Quinn held the child close, trying to protect her as the two exited the vortex and landed harshly on the cold floor of the familiar room in Caltech. Arturo, Steven, and Maggie all looked to the two with wide eyes, noticing the blood on Quinn's arm almost immediately. Rickman soon exited the vortex behind them, landing next to Quinn as the gateway shrunk and closed. Rickman was on his feet in an instant, rushing out the room without so much as a word.
"What on Earth happened over there?" Arturo asked with clear worry, grabbing Quinn by his good arm as the young scientist tried to stand. He began to collapse, squeezing the child in an attempt to protect her as Arturo quickly grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from falling over. Steven was by his side in an instant, reaching out and taking the trembling child from his arms.
"I'm getting a doctor, just hold tight" Maggie quickly told them, already heading out the door. The little girl, Olivia, clung to Steven and sobbed in his shoulder as he rubbed comforting circles on her back. Quinn looked lost as he replied.
"I'm not even sure where to begin, professor…"
"So, this is the place huh?" Rembrandt asked, looking at the small home Malcolm lead them to. The child merely nodded, quickly rushing to the front door and heading inside. Remmy followed behind him, Wade at his side as the two entered the building. The home itself looked clean, recently lived in, unlike the home the Quartet slid into earlier that day. Walking through the living room Rembrandt began to look around, cutting off his current line of thought as he heard Malcolm nearby, banging on a door and receiving no response from within.
"Mommy! Daddy! Why won't you open up!" He screamed, hitting the door with his tiny fists as he turned to the sliders, giving them a pleading look. Clearly, the poor child had tried this before with no luck, a pit forming in the slider's stomachs as they contemplated the implications behind the parent's actions or lack thereof. Approaching the door Rembrandt knocked gently, clearing his throat before speaking.
"Hello? Is anyone in there?" He asked, breathing in sharply as he immediately heard a response from within. A weight felt as if it had been lifted from his shoulders, knowing the boy's parents were at least still alive. He could hear movement, the door swinging open and the boy's father standing in the doorway, looking between Rembrandt and Wade with confusion.
"James, who was that?" A woman asked from within the room, the man looking back for only a moment as he replied, soon turning his attention back to the sliders.
"I don't know. Who the hell are you? Why are you in my house?" he asked, looking tired, his voice drained. Wade stepped forward immediately, putting her hands on her hips while bearing an angry expression.
"Your son Malcolm asked for our help after you chose to ignore him" she hissed, gesturing to the teary-eyed child standing nearby. The father seemed to frown at that, turning his attention to his son and immediately kneeling down, opening his arms. Malcolm sniffed at the gesture, rushing in and hugging his father's neck. Picking the boy up he slowly stood, eyeing the two sliders as he sighed.
"We...We didn't have the heart to include Malcolm in our plans. I don't even know if I have the strength to do it for Sadie"
"Sadie?" Rembrandt asked.
"My wife. We aren't stupid, we know the shelters won't protect us from the Pulsar. Nor do we believe in something as outlandish as parallel worlds or the possibility of opening rips in space to get there. We are going to die, so why not go out the way we want? By our own hands, rather than the cards dealt to us by fate?"
It was then that Rembrandt looked past the man, to the older woman sitting in bed surrounded by photo albums. On the nearby nightstand, he saw a magnum revolver, near where the husband likely sat mere moments ago. His eyes widened, alit with anger.
"You mean kill yourself and abandon your child to die alone to the pulsar?" Rembrandt bit out, causing the father to flinch. As Wade realized what was going on her own anger grew.
"You would have left your child alone? What if he got in, saw your bodies before the pulsar hit? Did you even think about him?"
"Of course I did!" The man bit back, tears coming to his eyes as he began to shake, "I wanted to take him with us, but I...I can't. I've been putting off doing it to Sadie for so long now, the idea of pulling the trigger tears me apart. I can't do it to her, how am I supposed to do it to my own son?"
"You aren't!" Rembrandt yelled, "You're supposed to comfort him, be strong for him. He needs you, man!"
"This is real life, and the real world doesn't hold your hand! We are going to die, and there isn't anything any of us can do about it!" The man bit back, instinctively holding his son tighter.
"Then die supporting your son," Rembrandt replied, gesturing to the shaking boy, "He believes the scientists back at Caltech can save you. Two of my friends are helping them now, and I know they will come through for us. But even if they don't, spend your last hours being strong for your son. Give him that hope, something to live for before the final hours"
"So what, just give him false hope? What good is that?" The man asked weakly, Wade stepping forward and shaking her head.
"It isn't false hope. My friends will save us" She replied, "and even if it was, you should never give up. Your son is a reason to go on, to fight, to believe. Do this for him, come back with us to Caltech"
The father only nodded, openly sobbing as he held his son close.
Quinn flinched as he felt the medical tape tightly wrap around his wounded arm, avoiding the professor's heavy gaze by keeping his focus on Maggie and Steven. They sat with little Olivia, trying to comfort the child and explain to her the wonders of sliding and parallel worlds. Quinn watched the two as they pampered the traumatized little girl, frowning slightly as the doctor finished up with his arm, closing his first aid kit and leaving the room. Quinn sat silently for a moment more, sighing softly as he finally made eye contact with Arturo.
"Professor, do you think I made the right call? I may have brought her into an even more dangerous situation. If I can't find a safe world in time all of these people, including that little girl, will die" Quinn mumbled, sipping some orange juice the doctor brought for him. Arturo looked to the child for a moment, taking a seat next to the young scientist.
"Quinn, listen to me, that world was monstrous. She had no one to care for her, she would have been lucky to survive the day. At least here she has a chance, and I know we will find a world to slide these people too. You will save us"
"I wish I had your confidence," Quinn replied with a defeated tone, setting the empty cup on the nearby table.
"Mr. Mallory we already have the hard part done. We reset the timers and have the ability to scout worlds whenever we please. Speaking of which I've been thinking, perhaps I should take the timer and scout the next world, hm?" Arturo offered.
"There's no need, professor, I'm fine," Quinn told him with a shrug, reaching over and taking the timer from the table as he stood. Arturo was quick to his feet as well.
"You were shot Mr. Mallory, not to mention the fact that you just witnessed a murder first hand. You are certainly not fine. I insist that I at least accompany you on the next slide"
"Can't, already promised the slot to Steven," Quinn replied, smiling tiredly back at the professor.
"Please Quinn, it's alright if you at the very least take a break" Arturo insisted, but Quinn shook his head, approaching Steven and Maggie as he did.
"Not with 200 lives on the line professor. Every second counts"
Quinn yelled as he exited the bright red vortex with a splash, gasping as he quickly got to his feet, soaking wet from head to toe. He had water up to his waist, Steven Jensen exiting behind him and splashing water everywhere too. Looking around the familiar Caltech campus Quinn could barely see three feet in front of him as a heavy storm raged around them, spraying the Earth harshly with water. The wet droplets felt like stones being slammed into Quinn's skin. Quickly he reached down, helping Steven to his feet and looking at the partially submerged Caltech doors.
"We need to get inside, at least get out of this weather!" He screamed, Steven nodding in agreement as he used his hand to shield his eyes. Their hair and clothes flapped violently in the storm's heavy winds. Without hesitation the two approached the building, working together to force open the door and squeeze inside. Even in the dark building, the two were waist-deep in water, the sounds of the raging storm echoing off the deserted university walls.
"Are all of your slides this dangerous?" Steven asked with a nervous chuckle, shaking the water off of his coat. Quinn smiled slightly at the question, turning to face him as he replied.
"Well, sometimes, though the danger isn't usually so upfront"
"How about you? Is your arm doing alright after the landing? How are you feeling?"
Quinn turned to the scientist, then looked to the now soaking medical tape wrapped around his arm. It still held firm, preventing any bleeding as far as he was aware.
"I'm fine" Quinn answered quickly.
"Well you tell me if you need a break or something, I promised Professor Arturo I'd keep an eye on you this slide" Steven replied, looking around the dark hallway with curiosity.
"He worries too much sometimes, I'm fine, really" Quinn insisted.
"Alright, you're fine but what about the timer? You did get submerged, will the water affect the inner components?" Steven asked, gesturing to Quinn's wet jacket pocket. Quinn reached into said pocket, pulling out the small phone-sized device and flipping it open. With a relieved smile he nodded.
"It's working fine. I did my best to weatherproof this thing when I first built it. I took into consideration situations like this. I probably wouldn't hold it underwater for more than a few minutes, but it should be fine" Quinn replied, turning the timer so Steven could see the numbers counting down. "You know, I wonder if the Egyptian timer was built to survive situations like this too"
"I would imagine so. Pretty big design flaw if they skipped out on it. You know, this world makes me wonder, what would happen if you opened a vortex underwater?" Steven asked, not entirely serious with the question but curious nonetheless. Quinn looked unsure, putting the timer back in his pocket.
"Honestly I don't know. If it began to drain the water it would likely be unable to handle the massive load, depending on the timer used. All of the water would likely end up lost to the nothingness between universes, or we'd cause an unexpected mini flood to some persons neighborhood or park"
As Steven nodded a loud strike of thunder could be heard nearby. The wind picked up, water striking the building much more harshly than before. The scientist swallowed, nervously smiling at Quinn.
"Glad we came inside. How much longer until the slide?"
"Nine minutes. Don't worry, we should be fine until then." Quinn answered, turning to fully face the scientist with a look of curiosity. "Dr. Jensen, it's clear we can't do much else in this world but wait. If you don't mind me bringing it up I noticed you and Maggie grew really attached to Olivia in such a short amount of time."
"Oh? Yeah, I suppose we did," Steven admitted, leaning against the nearby wall as he gave Quinn his full attention, "Maggie and I have been married for years now. We both wanted a baby for as long as we can remember, but we learned shortly after we were engaged that it could never happen for us. We still tried of course, but nothing ever came of it. After so much time we thought we would never have a child, but now there's a little girl who has no one to rely on. Maggie and I discussed it and we are planning to take care of her. She needs parents, or at the very least guardians to look after her when we slide to the new world. We want to be those people for her"
Quinn smiled at the new information, leaning back against the wall opposite Steven as he breathing out a sigh of relief.
"You'll make a wonderful father"