Chris grabbed the first flight he possibly could, so it wasn't very nice or direct, slated to make one stop in Nashville and then another in Dallas before reaching the final destination. He of course ended up with enough time at the house beforehand to say hello and goodbye to his father, before setting off to the airport.

In his recent travels Chris had gotten used to taking the Tortuga, thus not needing to go through any security or checkpoints outside of getting approval from the girls for the locations he wanted to travel to. However, his family took planes around quite a bit when he was younger, so he was quite able to readjust and navigate - though, one negative side effect of not using this form of transportation for a while was that the crowds were making him feel claustrophobic. He just felt surrounded by judgey strangers, who all looked frustrated and unwelcoming and annoyed, swirling around him in clouds of bad moods.

The airport had clearly improved since he'd been there last with a lot of nicer, newer installations. However, from the perspective of an adult and a biologist, he was none too pleased with the food options that had remained trashy as ever, and supported the mindless and cruel animal-killing machine that was the fast and cheap food industry; as a child he would have been thrilled to get nuggets from that burger place in the food court, but now he was hesitant just to get a breakfast sandwich from the coffee shop that put leaves in their logo in some attempt to trick the everyday passerby into thinking their brand was wholesome and organic. It wasn't.

Nonetheless Chris was hungry, and sat down with that breakfast sandwich, and a plain coffee that he had also gotten, and scarfed them both down as he waited to board the plane.

While on the plane, he knew he was not going to be able to tolerate the crying babies, pilot announcements, and beeping seatbelt signals, so he plugged in his earbuds and put on some music. There was a playlist Martin had made for Chris a while back when he left for college called "Greatest Hits for my Greatest Bro." Chris listened to it a lot when they were apart, but when the two were reunited he didn't really touch it all that much. The brothers just didn't organize their playlists the same, with Martin grouping songs together more based on their energy and themes, and Chris more on their genre, so without a need of something to remember Martin by, Chris let the playlist alone and continued listening to music in his own way. Quite frankly, Martin was surprised in his frequent snooping on Chris' Creature Pod that Chris still had the playlist at all. It must have been for this moment: now, he felt he needed it more than ever.

In retrospect it was probably a mistake to put that playlist on, what with all the stress and uncertainty surrounding Martin's whereabouts, and with the fact that all the songs were hand-picked by Martin specifically for Chris whenever he was feeling stressed or uncertain. A few of the songs made him tear up, including the very first one, which caused the lady sitting next to him prod him on the arm and ask, "you're not afraid of flying, are you?"

Chris just shook his head and said he was having a rough week. She nodded, then took a second take at Chris.

"Wait, are you one of those...Kart brothers, or something? My nephew is part of your...fan club, or whatever."

Chris didn't want to deal with this right now. "No, but I get that a lot."

"Oh yeah, me too, I hate it getting confused for a celebrity. People tell me all the time that I look like Emma Watson, and they ask for autographs." She did not look like Emma Watson. "But really, my nephew is super into those brothers and their animal stuff. They're like, superheroes for animals, right? A little weird, if you ask me, but he just talks on and on about them, although I think he likes the other one more? Sorry, the other one that you don't look like, who's tall and funny? And kinda hot, if you ask me."

"That's nice." Chris said, through gritted teeth. He put his earbuds back in and continued to stare, misty-eyed, out the window. She huffed, saying "alrighty then" to herself, and returned to an e-book on her mini tablet. Not a care in the world had she, even sitting next to a person whose world was falling apart.

Chris always envied Martin's ability to sleep on planes. They were too unpredictable and turbulent as environments for Chris to get any shut-eye, and it was the same even in the more stable and steady Tortuga. So Chris was wide-awake the whole way through, staring blankly at the wall or seat in front of him, as sentimental music, memories of Martin and potential scenarios for what was coming next all passed through his head.

At the second stop in Dallas the woman sitting next to him, and the man sitting next to her, were amongst the people to get off. Replacing them was another couple, middle-aged, who payed him no mind.

Finally they touched down in Las Cruces. Chris had of course called the crew ahead of time to tell them he was on his way, and of course they tried to talk him out of it, telling him he needed to rest and process what had happened, but he wouldn't have any of if. After all, if they were being proactive, why couldn't he? So the crew admitted there was nothing they could do to stop him, and agreed to send Jimmy to pick him up.

Chris felt weird going through this airport. It was the last one he had ever been in, when he flew over to see the completed Tortuga, whose existence made all airports obsolete; but at the same time, that was so long ago, almost a year now, so this combination of freshness and staleness left a strange taste in his mind. Instead of feeling like he was moving forward towards something, he just felt like he was trapped in the past, and this left him a touch disoriented, because while he had run through his head all the things that could happen, he had not predicted any of the emotions that came with them.

Chris grabbed his old green suitcase from the conveyor belt and moved to the outdoor pickup area, pulling up his Pod to call Jimmy and tell him where he was - but upon coming out Jimmy was already there waiting for him.

"Hey man." Jimmy said. The two hugged. "I'm glad you came out so quick, those traffic officers were giving me the stink eye for waiting here for so long."

"How long were you out here?" Chris asked.

"Like, three minutes! These guys really want to keep things moving." Jimmy opened the trunk and put in Chris' suitcase, despite Chris' protests of "I can get it!" It was too little too late, and not a big deal overall. The two hopped in the car.

"I had to get a rental," Jimmy said, "till the Createrra's repaired. Her engine got completely trashed, and she's got special parts, so it's been taking a while to find replacements."

"Mm-hm. It's a nice rental." Chris said.

"Yup."

The two drove in silence for a bit, before Jimmy spoke up again.

"Hey, I'm sorry that we kinda... ditched you in New Jersey."

"What? No, it's fine. I want to find Martin as soon as possible, I totally get that she wanted to do that too."

"I mean... that's kinda it?" Jimmy sighed. "She just wanted to get back on the Tortuga."

"Oh?"

"Maybe it's one of those people-grieve-in-their-own-ways kinda things? She's just burying herself in her work. I guess Koki's being like that too. Don't tell either I said that, they'd kick my ass."

Chris chuckled. "So you got the Tortuga back to Las Cruces?"

"Yeah." Jimmy said. "Honestly, it was easier to get it out of Antarctica than it was getting it up into New Mexico, since we crash-landed on the shore. It's... in rough condition."

Chris sighed. "Have you heard any...news about Martin?"

Jimmy shook his head sadly. "No, we haven't." He breathed quite deeply, and sniffed a bit.

Not a lot of people, especially ones who were initially put with strangers, could have stuck together in a small crew like that for so long, let alone still care about eachother. Fights break out, personalities clash, and they all just grow apart. But the Wild Kratts crew was lucky, that they were so close despite their differences and constant exposure to one another. While Chris didn't like throwing around the term "family" liberally, just because the idea meant so much to him, the crew really had become like that. While Martin and Chris were obviously the closest, Chris couldn't in his right mind think that no one else would be mourning. "You know," Jimmy continued, "we may be in luck today, some big governmental guy is supposed to drop in for a visit."

"Oh?" Chris perked up. "To give information? Like someone from the FBI?"

Jimmy shrugged. "He's just some... government guy. We don't really know who he is or why he's coming, only that it's urgent, and he's important."

"Huh." Chris said. "Weird."

After about an hour and a half of driving and chummy conversation, two arrived at the warehouse - well, it really used to be a small private airport, but Aviva had bought it from the original owner, liking it for its size, seclusion, and reasonable price tag. She had to raise the roof a lot when they got it so that they could actually fit the ship inside, and you could see where the old walls stopped and the new walls began. It was out in the middle of the desert, surrounded by mirages, heat waves and tumble weeds. While they were out on adventures, the place would sit abandoned, but the Tortuga was brought to it for maintenance every so often, if they needed something particularly important done. Usually while the girls would work inside, the bros would run around, exploring the surrounding desert, but not this time. This time, Chris was here to help.

There was a barrier gate guarding the road leading up to it, though you could easily drive around it if you went off-road, because the original owner, for some reason, took the fence with him after he had sold it. Nonetheless, because the crew wanted to effect the desert as little as possible with their presence, Jimmy took the time to fumble around in his pockets, pull out a little fob, roll down the window, and touch the fob to a sensor. With a beep and a flashing green light, the gate was open, and they were in. If he didn't have the fob there was also a call button on the sensor, so guests could contact the main building and get remote entry, but that's neither here nor there.

Upon arrival, Chris noticed a massive pile of rubbish from the Tortuga sitting outside the building - there were heavy duty garbage bags, probably filled with broken glass, various metal parts and busted utilities, and, to Chris' dismay, many of the old plant pots, broken into terracotta bits. They pulled past it, and parked next to one of two pedestrian entrances to the structure.

There was a lounge the boys passed through before they got to the main hangar. It was in a small side building, which was where there was ac, and restrooms, and some other rooms where the crew would lay out sleeping bags if it was to be multiple days of maintenance. Off in the corner of this lounge, there was an old desk with monitors, where things like the gate and security cameras were managed. Chris set all his belongings down next to a loveseat.

The inside of the main hangar wasn't really noteworthy. It had high ceilings and a concrete floor. There were large fans whirring at their maximum capacities, and everything was quite dusty.

There was the Tortuga itself. All its windows were completely removed, including the sunroof. Aside from that, and the fact that it was missing a leg, whose place was at the moment being filled by what looked like an enormous car jack, the ship looked to be in pretty good shape. The head was lowered and opened, as was too the door in the belly. What did look to be in bad condition where the vehicles the Tortuga once carried, which were all lined up limp and battered along the wall like victims of a firing squad. Chris couldn't see the girls anywhere, but he could hear their voices.

"They're probably inside." Jimmy said. "Hey! Girls, we're back!" He shouted. No response. The two looked at eachother, and headed into the Tortuga.

The ship was completely empty of all their stuff, and the power was still all gone too. It was just an echoey shell, an animal that had been gutted. They made their way to the upper levels, which continued to exemplify this.

The girls were knelt down next to the center console, working on some wires in an open panel. They heard the boys come in, and turned around.

"I brought back the war hero!" Jimmy proclaimed.

"Okay, I wouldn't go that far," Chris said, getting a hug from Koki, then Aviva. "I didn't buckle up my seat, if anything I'm just a bad passenger."

"Hey, Chris, are you alright?" Aviva said, releasing her hug. She looked tired and strained, her bagged eyes possessing just a little less sparkle than normal.

"Yeah, I'll be ok. So what's the plan?" Chris asked.

"Well, right now we're just hoping to restore power to the Tortuga." Koki said. "The crystals are fine, but a lot of what was routing the power to the rest of the ship got trashed."

"No, I mean... for finding Martin."

"Oh." Aviva said. "We don't really... have one."

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"We just... have to fix the ship." She continued, her eyes darting away.

"Okay, well, no, that's not entirely true." Koki said. "We can't really help Martin until we've got the ship back online, because, well, we can't track his Creature Pod without the central systems of the Tortuga, and, well, even if we can't get a signal, or he doesn't have it anymore, wherever he may be, we could need Creature Powers, maybe something we don't have yet, and we can't make new power suits without, well, power."

"Yes." Aviva said quickly. "So for now, getting the Tortuga back is our biggest priority."

"Maybe." Chris said. "While you do that though, I should go down to Antarctica and look for clues." He turned and headed out of the Tortuga, this time through the cockpit.

"What? No, Chris!" She said, following after him. "Don't get all amateur sleuth on us, not like this! We are not splitting up the team again, especially over something so... nothing!"

"Nothing?" Chris asked angrily.

"Chris, there are people looking there now who have found nothing, and they're trained professionals-"

There was a knock on the other pedestrian door, the one that lead directly into the hangar.

"Speak of the devil." Koki said.

"Who's that?" Jimmy asked. "The government guy? Did he drive around the gate?"

Aviva rushed to let whoever it was in.

A man was there. He was tall and broad, and looked like someone who belonged in a wild west movie more than a government agency, weirdly suiting the desert he had just emerged from. He was slightly on the older side of middle aged, and wore a pair of near frameless glasses; his face was long and handsome, though burdened with heavy, defined, drooping cheeks, which were bridged together by a silver mustache, and covered in short but rough stubble. He wore a suit, with a tightly buttoned collared shirt beneath it that his neck bulged out over ever so slightly, and a bright red tie, which he often adjusted with his hands. Those hands looked considerably more aged than the rest of him, marked like ridged badlands with cracks and wrinkles. He was missing a thumb on his left.

He entered with the kind of confidence that was room-silencing. It also helped that following him was a woman who was ten times more intimidating than he. She had short hair, and wore a large, dark peacoat, in whose pockets she kept her hands. You could tell from the shape that stowed in there, what she grasped, was a pair of handguns, one in each pocket. Her eyes were covered by aviator sunglasses.

"Hello, you're the official?" Aviva asked.

The man spoke, his voice having that old-man ruggedness to it, but with a hint of songlike pretentiousness. "Ah, Miss Corcovado." He stumbled with the pronunciation of her name. "I'm glad I was able to find you and your little...operation out here. It's good to see you again."

"I'm sorry? You look familiar, but I'm afraid I'm not sure where I know you from." She said, trying her best to be professional towards this very professional looking fellow, despite being miffed that they had barged in like that, without ringing them at the gate.

"Oh, my apologies." He pulled out a badge, it wasn't anything Chris recognized. "My name is Paul Hubbard, we met briefly in India, about five years ago?"

"Ind- oh." Her brows dropped, and her eyes narrowed.

"I always figured our paths would cross again, though it is a shame it's under such... circumstances."

"I told you." She snapped. "I'm not interested in joining your militia. If that's what you're here ab-."

"Oh, no, no, no, of course not! You made that very clear, as unfortunate as it is, since you all are much too qualified to concern yourselves with mere... environmentalism." He rolled his shoulders back as if adjusting his jacket. "You could do some real work here with us-"

"Why are you here?" Aviva cut him off.

"Oh, two people!" He said, making some small gesture at the woman behind him, who seemed to be growing tense. "Nora and Axel. Those are the names your colleague mentioned in his last call, correct? Well, on their own they're only tasteless, tacky names, but together..." he shook his head. "Axel Neely, and Nora Donovan. They're a pair of dangerous smugglers, who are involved in our primary, ongoing investigation. You know, the one that, five years ago, concerned Mr. Bruce."

"Okay." Aviva crossed her arms. "So what do you want? Information?"

"Oh, no, I'm sure you have nothing for me. You poor souls were trapped, right? It was all an unfortunate incident, so I'm here just to assure you that this case is completely out of your hands. You won't have to worry about it anymore, and you are highly advised not to."

"What?" Koki shot up. "You're telling us to just sit and do nothing while Martin needs our help?"

He raised his eyebrows, adding many creases to his forehead. He chuckled brazenly. "Needs your help? My good girl, the only 'help' you owe poor Martin is making sure he gets a decent funeral."

"What?" Koki shouted again.

"It's a shame, he was such a...lively fellow. But those two smugglers, as sadistic as they have been known to be, are also never lacking in efficiency when it comes to covering their tracks. I have no doubt they practiced such lethal means of self-preservation in this case."

"What are you saying?" Jimmy asked.

"Pardon, I assumed you were all as well educated as Miss Corcovado. I'm saying that Martin is in all likelihood very much dead."

"I'm sorry, who the hell is this guy, really?" Chris finally spoke up. Fists balled, he began approaching the man, but as Aviva saw the woman behind him lock up like an animal about to charge, she drew out her hand and stopped Chris in his tracks.

"Chris," she said, "this is one of the guys in the task force that 'helped' Martin in India. You know, with that Vincent Bruce guy? And the leopards?*"

"Miss Corcovado, I certainly hope you haven't been sharing that story with everyone you know?We are meant to be discreet, here."

"Oh, no, this is Martin's younger brother, Chris." She said.

"Yes, I'm well aware." He said back. "And I'll have you both know, I am not 'one of the guys,' I am the leader of this task force." He said this as if he were trying to intimidate them.

"I don't care what you are." Chris snarled. "Until you find his goddamn body, you have no right to tell us Martin's dead."

Hubbard stared, completely devoid of emotion, at Chris, then at Aviva. "I'm surprised, Miss Corcovado, that you keep such company."

"If you're turning that into another speech about how I should join you, save it. Better yet, take it up with that." She pointed to the door.

"Miss Corcovado, I was simply trying to offer condolences and assurance." He said.

"You've got a funny way of doing it." Retorted Koki. He shot her one of those I-wasn't-talking-to-you sorts of glances.

"Very well. If you can't all be couth, that's not my problem. Just know, if you look into this any further, there will be consequences. It's fine you don't want to make allies of us. Be careful not to make us enemies." He waved his hand, and his companion opened the door for him. He turned his back to them and left, with her following behind him. The door shut violently and loudly.

"Pig." Koki murmured.

"We're totally ignoring this guy, right?" Jimmy asked. "Just making sure."

"Oh yes we are." Aviva said.

"Great." Chris said. "I'm off to Antarctica then."

"Oh no you're not." Aviva said.

"What? Aviva, sitting around playing the long game is probably just what that guy wants us to do! As long as he's in charge of the investigation, they're gonna get nothing done towards finding Martin, and by the time we get the Tortuga back online, they'll've covered everything up, and we'll really have no chance to find him!"

"Chris, we're actually not that far away from getting power back." Then she grimaced. "Fixing all the circuitry and hardware may take a lot longer, though."

"So I'm going."

"I can go with him." Koki offered.

"No, no, nobody's going." Aviva said. "Look, I get why you're not getting this, because you've never seen these guys in action, but trust me, they are efficient and no-nonesense. If they catch you snooping around for clues, you will be at best detained and at the likeliest shot on sight. I can't let that happen!"

"But we can't just wait until everything works!" Chris said. "Who knows what could happen to Martin in the meantime?"

"Chris I am not splitting up this team again, and that's final!" She snapped. "That's what Martin did last time, and look what that got him!"

Chris was frozen. He looked as if he were once again in actual, terrible pain.

"Chris - oh, I-" Aviva stammered, realizing what she'd said, "I didn't mean it, Chris, I'm sorry."

"No, no it's... whatever." Chris whispered. "I need to go think."

.

.

.

Chris paced one of those side rooms. Aviva was right, they were all trapped, once again. Those guys, whoever they were, were just too dangerous to go up against, especially split up. Chris realized that in his hastiness to save his brother he had become exactly the kind of person who started this all - his brother.

Is that what this is about? Is this why I'm so...

Chris sat down, his head in his hands. He was so confused, he had planned for what could be done, but he hadn't figured out why. Obviously he wanted to save his brother, but there was something else clouding his mind. Everyone else was right, he probably should have taken the time to process his emotions, because now he was just lost.

There was only one thing he could think to do to remedy things. He called his mother.

The tears began welling up as the phone rang. He was nearly in full cry by the time she picked up, and her voice came through.

"Chris? Chris, sweetie, what is it?"

It took him a bit of weeping before he gathered up the words.

"Mom, are you... mad at Martin?"

"Mad? At Martin?"

"I think everyone else is, for...running off and getting...taken. Like, everyone told him he should stay and wait, but he didn't, so like... you aren't mad, are you?"

"Good heavens no!" She said. "Are you?"

"I'm not sure, I... like... but... why aren't you mad?"

"Well, because, he did exactly what I would've done!"

"Really?" He sobbed.

"Of course, Chris! I don't know how to be a bird with those power suits you use, obviously, but if my son was in danger I would have jumped to save you in a heartbeat."

Chris continued to cry.

"Martin's always been protective of his little siblings, you know that." She said. "Okay, think of it this way: you remember Tommy Perkins' older brother Dale?"

"No."

"Well, when you were in the 3rd grade Dale almost hit you with his bike, because you were standing in the sidewalk staring at the birds; after he missed he could've just kept on riding, but he stopped and yelled at you, and pushed to the ground. You came home crying, and the next day Martin got detention for a month -"

"Wait, I kinda remember this." Chris said, after a giant sniff. "Martin punched him, right?"

"In the face! Your father and I were so mad with him, you know why? Because there were other things we could've done instead. We were going to talk to the school, to Mr. and Mrs. Perkins, but, well, I can't remember if we just didn't tell Martin what we were going to do or not, but he jumped the track, without thinking about other options, because he was mad too. In Antarctica, did you have other options?"

"Well... kinda? But, if we'd gone with them, then I would've...you know..." Chris trailed off.

"See? Martin did the only thing that got you to safety! So, I'm not mad at him."

"I...guess I'm not either." Chris said. "Then why do I still feel so angry?"

"Because someone took your brother, Chris." She said. "I'm angry too, at whoever did this!" He could hear her begin to tear up as well over the phone. "Those are terrible, terrible people, who have done something terrible to my babies, to both of them. I can't not be mad."

Chris was quiet for a bit. He decided to tell her about Paul Hubbard, and what he had said. She only hummed deeply after hearing it. "I don't believe him. I keep telling myself," he continued, "that I know he's still alive. That it's some brother thing, you know? That supposed sibling connection people talk about, where you can feel their pain or something? But now I don't know..." his crying picked back up quite heavily, "is that what this is, or am I just in denial?"

"Oh, Chris," she said, and then, "oh, honey." She gave him some time to let it out. He sat down on one of the lounge seats, and began shaking, practically rocking himself back and forth with all the distressed energy he'd been slowly building up. Eventually he ran out of that energy and calmed down.

"Chris, I don't know a lot about this." She said. "I don't know anything about the Tortuga, or the villains you face, or this Hubbard guy and what his deal is. But I know your brother, Chris. Maybe not the odds of him being... alive... but I know him. He would not give up on himself, and he would not give up on you. He is a fighter, and a shining light - if anyone could make it out of this okay, it's Martin. You have to have faith in that."

Chris sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks."

"You two have just astonished me, you always have," She continued, "with how much you're changing the world for the better. Whatever happens, I'm proud of you both, and I'm just gonna say, I don't think there are a lot of powers on this earth, no matter how terrible they may be, who are even capable of splitting up your friendship. You two are too sure of a team."

"A...team."

Suddenly, something switched on in his brain. A little connection between those two dots that he didn't even know mattered, but were needed to blow this whole thing wide open. He had done it. He had found the solution. "Mom, I have to go, I've figured something out."

"Okay." She said.

"I'm bringing Martin home, I promise."

"Please be safe, Chris."

Chris hung up, and ran to the hangar.

He had burst in on a conversation the crew was having. He just caught Aviva saying "just needs space" before they all turned and noticed him.

"Chris! Are you okay?" She asked.

"What? Yeah, yeah."

"Chris, if you need to take some time t-"

"No, forget that." He said. "I know how we're gonna find Martin."

"Oh?" Aviva asked. "We're all ears."

He looked at them. They all smiled confidently and compassionately, and he felt a wave of assurance accompany his newfound revelation.

"So, we know for a fact Zach Varmitech was in Antarctica, right?" He said.

"Yeah," Jimmy said, "that's why we were headed there."

"But these other guys, Nora and Axel, they were there too." He looked at them expectantly, but they knew not what to say.

"What are you getting at Chris?" Koki asked.

"Really think about it. What are the odds that two separate villain... groups, I guess, are in the same place at the same time, let alone Antarctica?"

"Pretty common, I'd say." Aviva said, raising her eyebrow, and putting her hands on her hips. "Chris, we deal with multiple villains at once all the time."

"Yes, but only if they're..." he gestured for them to complete his thought.

"...teamed up." Aviva finished. "Oh my god, you don't think that-"

"Zach Varmitech is teamed up with Nora and Axel." Chris said.

"I'll be damned." Aviva replied, throwing her hands in the air.

"Welcome back, Chris." Koki grinned.

"So what do we do about it?" Jimmy asked.

"You guys can keep working on the Tortuga." Chris said. "I can go after Zach."

"Chris, I told you -"

"This is Zach we're talking about, Aviva! What could happen?" He said.

"Yeah, but if they're a packaged deal now, Nora and Axel may be with him too. I'm not making the same mistake of letting anyone go by themselves." She shook her head. "No, that's not how we do this. I'll go with you."

"What?" Chris and Koki and Jimmy all said at once.

"Aviva, what about working on the Tortuga? You said it yourself, if we don't have that to help Martin, it doesn't matter where he is!" Chris said.

"Aviva, I think Chris has got this under control." Koki said. "He's right, we need to get the Tortuga back."

"No, we don't." She said. Everyone stared at her in stunned confusion. "No, no, we don't! God, I can't believe I said that we did! We've put too much stock into it, okay? I'm not making the same mistake of letting someone go by themselves, but I'm also not making the same mistake of waiting, because that's what cost us Martin, just as much as anything else! We have to act, we have to go save him, because I'm not... I'm not losing anyone else." She began to tear up. "I'm not...guys, I'm not doing that again!" She wiped her eyes. "Forget the Tortuga. There's no point to it without Martin. I can just fix the MIK if we need suits."

"In that case," Jimmy said, "we're all going."

"Yeah!" Koki said. "As a team."

"As a team." Aviva repeated. Chris looked at her, beaming gratefully. The whole group hugged.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Chris asked. "We find Zach, we find Martin." Everyone nodded.

Chris was still scared. Terrified, in fact. Something horrible may be happening to Martin at that very moment. He might not even be alive.

But Chris wasn't alone. He never would be. No matter what happened, those who remained would stick together, and that was enough.

For now, it had to be.

Because as they all scrambled about, trying to find where Zach lived, deciding how to get there, listening to Chris' plans for what to do when they arrived, they all knew, deep down inside:

Though they had all walked away from calamity, they were heading straight for a new one. The worst was probably yet to come.

.

.

.

events from Just a Few More Years, for those in need of a refresher.