Chapter 7:
Knowledge Is Power I: The Truth Will Set You Free…
The monitors issued a steady hum that filled the room, a drone Nigel Hastings found peaceful. And not just because loud, shrieking noises in medical facilities often meant something had gone wrong. Because in another life those noises were all Nigel knew, treating badly wounded soldiers on endless battlefields, their lifeblood bleeding onto his hands or their last hot, stinking breaths exhaling into his face. Endless victims, far too many willingly so, of his society's mad lust for war and combat.
Not that human society was much better in a lot of aspects. But at least when he gave out medical treatment now it wasn't always to the piercing buzz of flatlines or the myriad of high, shrieking beeps that led to said flatlines. Indeed, unless he had completely missed his mark (and while Nigel wasn't a doctor for the ages, he wasn't that bad either), the child lying in the bed wouldn't be going into cardiac arrest any time soon.
It was strange. The child looked so fragile lying in the bed, surrounding by the machines. But the phrase "looks can be deceiving" practically defined life in the T-Tower, and this newcomer was no exception. The kid had crashed into the Titans more then a few times in his insanity fueled dash, and yet amazingly he hadn't broken or fractured any bones. True, he had more then a few deep bruises, but considering Blacktrinian medical tech was designed to save creatures that had been nearly cut in half, that was easily taken care of.
However, there were still other problems to consider. Like the exact nature of his lunacy. Noel had theorized it had been due to whatever the boy had experienced during his trip through whatever plane of existence had opened up and dumped him on the Titans' beach, but Nigel was never one to assume. Having drawn blood, Nigel was running tox screens to make sure that whatever had led to the boy's abrupt appearance hadn't involved pumping any drugs into him, especially anything that could be fatal. Nigel had had enough of death in his life. If the Grim Reaper wanted to come for this child under Nigel's eye, he or she would have to pry him from Nigel's claws.
He wasn't seeing anything so far. Though he was hearing something: people entering his room.
"What's the situation Nigel?" Noel asked. Nigel stared through his microscope a few more seconds and then raised his head.
"There doesn't seem to be anything in his blood except blood. No bacteria, no viruses, no nanomachines or anything in that vein. Can't see poisons through a microscope though, so don't relax just yet. But this machine is designed to find the worst stuff first. If it hasn't beeped yet, I doubt there's some cyanide variant coursing through the kid's veins." Nigel said, as he wiped his forehead. Along with Noel, Gar and Tara had entered in the room, and were looking down at Dash's sleeping form.
"You think he'll wake up soon?"
"Might. Might not. Metahuman talents always seem to do the exact opposite of what you predict. He's fast so he'll wake fast, but really he'll sleep longer because he needs to recover from going so fast…and so on. It's up in the air." Nigel said, as one of his machines beeped and he removed some papers from them. "What about your end?"
"Pictures and composition both came back negative. He's not in any of the known data banks. Just to be on the safe side I'm having Oracle run him through the UNKNOWN data banks, but I severely doubt we'll find him in there." Noel said. The unknown data banks were personal files that several heroes kept about information they felt wouldn't be good for the public to see. It really didn't help anyone for the public to know some villain had almost changed evolution and overrun the planet with lizards if he did it in a way that the public never learned of him. A lot of 'evil clones' and hero alternates that the public hadn't had the opportunity to meet were in there as well: no sense having people worry if every time the Flash showed up it was really Zoom in disguise. It was, as the saying went, need to know info.
"Not just that though." Tara said as she turned away from Dash.
"Indeed. I ran him through other databases as well. They ALL came back blank." Noel said. Nigel arched an eyebrow.
"That would be difficult to say the least, even if all we have is a picture."
"I didn't just check the United States. I checked Canada, Britain, parts of Europe, any place that would most likely have produced a Caucasian. Nothing. No records, no files, no information, NOTHING. As far as the Western world is concerned, this kid does not exist."
"Yet he's here." Nigel said, glancing at the bed.
"Right. So we're obvious dealing with something more exotic then the norm. As if his method of arrival didn't make that obvious." Noel said. "But I doubt we can find out any more until he wakes up. So that begs the question of what CAN we do?"
"Well we…" Nigel began, and then a look of annoyance came over his face as he smacked his palm into his forehead and muttered a few words in Blacktrinian.
"What?"
"Something I need…but due to the fact that my plans to reorganize my space keep getting interrupted, it's all the way at the back of a cabinet." Nigel said, pointing to a ground based cupboard. "It'll take me forever to move all the stuff out of the way."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I can't go in otherwise, I'll knock everything over…"
"Then maybe we need someone smaller." Noel said, looking at Tara, who blinked.
"What? Why me?"
"Why not? May as well get SOME use out of that concave gut, considering how often you point it out in regards to how Sophie doesn't have it." Noel said. Nigel's eyes darkened slightly, and a look of sheepish worry crossed Tara's features before she sighed and knelt down next to the cabinet, opening it up.
"Anyone got a flashlight?" She groused, looking into the dark recesses. Much to her surprise, a mini flashlight was in her hands a few seconds later. "Huh, how CONVENIENT. What do you need again?"
Nigel rattled off a word with so many syllables she was amazed he was able to get them all out in one breath.
"Oh really. Is that regular or lite?"
"It's the only yellow bottle in there." Nigel replied. Tara sighed and clamped the flashlight between her teeth as she began exploring the murky recesses within the sideboard.
Beast Boy, as he sometimes did when he was antsy, had turned into a monkey, crawling around the machines a bit, being careful not to disturb anything, before he turned back to his human form, perched on the end of the bed.
"So where are the others?" Noel asked him.
"Vic's putting away the training equipment, seeing if any of the defenses were triggered by speedy here, tech stuff. Rob got the brilliant idea he could teach Cassandra how to play video games."
Noel snorted laughter.
"He'd have better luck teaching her to crochet."
"What's next?" Gar asked. Nigel didn't understand the question, but Noel did.
"If he's a friend, a fellow, then we aid him in any way we can." Noel said.
"And if he's not?" Gar asked.
"If he is an enemy, or is revealed to be one, whatever degree of regret he wishes to bring into our lives…we return it. With interest." Noel replied, his eyes briefly flashing with something dangerous.
"Yeah, but you don't THINK he's an enemy." Gar said, part question and part statement.
"No. No I don't."
"Funny, you sure sounded like you wished he was an enemy for a bit there." Gar said, needling Noel like Noel needled his girlfriend about how she in turn needled Sophie about her weight, which runs us clear out of needles, as Nigel picked up some more papers to look through and Tara continued to feel her way through the cabinet.
"I thrive on challenge. I do not wish it upon us."
"You sure?"
"Ah Gar, you know me better then that." Noel said. "I speak with supreme confidence. Do not confuse that with…arro…gance…" Noel trailed off, as his eyes, attracted by something, drifted off Gar…
As Noel realized Dash wasn't lying down any more.
He was sitting up.
With his eyes open.
As wide as saucers.
"Dude, what's…" Gar said as he twisted to his head to look at what Noel was looking at,
His green furry face proved the trigger.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dash screamed.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Beast Boy screamed in turn, jumping off the edge of the bed.
"What the…" Nigel said as he peeked around Noel's body.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dash screamed again at Nigel's gray skinned, fanged countenance.
"Ah!" Nigel started, taking a step back.
THUD. "OWWWWWWWWW!" Tara yelped as she jumped at the noise and banged her head on the top of the cabinet.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dash screamed once more, as he tried to scramble back, get away from the strange faces…as his sheets came off to expose the thick leather straps that bound his arms. They did their job well and prevented him from going back very far; not like he had anywhere to go except the back of the bed, seeing as how he had two "monsters" between him and the door. The fact that he was tied up hit him and sent his panic into overdrive.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed once more.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gar echoed, having not quite recovered from his own fright.
"Ah fer crissakes." Noel cursed, and thrust out a hand. All Dash saw was a flash of white, and then the Shimmer flew into his ear and sent him back into dreamland.
"…Dude…that was…not…called for." Gar said, holding his still pounding chest.
"Now does anyone else see the wisdom of having him restrained? In case he, say, woke up and freaked out and hence couldn't run away and wreck our tower and force us to chase him again and all that?"
"You always do think ahead Noel." Nigel said. "Still, that was hardly good results."
"Yes, that went about as poorly as it could have." Noel commented, and turned to Tara as she emerged from the cabinet, clutching her head. "You ok there Tara?"
"Owowowowow." Tara muttered, rubbing her crown. "What happened?"
"Our guest woke up. Apparently he didn't much like what he found." Nigel said, as he walked to the front of the bed. "Suggestions?"
"Yeah, we need someone more normal looking when he wakes up next. Fortunately, I have the perfect candidate." Noel said.
"You know, for the world famous Teen Titans, you sure seem to be subcontracting a lot of your work today." Sophie commented. "'Go turn into bats and make the kid run a certain direction,' Sophie. 'Go sit with him while he wakes up,' Sophie. What's next? 'The Lord of the Night is back in town, so do a tap dance to distract him, Sophie?' I'm never going to get any work done at this rate."
"Believe me Sophie, we can always help you with paperwork. But we've got a scared little boy in there who clearly doesn't have a clue where he is, and you're the most normal looking out of all of us."
"Yeesh. You'd think he'd never seen a green guy and a Blacktrinian before." Rob said. Noel glanced at him. "He obviously has superpowers! He's GOT to have seen some weirdness!"
"Yes, but at the moment we need normalcy, not weirdness. And you're the most normal looking Sophie."
"A-HEM." Tara coughed.
"You know what I mean Blondie. We need someone who looks, uh…huggable." Noel said, grasping for a word.
"Lot to…" Tara began.
"Zip it!" Noel said.
"But…"
"Don't make me go through the entire bit. I'm not as good a comedian as Mr. Myers." Noel said.
"What do we know about him?" Sophie asked.
"That he exists and that he runs fast." Nigel replied.
"That's it?"
"Unfortunately he didn't come with a pamphlet that says, 'Hi, I'm So and So! If I pop out of a dimensional warp, here's what to do…'" Noel snarked.
Rob commented, "What, he didn't? That's just irresponsible parenting."
Noel gave Rob a blank stare. "You have one of those?"
Rob looked at Noel as if he had just said that gravity makes things move down. "Yes, I do. Wanna see it?"
"No, we have other things to worry about right now. Besides, knowing you it'd be instructions about how you like to have your belly rubbed every day at five o'clock and that you don't like dry kibble."
Rob blinked. "That's surprisingly close to what's there, actually…"
"Rob, this isn't about you. Now Sophie, are you willing to give us a hand?"
"Fine." Sophie groused. "Go get me some cookies and milk."
"You heard the lady Rob." Noel said.
"What? Why do I have to do it?"
"Because every time I organize the cabinet you, Gar, Tara, and Victor always DE-organize it. We need speed here, and I can't waste time searching."
"Right, fine fine. Shall I fetch you a beer while I'm at it?"
"You drink alcohol? At this time of day?" Cassandra asked, back in full costume with her mask pulled down. Rob goggled at the Asian, unable to believe she couldn't get such obvious sarcasm.
"No. Rob was just leaving too." Noel said. Rob grumbled and did what he was asked, heading back and handing her requested items over to Sophie. Noel and Nigel accompanied her in just in case the child had somehow woken up and gotten out of his restraints, but he was still dozing in his bed. Nigel and Noel left Sophie sitting at the bedside with promises that they'd all be waiting outside if trouble reared its ugly head.
And so Sophie sat, looking at the sleeping child and thinking thoughts along Nigel's bent for several minutes before Dash began to stir.
"Mmmmmm…" Dash muttered. "I don't want to go to school Mommy…I stopped pranking Mr. Kropp but he's still blaming me…" Dash said, as his eyes fluttered open.
And realized that he wasn't in his room.
And once that realization came to him, it all came flooding back.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dash screamed as he tried to scramble away again, from the strange faces and the…
"Kid! Kid, it's ok." Said a female voice as a soft pair of hands fell on his shoulders. "Don't panic. You're ok. You're safe."
"Ahhhhh, ahhh…ahhh…" Dash spat out as his eyes snapped all over the place, finally settling on Sophie. "Ah…" He went, not sure what else to say. It wasn't like she looked strange enough for him to start screaming again.
"You're ok. Calm down. Calm down." Sophie said.
"Who are you?"
"My name's Sophie. You're not in any danger. Calm down."
"Not in…ah!" Dash said, as he tried to move his arm and was reminded of the restraint. "Where am I? Who are you? If I'm not in any danger why am I tied up?"
"You're, um, tied up for your own safety." Sophie sputtered.
"Oh please, that's the oldest excuse in the book!"
"No actually, I believe that's 'You're tied up because I want you to be tied up'." Sophie said, saying the first thing that came to mind.
Strangely, it actually seemed to get through, as Dash jerked away and looked around some more.
"You don't have to be afraid. You're safe." Sophie repeated.
"How did I get here?"
"You don't remember?"
"The last thing I remember was Schism's power suddenly getting supercharged and then…" Dash said, as he tried to claw through the darkness that lay within his head…and found only more darkness. His memory was a complete blank.
"We, uh, found you on our beach."
"Where am I?"
"You're in Jump City."
"Where?"
"Jump City."
"Where?"
"Jump City. Florida."
"I've never heard of it."
"Where are you from?"
"Metroville."
"What state is that in?"
Dash told her.
"I can't say I've ever heard of that city…" Sophie said as she sat back.
Dash, despite himself, relaxed a bit more, even though the lessons his parents had repeatedly drilled into him kept rattling around in his head. And since he still wasn't sure if he was in a hostile situation, it would be best if he kept thinking like he was.
So he did what his parents had told him if he was ever kidnapped. 1) Keep your kidnapper talking, and 2) Test the restraints.
Though Part 2 didn't seem to be bearing any fruit. The leather fetters that encased his arms didn't seem to have any give whatsoever. If this WAS an elaborate villain plan, he was in real trouble.
"Ok…you say we're in Jump City. Where in this supposed city?"
"You're in Titans Tower."
"Where?"
Sophie couldn't tell if the child was bluffing or really had no idea who they were. She'd go with the latter for now.
"Titans Tower. Headquarters of the Teen Titans. You saw a few of them earlier. Though they probably looked strange to you."
"Strange? One was a monster!"
Sophie winced inwardly.
"Actually he's an alien. You know, extraterrestrial? He may look nasty but that's just the surface. He's actually the doctor that treated you."
"That weirdo tied me up?"
Sophie winced again.
"Under orders. We had to make sure you weren't going to hurt yourself."
"Why would I do that?"
"Well, when you came out…" Sophie said, and briefly explained to Dash his crazed run around Titans Island.
"…I did that?"
"Yes."
"I don't remember any of it."
"You appeared to be in an altered state of some kind, so that's not surprising."
"Are you sure I did that?"
"Feel your legs if you doubt me."
"Wha…owwwwwwwwwww." Dash said, as he tried to move one leg, only to have a burning wave of weariness shoot up it. And Dash had overextended himself enough to know the difference between an injured muscle and a severely worn out one. Another problem if this was an elaborate ruse: even if he got free he'd barely be able to walk, much less run.
"We fixed you up, but it's hard to get absolutes in this world."
"…Ok. Say you're telling the truth. Who did this?"
"The Teen Titans."
"Who are they?"
"The group that protects this city."
"Are they Supers?"
"Supers?"
"You know, Supers!"
"Do you mean metahumans?"
"Do mettahumains have special powers and stuff?"
"Yes…oh." Sophie said. "Yes, they're Supers."
"I never heard of any Teen Titans."
"We never heard of you either."
"Really. Poor you. I'm the Dash." Dash said, as he briefly slipped into his usual cockiness…
And then a cold realization slammed into him, as he remembered whom he usually said that to…and the fact they weren't there.
"OH MY GOD! MOM! DAD! VIOLET!" Dash yelled, surging off the bed and startling Sophie, who was just about to make a joke on whether she should call him Dash or The.
"What?" She said instead.
"Where's my family? Where are they? Where?" Dash said, in a sudden panic.
"Um, Dash! Please keep calm!"
"Where's my family?"
"Your family?"
"Yes!"
"…You were the only one who arrived on our beach Dash. We didn't find anyone else." Sophie said.
Dash's face screwed up, and Sophie's heart went out to him. He was obviously on the cusp of adolescence, but still a child in many ways, and the fact that he was obviously terrified at the concept of being alone.
"…They're not here…?"
"…No Dash. We didn't find a trace of them."
"But…where could they be?"
"I…I don't know Dash."
Dash looked pleadingly at Sophie.
"Please…can you find them?"
"……………I'll try. You just wait here." Sophie said, and headed out of the room.
"I'm afraid we're in the dark as much as you Sophie. He was the only one who came out of that portal. And we haven't gotten any reports of any similar strangeness." Noel said.
Sophie bit her lip and cast a worried look at the closed door. We already have too many orphans around here as is… "Then where do you think his family is?"
"Beats me, but no need to worry about that now. Go back in there and reassure him that we'll look for his family. I'm pretty sure he's just a lost kid now, but I'd like a little more info if you could manage to get it out of him." Noel said.
Dash looked a little calmer when Sophie returned to his side.
"I told my friends about your family. They said they'd start searching immediately."
"Thank you." Dash replied. "So…um…"
"Sophie. I'm Sophie."
"Sophie. Look, you say you're trying to help me, that I landed on the beach of a Supers headquarters, so I was wondering…could you untie me?"
Sophie stared.
"Come on! If you're really good guys, you shouldn't have a problem with it!"
"We don't. The problem is Dash, we have no idea what YOU will do."
"Why would I do anything bad?"
"…I suppose…" Sophie said. "Ok Dash, I'll untie you. But I'm giving you fair warning. I am giving you my trust. Violate it, and you'll find a group of very unhappy people on the other side of that door. And they all have Molecular Deceleration Projectile Devices." Sophie said, making the last bit up on the spot.
"They have what?"
"Guns that will slow you down."
"Heh. Miss, even if I wanted to run, my legs already feel like they're going to fall off."
"Maybe. But remember my words." Sophie said, as she reached over and began undoing Dash's arm straps.
In the end, nothing happened. Dash didn't run off or punch her or bite her or any other kind of unpleasantness.
"Thanks." Dash said, as he rubbed his wrists, and then his stomach growled. Loudly. "Ow…so hungry…"
"Oh. Here." Sophie said, offering the cookies.
They were literally gone in seconds, as Dash gobbled down the whole box. Sophie arched an eyebrow. He took the proffered milk jug and drank most of it as well, letting loose a satisfied burp.
"Glad to know you found that filling." Sophie commented.
"Thanks!"
"You're welcome."
"So…you say you're all Supers…but…you don't look like a Super." Dash said.
"Uh…I'm not…well I am…I'm...not on the team. I'm just a guest."
"Then why did you wake me up?"
"Because you screamed when you saw other, actual members of the Titans."
"Oh yeah, right." Dash said. "…Wait, how do I know you're not the only one and what I saw before were just holograms designed to lull me into a false sense of security for you?"
"What?"
"Are you sure you're not a villain?"
"Dash, why would you still think that?"
"Villains always have complicated plans!"
"But are they needlessly complicated?"
"Usually!"
Sophie facevaulted.
"Yikes! What the heck was that?"
"A quirk your world and mine don't seem to share." Sophie said as she got up.
"My world?"
"Look Dash, if it makes you feel any better, shall I call some of the other Titans in? So you know I'm telling the truth? And if you panic and try and run, you have no one to blame but yourself."
"Is the weird gray one coming in?"
"…Maybe we'll start smaller then that." Sophie said, as she heard the door open. Noel had indicated he was listening in to their conversation before, and it was pretty clear that was the case when Tara and Cassandra walked in.
Oddly, it was the solemn Cassandra that finally made Dash believe that he was among people who wanted to help him. Or rather, it was her elaborate black costume complete with cape. It was the outfit only a Super could pull off, and Cassandra did so.
"…Is this an all girl team?" He asked.
"You wish kid." Terra said, plopping down next to Dash. "I'm Terra. What's up?"
"You. Man, you're tall."
"I'm also taken."
"Awwwwwwwwww." Dash said, finally getting back to his old self despite worries over his parents. He looked at Cassandra, who nodded to him.
"Nice costume, but don't you know capes are a bad idea?"
"…What?" Cassandra asked.
"You know, they get stuck on stuff! Like…whirlwinds!"
"I do not normally deal with such weather phenomena." Cassandra replied.
"Are you a robot?"
"No."
"You sound like one."
"I'm not a robot."
"Oh. Well good for you then." Dash said, looking at the costume. "What's that, a bat outline? What are you, Batgirl?"
"Yes actually."
"…What kind of a name is Batgirl?"
"What kind of a name is The Dash?" Noel said as he popped out from behind Batgirl.
"AHHHHH! A GIANT Q-TIP!" Dash yelled. Terra and Sophie snorted laughter: Noel just looked annoyed.
"Hello Dash. I'm the leader of the Titans. Name's Savior."
Rob poked his head in for a moment. "TEMPORARY leader, thank you very much!" Noel didn't say a word as he shoved the protesting teen back out the door.
"Who was that?" Dash asked.
"A nuisance." Savior replied.
"…Ok. Your name is Savior?"
"Yes it's pretentious, god, I'd like to meet someone who says it isn't!" Noel groused.
"No, I think it's cool!"
"What? Really? Oh."
"Do you need me any more?" Cassandra asked.
"No Cassandra, you're fine. You can go do…whatever."
"I'll go out in the city, get the layout. I have a feeling I'll be here for a few days if we have to find this kid's family." Batgirl said as she left, walking past Gauntlet, who was coming in again.
"Whether I'm a nuisance or not is a matter of opinion." He said to Noel.
"More like the opinion of someone who matters."
"Ohhhhh. One of dez daze Alice, POW! To dah moon!" Gauntlet said, waving a fist. "Hey kid, I'm Gauntlet, nice to meetcha."
"You're part of the team?"
"Yes!" Gauntlet said, cutting Noel off before he could make another snarky comment.
"Where's your costume?"
"This is my costume."
"That's your costume? That's not much of a costume."
"He's special." Noel said with a slight smirk.
"Seeing how we have company I'm going to take that as a compliment." Rob said. "I mean, some of us have to make do with what we have. We can't all have nice red outfits with matching…black…" Rob said as he trailed off, as a look of what Noel could have characterized as horrified amazement came over his face.
"What?" Dash asked.
"Something wrong Rob?" Noel asked.
"…Sweet mother of…" Rob whispered to himself, and then turned and ran full tilt out of the room.
"…Is he usually this way?" Dash asked.
"No he's acting more normal then usual." Noel said. "Well since you're our guest you may as well meet the rest of the gang."
Though Dash took meeting Beast Boy in stride (especially after he turned into a kitten and gave Dash 'the look'), and he found Cyborg cool, he was still clearly disturbed by Nigel, especially after seeing that his doctor had claws. Noel's demonstration that Nigel had very fine control of the claws, first by juggling oranges and then picking Noel up by the throat (an idea that came from Gar and Tara, and one Noel grudgingly did not veto so he could keep Dash calm), seemed to placate him, and Nigel was smart enough to have drawn blood and other such unpleasantness while Dash was unconscious.
"You seem like you'll be ok." Nigel said, and then retreated to finish up the tests.
"Which leads us to another problem: your missing family." Noel said, having retrieved a pad of paper from somewhere. Dash looked a bit stricken, in the way of people who have a problem but are not thinking about it for their own peace of mind. "Now Dash, your missing family most likely ties into how you arrived here, so I have to ask you some questions. A lot of questions actually. So we can search as best we can."
Dash looked doubting.
"Dash, we're not going to betray you. What would the point be?"
"I suppose." Dash said, as he ate another cookie.
"All right then. First off, what's your real name?"
"I can't tell you."
"You can't?" Noel asked.
"No." Dash said, as he again reverted to his mom and dad's teachings. As his mom had said once, "Your identity is your most valued possession. Protect it."
"Dash, you're among friends here."
"…I just…"
"Noel."
"What?"
"My name is Noel." Savior said. Considering the pieces that had already fallen into place, Noel didn't see any danger giving Dash his first name.
"Gar." Beast Boy said immediately.
"Tara, that's T-A-R-A. Yeah I know." Tara said, smirking.
"Victor." Cyborg said.
"Nigel." Nigel said, as he poked his head back, waved, and then resumed his work.
"You're not in any danger Dash. If not for your sake, then your family's, you can trust us."
Dash looked around.
"…Ok." He said. "My name IS Dash."
"Your real name is the same as your code name?" Noel said incredulously.
"Well my name is technically Dashiell, but my mom only calls me that when she's angry. So I've always been Dash. The Dash. The Dash am I." Dash said, and wiggled his eyebrows at Tara again.
"Still taken."
"By me." Gar added. Dash looked embarrassed, while Noel marveled over Dash's ability to go from worried child to cocky pre-teen who was probably just starting to fully come into the rush of hormones that began at that time in life.
"Um, well…my name's Dash. Dash Parr."
"You really might want to consider getting a new codename."
"Heck no. I'm the Dash. Always have been, always will be."
"Ok then. What about your family?"
And Dash started talking, and literally found everything he knew spilling from his lips. He told them everything he had learned from library books, his parents, and Lucius about the glory days of Supers (which wasn't that much but was enough), to their disbanding and concealment, of how as a child of Supers he and his siblings had been born with powers rather then manifesting them later in life, of how boring his life had been with the need to hide his powers, of Buddy Pine and his emergence as Syndrome, with the little background he'd learned and what Pine had done both to Supers and his family. He talked about how after Syndrome's death the Supers had begun to re-emerge, lead by his family, known collectively as the Incredibles…and he spoke of Schism, of how they had fought before, and how they had fought again…and how something had gone wrong.
"His warp went nuts. It never had suction powers before…and well, the last thing I remember is trying to hang on…and then I woke up here." Dash said. The whole spiel had taken nearly forty minutes.
Noel looked up from the several pages of notes he had scribbled. Cyborg had had to leave during Dash's spiel, more technical stuff, and Noel wished he hadn't. He would have been a great help.
"Nigel, would you mind telling Dash what happened when he showed up on our beach?" Noel asked. Dash looked nervous again, but when Nigel came over and launched into the story of what Dash had done, spinning it so it was almost a comedy and not a deadly situation that could have killed the young teen, Dash relaxed again, while Noel puzzled over his taken notes.
"And we brought you in here. The rest you know." Nigel said.
"You're sure I was nuts?"
"I think it was a side effect of whatever happened when you went into Schism's warp. The human brain is designed to interpret data in a certain way, and if there's a kind of data that it just can't handle…well, it's like running a modern computer game on a fifteen year old system. It doesn't work out very well." Noel said.
"But…that still doesn't explain what happened to me. How I ended up here." Dash said.
"I'm getting to that. Nigel, could you fetch me a large piece of paper?"
"On it." Nigel said.
"Now Dash, as we have said, we don't know each other. To the extreme. We've never heard of any group known as the Incredibles, or a Syndrome. We do have an Elastigirl here, but she's clearly not related to your mother. And likewise you have never heard of the Justice League, or us, or even Superman."
"Nope."
"So the question is…why? That answer also ties into what happened." Noel said, as Nigel returned with a large canvas with paper on it. "This will take some explanation…to start with Dash, have you ever heard of time travel?"
"Going back and forth through time, Marty Mcfly, stuff like that."
"Yes. Now in theory going forward in time is somewhat possible: the faster you go the slower time goes for you, so if you go really fast for a while a few weeks may pass for you but a few years may pass for everyone else…but going backwards is considerably more difficult." Noel said. He didn't say impossible, because he knew that wasn't the case. "Anyway, backwards time travel has two theories. One is the Grandfather Paradox theory: if you went back in time and killed your grandfather, you wouldn't exist, but if you don't exist who went back in time and killed your grandfather, paradox, blah blah, that's not important. It's the other theory of time travel we're starting with: The Parallel Universe theory. That is, if you go back in time and change something, instead of altering your time, you cause a 'split' from the original timeline, in essence another line like so." Noel said, as he drew a line, two dots, and then another line extending from the left hand dot. "Now the theory continues with other hypotheses on whether you would just return to your timeline when you went back to the future and the altered one would just go on its merry way, or you would return to the altered timeline, and so on, and so on. But…if we examine this theory in depth, it makes you realize that every time you make a decision, you potentially create a new timeline. If that's the case, every person potentially creates BILLIONS of new timelines just living their lives. And even if someone goes back and alters history, there's no guarantee the changes will be all that drastic. So, in assuming that the Parallel Universe theory is true, we must lump all the microscopic changes in with each other. We'll call this a Super String." Noel says as he flipped the top piece of paper over and drew another line. "Ok, here's our Super String. It's got ALL the possible parallel universes combined, the vigintillions of 'normal' ones where the differences are so small they may as well not exist and all the ones which do have noticeable differences. Changes in history, evil twins, the stuff our breed tends to run into. I'm sure you've seen some weird stuff."
"Yeah."
"But at the same time, all of these pockets of existence are relatively the same. All the splits haven't gone very far. YET." Noel said. "Now, let's go way back along the Super String. Let's say we had another split timeline. Except this timeline had another, and another, and another…and it built on itself. By the time that this split had reached the same time period of our originally examined Super String, it has changed so much that the only similarities are large ones. The Earth's still here, humans are still dominant…but none of the unique figures you know exist. An entirely different set exists in their place. This isn't a parallel universe, it's an alternate universe. Essentially, same as it never was."
"My brain is leaking out my ears." Gar complained.
"Are you confused Dash?" Noel asked.
"…No, it's making sense to me."
"All right. So by this theory, we can assume that at one point, far far far far far FAR back in time, our universes were the same. But at some point we split, and the differences are now drastic. Here is OUR Super String." Noel said, drawing a second. "Now, an interesting factor in this is that each String seems to have a core of some kind, a 'central' existence from which all the others are derived from. It's theorized that these central existences are the ones that usually relate the most to each other. Dash, who was your first President?"
"George Washington."
"Exactly, so was ours. How many world wars were fought in your world?"
"Two."
"Same here. So as you can see, our worlds are related on a fair amount of levels, but on other levels, we have no relation whatsoever. Now the kicker." Noel said. "As mentioned, these Super Strings are supposedly formed when the theory of parallel timelines expands to the point where split off timelines can become timelines in and of themselves. By that theory we could assume that in the very beginning there was only one single, solitary timeline. But changes came and it split and blah blah blah. The thing is, while in theory our timelines are linked, this is only in the most tenuous sense. There should be no way from one to the other. At least, going by the current laws of physics. But as you might know Dash, the laws of physics are often anything but in our world."
"Yeah."
"Your villain known as Schism could open holes in reality, allowing him to instantly cross from one place to another. Defiance of physics on a small scale. You claim what happened with Schism's warp just happened? There was no indication of anything big?"
"Even Schism didn't seem to know what was going on."
"All right then. Whatever happened, it's clear something interfered. We'll call it the X-Factor for now. Schism was attempting a supercharged warp that would move your family away from him at a greater distance so he could escape. However, that greater distance could probably be measured in miles, and not in very large increments at that. Then the X-Factor, whatever it was, interfered…and basically, it gave Schism what he wanted, to a degree far greater then he could have expected. It multiplied the warp by an incalculable amount. And when that happened…"
"It brought me here."
"It did." Noel said. "Whatever it was, it charged his warp with so much power that it managed to open a hole between one string and another. Rather then a warp from one place in your world to another some miles distant, it created a warp so powerful it was able to form a journey across time, space, and reality. No wonder you came out nuts: no human brain is designed to make a journey like that. But fortunately, you ended up here, with people who could help you. And that…is pretty much it." Noel said. "Questions? Comments?"
"Well…if Dash ended up here, shouldn't his family have done so as well?" Sophie asked. Dash looked stricken again.
"Uh…" Noel said, as certain aspects of his explanation he had left out came to the forefront of his mind. "There's no guarantee that they followed him through the warp…"
"Yes there is. My mom wouldn't care if hell swallowed me, she'd go after me. My dad as well." Dash said.
"Well…" Noel said, as he tried to dance around the question. "As said this kind of trip screws with space and time, maybe since you went first you arrived first and the others just haven't…arrived yet…" Noel stammered, and then figured the best way to answer this question would be with another question. "Besides your family, which we will do our best to find, does anyone have anything else to say about the explanation?"
"Yes, pseudoscience is fun!" Came Rob's voice as he suddenly popped up next to Noel, startling him.
"What are you doing back? I was hoping you'd found something shiny to play with." Noel commented.
"I'm back because I know who you are!" Rob said, pointing at Dash. "Your name is Dashiell "The Dash" Parr, son of Bob and Helen Parr! You have a annoying older sister named Violet and a baby brother named Jack Jack, you all had to hide your powers because the government banned Supers because of lawsuits, and then you fought a guy called Buddy Pine aka Syndrome who was obsessed with destroying Supers because your dad turned his offer to be his ward down!"
"…Well yeah…I just told everyone that." Dash said. Rob's eyes goggled.
"What? You didn't refuse to reveal any information? Didn't you listen to your mother in…"
"Rob, what's going on? This should hardly be news." Noel said.
"But I just revealed everything about him! Don't you want to know why?" Rob asked.
"Because you overheard it on the com link?"
"What? No! I…"
"Noel, you will find my family, right?" Dash asked.
Rob was cut off from his protest when he saw the look in Noel's eye. He knew that look too well. The "I could tell him a sweet lie, but I think honesty is the best policy even if honesty will rip his heart out and stomp on it and extinguish all hope because it's better to have the truth then hope and all kids have to learn eventually how nasty the world is…" expression that meant that Noel was going to tell him exactly what he theorized, and what he theorized wasn't good.
"Yes he will! In fact I'm going to give him a pep talk right now so he'll be good and motivated!" Rob said, and before Noel knew what was going on Rob was shoving him out the door.
"Was that necessary?" Noel asked as Rob slammed the door behind him.
"Oh yes. I know that look Noel. Whatever you were going to tell him, don't. He doesn't need to hear it. What were you going to say, the odds against finding his family weren't good?"
"They're not Rob."
"Dammit Noel, hope is not like Chinese food, even if you think it's hopeless! Besides, we're superheroes! Our lives are about defying the odds!"
"Rob, weren't you listening when I gave my explanation? You think sudden dimensional warps between different realms of existence, especially unplanned ones, are like getting on a bus and going from point A to point B? It's not! There is absolutely no way to know just where such a warp could take you! It may have brought Dash HERE, but who says it'll do the same with his family? Nothing! They could end up in an entirely different universe!"
"Noel I didn't…"
"And even if they all come here, who says it's all to the same spot? You think there's a guiding hand behind forces like these? No, there isn't! How do we know they won't end up in Texas? Or Los Angeles? Or Delaware? Or Canada? Or Spain? Or the Amazon River? Or the Indian Ocean? Or the atmosphere? On Neptune? On friggin' Alpha Centari? We don't! This is a damn big universe Rob, and there's a lot of places for people flung into it to end up! And I'd hate to make promises to him if the odds are his family is floating dead in hard vacuum somewhere, never to be found!"
"You're not listening to me Noel. I'm trying to say I didn't listen in to your conversation with Dash."
"You had to. How else could you have known that stuff?"
"Oh, if you think that stuff about Super Strings and X-Factors was complex, this is gonna blow your freakin' mind." Rob said.
"What are you talking about Rob?"
"Don't you remember Noel? The Dash? Syndrome? The Incredibles?"
"What?"
"Geez." Rob said, as he yanked a small plastic box from under his shirt from where it was tucked in his pants and held it in front of Noel. "IT'S A FREAKING MOVIE!"
To Be Continued