Last chapter of this arc! After this, we've basically got 2 arcs left!

Chapter 17 – Giant Killing

"Okay, so where's he hiding at and what's the plan?"

Joshua blinked at Maria as she folded her arms across her chest and looked over the map that was pinned to the back wall of the large room. He glanced at Sixer standing behind her, the kitsune's ears pricked forward as his tails flicked back and forth.

"I had thought you two would be asleep for a few more hours yet," Joshua commented. "Are you certain you've recovered enough of your strength by now?"

"I'm fine, Joshua, I've been through worse," Maria replied. "Besides, we'll be heading out in the sun. I'll get some time to recharge out there."

Joshua frowned at Maria's words, then nodded slowly and looked back at the rest of the group. Shulk, Fiora, Dunban, and Reyn were standing near the map, talking over something with serious expressions on their faces. Sharla, Riki, Melia, and Alvis were in another part of the room, discussing something among themselves.

"Dunban's filling in the others on the locations of Dickson's base and the patrolling Mechon he has out in Makna Forest," Joshua explained. "You haven't missed much yet, but we are going to head out quickly after we've finished discussing ways we're going to reach the giant's location."

Maria nodded.

"Is there anything about the forest that has…changed, since Weirdmageddon began?" Sixer asked.

Joshua frowned at the question. "Why would—"

"Yeah, actually." Dunban looked over at the two arrivals to the war room. "That kid with the antlers did a lot to change the jungle, and some of it's still around."

Joshua's frown deepened while Maria's eyebrows rose.

"Why do you ask?" Alvis turned his attention from Sharla, Riki, and Melia.

"If we bring Pine over, we're probably going to have to bring over Mizar too." Maria looked up at Sixer. "And I don't know if Journal is going to be willing to let his niece go into danger like that. Or Alcor, for that matter."

Sixer frowned. "Yes, that…would make things a little more difficult."

"You are suggesting the possibility of bringing over a member of your family to assist us?" Melia asked. "Would that be wise?"

"Pine…has been experimenting with his reach," Sixer replied as the eyes of the others in the room settled on him and Maria. "We live in the middle of a forest ourselves, but it isn't as big or as thick as this one. It's given him room to practice reading the feel of a forest and how to track the creatures that live inside it."

"That could prove useful, if you can get him here," Dunban commented. "I have no doubt that Dickson has changed up a few things, now that I'm out of his reach. He's not going to make it easy to reach him."

"Or, he could make it too easy and pull us into his clutches before we can say 'Conduit,'" Joshua replied. "We need to think carefully about this, or else we won't be able to come out of this mostly unscathed."

"On the other hand, we can't stand here talking ourselves in circles forever," Maria replied. She walked over to the map on the wall and looked it over, frowning. "…huh. Kinda looks like a giant that fell on its face."

"That's…kind of what happened?" Shulk offered. "We Homs live on the body of the Bionis, a giant being that was created by Zanza. The Mechons used to have the Mechonis, but…that was destroyed."

"I see." Maria frowned in thought as she looked over the map. "And Dickson is…?"

"Up here." Dickson tapped a part of the map that almost looked like it was between the shoulder blades. "He hasn't been able to move up to the head because of the high concentration of ether. Apparently it does something to him – that, or the Telethia don't take to him that well."

"I should hope not."

The group turned to look at Alvis.

"Considering that the Telethia are creatures that Zanza created in order to purge the world, they likely don't take kindly to Dickson and his betrayal of their master," Alvis added.

"But – without Zanza, isn't there a chance they'll be able to regain control of themselves?" Melia asked.

"If there is such a chance, it is incredibly slim. Besides, Melia, you know as well as I what such creatures are capable of."

Melia's expression saddened.

Sixer frowned. "Telethia are those…winged creatures, correct? I remember that he had some trouble with them."

"They used to be High Entia," Joshua explained. "But exposure to high amounts of energy caused them to become…creatures that can predict your attacks and are very difficult to take down."

Sixer's ears pulled back at the description. Maria winced.

"Because some of the High Entia merged their bloodline with Homs, though, their children weren't affected by that," Joshua added. "High Entia like Melia are still alive because of that." He looked at the map again. "But that's not a worry for the moment. Dickson is the main problem."

"Unfortunately, yes," Dunban agreed. "If you want to see about bringing your nephew over, by all means, please. But Dickson's base isn't going anywhere. And since you apparently are able to disable the shield spell that keeps his Mechon nigh-invulnerable, that makes things a little easier."

Maria raised an eyebrow at Sixer.

"It, ah, operates on the same logic as the bindings he had in his…." Sixer trailed off.

"Ah." Maria rubbed a wrist, frowning. "I see. We can definitely use that to our advantage, but I'm not sure if putting you on the front lines is a good idea after what happened earlier. We'll figure something out."

Sixer nodded.

"Maybe Pine could be useful in that?" Joshua asked. "You can contact him, right? And this Mizar you mentioned?"

"Yeah, that won't be a problem," Maria replied. "But, again – no guarantee her grunkles will let us borrow her and Pine for a bit."

Maria raised a hand and brought it down sharply, causing a portal to appear in front of her – or, it looked like a portal at first. After a moment, the blue swirls cleared into a view of what looked like the living room of the Shack.

"Holy Moses!" Stanley nearly fell off the couch. "Maria, what are you doin'? You done over there yet or somethin'?"

"Not quite yet, Stanley," Maria replied. "Are Pine and Mizar nearby? I wanted to ask them something."

"Uh—"

"We're right here, Maria!" Mizar, the eldest Mabel Pines, jumped into view, Pine following. "What's up?"

"We're in a universe that you guys passed through before." Maria nodded to Pine. "Before you got to Gravity Falls, I mean."

Pine's eyes widened sharply as the branch-like antlers on top of his head rattled against each other. "What?" He looked around Maria at the room behind Maria as Sixer peered into the window. "But – is everything—"

"They're fine," Sixer replied. "Dimensionally speaking. It seems that when we killed Cipher, his hold on other dimensions was lifted as well."

Pine blinked a couple times, then relaxed. "That's good, but…why are you telling me now? This could be saved for when you get back, right?"

"Unless you need our help," Mizar spoke up. The teenaged Mabel put her hands on her hips. "What's up?"

Sixer glanced over at Dunban. "This dimension has a large forest that one of Cipher's changed Henchmaniacs is currently hiding in. We rescued someone who was affected by him, but there is concern that his information might not be as up-to-date as it used to be."

"Because the Henchmaniac might be aware that you rescued him?" Pine asked.

"That's the idea," Maria replied. "Sixer said you were familiar with this particular forest. We were wondering if you were up to helping us by acting as a guide and keeping an eye out for Dickson's mechanical nasties."

Pine frowned, then looked at Mizar, who was frowning too. "What do you think…?"

Mizar frowned at the floor for a moment, then looked up. "Hey, Alcor? Don't tell Grunkle Journal or Grunkle Andrew about this, and I'll give you one of those yard-long Snickers bars." She paused, then nodded. "Fine, five and a carton of rocky road."

"Kid—"

"Grunkle Stanley, I'm gonna be fine." Mizar looked back at the old man. "Besides, Maria's gonna be keeping an eye on us. We'll be okay."

"Just make sure ta come back as soon as you're done, okay?" Stanley shot Maria a pointed look. "I don't want to have those demons hunting you across dimensions just 'cause ya did this."

"I'll keep an eye on them," Maria promised. She pressed the side of the portal, and the picture flickered out.

A moment later, Mizar and Pine stepped through, and the portal closed behind them.

Mizar looked around with wide eyes, but that gave way to a grin. "Wow. Hi! I'm Mizar! I'm another version of Star, if you remember her." She elbowed Pine. "Come on, introduce yourself."

Pine raised a hand, looking around at the group while they stared at the branch-like antlers going from his head. "Hi. I'm Pine. You, uh…you guys probably remember me, if there's plant life nearby."

Dunban stepped forward and got down on one knee in front of both of them. Pine almost took a step back, but when he glanced back at Sixer and saw the calm look on his grunkle's face, he held his ground.

"I remember you, but I don't know if you remember me. My name is Dunban. I was…Dickson's victim." He clapped a hand on Pine's shoulder. "Dickson is the…'Henchmaniac' we're looking for. Do you remember him?"

Pine frowned, then glanced at Sixer again.

"He was…a giant, I suppose?" Sixer's tails flicked as he frowned, thinking through his memories. "He has a glamour that let him masquerade as a human who belonged in a biker gang."

It took Pine a second, but he blinked in surprise when he did. "I…I think so? He's the guy who was with the blond guy who got vaporized, right?"

When Sixer nodded, Pine rubbed his chin in thought, then looked back at Dunban. "You just want a guide to get through the woods?"

"If you want to help us later in our fight against Dunban, I don't think we'd be against it," Dunban added. "But yes. I'm worried he might have changed his patrol times since my rescue. It's been a few days."

Pine nodded. "I think I can help with that." He looked at Mizar.

Mizar grinned and produced a bat covered in nails and a rainbow sheen. "He'll never know what hit him. When are we heading out?"

"As soon as I get a proper weapon," Dunban replied.

"Which reminds me!" Maria reached under her jacket and produced sheathed blade. She held it out to Dunban. "I think you'll like this one. It's made from the same metal you are now, and I added in a light blade feature that should function like what Fiora's weapons have." She leaned forward conspiratorially. "I soaked the whole thing in holy water, too, so it's gonna have an extra bite to it just for Dickson."

Dunban's eyebrows rose, and he took the weapon and unsheathed the blade. The katana gleamed in the artificial light, energy crackling along the edge where the light blade was concealed.

"This looks like a good sword," Dunban said. "I am finding myself more in your debt, Maria."

"Think nothing of it," Maria replied. "I'm simply doing what I need to in order to make sure things turn out all right here." She grinned. "So, now that you're equipped, we can do something about Dickson?"

"That is indeed the plan," Dunban agreed. "Let's move out!"

Time Break

Making their way through Makna Forest with Pine's help turned out to be much more of a boon than the rest of the group had expected.

Pine leaned against the trunk of the tree as vines growing from the branches above them lowered the group onto a thick branch lower down. "They're passing below us. The plants on the ground say they don't have the ability to look up, so we'll be tree hopping for a while." The blue glow in his eyes faded as the vines retracted back into the canopy above them.

"How much further?" Riki asked, moving closer to Pine. "Can you tell?"

Pine frowned at the question, closing his eyes. Immediately, a stream of blue flowers sprouted up the trunk and disappeared into the canopy. "It's close. Probably just a few more trees, and we'll have reached his camp."

"Camp?" Melia repeated. She turned to Dunban. "I thought you said it was a base."

"In a way, it is," Dunban replied. "He seems to be focused on turning the ground into metal through use of his abilities. He won't be able to move for a while because of that."

"Oh." Melia blinked in surprise.

"Let's get moving, then." Maria cracked her knuckles. Mizar chuckled behind her and held up her bat meaningfully.

"After Weirdmageddon, one Henchmaniac doesn't scare me," Mizar said with confidence.

"He should," Dunban replied. He started moving out onto the branch. "He got into my head, and he could get into yours as well."

Mizar frowned and lowered the bat. "What do you mean?"

"He controlled Dunban," Shulk explained as he started to follow after Dunban. "Turned him half-Mechon and forced Dunban to fight us."

Pine's eyes widened slightly. "Grunkle Sixer, what—"

"From what I've gathered, Dickson has the power of two former deities under his control," Sixer replied. "The…Zanza and Meyneth I've been told about."

"You mean you don't remember?" Sharla asked Pine, frowning.

Pine shook his head. "I wasn't up in the Fearamid all the time when th – when he was making deals. Grunkle Sixer was."

"For…all of them?" Fiora asked.

Sixer's expression became grim, and he nodded. "He liked…showing me off, I suppose. Proof that he was able to take the people who were supposed to stop him. Especially considering that I fought against him for thirty years of my life."

"Makes me mad that I wasn't conscious for when Puppeteer got what was coming to him, but at least he's not going to be dealt with any more," Maria replied. "Come on. Pine said we're not far, and I'd rather not wait around out here any longer than we already have."

The group moved across the trees after Dunban and Shulk, the branches responding to Pine as he motioned for the wood under them to increase its strength and widen at the edges so that they had more room to walk. Branches intertwined together, and they walked over onto the next tree and made their way around the trunk to the next branch.

"There it is." Dunban pointed down through the branches below them. "See that metal patch?"

Joshua leaned down. "Cyberforming. Interesting."

"You have seen this before?" Melia look at Joshua in surprise while Maria and Sixer frowned down at the dark metal that was slowly creeping along the ground and up some of the trees nearby.

In the middle of the area was a large man with blue skin and long, greasy hair. One of his hands – a metallic, clearly robotic one – was stuck in the ground, pulsing with every small movement of the transformation taking the land.

"In our dimension, there was a group of aliens who tried to cyberform our planet," Joshua explained. "We were lucky they didn't succeed, even if they temporarily built a tower right next to the former base of some of our allies."

"Megatron didn't know what hit him when we took it out," Maria commented. "But he's not a problem to worry about." She got down into a crouch, frowning at the giant. "So that's Dickson. He matches the vision I had of him, but I wonder if he's got that yellow cybernetic eye, or if that comes later." Her clothes shimmered, then shifted to her armor as she made her right hand into a loose fist.

Pine knelt and summoned his power, then watched as the vines from the trees above came down and led to a number of different branches further down on the next tree over. "The trees here feel strange; it's starting to infect their roots and work its way up. I won't be of much help if I get onto the cyberformed area."

"Probably a good idea if we hung back anyway," Mizar said. "I don't trust the look of that."

"What do you think of it?" Joshua looked over at Mizar curiously.

"It…kinda looks like an infection, I guess? If you don't stay on it too long while his fist's stuck in the ground, you'll probably be okay. But we're gonna have to make this quick."

Joshua frowned slightly, then nodded. "I can see the logic in that. Which likely means that Maria, Fiora, Dunban, and I will be the only ones capable of getting close enough to deal any damage."

"Great," Maria muttered. "Well, let's get to it."

And she jumped off the branch without even reaching for the vines.

"Mar—" Sixer cut himself off with an expression of relief when Maria appeared a few feet away from the branch, standing on a metal red and orange board. "Did you have to do that?"

Maria chuckled a little. "It's faster this way, Sixer."

"Thrill-seeker," Joshua muttered. "But she is right. We can't stay up here forever. Let's move."

And then he jumped off himself.

Sixer leaned over the branch's edge and watched as Joshua slowly descended, air blasting out of his armored boots.

"Did you used to have that?" Sixer looked at Maria.

"Yeah, but I had it removed after a while. I've got a hoverboard; I don't need another way to travel quickly like that." Maria shrugged, then started to slowly lower herself. "Come on; might as well get down to the ground so that we can do something about Dickson."

Sixer reached out and took hold of one of the vines as the others who were still on the branch did the same. He jumped off the branch and climbed down carefully, watching as Maria and Joshua reached the ground before the rest.

Maria stayed on her board as the others hit the ground; Pine motioned again, and the vines retracted back into the tree tops.

"We'll stay back," Mizar said, repeating her statement from earlier. "You guys get in there and kick some giant butt!" She grinned.

Maria returned the grin and gave a thumbs-up. "You got it, kiddo." She turned to look over at the metal that was still moving to overtake the landscape. "He's probably aware of us by now, what with all the noise we've been making. So let's just get this over with."

"I couldn't agree more!" shouted back the giant sitting in the middle of the metal patch. He turned to face them, one cybernetic eye gleaming with a harsh, yellow glow. "I've been waitin' ta see you, Campfire. Ya know Cipher put a bounty on yer head?"

"Oh, I'm more than aware." Maria clenched right her fist tightly, only for it to disappear into her arm. It left behind the business end of a cannon.

"Campfire?" Joshua muttered. "That doesn't seem like an apt nickname."

Dickson gave a short laugh. "That's what you think, Sparky." He rose to his feet, pulling his fist away from the ground and halting the metal's advancement in the process. "That little campfire has caused a wildfire of trouble, an' I'm gonna stop it here."

The growl in his voice only caused Maria to raise her arm cannon in response.

"We'll see about that, bub," Maria replied.

Sixer reflexively summoned his fire, covering his hands with flickering tongues of flame.

"Oh, you're thinkin' of pittin' him against me, eh? I'd like ta see you try. He looks like he'd be a good little footstool for me as much as he was fer Cipher!"

Sixer stiffened at Dickson's words, but Maria and Dunban moved in front of him.

"Sixer has fought for his freedom and gained it fairly." Dunban unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Dickson. "He told us what happened to the demon, and I have to say, I am very much looking forward to doing the same to you."

Dickson laughed. "Oh, you can most certainly try." He grabbed the blade that was attached to his back and unsheathed it, revealing a strange, red-gray blade that glowed with energy.

"The Monados!" Shulk exclaimed.

"Sharp eye, boy." Dickson readied his blade. "Let's see how well you can fight against the power of two gods with your measly little toothpick!"

At that point, Maria fired a large, orange-colored energy shot half her size from the barrel of her arm cannon.

The attack caught Sixer by surprise – he hadn't seen her make use of the weapon before. Her abilities with fire, yes, but not this.

Dickson deflected the blast with his sword, but Dunban took advantage of the distraction by lunging forward and going in for a slash to Dickson's lower half.

"Joshua!" Maria barked.

Joshua's fist disappeared into his right arm, and he raised an arm cannon as well. Sixer watched in surprise as Joshua shot a series of orbs of sparking blue electricity at the giant.

Dunban danced to the side quickly, revealing a number of slashes across Dickson's front right before the electrical blast collided with Dickson.

"Oh, now you just ain't playin' fair!" Dickson complained.

"From the moment you made a deal with Cipher, any idea of 'fairness' likely left your thick skull!" Mizar called from the back of the group as Maria and Joshua fired off more energy attacks. Sharla joined in, her rifle's shots almost echoing off the trees around them. "Come on, man, since when was Cipher ever fair?"

"Since when wasn't he?" Dickson replied with a laugh. "He gave me all I wanted and more. I'd say following him around until the end of time is a fair trade!"

Dickson swiped at Dunban, who just barely managed to avoid getting hit by the blade.

"All I gotta do now is wait for him ta come back an'—"

"Come back?" Sixer repeated, the fur on his tails rising.

Maria paused seconds after shooting another barrage. She frowned. "Puppeteer paid for what he did to the Pines with his life. He did not make a deal with them to change them. He paid his debts. He won't be coming back."

Dickson's confident expression faltered. "What? That doesn't – that doesn't make any sense."

"I say it makes complete sense."

Maria and Sixer glanced over as Alvis stepped past Reyn, Fiora, Melia, and Riki and stepped onto the cyberformed part of the forest. He paused as his boots turned silver for a moment, but then they changed back.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "What the—"

"They were changed without being given anything they asked for in return, and I am sure if they were given that option, they would have asked to be left alone, rather than be involved in their enemy's machinations," Alvis continued. "I should say that providence intervened, did it not?"

Sixer saw Joshua frown.

"I wasn't aware that you retained what you had after what happened," Joshua said.

Alvis glanced back at Joshua with a smile as Dickson cried out in pain from Dunban slashing into him again.

"Keep firing at Dickson!" Sharla barked. She reloaded her rifle and fired again. "We can't let Dunban keep fighting without cover, even if we shouldn't walk all over that metal ground right now!"

"Do not underestimate the abilities I still have, Joshua Langstrom," Alvis said lightly. He turned and started walking forward again, the cyberformed ground trying to affect his feet, only to be repelled by some unseen force with each step.

Sixer stared with no small amount of surprise. "How is that possible?"

"Alvis is more than he appears to be." Joshua leveled his arm cannon at the giant again. "But Sharla is right, we need to keep distracting Dickson. Dunban can't do this alone."

Maria raised her buster. "Sixer, you've got your power up, do you have something in mind?"

Sixer blinked at that, looking a bit surprised. He glanced down and noticed his hands were still on fire, then shook his head and looked up at the cyborg giant that was still giving Dunban trouble.

The swordsman was starting to look haggard himself, in fact.

Sixer moved a step closer to the edge of the cyberformed patch, standing between Maria and Joshua as he raised his hands up in front of himself. He took aim and breathed in as fire crawled up his arms to his shoulders, growing slowly hotter.

Maria watched Sixer out of the corner of her eye as she released another barrage of energy shots from the cannon, raising an eyebrow as the fire started to slowly turn from red to blue to white.

Sixer gritted his teeth, and pushed forward.

The fire reacted, streaming off his arms and shooting off in a flamethrower at Dickson, following after the energy shots Maria had just fired.

"Why are—"

The flames hit Dickson in the chest, splaying out in a five-star shape as Sixer cut the power off.

Sixer stumbled back a couple steps and found his balance while the others looked at him in surprise.

"Riki don't remember you doing that before!" Riki exclaimed in surprise.

Sixer rested his hands on his knees. "Trick I picked up from Maria."

"Of course you did," Joshua said dryly. "Next thing she's going to teach you is how to use up your energy to the point of nearly killing yourself from the energy loss."

Sixer glanced at Maria, who rolled her eyes and smirked.

"I didn't teach him that, he picked it up on his own," Maria quipped back. "How do you think he helped kill Puppeteer?"

Joshua did a double-take while Dickson roared in pain from the burns he'd been inflicted with. "…you two are really a pair, you know that, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maria frowned. "If you're talking about firepower, we are pretty similar, but—"

"Nevermind." Joshua shook his head and turned his attention back to the fight as Dickson dropped to one knee. "I didn't think that would do that much damage to him. How is that possible?"

"Your friend is blessed with something that has made him a weakness where they once found strength," Alvis commented. He stopped a few feet away from Dunban as the swordsman recovered his breath. "I think he has been weakened sufficiently, don't you?"

Dunban looked over at Alvis with a strange expression. After a moment, his eyes widened slightly, and he turned to face Dickson.

"Dickson!" Dunban stood tall, the sword Maria made for him held at his side. The light blade fizzed and sparked. "I used to think of you as a friend. When you shot Shulk in the back and released Zanza, I had a lot of anger for your act of treason against us. When you sided with the demon that nearly destroyed our world, that anger increased tenfold. And now, after you'd changed me and forced me to fight against those I called family, you get to meet the price for your actions. I wish it had turned out differently for all of us."

Dickson gave a shaky laugh in reply. "You wish, but I was doin' what I wanted."

"Then I think you know what comes next." Dunban raised his weapon. "Good-bye, Dickson."

As Dunban sliced into Dickson with his final attack, Joshua glanced at Maria. "You're not going to try and save him?"

"Dickson made a deal with Puppeteer for this and is probably going to be completely obedient to any Cipher he might come across," Maria replied. "If there was anything I could do, I should have done it before the Dark Arms reached me." She glanced at Joshua. "But I wasn't ready for what Puppeteer had up his sleeves back then. I'm pretty sure if I had tried to do anything, what's happened over the course of Sixer's lifetime might have ended up far worse."

Sixer winced at the thought as Dickson toppled over, Dunban standing mostly unharmed. "I…think I prefer to not think about that."

Maria nodded in agreement.

Mizar cheered loudly behind them. "Nice one! That's one Henchmaniac down! You guys got any other ones to worry about?"

"If we do, I…think we'll be able to handle them now," Shulk replied as Alvis reached Dunban and Dickson's collapsed form.

Sixer followed Shulk's gaze and blinked in surprise when he saw Alvis reach down and pick up the strange blade that Dickson had been wielding. It vanished in a flash of light.

"If Dickson knew what it was he was wielding, this would have been far more difficult than it was," Alvis commented as the metal started to recede into the ground. "Well done, all of you, and thank you for your assistance, Maria, Joshua, Mizar, Sixer, and Pine. I think we will be able to handle our future from here."

Maria relaxed her right arm, her hand popping out of the arm cannon. "I'm just glad things didn't go south with a robot apocalypse."

Joshua shot Maria a look as he deactivated his own cannon. "That's what you saw?"

"Basically." Maria's armor shifted back to her normal clothing. "I'm glad I was able to hang out with you guys. And you too, Joshua."

Sixer's ears perked up as Maria grabbed her cousin in a tight hug.

"And don't tell my past self you met me here, okay? It might cause a paradox."

"…will do," Joshua replied. "When will I see you?"

"You'll know." Maria released Joshua from the hug, then turned to look at Sixer, Mizar, and Pine. "Well, ready to go home?"

"What, now?" Mizar frowned. "I really wanted to get a good look at this place!"

"World Jumpers only stay in a dimension so long as we're needed," Joshua replied. "Our time of being needed here is just about up."

Mizar scowled, but then she sighed and rolled her eyes. "All right, all right. Let's go home then."

Maria smiled, then looked at Dunban and the others. "Take care, all right? I bet there's more trouble where Dickson came from."

"We'll take care of ourselves," Sharla replied. "Safe travels."

Maria gave a nod, then snapped her fingers and summoned a portal, garnering a few gasps from the group. "Come on, guys. Let's make sure Alcor doesn't throw a fit over Mizar being out here."

"He will not!" Mizar objected, but she stepped through the portal anyway. Pine followed after her.

Sixer moved in front of the portal, then paused and looked at Maria.

"I'll be right behind you," Maria promised.

"Maria."

Maria turned and looked at Joshua.

"What is it that Cipher would have done that might have made all this worse?" Joshua asked.

Maria's smile dropped from her face. "He would have pulled what the Dark Arms did to me."

Joshua's eyes widened slightly, and he quickly schooled his expression. "I see. Good to know. I am glad that didn't happen."

"You're not the only one," Sixer replied. He nodded to Maria, then stepped through the portal. She followed on his heels, and the portal closed up behind them, leaving Joshua and the others behind.