Chapter 10 – Getting It Right

Hey, everyone.

Thanks for the favourite, blaber! Also, sorry for the long wait. I've been typing up another one of my stories. It's needed some revisions and additions to it before it's ready to be posted, so that's what's been taking so much time. Also, I've been feeling rather lazy these past few days… I've got no excuse for that…

But now, I'm back to Just Some Dimensional Mishaps! Did you miss me? Also – wow! – nearly 2500 views! Thanks for reading, you guys are the best!

I've kept you waiting long enough! On with the story!

Once he was sure that both Valkyrie and Toph were asleep, Zombieman go to his feet and walked silently to the elevator. It took a moment for the open basket to get up to the first floor, when it got there, he stepped in and closed the door behind him. The lift trundled back down with Zombieman in it and soon he was headed down the corridor to the main building of Child Emperor's lab complex.

It was the dead of night, a time when most people would be asleep.

Yet when Zombieman paused in the doorway, he heard noises of activity coming from ahead. Walking forwards noiselessly, he found the young Class-S hero hunched over a laptop, typing away furiously. A few feet ahead of him was what appeared to be a half-built metal cube. It was missing its front, roof and its left wall. Wiring dangled from inside and emitted the odd shower of sparks every now and then.

Zombieman cleared his throat, alerting Child Emperor to his presence in the lab.

He saw the boy start in evident surprise before he turned around to face Zombieman, his eyes wide.

"Oh! It's just you, Zombieman," he stated aloud. "Everything okay?"

The older hero allowed himself an amused snort.

"And I was about to ask you the same thing," he said. "Just came to make sure you're not overdoing anything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Child Emperor asked, mild indignation in his voice.

"You know what I mean," Zombieman responded with a shrug. "You're not overworking yourself, are you?"

"Of course not," the younger hero huffed, turning back to his work. "You're just worrying too much."

Zombieman shrugged in response.

"Maybe," he admitted quietly. "Do you need a hand with anything?"

That question got Child Emperor's attention once more. For a moment, his work paused and he appeared to be thinking. Slowly, he turned around, the expression on his face one of mild surprise.

"Erm…well…" He began slowly, "I'm not really sure…"

"Come on," Zombieman insisted, "this way, we'll get it done faster."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

Zombieman took off his coat, draping it over the corner of a table, placing his axes over it. Walking forwards, he looked around at the various pieces of machinery, then back at Child Emperor.

"Just tell me what I can do," he said to the boy.

"…Alright." Child Emperor finally conceded.

And so the two got to work. While Child Emperor handled all of the finer, more minute details, Zombieman pitched in wherever he could; lifting pieces of machinery into place, helping rewire and connect various parts of the portal frame to one another and pointing out the few flaws in some of the construction. Child Emperor was surprised to find out about said flaws, but admitted that it was his first time undertaking such a project, so there were bound to be a few mistakes here and there. Zombieman was relieved that the young hero was able to take the criticism so well.

The Class-S heroes toiled through most of the night, not stopping until their work was done. They would have carried on until later, had Zombieman not convinced Child Emperor that he needed to rest. Reluctantly, the ten-year old agreed to sleep for what was left of the night and begin the testing after the sun was up.

On their way up to the living area, however, Zombieman discovered Child Emperor had fallen asleep standing up in the lift. With an amused smile, the older hero nudged the dozing child, expecting him to wake up. To his surprise, Child Emperor remained asleep. Shaking his head wearily, Zombieman picked up the kid and stepped out of the lift, walking over to the long couch. As gently as he could, he laid down the sleeping child on the cushions and drew back.

Child Emperor could have denied being tired all he wanted – but once he stopped working, he passed out.

And he claimed he wasn't overworking himself.

Zombieman drew back and on the couch, Child Emperor stirred slightly, before turning over with a murmur. The older hero walked to another end of the couch and seated himself, closing his eyes as he tried to make himself comfortable as he waited the few hours left until dawn.

Valkyrie awoke with a yawn.

Stretching, she opened her eyes blearily, for a moment confused. Where was she? Surely this wasn't that inn she'd been staying in, was it? Then she remembered that it wasn't – it was part of Child Emperor's lab – and she, Toph and Zombieman had stayed the night. As she sat up, she wondered what the time was. Looking around, she blinked the sleep from her eyes, seeing that Toph was sprawled on the ground, snoring away loudly.

Valkyrie was surprised the younger girl's snoring hadn't woken her up sooner.

Of Zombieman and Child Emperor, however, there was no sign. Nevertheless, Valkyrie got to her feet and trudged to the door that she remembered Child Emperor saying lead to the bathroom.

A few minutes, she stepped out of the bathroom, feeling adequately refreshed. It was only as she walked out that she spotted the clock propped up on the small table. Her eyes widened in surprise as she registered that the hands read twelve-twenty. Had she been any normal person, her parents would never have allowed her to sleep in so late. Valkyrie had to count herself lucky that she had her reflection to fill in for her when she was gone.

Looking back at Toph, she realised that the girl hadn't even stirred. Suppressing a sigh, she approached and paused beside her before bending over to prod her in the arm. Toph only snorted once in her sleep before resuming her snoring. Valkyrie waited a moment before poking her again. This time the girl didn't even react.

Valkyrie straightened up and finally used the toe of her boot to nudge Toph in the ribs rather pointedly. Toph turned over.

"I'll be up when I'm ready," she mumbled sleepily.

"Sure," Valkyrie said, unconvinced.

She walked to the lift, leaving the younger girl to get up when she felt like it. Stepping into the metal basket, she waited a few moments while it headed to the ground floor. Soon, she was stepping out and walking out to the main building where she assumed the portal was being built. As she headed down the corridor, loud noises from the building up ahead caught her attention.

What was that?

All of a sudden, a grotesque-looking, disproportionate humanoid creature came barreling down the corridor headed straight for Valkyrie. The creature was about nine feet tall, its abnormally large head brushing the top of the corridor, its mouth stretched open from both sides of its head, lined by square teeth. It looked like it could have been a human at some point. By comparison, its body was unnaturally small below its head, its long arms pulling it forwards unexpectedly quickly.

Valkyrie was frozen in spot for a heartbeat, and in that moment the creature spotted her. As soon as it did, its lipless mouth opened, blood and saliva dripping from it. It laughed as it saw her.

The sight and sound of it was enough to snap Valkyrie out of her trance-like state.

"Valkyrie, run!" She vaguely heard Child Emperor yelled from somewhere behind it.

Valkyrie hastily snapped her fingers, lobbing a fireball at it even as she turned to flee. There was nowhere to run except back the way she had come, and Valkyrie knew that this thing would catch her before she could get far.

Right on cue, a blow from behind Valkyrie threw to the ground. Something turned Valkyrie onto her back and she found herself staring at the creature looming above her. Valkyrie was unable to stifle her rising horror as it grinned down at her. It reached down towards her with one hand, and she tried to use the air surrounding her to push it back.

But nothing happened.

And then there was a deafening bang, an explosion of blood and gore and Valkyrie felt something warm and wet splatter against her face. And then the thing was collapsing to the ground, dead.

Slumping back onto the ground, Valkyrie had never felt more relieved.

Well.

That's it for Chapter 10 – thanks for reading! Also, would anyone like to take a guess as to what that last 'creature' was? xD

Additionally, this is also a filler chapter. I promise we'll be getting to the action soon! Until then, stay safe everyone!