"Oof!"
"OW!"
Neither Professor Paradox or Gwen Tennyson anticipated they would be teleported a meter above solid ground. Taken by surprise– they were unable to control or break their abrupt fall. So gravity did as it does and laid down the law. The man who dedicated his life to science failed to brace himself as he cartoonishly faceplanted in a mound of dirt. The Anodite Half-blood landed squarely on her back, sending a jolt of pain along her spine.
They were slow in rising to their feet.
"You couldn't teleport us any closer to the road?" She dusted herself off, gazing out across the rows of tombstones.
"Apologies, my calculations haven't been the most… reliable as of late." He spit pebbles from his mouth.
"Your math isn't correct like it used to be?"
"Its more complicated than that– but yes."
Gwen frowned at that snippet of information. Sensing there was more that he wasn't letting on, she searched for his mana signature. This was one of the many abilities she possessed by virtue of baring Anodite genes– the capability to literally see another being's life force– their mana– kindle a bright within them. To her, there was nothing in the universe more beautiful than that. Every living creature has a unique sparkle. She liked to think that mana signatures were a gateway leading into a person's soul. Sometimes, it mesmerized her to such a degree that she had difficulties staying focused (AKA, complete sensory overload). That's also why she preferred doing this while in secluded places– as opposed to public residences.
Her human biology hindered her in this aspect.
Often she berated herself for refusing grandma Verdona's offer to train her on Anodyne. Fifty years didn't sound so bad– anything but whatever this mess was devolving into. Had she packed her bags and ran away with her grandmother, a bunch of their issues could've been resolved sooner.
The most obvious of these aptly named, 'issues,' being the Highbreed Invasion. She was confident she had enough power to wipe the whole fleet then– and that was the first time she entered that form. In the past twelve hours, she had gone into that Anodite state and reverted back to human twice– without failure! Though, it wasn't like she had intended for that to happen. Her emotions had gotten the best of her, and that wasn't acceptable when her friends' lives were at stake. She needed to exercise better control.
Then again… maybe if she had a firm grasp of this technique to start with, Paradox wouldn't have gone to Ben asking for help with Time-Bomber. Kevin never would've gotten hurt– and he wouldn't be trapped in a separate universe. She prayed for whoever it was that Eon fought while he was on the other side– Izuku Midoriya, if she recalled the name correctly— made it out unscathed.
The professor's mana signature (A brilliant turquoise), was vibrating with pain, yet, the man expertly hid his discomfort from view. His limp was subtle, albeit awkwardly pronounced and his lungs threatened to give up on him at any moment. He was wheezing– enduring the monumental effort to not worry her any further about his current condition.
"Paradox, I can tell you're hurting."
The time-walker stilled as she said that.
He nonverbally admitted this by placing a tentative hand the reddened slash in his vest, grimacing. She surged to his side.
"Gwendolyn… I can manage the distance, thank you."
"Nope. You're not moving another inch. I'm going to fireman carry you." She decided on a whim.
"Haha, no you are not aaaand I am being hefted around like a sack of potatoes." He sedately commented as she hoisted him onto her shoulders.
"I know you feel… guilty about what happened to Ben… but that doesn't mean you need to hide your pain from me."
The professor, touched by his companion's words, sighed in defeat.
"I'll… keep that in mind from now on…"
After a couple minutes of trekking like this across the cemetery grounds, they reached the incline of the road, stepping onto asphalt. She adjusted so Paradox could comfortably slip off her and rest on the hood of the car and catch his breath. Testing the handles– she was delighted to find that her boyfriend's habit of never locking his own car came into play here. Helping the professor get situated in the passenger seat, she slammed his door shut and mana hopped onto the driver's side.
"I'll check the trunk and see if my first aid kit is still in there." She explained through the window.
Popping the metal ajar, she took stock of the inner contents; Foldable outdoor chairs, water guns, multiple cans of spray-on sunscreen, an umbrella, sunglasses, her straw hat with a ribbon on it– wait, these were beach day supplies…
…Had Kevin wanted to take her to the beach?
'I'm going to get you back safe and sound, don't you worry!' She vowed to herself determinedly.
"Seatbelt." She automatically reminded her groaning co-pilot, depositing the first aid kit on his lap.
Paradox watched curiously as she constructed a key of mana from her imagination to fit inside the ignition.
"Wait, I should drive." He blurted.
"Are you on crack?" She whipped on him.
"What? Gwendolyn, you're fifteen. You don't have a license. What if we get pulled over?" His face paled when he discovered the hundreds of speeding tickets stuffed inside the glovebox.
"I promise I won't break the speed limit three times over– I'm not like Kevin."
The engine roared, the exhaust pipes crackling.
"But I can't promise I'll be quiet." The tires screeched on the pavement, inertia propelling the surprised professor deep into his seat.
"You aren't taking me to the hospital, are you?"
"I want to." She glared at him in her peripheral.
"Can you rewind the cuts to before they happened?"
"Usually, yes. Though as it happens to be my misfortune– these wounds are chronokinetic in nature. I'll live– but I'm going to have to allow my bodily processes to heal them in real time." He mumbled sourly.
"That sucks. You can't even use your only gimmick." She hummed, unintentionally demoralizing the professor further.
"You hungry?"
"Famished."
"I know a diner that's open twenty-four seven. We can stop there, and while we're eating, you can tell me more about this whole ordeal."
She took his silence as a yes.
…
A tired waitress chewing on some gum lazily acknowledged their presence.
"My name's Tabitha… how many…?" She drawled monotonously.
"Two?" Gwen raised a brow at her unassuming gaze.
"Sit wherever… you guys want any… drinks?" She blew a bubble.
"Oh! Um, I'd love some hot chocolate! And… probably coffee for him?"
"Black. Please." The professor cleared his throat.
"Coooool…" Tabitha drug the word out, staring at them for a few moments longer, then padding off towards the kitchen.
"She didn't appear to register that I'm covered in blood?"
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Paradox." She pulled a chair out for him.
Once they were settled in, Tabitha returned with their drinks. While the Anodite Half-blood was worried about searing her tongue, given how hot the liquid was– the professor had no issue with downing the steaming beverage– no doubt scalding his throat in the process.
"Ah! That hits the spot! Excuse me, Tabitha, may I have a refill please?"
"Sure dude…" She limply extracted the mug from the professor's hand.
"Do you guys like… want anything to… eat?" She paused her sentence in intervals to chew her bubblegum.
"Waffles please!"
"Pancakes!"
The pair glared at each other briefly, as if condemning their rivaled preference of food.
"Yeah… whatever…" Tabitha popped a bubble before leaving them this time.
Gwen shook her head exasperatedly.
"Is there any way we can somehow bring Kevin home without the multiversal gate?" She jumped right to business.
The professor dabbed the corner of his lip with a napkin.
"I am afraid not. The multiversal gate was our only method of travel. Ben constructed the final design using Jury Rigg months prior to our adventures tonight. Even if they weren't all destroyed, I won't be able to salvage the scrapped parts due to the chronokinetic nature of the blast." He didn't enjoy reiterating that.
"So what? Is Kev going to be trapped in that other universe forever?"
"Never say forever, I always say." The professor rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Perhaps there is some 'enchantment' in that spell book of yours? Maybe there is a spell that can take us there?"
"OK. First of all, that's not how enchantments work. Secondly, if there was a spell for that, we wouldn't be sitting here on our bums talking about it now would we?"
"Can you… create a spell to perform this function then?"
"I can't just create a spell. That's not even– do you know anything about magic?"
"Considering I devoted my life to science and mathematics, and existed within the purgatory of dimensionless spacetime for billions and billions of years, I wager my knowledge of the subject is considerably lacking."
She groaned in response to that.
"I've reread those pages more times than I can count– and there's nothing about the multiverse in them."
"Ah. Then forget I even mentioned it." He waved dismissively.
'Magic is the only other answer, it has to be.'
"Still, Ben's death doesn't constitute why you traveled to that other universe. After everything we've been through, I deserve to know the truth." She jabbed the table with her pointer finger.
Paradox nodded grimly.
"You're right, Gwendolyn. You do deserve to know..." He crumpled the used napkin into a compact ball and gently rolled it onto the hard surface.
"This–" He scanned the diner for any prying ears– they were the only people in the diner spare for the staff–
" –This conversation remains between us." He whispered, earning him a scoff in return.
"If it means putting more people I care for in harms way, then no deal." She crossed her arms.
The professor appeared to bite his tongue.
"That's the conundrum, Gwen. Because everyone is in danger..." He trailed off as she leveled a soft accusatory glare at him.
"Time-Bomber isn't a threat anymore. You said the Chronosapiens caught up to him– to all three of you."
"Indeed, they did. Time-Bomber's crimes were rescinded by the upper time authority. Which also means the heroic actions undertaken by your cousin to destroy the Annihilargh before it could obliterate our universe, too, was reversed."
"Let me check and see if I'm getting this right: If they rewound time to when you first brought up the idea of going after Time-Bomber to Ben— like it never even happened, then what exactly is the problem here?"
"That's just it. They didn't." He motioned with his hands for emphasis, then perhaps feeling that this wasn't an adequate method of getting his explanation across, he called Tabitha to their table and asked if he could borrow her pen.
He hastily slashed a line of blue ink across a spare napkin, bolding and labeling the opposite ends as points A and B. Halfway through it he indented an X shape. Disconnected from the line and shortly above it, he made a star, then sketched a dotted arc that linked the X and star to point B.
"Point A represents me talking to Ben. Point B represents him destroying the Annihilargh. The X represents when the Chonosapien Time Bomb exploded and the star up here is when we boarded the Contumelian spaceship. The points that fall on the main line are indicative of the present time. And… we…" He drew a curved arrow originating from point B that stopped a tad short of point A.
"...Arrived in a segment of time succeeding that!" He said as if it that explained anything.
"I don't see the big deal? You were dropped in a few seconds off schedule, so what?"
"Yes, actually, it is a big deal. Had they put Benjamin and I back in that moment like you said, we wouldn't have any memories of this event ever occurring!"
"What?" Gwen was dreadfully startled by that piece of information.
"Its a phenomenon called transnueral dephasing. If someone, for example, a Chronosapien, were to send you backwards in time to the exact moment you left the present, yes– you're physical body dissolves– but rather the essence of you— you're consciousness– that becomes intertwined with the past version… of you. This is the only circumstance where past is, for all intensive purposes, identical to the present. The memories of this happening to you are ripped from your neural pathways. Its sort of like a failsafe maneuver to prevent against unnecessary time loops."
"How does that–?"
"–By removing the experience from the observer, you suppress the impulse to do whatever it is that kickstarted the loop. In a matter such as this, it's better that it didn't happen, than it did at all." He greedily accepted the mug from their waitress.
"The Chronosapiens are precise and seldom do they calculate wrongly. Certainly never in large regiments like this was. They weren't off by only a few nanoseconds– they were off by whole minutes. From her perspective, Julie confirmed that Benjamin and I had been gone for a minimum of two minutes, which vastly contradicts what we experienced. It felt as though we had been chasing Time-Bomber for hours. I can hardly fathom an error of that size! Its- I mean, its unthinkable! I immediately knew something was amiss… but I couldn't jump to conclusions. Not so soon after I gave that harrowing news to Benjamin."
"My brain is officially starting to hurt. Are you trying to tell me that we're stuck in a loop?"
"No, no… no… You see, that's when I figured out that…" He gently shook his head, considering his crude depiction again.
"...We aren't the ones who are trapped in a loop."
Gwen's befuddled expression prompted him to deliberate further. He demonstrated this by shading in the abbreviated space in between the X and point B, subconsciously sticking his tongue out in concentration. Once he was satisfied with this, he slid the napkin closer to her side of the table.
"They are." He tapped the area he had filled in.
"Remember, the Chronosapien Time Bomb was triggered inside of the Null Void, a place outside of time and space…"
"...So when they reset the clock…"
"…They weren't able to stop the black hole— an anomaly from which spacetime cannot escape— hence our meeting with the Contumelia." He sat forward, slightly hunched.
"Identical, conscious versions, of myself and Benjamin, are stuck in the Null Void chasing after Time-Bomber's ghost!"
"Wait, Ben might technically still be alive!?"
"I wouldn't outright say it in great confidence... but there is a chance, as miniscule as it is, that we can bring him back to that exact moment like I mentioned before. Better yet, if we are able to breach contact with the Contumelia again– why, I say it's possible they have a device that can reverse the effects of the Grim's Coroner! Thus rescuing Ben from his cursed fate!"
The match of hope had been struck against her thumping heart, blazing brilliantly.
"However, in order to do that, there are many, many steps we need to take to get to that point."
"Steps. OK, okay. What- what kind of steps?"
"Here's your waffles… and pancakes… enjoy…" Tabitha set their plates on the table.
"Thank you so much!"
"Yes– thank you!" The professor barely rotated to say it before he was smothering his meal with maple syrup– and that, she could agree with.
The man devoured his meal like a savage.
"This- this tastes like Heaven on Earth…" He swallowed hard.
Gwen swore she saw the man shed a tear.
"There exists a barrier in the timestream… a dam, if you will. Normally, that dam allows for the passage of time to flow through it unobstructed." He jabbed the air with his fork.
Gwen nodded to show that she understood, figuring if he bothered explaining this to her then it must pertain to the question.
"Here's the catch: This metaphysical 'dam,' acts as a threshold of sorts. Beyond it lies the unknown, uh speculation– chaos theory, if you are familiar with that. A future so distant… that no one can ever hope to reach it. Nor accurately predict the outcome.
Since the loop began, this threshold hasn't allowed for time to freely move as it once did. Now, its crashing into a wall." He struck his open palm with his fist to gesticulate the impact.
"Splitting, branching at awkward angles and entering areas they were never intended. Eventually, their combined mass will force them to reconverge. When this happens…"
"Kaboom?" She guessed.
"Kaboom. Kaboom, indeed. We time-walkers have a different name than kaboom, though. We call it Armageddon."
'Time-walkers like Eon.' Her blood pressure spiked at the thought of him.
"The Chronosapiens have done a most excellent job of keeping order and I prefer them. Consequently if someone else were to find a way to harness this destructive, godlike power… they very well could rule the entire universe. Those who control Armageddon, may also manipulate the destiny of any person they so desire."
That wasn't harrowing news at all.
"There has to be something we can do?"
"There is… and I have. With Benjamin."
…
It was mid summer, school was officially out for the next couple of months, and it was safe to say that Ben Tennyson was living his best life. Today he was busy cheering Julie on during her tennis match. Every opponent she faced thus far during the tournament, she had obliterated in devastating fashion. Julie's competitiveness honestly terrified him sometimes– but it sure was entertaining! He remembered how she used to come to his soccer games at the beginning of the year and cheer for him…
He was so thoroughly invested in the contest that he barely registered the hand jostling his shoulder as to divert his attention. Thinking someone was wanting to squeeze by him so they could return to their seat, he leaned out of their touch, applauding enthusiastically when Julie won her set. The hand grew impatient, it seemed, as it full on grasped his arm.
"Hey, watch it bub– GAH! Professor Paradox!?" His voice totally did not crack there.
"What're you doing here!?" He squawked over the noise of the stadium.
"I need to talk to you!" The professor recentered his safety goggles so they hung around his neck.
"Perhaps, somewhere that doesn't requiring us yelling in each other's faces to get our messages across!"
"What, you mean right now!?" Ben yelled.
"As soon as possible!" Paradox yelled back.
He inwardly groaned. "OK, fine! We can talk after Julie crushes this tournament!"
"When will that be!?"
"You're asking me that!?" He laughed incredulously at the professor's expense.
Paradox, slowly accepting that he was going to have to be patient for the time being, took to observing the audience's reaction to the game that was being played. He decided that he too, should get with the program. Shedding his lab coat in favor of fastening it to his waist, he unbuttoned his wrist cuffs, and rolled up the sleeves. He shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth: "Demonstrate that your skill is superior to hers!"
Spurred by his companion's improvisational passion, Ben stood from his seat and added to this.
"Come on Julie! One more set! One more set!"
The young athlete spared them both a sweaty glance, then winked, as if to say: 'Hey, I got this.'
Her opponent, a lanky girl with blue pigtails, connected on a nasty backhand stroke– launching the fluorescent yellow ball over the net into the far corner on Julie's side of the court. Ben and Paradox, along with the bulk of the crowd of spectators, gasped in a mixture of disbelief and awe as his girlfriend lunged like a cheetah, tennis shoes screeching, and returned the serve with laser-fine accuracy.
'Seriously, is my girlfriend juicing!? Holy shit!'
A forehand volley from her rival proved to be her undoing, as Julie charged and delivered a overhead smash so hard that he swore he felt the vibrations all the way through the stands where he was seated. Her opponent was unable to comprehend the force and speed at which the ball rocketed onto her side of the court, and she clumsily fell out of bounds in a desperate attempt to save it.
The referee rose in his umpire's chair, thrusting his arm into the air to signal to both the competing players and the people in the crowd.
"YAMAMOTO WINS!"
"YES, HA-HA! THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND!" He raised a cardboard cutout of Julie's face above his head, waving it about as he jumped up and down– even the professor had gotten into it.
"JOLLY GOOD SHOW, JULIE! JOLLY GOOD SHOW!"
Ben flipped the cardboard, displaying in large bolded red letters: NUMBER ONE FAN!
When Julie was finished doing her own celebration and saw this, she promptly exploded into a vibrant blush.
…
The late afternoon sun signaled the conclusion to the National Junior's Tennis Tournament, as parents and kids alike travelled homewards after a fun and productive day. Outside the cerulean stadium, they reconvened with Julie once her parents finished taking photos of her holding the league trophy. The professor was eager to talk to Ben. However, the teen couple had other priorities.
"How's Ship?" Julie motioned for Ben to hand the bag to her.
"He's a little antsy from being cooped up all day. Other than that, he gave me no problems." He deposited the compact backpack in her outstretched arms, as the metallic Galvanic Mechamorph poked its head out, appearing to squeal at the sight of his beloved owner.
"Aww, I missed you too, Ship." She scratched below the alien's chin, enjoying how he cooed as she did so.
"Where are Gwen and Kevin?" Paradox asked, genuinely surprised they weren't in attendance.
"They're probably eating each other's faces off in Kevin's car somewhere." Ben snorted as he and Julie shared a look, both snickering.
"Never mind them. They aren't pertinent to this discussion." Paradox sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"Are you free?"
"Hey, Doc, does it look like I'm free?" Ben rolled his eyes in irritation, hand finding Julie's, as she moved Ship onto her shoulder.
"You were so amazing out there, Julie."
"Thank you, I'm just so happy you were able to come watch me in person this time."
"Me too." He turned and shrugged at the man.
"Let me guess, the universe needs saving again?" He spoke nonchalantly.
"It appears our job was never quite… finished."
"You know, you could throw me a bone here every now and then, professor?"
"It's complicated. May we discuss this further, in a more discreet location? Alone?"
"You've got to be kidding me." Julie protested, seeing the direction this was going.
"Do we have to be secretive again? Come on, Paradox." When the man didn't give an inch, he reaffirmed his stance.
"I trust her."
"Then have you…?" Paradox not-so-subtly nodded between him and the tennis star.
Ben seemed to catch onto what the professor was implying, as guilt incrementally overtook his features.
"What's that supposed to mean?" When the professor didn't respond she instead looked to her boyfriend.
"I'm not going to lie to you professor, I was kind of hoping we could put that entire fiasco behind us." Julie squeezed his hand to comfort him, even if he hadn't told her about his impending health crisis, she was still supportive– which he greatly appreciated.
"I'll be honest with you too, Benjamin– if I had a way to resolve this issue, I would do it in a heart beat. I detest placing you in this position again. I have no right asking for your help. I am out of options. You're the only people I can now count on to make this thing work."
"Whatever it is. I'm ready– we're ready." The young hero nodded to his girlfriend.
"Then we leave immediately." Paradox snapped his fingers.
They all stumbled and struggled to maintain balance as the professor teleported them to a radically different location.
"Excuse me, my calculations have been fraudulent recently. Follow me!"
"This is Los Soledad…" Julie recognized the scenery from where they had defended their home from the Highbreed.
"Correct!"
"We are here… why exactly?" Ben pried.
"To brainstorm." He smiled at the teen couple.
Heaving two armored doors wide open, he beckoned them forth inside his fragmented military bunker. Feet crunching atop the rotted floorboards, they entered what Ben assumed was Professor Paradox's office. The walls were hidden behind chalkboards– hundreds of equations were scratched onto their surfaces. He slammed a reorganized stack of papers on top of his decrepit desk.
"I think I will save us some time here by skipping to the core problem."
"Let it fly." Julie cradled the Galvanic Mechamorph not unlike one would a pet cat.
"Armageddon is upon us. If we do not take action at once or in the near future, existence itself is doomed."
"I think I need further clarification." Julie clenched her jaw.
"Hmm?"
"Did you need Ben here because he has the powers to prevent this– Armageddon– or is it because you don't have a solution figured out yet?"
"Both."
She clicked her tongue.
"We're running low on time, is that it?"
The professor squinted at her vast simplification but still nodded mutely.
"OK… so why don't we make more time?"
"There is no more time to work with, the threshold–"
" –Hold on, hold on! I think she's onto something!" Ben interjected his opinion.
"The stage is yours!"
"If we don't have enough time, how about we make more time? Like, literally?" He cringed as he said it.
"Make more time?" The professor wasn't laughing at him, however, as he muttered to himself, scrunching his brows together contemplatively.
"Elaborate."
Ben paused upon being on the spot, nonetheless, he gave his perspective.
"Well uh, whenever you talk about it, Paradox, you describe time as something that is… limited? Almost like its a resource that you have to treat carefully same as you would, say, plutonium or something– I don't know– my point is– its dangerous and you have to understand what you're dealing with in order to profit from it."
"Go on."
"What if we could borrow more time from another universe?" He shrugged.
"...Benjamin… are you proposing we explore the multiverse?"
"That depends, is my idea even possible? You're the expert, not me."
"The reason I am so taken aback by your suggestion is because nobody from our universe has found a way to breach it. Besides, there is no proof demonstrating it's even… well real. The multiverse– it has only been theorized to exist. A fairytale, one might say."
"It's real."
"You seem adamant?" Paradox inquired speculatively.
"I know the multiverse is real, it has to! When I got gobbled by that black hole, I remembered seeing other worlds! Worlds that aren't like ours! Oh, come on! You're telling me you didn't see them too!?"
"Those images could've been anything! Could've meant anything! We can't risk the fate of the universe on a mere gut-feeling! We have to be absolutely certain that whatever this is– that its going to work! Because there is no going back after this!"
"You got any better ideas!? You came to me remember!?"
"Calm down! Both of you!" Julie inserted herself between them, Ship twirling around her arm protectively, barking mechanically at Ben.
He immediately felt guilty for yelling at the older man– someone he respected and viewed as a friend. It dawned upon him how rude he'd been acting towards him this entire time– spiteful even. He knew he couldn't blame the man for his condition. It was just so infuriating that he had to go down like this. A battle to the death in some distant galactic arena somewhere off in space would be a little more fulfilling. At least then he'd be able to make sense of it– maybe then his end would've been swift rather than him being dragged out by his ankles kicking and screaming.
"Look, Professor Paradox, that's my bad. I shouldn't have gone ballistic on you like that."
"You're frustration is more than understandable."
"That doesn't excuse me being an asshole. You don't deserve that. I'm sorry."
The lightest of chuckles sprang from the professor's chest.
"If I said 'apology accepted,' can we all move on with our day?"
"That ones up to you, partner."
Paradox exhaled through his nose.
"Apology accepted."
Ben folded his arms.
"Hypothetically speaking, if someone did figure out how to access the multiverse, how would they do it?"
"Multiversal theory operates based on the assumption that there ARE universes existing beyond our observable cosmos. The problem is making contact. We don't know the true structural anatomy of the multiverse– it could potentially be reminiscent of a bubble bath. Or a spider web. A helix? We don't know– and that's the other problem.
For the sake of this hypothetical scenario, lets assume we do make contact. What laws does this other universe abide by? How do we know they can be trusted? What if we find out they've been waiting for us? Time may behave in different and unexpected ways." He rambled a list of worst case scenarios.
"If you and Time-Bomber cancelled each other out– then maybe another timeline– from another universe– could cancel out the effects of Armageddon here?"
Paradox froze like an ice sculpture.
"Um, Earth to Professor P.?" He waved his hand in front of the man's unchanging expression.
The professor suddenly slammed his desk, causing both teens to flinch and his stack of papers to flutter and scatter across the floor. He ignored them.
"That could work." He said it so quietly, even still, Ben and Julie heard him loud and clear.
"THAT COULD WORK!" He cried maniacally, tripping in his rush to the closest chalkboard.
Scrawling across the porcelain-based paneling, his stick of chalk rapidly deteriorated. His eyes darted in featherlike pattens, never staying in the same place any longer than a half a second. Ben had no doubt the man's mind must've been moving at a million miles per hour. When he appeared to be finished with his drawing, he casually wiped the sweat that had amount on on his forehead.
"What the heck is that?" Julie blinked confusedly.
"A prototype design for a multiversal portal generator. Ben, do you think you can build it?"
"Yeah, I can build it. You know any good scrap yards?" Ben thumbed the Omnitrix, selecting Jury Rigg.
"Why, only the best scrap yard in the universe!"
"That is…?" Julie was mildly annoyed that the man was so dramatic in his deliveries.
"Anur Transyl."
…
"So you're master plan is essentially to fight fire with fire– but in this case, time with time?" Gwen grunted with effort as she helped Paradox into the car again.
"More or less." He winced as he massaged his sore thigh.
"Do you have another destination in mind?"
"Hex lives in Vermont. We are going to pay him a visit." She buckled herself in.
The professor said nothing for a solid five minutes.
"Hex? As in Hex the wizard?" He broke the silence, turning to her, confusion apparent on his features.
"The correct term is sorcerer. And you won't have to worry about him. We've put our past behind us. Mostly." She said as she cast him a sidelong glance. "He helps me when I have questions about magic. Like, through the internet. Social media, that type of thing."
They came to a stop at a red light.
"You're friends with Hex?"
"No. No, I didn't say that."
"Forgive me if I am wrong, as I am not the most up-to-date individual myself, but to communicate with someone via social media, mustn't one first befriend the other user to do so?"
"Paradox we ARE NOT friends!" She slapped the wheel, inadvertently honking the horn.
The light flipped to green.
"The last time I talked to him was before..." She swallowed thickly, unable to complete the sentence.
"I should drive." He suggested after some time passed.
"No, no… I got it."
"Gwendolyn, you're half asleep already. I may not be able to time travel, but I can still read signs and abide by the speed limit."
She blinked, tapping the speedometer. OH! She was going one hundred thirty on the highway! Ok, maybe she was tired.
"Grr, fine. I'm pulling over. I'll write you the address. Wake me up in an hour?"
"You have my word." He placed a hand over his heart, crossing his fingers behind his back.
…
"Wake up! Wakey wakey, sleepy head!"
"Ghuugh-huh?" Gwen drowsily shook herself awake, wiping away the excess drool hanging from the corner of her mouth with the back of her sleeve.
"Still dark out." She stated the obvious, her brain still rebooting.
"We're here."
Rubbing sleep deprivation from her eyes, she leaned to glare out the passenger window. Yep, that was definitely the same mansion she had seen on the website. Suspicious, she peeked at the digital clock on the dashboard.
"That was way longer than an hour."
"Oops." Paradox didn't sound apologetic in the slightest.
Abandoning their parked vehicle out front, the duo followed the dull brick pathway leading them towards the crest of the steep hill.
The architecture took inspiration from ancient Greece. Combine that with medieval Japanese undertones, and the result was something truly unique. She wondered how the sorcerer was able to afford this foundation– heck, even the hedge maze. Actually, no– she wasn't surprised. Rather, she shouldn't be. Hex was a retired supervillain– his fortune was built from centuries of plundering bank vaults.
She wrenched the iron gate open with a mana hook, allowing for the professor to limp inside before her.
"Let me do the talking." She broke into a jog.
"Alright." The professor conceded to her wishes, limping faster.
As they climbed onto the front porch, they came to the realization that the door was saddled beside a tall, vacant case of knight's armor. The metal was a menacing raven black, gleaming in a warped fashion under the fading moonlight. The armor's hollow gauntlets were poised taut around the pommel of its longsword, facing the sky– while the blade's point laid undisturbed between its sabatons on the marble pedestal.
The knight's sword chopped the space inches short of her nose as she went to use the door knocker.
"Enchanted suit of armor." She breathed, backing away from the door slowly, noting how the armor withdrew its sword and readjusted itself to mirror its original position.
"I don't know if you understand a single word that I'm saying, but we aren't here to hurt your master." Hesitantly she reached for the knocker again, anticipating another shady maneuver.
The instant she let her guard down, the armor swung– and it was only thanks to Paradox's quick thinking that she didn't lose any of her fingers, yanking her by her collar. The suit of armor marched at them from its pedestal, wielding the the hilt of its longsword with both hands.
"So this is what we're doing now!? Fine! I don't mind getting my hands dirty!" Gwen flung a mana disc at the armor with the intention of decapitating the helmet.
CHING!
The blade easily deflected her projectile, sending it whizzing directly back at them like a dodgeball. Reflexes kicked in as she materialized a transparent wall to block the resulting explosion. The armor suit blitzed their location, forcing them to split up to avoid being cut to ribbons by its wide arching swing. It recognized that Gwen was the more dangerous of the pair, as it pursued her with great urgency. With its lengthy stride, it was able to catch her in mere seconds. She summoned a hot pink cutlass to parry the oncoming blow. The overwhelming strength caused her to tumble sideways into the grass. It struck so fast she could hear the blade slicing the air prior to clashing against hers, as it proceeded to exert its will over her.
She held on for dear life as her mana construct began cracking. A measly stone dinged off the side of the knight's helmet. The armor suit momentarily paused it's assault to glare at Paradox, who wore a sheepish grin on his face. It clinked its helm in a disapproving manner. As it prepared to strike her down, the front door burst open, revealing with it a sorcerer adorned by a red cloak.
"Ebony knight! Cease your defense!" The suit of armor adhered to its master's commands, anticlimactically marching back to its pedestal, acting as if nothing had happened.
"Who dares trespass on my, wait– wait is that you, Gwen Tennyson?" The yellow sclera of the sorcerer's eyes visibly widened, substantially baffled.
"Yeah, its me." She groaned, getting up, rubbing her bruised tailbone.
"This is Professor Paradox." She gestured loosely to the man in question.
"I don't care. I thought I made myself clear when I told you to never come here." The sorcerer was seething at their presence.
"Which is why I didn't call first. Look, Hex, we really, really need your help."
He stared at her, unimpressed.
"Ben and Kevin's lives hang in the balance!"
"I didn't take you as one to partake in necromancy?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"Then quit spewing nonsense! Tell me what it is that you want or leave my residence– permanently." He fixed her with a shadowed glare.
"What do you know about the multiverse? Is there a spell that can take us there?"
Upon hearing this, he spun on his heel to re-enter his home.
"What? Are the magic police going to come knocking on your door if you aid us?"
The sorcerer growled under his breath.
"I have never cast a spell that accomplishes what it is you are asking. I would need to consult my collection of texts to better grasp whatever this is I'm dealing with."
"We can help you look." She moved to follow him, only to be stiff-armed.
"No– you are not touching my books."
"Hey, if we all just work together, we'll be out of your hair faster— that is if you even have hair still." She added the last part quickly.
"You are lucky that I decided to turn over a new leaf, child! Otherwise I would have no qualms about turning you into an ant and stepping on you!"
"You're lucky I gave you a second chance!" She countered.
"You owe us for all the times you've tried to kill us! You're threatening me right now!"
That seemed to do the trick, as the sorcerer stammered. Perhaps he was disappointed in himself for falling into old habits. He shoulders slumped in philosophical defeat, dejectedly motioning for them to come inside as they were his guests.
"Please, try not to destroy anything like you did my lawn."
The interior walls were decorated with a diverse array of magical artifacts. Most of which she had never seen nor heard of before. She did spot one that she was familiar with though– the staff of Ages. It was docked on a coat hanger. Hex ushered them inside a spacious hall with twin sets of spiraling stairs. Scaling these winding steps, the trio soon found themselves as observers to a sprawling library.
"Remember what I said."
"Don't destroy anything?" She echoed.
"Don't touch anything." He reclarified, giving her a stink eye in particular.
"I shall return shortly." He vanished from sight, leaving behind a couple dozen specks of dust.
Dismissing the sorcerer's theatrics, she explored the vast shelving, stroking at the various leather spines.
"Look how many of these there are Paradox." She was in awe.
"Are these all magical spells?" He was effectively out of his element here.
"There's more to magic than simple spells, professor. The only limit is your imagination. That's what's so incredible about it."
"Reality is a canvas, Tennyson, and we are the brush which hopes to make sense of it all– to give it meaning." Hex announced as he reappeared behind them, hovering in a meditative position.
He unveiled an ancient scroll which unwound itself. The text glowed in a written language she didn't recognize as it was blurring and mixing together on the parchment.
"Its encrypted. How odd."
"Bah! What usefulness is your magic if you can't even read your own books for Pete's sake!?" The professor's agitation was on full display.
"You may abide by the laws of physics, Paradox, but we sorcerers do not. Your technology— your science— is prone to failure. As faulty as the creatures that created them. But magic? Magic is perfection. Numbers can bring you closer to the answers you desire, yes, but they do not tell the story to its fullest. For like minded folk, such as Gwen and I– there are no limits to our abilities– nothing but our own free will. That, professor, is perfection. Not whatever it is you try to mimic."
"He wasn't trying to insult your career choices, Hex– he's upset because he wants to help but he doesn't know how to. And to be frank, neither do I."
The library rocked from a thundering earthquake. Following this, the stench of smoke wafted through the library. The sorcerer resealed the scroll, slinging it around his torso in a cotton satchel. The commotion of the ebony knight downstairs alerted them of intruders attempting to break inside his mansion home.
"What have you done?" Hex' fists trembled.
"We didn't— how did they even...!" She trailed off as she realized her mistake.
"Eon must've put a tracker on Kevin's car!" She swore colorfully.
"Blast! They found us!" The professor shouted over his shoulder as he risked a peek out the window, then ducking to avoid being fried by laser fire.
"There is a lot more of them than last time!"
"Then I'll simply teach these miscreants a lesson in hospitality." Hex summoned the staff of Aegis to his hand.
"We can't fight these guys! The professor's powers aren't working like they should!"
"I assure you, child, I am far more powerful and capable than you believe me to be. Now, step aside, and watch as a master sorcerer works his magic." His body emitted a corrupt golden aura.
"Can you swallow your ego for just ONE SECOND, and listen to me!?" She cried hysterically.
Finally, he considered her plight.
"There is no place they can't chase us! If we don't run now, then we're trapped!"
He stared ahead, emotionless, as the wall caved in, enabling for a squadron of Eon's henchmen equipped with jetpacks to swarm the confined area.
"Maybe… but there is a place they wouldn't dare go."
"Where!?"
He grinned at her sadistically.
"Oh. I don't like that look."
With a conjuration resembling a war cry, he stabbed his staff in between the wooden floorboards of his dedicated study. The Door to Anywhere manifested in their dimension– in the middle of his crumbling mansion. The pure energy it radiated was remarkable. Without missing a beat, he telekinetically tossed Gwen and the professor through the sifting mauve gateway.
The sorcerer scoffed at these peasants feeble attempts to kill him, returning the lasers to their senders with a flick of the wrist, exterminating their frontline effortlessly. Charred corpses rained from where his ceiling and roof had been upended. The dark magic wielder had never felt so sick.
"You had to make this personal." He recalled the staff of Aegis to his beckoning hand.
Levitating across the barrier transfusing into Ledgerdomain, the master sorcerer commanded the stone door to grind shut behind them.
