, Sirius spoke up, "Five of my friends just got caught in an explosion and I want some answers!"
"We are not being responsible for that," Pyre said, trying to get a good look at Roar.
"You certainly had us fooled, none of your team spared us a glance!"
"You are having confusion, we were aware that no harm came to your group," Pyre argued.
"That doesn't explain why a bunch of mammals I'm pretty sure are teammates are fighting like this!"
"Are you wanting to be hurt? If you are seeing this is a battle, you should be staying away for it," Pyre paused for a moment, "from it." The lioness' not quite handle on the english language was brushed off by Sirius.
"Not a chance."
Okay Reginald, let's not make like Robyn and think fighting Alice through. The Crimson Banshee knew he didn't stand any chance against any version of Alice in a straight up fight, but he didn't necessarily need to win, and his nervousness was making the reckless hybrid think creatively for once. He let loose his banshee wail as he jumped towards, but not at, Alice. It only needed to get her attention, and it did. Alice watched as the fox sized mammal slammed into the ground in front of her, cracking the solid rock with his fists. Crimson gave a satisfied smirk under his mask as Alice's eyes widened under her mask. Now she was at least going to be cautious around him too.
Scarlet decided to go for the diplomatic approach and didn't make any aggressive actions as she walked up to Bullet. The blind gunslinger sensed the approach and aimed a pistol at Scarlet. "Are you really trying to pull the unrelated third party trick a second time, who even is this fox?" She didn't wait for an answer and instead fired a single shot.
The bullet hit Scarlet and proceeded to do nothing in particular, "I don't know what you're talking about Hannah, but we aren't here to fight."
"And the complete stranger calling me by my real name trick too, how can you be this desperate?" Bullet accused. It was clear from her change to a more evasive posture that her bullet being ineffective worried her.
"The only thing I'm desperate for is answers," Scarlet insisted, "why are Hannah Savage and Alice Kirabito fighting Kion Priderock and Luna Wilde?"
"If you really aren't here to fight, then take your friends and get out of this city while you can," Bullet insisted. "Wait, Kirabito, why would you call her by…" Bullet's sentence was cut off by a bright red explosive going off in the air. Left unattended, Andraste had gotten her barings and was back in action.
"A signal flare!" Scarlet realized.
"Why use that when they have radio?" Bullet asked, then she sensed Andraste aiming again, "Watch out!"
The Mage had just gotten his head clear enough to watch the events unfold. Bullet's warning backfired horrifically. Already distracted by the actually pointless flare arrow, Scarlet's allies turned to Bullet at her shout and away from anyone else. That left Andraste free to fire an arrow straight at Sirius, striking her in her exposed left arm. A lot happened all at once; Sirius screamed in pain and fell to the ground, Pyre surged past the falling wolf to attack Roar once again, Bullet took a rushed shot at Andraste who easily dodged, Alice looked down the desert road and saw vehicles coming towards them at high speed, and Mage opened a portal below Sirius so she fell right into his waiting arms.
The arrow was stuck to Sirius's arm, the arrowhead was a strange syringe shape that had pierced Sirius's fur and skin. Mage noticed a small clear tube beneath the arrowhead was almost finished injecting his girlfriend with a strange clear white liquid. Then the arrowhead detached and fell to the ground.
"I feel weird," Sirius moaned.
"It's gonna be okay, we'll get help" Mage tried to reassure himself and his teammate at the same time.
"You really aren't with them," Bullet said aloud as she tried to get another shot in on Andraste. "I'm sorry but your friend is...how did she get over there?" Bullet was convinced her sense was playing tricks on her; the downed wolf had somehow moved several dozen meters in an instant.
"Bullet!" Alice shouted as she raced towards her ally, Crimson following at a safe distance, "reinforcements are almost here! We need to bail!"
'These mammals are coming with us, they haven't been taken yet," Bullet insisted as she started running over towards Mage and Sirius.
"What's happening to her!?" Mage demanded as Bullet approached.
"You have to leave her, she's already gone," Bullet insisted.
"I am not leaving her!" Mage shouted.
"I'm scared," Sirius weakly muttered, clutching Mage's hand as tightly as she could, "Ko…" Then she went limp.
"She's gone," Alice said bluntly, "leave her or we will be next."
"She can't be dead," Scarlet gasped.
"She isn't, but this is…" Alice went silent as Sirius's eyes snapped back open, "merde!"
Bullet rushed in and separated the two wolves just as Sirius fired at blast of energy right where Mage had been. Sirius's expression was completely blank, her posture carried none of her usual confidence and determination, instead it was almost robotic how her limbs hung at her side and she used only the necessary movements. Said movements being to fire more energy blasts at every mammal present. Mage was too stunned to respond and had to be pulled into a dodge by Bullet.
"Clara what the hell are you doing!?" Scarlet screamed.
"That is no longer your friend, you cannot reach her," Alice insisted as she tried to get an opening.
It was Crimson who solved the problem by rushing Sirius from the side, he caught the wolf unaware and she was tackled into the side of the station's remaining wall. Temporarily stunned, the wolf was unable to move as the rest of the weak wall collapsed on top of her.
"Clara!" Mage tried to run over to her but Bullet held him back. Just as he yanked his hand free and turned back to Sirius, Andraste fired another syringe tipped arrows at his back. He heeded Scarlet's warning shout too late, but before the arrow could strike him, Pyre reformed in front of him and took the shot. She roared in pain but fired a fireball at the archer nonetheless. Andraste dodged but came out of her roll right in Bullet's crosshairs and was finally knocked out by one tranq bullet to the face.
"Is she?" Scarlet pointed to the panting lioness.
"She's fine," Alice insisted. To prove the point, Pyra turned into a ball of fire and then immediately reformed behind the group. "But we won't be soon, they're almost here, Pyre get the leopard!"
"She is a cheetah," Pyre replied calmly as she rushed over to Red and Fuli.
"Don't care," Alice shouted as she ran down the road.
'Get your friend now!" Bullet shouted as she raced after her friends.
Scarlet looked at the approaching forces, there were a mixture of MCB agents and costumed heroes, all with the same blank face that had appeared on Clara. Realizing there was no other way, Scarlet reluctantly left her teammate behind as she grabbed Mage by the arm and led him away. She initially had trouble getting Mage to fumble along, but Crimons doubled back and grabbed his other hand. Mage was still stunned that Sirius had attacked him, and dazzidly followed his allies. Pyre scooped up Fuli and Red had enough sense to see what was coming, so he joined the others in running down the road. Alice looked back and saw that they'd put a few hundred meters between them and the destroyed gas station when the pursuing vehicles arrived at the battle site. The wreckage would buy them some time.
"Where are we going?" Scarlet shouted.
"That ewemart down the road," Bullet pointed to a store several hundred meters away, "there's an entrance to the sewers behind it that we can use to...oh no." Bullet heard it first, but everyone's hearts filled with dread as several armed helicopters appeared from behind a canyon wall past the ewemart and began flying towards them. They had armed helicopters in the front and powered mammals and the MCB behind them.
"We aren't going to make it," Alice realized in despair.
"Do not misplace your heart Blade Dancer," Pyre pressed, "I can take them out."
"Not all three, not fast enough," Bullet agreed with Blade Dancer.
Pyre none the less gently lowered Fuli to Red's feet and took a fighting stance. Red spared his girlfriend a sad look before drawing his pistol and taking aim at the mammals in the rear.
As everyone prepared themselves to at least go down swinging, a ring of orange appeared beneath everyone's feet and dropped them behind the ewemart just as the helicopters passed over it.
"Where's this entrance!?" Mage demanded, closing the portal he'd just used in the process.
"There," Bullet pointed to an open mammal hole, "Go!" Pyre recovered from the shock and once again grabbed Fuli while Robyn got the hole open. In a matter of seconds they'd all scurried down and Crimson pulled the lid back into place.
For several minutes the group silently followed Blade Dancer through the underground. The sewers were quickly left behind to get into some of the actual infrastructure the city was built on. Eventually Bullet called out, "Okay, we're safe here."
"How do you know they won't find us?" Red asked.
"Because we have the best tech support in the world on our side," Blade Dancer spoke up, "She and our guest are operating from our new base underground. We can help your friend there," she pointed to the unconscious but still breathing Fuli.
"...Thank you," Red quietly said.
'Your welcome," Bullet replied, "now I have a lot of questions for GAH!" Bullet's feet were suddenly encased in earth hands, and her own hands followed as she tripped forward. Both earth locks were lifted into the air and Bullet was spun around to face a furious looking Mage.
"No, we will be asking all the questions now!"
"Unhand her magician," Blade Dancer calmly stated as she drew her sword on him. Mage barely paid her a glance as he sent his trapping scarf at the bunny. The fabric dodged the sword slash and wrapped Blade Dancer's hands above her head. She was lifted into the air like Bullet and her sword clattered to the ground. Blade Dancer tried to phase through the fabric, but the moment she became tangible again the scarf rewrapped itself and she was trapped again.
"You can't spam that trick of yours Alice," Mage coldly stated as he removed Alice's mask, revealing the expected white fur and scars underneath.
"You are having great anger, it is understanding, understandable," Pyre placated. Crimson had snatched Red's tranq pistol and aimed it at Pyre. As fast as her fire transformation was, tranq bullets worked faster.
"What. Happened. To. Me. Girlfriend?" Mage demanded.
"Steel blood," Pyre answered immediately.
"What?" Scarlet gasped, she and her brothers recognized the name instantly.
"Project steel blood," Bullet continued, "It's a nanomachine originally built for medical purposes by a genius in the city, it enters the body and bonds with the organic features to enhance them."
"But that's how we got our powers," Crimson finally spoke up, and nothing like that happened to us."
"How did…" Bullet started.
"Stay on subject!" Mage demanded.
"Right, if you know who I am, then you know I'm blind. I was having a lot of problems learning braille, but they realized that they could, well, download the knowledge into the steel blood that had merged with my brain," Bullet explained. "The mammal behind all of this realized that steel blood could be pushed a lot further."
"The serum your friend was injected with was a version of steel blood that replaced the usual adapt and survive directive with a specific and hostile protocol," Alice took over, "It enters the body, goes straight for the brain and takes it over. Any mammal hit with it is put under total mind control. Initially they're just drones, but the steel blood can rewrite memories to brainwash a mammal, like you saw with our former teammates back at the battle."
"That's, that's insane," Red was horrified by the implications, "with a power like that you could…"
"Take over the whole of Zootopia?" Bullet finished, "It's already happened. Every hero who isn't the three of us and our guests, first responders, government, you name it and there's a pretty good chance they've been taken over. And no, we haven't found a way to reverse the process." That last bit was said right to Mage's face. Having gotten his answers, he let the two heroines down to the ground.
"How did you three escape?" Scarlet asked.
"Bullet and I have steel blood of our own that protects us, and Pyre's transformation ability purges any foreign objects from her body," Alice informed as she reached for her katana.
"What do we do now?" Mage muttered in despair.
"Kodi, I think we should go back to their base and gather our options," Scarlet said softly.
There were huge gasps of shock from the three local mammals, "Kodi?" Bullet asked nervously.
"Ugh, yes, my name is Kodi Jones, I go by The Mage," Kodi pulled his mask off.
"It is you," Alice muttered, "but not really."
"He is being from another dimension," Pyre stated, "all of you also are," she waved her hand at the three hybrids.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kodi asked in irritation.
"Because the Kodi Jones who was being their teammate has died," Pyre answered.
"Oh," Kodi said in a much softer tone, "I uh, sorry to dig up painful memories."
"It's not your fault," Hannah sighed, "but it only happened three months ago and that was when everything went wrong. Oh! If your Kodi, then that wolf from earlier was…"
"Professor Bloom," Pyre realized, "I was not recognizing her in a swimsuit."
"How is Kodi dying related to any of this?" Red asked.
"That explanation will be coming easier back at the base," Pyre said, "And we should be attending to your friend," she picked up Fuli again and resumed walking. "I am Pyre, but my real name is Rani Nighttrie."
The others started to follow, "So are all of you from the same dimension or not?" Hannah asked.
"You seem familiar with the concept," Scarlet noticed.
"It's just one of the crazy things that this little world of ours has seen," Alice replied.
"Well at least we don't need to explain that part again," Scarlet tried to joke, but it fell flat. "I'm from the same dimension as Kodi and Clara, ghastly there is by himself, and Fuli's from the same world as the good Sergeant."
"Are you three having names?" Rani asked.
"I'm called Sergeant Red, but my real name is Ronan Wilde," he answered as he took off his helmet. The local mammals gasped at the hybrids' appearance.
"Okay then," Reginald said, a bit weirded out by the reaction to Ronan, "I'm Reginald Wilde aka the Crimson Banshee," he announced as he pulled down his scarf and mask.
"So you're," Alice said as she pointed at Scarlet.
"Yeah, I'm Robyn Wilde, the Undying Scarlet."
"All three of his siblings," Hannah marveled.
"All three, so this is Ryan's world," Ronan realized.
"You've met him?" Alice asked.
"I can see other versions of myself in mirrors," Robyn replied, "I've talked with Ryan a couple of times already. He has steel blood so he should be immune to this too right?"
"He is but, look this is a lot to process," Hannah said. "Mind explaining how you got here in the meantime."
"Alright," Robyn said kindly, "but answer one more question first."
"Shoot."
"Who's responsible for all of this?"
000
An armored car pulled into a deserted parking garage in the middle of Savanna Central, the doors closed behind the car, sealing the room off from the outside world. Three drones stepped out of the car, each blank faced and moving to a predesignated location. The bodies belonged to Luna Wilde, Kion Priderock and Clara Bloom. They didn't have long to wait for their master to arrive.
"I do the mental equivalent of running the marathon trying to get Robyn to come to this world, I get the dimension thinner working so her powers can open portals on their own, I create a mammal made dimension travel blocker and precisely aim it multiple times, all to get her to come here willingly, and all of its ruined because she crashes into your guys' inability to capture a gunslinger, a torch and a sword mammal!" The figure hurled a rolling chair at a Kion, knocking the lion to the ground. The drone ignored any pain the body tried to register and easily returned to its spot in the line up.
Another voice spoke up, "It's our own fault for not thinking of it. Robyn's power locks onto other versions of whoever is on her side of a reflection. We should've accounted for the fact that someone else could open the portal. Still, it's not a total loss, we do have one of her teammates to interrogate," Marian Wilde stepped out of the shadows and pointed to Clara.
"Yes, yes we do," Ryan Wilde agreed. Stepping towards the controlled wolf he said, "You two are dismissed, return to standard procedures." Luna and Kion walked past their master and out of the garage, leaving Ryan and Marian alone with Clara. "Now then you wannabe model, you are going to tell me everything you know about Robyn Wilde and her friends."
AN: Dun dun dun! Ryan's behind everything! Some suspected, at least one outright called it, but here it is. Our heroes have quite the challenge ahead of them, especially since one of their strongest members has been turned against them. Tell me what you think of it.
Next time: We jump back three months ago to see the day where it all went wrong, and we get a proper introduction to the wider world of Robyn Wilde.
