Heyo! It's been way too long. Again. Sorry. But here it is: Episode 28. We are getting down to the wire here guys and I cannot even believe it. Thank you all so much for reading this and supporting me in creating this Dangerverse. I'm far from done with this, though Season 1 is almost over. I hope you all enjoy this episode and I'll see you in the finale! Leave a review please!
Danger S1E28: Dangers of the Other Side
March 18, 2022
Everything in the Man's Nest is being pulled in toward the interdimensional transporter where a mysterious unstable portal has opened without any known triggering. Bose, standing closest to the machine, vanishes through the portal without warning. His monkey screeching and leaping after him. The rest of the occupants of the building have no time to react, needing to grab onto something to keep from being pulled in themselves.
"Bose!" Mika cries with a look back after getting hold of a column fixed to the floor.
"Whoa! No! Henry!" Piper screams. She slips from the backward force tugging at her in spite of her feet trying to push forward. Falling to the floor she reaches for help as she slides towards the hole.
"Piper!" Henry screams in return, letting go of his perch to lunge towards her. A hopeless act, truly, but inarguably loving. They both go tumbling through the portal.
Schwoz, Mika, Miles, and Dawson remain in the room, all crying in alarm for their friends as they vanish. Then door to the rest of the Man's Nest opens, Chapa rushes in asking, "What's going on?" and getting pulled in by the portal. She tries desperately to save herself by magnetically lashing out. She manages to affect some levers on the machine and Schwoz's other devices but does not stop her trajectory into the portal as it closes around her.
No longer being tugged at, those remaining get to their feet. "Where'd she go?" Leon asks from the doorway he'd followed his sister through. "Where's Chapa?"
"Where did that portal come from?" Mika asks.
"Can we open it back up?" Miles asks.
"That portal could've led to anywhere," Mika says. "Will we even be able to find the dimension it opened?"
"Maybe. I don't know! I don't know where they went!" Schwoz says anxiously, searching over the machine for answers.
(Theme Song: Henry's Voice dubbed over the image of Captain Man's bronze statue. "It all just kinda happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He shouldn't have died. But now here I am, doing his job." Cut scene to Man's Nest in chaos as the members of Danger Force and Schwoz run around reacting to an emergency alert blaring through the base. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Henry states and the music of the theme song begins to play...)
Traveling through an interdimensional portal is not a new experience for Henry, nor for Piper, but it is a strange one none the less. They come out in a storage room filled with boxes of geeky collectables, covered in a sticky blue goop. "Ew!" Piper exclaims wiping at it. "Not this stuff again!"
"Oh good, you're complaining, must mean you're okay," Henry sasses her. She scowls at him.
"Piper? Henry?" Bose asks, holding Blue. "You guys came through too?"
As he says it, another person comes flying through the portal. Chapa lands less than gracefully before demanding, "Where are we and why was there an open, sucking portal in the Man's Nest?"
"Not a clue," Henry responds.
"Is the portal still open? Can we get back to…" Bose asks, stopping because he can clearly see the wall the portal had been located in front of is now free of any interdimensional rift.
"That'd be a hard no," Chapa says. "So, which dimension are we now trapped in? The Spider-dude's?"
"No," Henry says. "He went home, then the machine started freaking out and pulled us here. No idea where here is, but we should get out of here and figure it out. Or at least find somewhere to lay low until Schwoz reopens the portal to bring us back."
They move quietly, Henry in the lead, to the door of the room they're in. Peeking out he sees the little store filled with a dozen or so customers and a handful of employees. Quickly and silently, he shuts the door again to tell them the situation.
"We could use a distraction," Chapa says, pointing at the power control board on the wall. She zaps the board and the lights go out. Several surprised exclamations come from the other side of the door as the rest of the store goes dark as well. The four heroes slip quickly out the door of the back room. An employee is already coming towards it to check the power box within. "Hey!" they say. "Who're you?" the four speed up to duck around the next row of shelves. "Wait! Stop!" the employee cries after them.
"Don't stop," Piper counters.
"Don't run," Chapa argues in a hiss.
"Act casual and get out of the store," Henry instructs. They move carefully, avoiding the employees as they escape to the walkway of the mall. Not stopping until they're well away.
"Whew," Bose sighs.
Piper looks around, saying, "This is Swellview Mall."
Henry nods, also recognizing it. "Yeah, Swellview Mall in an alternate universe."
A couple people walking in their direction cast disturbed glances at the four of them and divert around a kiosk before they pass them. A security guard rushes down the hall towards them, stopping to ask, "Are you all okay? What happened to you?"
Henry conscientiously wipes at the goo covering him and covering the others. "We're good. Just a lotion accident," he excuses. "We're going to get cleaned up, we'll be fine. Thank you."
The security guard nods, thankfully distracted enough to not question them, and runs off to whatever he'd been reacting to in the first place, probably the power outage. Henry just as quickly ushers his sister and sidekicks towards the nearest bathrooms, "We need to get cleaned up."
A while later, they all emerge, free of blue goo. With nowhere else to go they grab a table in the food court, platters of cheap food in front of them as an alibi while they discuss what to do next. "
"We're in another Swellview, so can't we just get help from this world's Schwoz?" Bose asks.
"No. Not necessarily," Henry says. "We don't know how things work in this universe yet. Schwoz might not be a good guy or might not be here at all."
"Why wouldn't he be a good guy?" Bose asks with concern.
"Well, anything could be different here. There could be different heroes, or we could be in a backward world where we're villains instead. We need to figure out what we're dealing with first. Stay subtle," Henry instructs.
"Cause we're so good at that," Piper rolls her eyes.
"She's not wrong," Chapa agrees. "Between the blue goo raising questions with that security guard and the monkey hanging around with us, we're not exactly inconspicuous."
"Blue's being normal," Bose defends.
"But he's a monkey," Chapa argues.
Piper sighs. "Pass me the ketchup."
She's squirting it out when a loud shriek of, "Oh my god!" cuts through the food court and she startles, making a mess on the table with the condiment. "What the mustard?" she asks. The entire food court is getting to their feet, clamoring and looking at one area across the room.
The four get up to follow the crowd, peering over shoulders to find the source of the commotion. "Hello Swellview!" Frankini announces himself, riding on top of a bedazzled golf cart that is blasting music. He's surrounded by at least a dozen shopping bags full of loud clothing. Goomer is driving the cart with a big grin on his face. Beyond them several display windows are shattered across the floor, naked mannequins falling out of them. "Which store should I hit next?" he asks the camera he's holding. "Hmm, I could use some new shoes. Goomer, to Heart and Sole!"
"I don't think so, Frankini!" Volt says, running up behind him from one of the nearby stores. She shoots the sparkly cart with her lightning, shutting it down.
"Hey!' Frankini whines at her.
"Woah! What?" Bose says, looking between the Volt fighting Frankini and Chapa standing beside him.
"Weird," Chapa mutters. "So, Danger Force exists here."
"At least you do," Piper says.
"There's AWOL too," Bose points out the yellow clad hero coming down the hall. Beside him is "…and Kid Danger. A girl Kid Danger?"
They all stare at her confused. This Kid Danger wears the costume Henry had, but certainly is a girl, with blonde hair curling down to her chin. "Nice one, Volt!" the alternate Kid Danger says. "Blast him next! Get the stuff he stole!"
"No!" Frankini complains. "Goomer, get them!"
"Okay!" Goomer says, getting up and running at the heroes. He only manages to catch Volt, clotheslining her with his large arm. The girl Kid Danger dodges and AWOL teleports out of the way. She goes after Frankini herself and he goes to help Volt.
"Uh, Pipes," Henry says while studying the girl Kid Danger. "I think that's you."
"Me? Why would I be Kid Danger?" Piper questions.
Frankini begins throwing bags and boxes from his stealing spree at the alternate Piper Kid Danger, climbing off his cart so that it becomes a barrier between himself and her. She stops in the other side of it, going back and forth, him moving opposite to her. They run halfway around it, trading places and not getting anywhere.
"Should we help her?" Bose asks.
Alt. Piper Kid Danger jumps through the cart towards Frankini. It doesn't go very well, she ends up sprawled across the seats instead of on him, but the performer falls over anyway from fright. The civilian people step back as the fight draws nearer. The four not from this universe stand resolute, now at the front of the crowd. Frankini stands back up with a harrumph and straightening of his clothes. Alt. Piper Kid Danger scrambles across the golf cart's seats. She looks up to glare at Frankini but glances to the side of him, looking directly at where Henry and company are standing. Her expression changes immediately from anger to surprise and disbelief. She stops struggling across the cart as she stares open mouthed.
"Get off my clothes!" Frankini demands, yanking the girl Kid Danger out of the cart. "You'll wrinkle them!"
She tumbles out onto her head with a yelp. "Yeah, she might need help," Henry answers Bose. The four of them duck out of the crowd to blow their bubbles where no one is watching. They're out of sight before the alt. Piper Kid Danger looks back in their direction.
In her distracted state she is not prepared and gets hit over the head by Frankini with a bag of rhinestone covered shirts. She rolls over to bat him off, ripping the bag open and spilling the shirts over herself and the floor. "Ugh!" Frankini squeaks. "My rhinestones! You'll pay for that!" he grabs another bag from the cart, this one full of hats and belts. He makes to swing it at her but is stopped by Danger's gloved hand catching his arm.
"I don't think so Frankini," Danger says, taking the bag away.
Frankini scowls at him. "What? Who are you?" he asks, looking Danger up and down.
Alt. Kid Danger blinks up at him too. "Oh my god," she mutters with teary astonishment. "What…? How…? You're here. That's not possible," She says while getting to her feet. Without any kind of explanation as to what she's talking about, she throws her arms around Danger.
He looks confused at her. "Um, hey. What's up? What's wrong?" he asks.
Rolling Thunder comes up beside them. "What are you doing?" She asks. Drawing her alternate's attention. Rolling Thunder raises an eyebrow, part amused and part appalled. "Why are you hugging him and crying?" she asks.
"Now who are you?" Frankini asks. "We got masked people coming out of the woodwork!"
"I'm Rolling Thunder," Rolling Thunder says.
Alt. Kid Danger looks at her with as much shock as she had Danger. "Rolling Thunder?" she wonders, studying her other self until she's sure she's not imagining things. "How? You're…"
"Yeah," Rolling Thunder smirks. "I'm am."
"What? How?" Alt. Kid Danger wonders.
"She didn't come out of wood," Brainstorm comments. "Wait, the wall we came out of wasn't wood was it?"
"You are a doofus," Volt says rolling her eyes.
"How did you get back here?" Frankini asks her, looking over his shoulder. "Goomer had you." Goomer indeed still has the thrashing Alt. Volt and now also dragging Alt. AWOL back down the hall with them. "What the what?" Frankini looks between the two Volts with elevating astonishment.
Alt. Kid Danger takes a few glances of her own. "What exactly is this? Who are you guys? Where did you come from?" She asks them.
"Well, that's Rolling Thunder, she told you that, then there's Danger and Volt, this is Blue and I'm Brainstorm," Brainstorm explains. "We got pulled through a portal from our universe."
"Another universe?" Alt. Kid Danger questions. "Like the one where we were all mice-people?"
"Uh… don't know about mice-people, but we met cat versions of us once," Rolling Thunder says.
"Yes," Danger cuts in the conversation to clarify. "We came to this universe by accident."
Alt. Kid Danger looks back at Danger when he speaks, giving him an expression so distraught he wonders what he possibly could've said that was upsetting. "You're with them. You came from another universe? So, you're not really…" She says with a miserable air of understanding, looking as though she's just got the news that someone important has died.
Goomer comes up beside Frankini with a befuddled and happy expression. He speaks, almost seeming to complete what Alt. Kid Danger hadn't said. "Kid Danger?" Both Danger and the Alt. Kid Danger look at him. He's staring quite directly at the elder of them. "You're Kid Danger." He turns to Frankini, "That's Kid Danger! The real one!"
"I was Kid Danger here then? I mean, the other me was," Danger questions, turning to his alternate little sister. "Then why is it you now? Why would you have taken over for me?"
"Why would you want to?" Rolling Thunder expounds.
Alt. Kid Danger looks between the two. Her mouth hangs open but no explanation comes forth. She merely tears up again and presses herself to her sort-of brother in another hug. He shares a confused and concerned look with Rolling Thunder and places an unsure hand of comfort on Alt. Kid Danger's back.
"That's impossible. This isn't the real Kid Danger. The real Kid Danger died crashing that blimp," Frankini reminds everyone. "That's why his silly little sister and the Danger Force replaced him as Swellview's heroes."
"Right, the blimp," Volt says with a knowing look at Danger. "Well, things are a bit different for us. That's Danger, formerly Kid, and he's very much alive for us. Also, where we from," she says, leaping at Goomer to free her alternate self and Alt. AWOL before finishing. "Goomer is no match for us."
The villains, heroes, and civilians of the universe they're in react with awe to her action. Brainstorm speaks up, raining on her parade, "Uh, Goomer and Nurse Cohort kicked our butts a lot, remember?" Volt glares at him. "Okay, I'll shut up," he says in response.
"I have so lost track of what is happening here," Frankini says. "I wanted to cause some chaos, but you guys have completely outdone me. And I hate it."
Alt. Kid Danger gives him an irritated scowl through her tear-sodden eyes. She lets go of Danger to face the villain.
Out of nowhere, behind where Danger and his teammates stand, a very familiar voice complains, "What a mess. You know, I'm really sick of telling you and your team to stay out of things, Kid's Sister. You only ever make things a bigger problem for me to solve."
Henry's ears ring, feeling deceived by the voice he can't believe he's hearing. He spins around towards the source, not the only one who does so, and finds to his shock that his eyes agree with his ears. An uncharacteristic frown crosses the haggard face of Captain Man. He's standing there with his hands on his hips in all his red and blue costumed glory. "Oh my god." Piper is the one who says it but Henry's thought are on a very similar track, unable to come up with anything more coherent.
"What?" Alt. Volt questions Rolling Thunder and the matching expressions of shock on Volt and Brainstorm's faces.
Henry, even with his thoughts having come to such a screeching halt, doesn't need to think about the next move he takes. It's instinctual that he takes the few steps between them quickly and throws his arms around his best friend in a huge, unapologetic hug. "Ray!" he barely utters, his voice breaking before any of the name has properly left his lips.
"Captain Man," Brainstorm says reverently.
"What the…?" Captain Man says. He pushes Henry back by the shoulders, confused at who is hugging him and why. "How do you know…?" he begins to heatedly ask but stops as he sees Henry's face. He takes a long, breathless pause to gape at the younger man, recognizing him at once and looking at him with the same emotion if disbelief and desperate will for what they're seeing to be true. Ray manages a choked whisper of, "Henry?" Then he's clutching him back in a tight embrace. "Kid!" Ray celebrates.
The two men cling to each other, neither having any regard for the tears in their eyes or the thousands of people watching in the mall and on Frankini's livestream. The rumors begin to fly as people try to understand what is happening; duplicate Danger Forces and a grown-up Kid Danger alive and from another universe. The heroes of this world share looks of confusion separate from the confused looks of the heroes from without this world. Brainstorm somehow understands, he finds all the pieces and puts it together. "Kid Danger really did die in this universe. He didn't secretly survive the explosion and go to Dystopia or anything. He's dead."
(Commercial Break)
"…When we came back, someone from Dystopia must've followed us because Swellview was immediately under magical attack. Shadow Man turned out the power until he'd killed Ray by stealing his soul. And we've been trying to fight him and save the city since then." Henry finishes the story and silence reigns for a long minute before all the heroes of this universe begin barraging him with questions.
"I can see the future?" Alt. Miles asks. "That's my second power?"
"You, Charlotte and Jasper went to Dystopia? And came back?" Alt. Schwoz asks astonished.
"Um, what was that last part about my soul?" Ray asks.
"If you got a forcefield, why didn't our Henry?" Alt. Piper asks. "You all got hit with the omega weapon's energy and our Danger Forces all got the same powers."
"Well, maybe we got them a little bit different," Bose suggests. "Your Miles hasn't figured out the visions he's having in his dreams yet and our Miles was the first to get a second power."
"In my dreams?" Alt. Miles questions. "Is that what those weird dreams are? The one's that give me déjà vu?"
"Yeah," Bose answers. "Maybe that's why your Henry died. Maybe he just didn't get his powers in time."
"We got them in different order?" Chapa questions.
"Yeah," Bose says. "Like in our universe you were the first one with powers, but here it was Mika, she didn't have to wait weeks."
"How could you possibly know that?" Piper asks.
"Because she was just talking about it," Bose answers.
"No, she wasn't," Chapa points out. "She hasn't said a single thing since Henry finished telling them our story."
"But I heard her," Bose protests. "They were all just telling stuff about their powers and how different they got them to how we got ours."
"You're the only one that's been talking about that," Henry says.
Bose looks confused. "Oh!" Alt. Bose says. "You guys don't know about my second power."
"I don't have my second power yet," Bose states.
"Yeah, you do!" Alt. Bose insists. "You've used it a lot since we met. You were reading our minds. That's how you know about our powers."
"I can read minds? I'm not even good at reading books!" Bose protests amazed.
"I'll teach you!" Alt Bose says chipperly. "To read minds, not books. Minds are way easier!"
"Cool!" Bose enthuses. Alt. Bose smiles and a moment passes where neither speaks. Then Bose reacts to something inaudible. "Woah! Really?" Alt. Bose nods in response. They start bouncing and gesturing happily at each other without saying a word aloud.
"Are they really…?" Piper asks astonished.
"Telepathy is Bose's other superpower," Alt. Mika confirms. "It was hard to figure out, but he can always tell what someone's thinking."
"Okay," Chapa draws out. "Bose can read our minds now. That's super weird."
"Yeah, but it does explain a few things. Bose has had a few weird instances lately where he's known more than he should," Henry says.
"Can we please get back to me dying by my soul getting stolen?" Ray asks. "That seems way more important right now."
"Right, um, I guess that's new news here," Henry says. "You guys haven't dealt with any soul-stealing psychos from Dystopia. Well, sorry Ray, you were his first victim in Swellview."
"Dystopia?" Alt. Piper asks. She shakes her head with an unhappy thought. "The more I hear about that place the more terrible it seems."
"Oh, no joke," Chapa agrees. "That place is hella scary!"
"I mean, everyone knows it's a sketchy crime-filled place. But with each new thing I've learned since Charlotte and Jasper went missing there, it seems to be a pit of darkness." Alt. Piper says gloomily.
"Charlotte and Jasper disappeared?" Henry says with deep concern.
"Uh, yeah," Alt. Piper says. "They, um, went there after graduation, after Henry died. Jasper decided to go with Charlotte, who was already going there with a charity."
"Oh god! The charity!" Henry says with sudden understanding. Alt. Piper stops talking to look at him curiously. "The charity wasn't real; it was a creepy science group in Dystopia luring people in to use as test subjects. The first day Charlotte went out with them, they took her."
"Yes, Jasper called us, told us Charlotte had disappeared after her first day out building the school," Alt. Schwoz says. "It was a trap?"
"There are no schools in Dystopia," Henry says. "They don't do public services, and they don't do charity. When we went there in our world, Jasper and I spent days searching for her, we turned the city on its head, messed with too many things we shouldn't have. If he did all that alone in this world, 'cause I was dead…"
"Jasper tried to find her," Alt. Schwoz confirms. "We lost contact with him a couple days later. We haven't heard from either since, it's been well more than a year."
Henry runs his hand through his hair, scrunching his face in distress, "You'll never hear from them. They're dead."
Alt. Schwoz and Alt. Piper both look crushed by the news. Ray frowns deeply and asks the Kid, "Can you be sure? Wouldn't someone have sent that news back to Swellview if they died?"
"No." Henry gives no room for doubt with his answer. "They wouldn't. And if even Charlotte survived whatever experiments they were doing on her, you'll never see her again. She'll never come back out of Dystopia."
Alt. Piper tears up and glares at the floor. "The same stuff happened to you? You went to Dystopia with them and lost Charlotte."
"Yeah," Henry says. "And no. We saved her. We made a lot of enemies, but Jasper and I took down the fake charity and rescued Charlotte."
"Can I come live in your world?" Alt. Piper asks. "It sounds so much better."
"Except I'm dead," Ray points out.
"That's one loss I can live with," Alt. Piper says meanly. "You and I aren't really friends anyway. Not since you abandoned us after Henry died and only ever show up to berate us when we're fighting crime."
"Woah!" Henry interferes, looking between the two who're glaring hostilely at each other. "Chill out. Whatever problems you have here and with each other, you absolutely do not want to come live in our universe."
"But, you're alive. You and Charlotte and Jasper," Alt. Piper argues.
"We've got more than our fair share of dead, though," Piper tells her. "Shadow Man, the psycho who killed Ray, has killed tons of people. Several of them being our friends and family."
"He killed our families?" Alt. Bose asks alarmed. "All of them? While you were in Dystopia? Which you did go to and really is super scary from what I read in your minds."
Bose wilts and says, "Yeah, he got almost all of them. Except Vice Step Dad and one of Chapa's brothers." He pauses before going on with a curious look. "Which she didn't tell you about in this world either. Why do you like keeping that a secret?" he asks her.
Both Chapa's look away embarrassed. Alt. Bose raises one eyebrow, "You have six brothers and sisters?"
"Six?" Alt. Mika and Miles question simultaneously.
Alt. Chapa rolls her eyes and confesses annoyed, "Yeah, okay, I have six siblings. So what?"
"So, in their universe, all of them except Leon are dead," Alt. Bose says. "And my mom is dead, and Mika and Miles family, and Henry and Piper's parents. Your guys' world sucks."
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up," Piper grumbles.
"It's that bad?" Alt. Piper despairs.
"Worse," Henry says. "It's not somewhere you want to be."
"My god, Kid," Ray says. He raises his hand to grasp Henry's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
It takes a long minute for Henry to answer, his word coming out quiet and downtrodden. "No." Ray pulls him under his arm more securely, a saddened expression of his own painting his face as he looks at the young man. "Don't worry about it," Henry urges. "We'll get it dealt with. We'll be fine."
Alt. Bose opens his mouth to say something but stops. Bose is looking at him and something passes telepathically between the two. Neither says anything aloud. "Kid, if you need some help, I will go to your world and kick this Shadow Man's butt."
Henry chuckles. "Thanks, but I'm not sure that's the best idea. He killed you once already."
"Well, he's never killed me twice,"
Henry chuckles again, burrowing into Ray's hug, "God, I missed you."
Ray smiles. "Me too Kid."
Before anything else can be said, an alarm goes off through the whole Dangers Nest. Alt. Mika clamps her hands over her ears. Ray looks around wondering, "What is that for?"
"Perimeter breech!" Henry and Alt. Piper say at the same time.
"Eyes on the doors, find the intruder!" Henry instructs, directing the sidekicks around.
The window shatters as the disturbingly familiar and angry form of Drex bursts in and growls, "Found him!"
The whole group of heroes take fighting stances facing the villain, except Henry. He freezes in dark shock staring at his former nemesis. "Drex! What are you doing here?" Ray questions with fury.
Drex doesn't even wait for him to be done speaking. He attacks with vicious intent, slashing and throwing aside the heroes who get in his way until he's on top of Henry. Henry goes down, his head cracking hard on the ground. Drex slashes his claw at Henry and catches his throat in a choking hold. "I killed you!" Drex fumes, squeezing tighter. Henry grabs shaky and ineffectively at the hand on his throat, "You died! You can't be alive now!"
Henry flinches at being trapped by the older man. He knows he should be able to escape this situation but can't figure out how to get out of the hold. He can't get his fingers to move. His head hurts from where it hit the ground and a dizziness is seeping through it, making it impossible to think. His heart pounds as he struggles against himself to get Drex off.
Chapa, one of them, tackles Drex off him. Henry coughs, sucking air as fast as he can. Though his throat is open again, he still doesn't seem to be able to fill his lungs, heaving fast and hard. He rolls onto his hands and knees, shaking and sweating as he tries to force himself to breathe. But each desperate inhale of air somehow lacks oxygen.
The numbness in his brain spreads through his body, paradoxically accompanied by sharp, terrible pain. Henry collapses to his side, curling up on himself, trying to alleviate any of the body wracking pain. He clenches his eyes shut against the onslaught. Still Drex's wickedly triumphant face sneers down at him. Darkness swirls around in the background. Henry shakes his head, trying to clear it and only succeeding in making it hurt more.
He has to get up, he knows he needs to move. He can't just lay here. He has to get up and stop Drex. Drex is trying to kill him and Henry can't so much as give him a witty or insolent response. Drex will be back any second to finish him off; to beat him and stab him and choke him. Henry can't handle anymore torture, it's killing him. But he can't let Drex win; he has to fight back. Why can't he fight back?
From somewhere above him, Drex's voice spits insults and threats, "I will kill you! I'll destroy you! I will tear you into a million pieces! Make you suffer every agony! I will…!" Drex cuts his own shouting off to question, "What's wrong with him?"
Henry can't understand what he means by that. What's wrong with him? Henry's not sure he knows the answer, but he's certain Drex should. Drex is the problem, right? Drex is why he's hurt and terrified, Drex is the one torturing him. Right?
"Kid?" Ray's voice speaks.
"Ray!" Henry's voice cracks as he begs into the swirling darkness. He really must be close to death now to be talking to the dead. He certainly feels like it; it feels like he's suffocating and maybe having a heart attack.
"Kid? What's wrong?" Ray asks, kneeling beside Henry and reaching out to check on his sidekick.
"No, no more," he whimpers, wishing he could put up his forcefield. Flexing to do so even though he knows it'll only show up as fragments. He chokes pitifully, feeling his blood filling his throat. Death is surely coming quickly now, Henry's not sure he should fight it.
Ray falls backwards, pushed away from Henry by the expanding green forcefield. "Woah!"
"What the butt? Henry?" Piper wonders. She's helping the other Piper to finish tying Drex up.
"What's going on? Is he okay?" Alt. Piper asks her.
Ray has got up off his back and is right up against the forcefield, testing its durability. "Kid! Henry!" he calls. Henry is curled on the floor, looking in a bad way and hyperventilating.
"I have no clue what going on," Piper says. They leave Drex bound in a chair, Alt. Chapa watching him, to join Ray beside the forcefield. Piper shouts at her brother through the barrier, "Are you okay?" he doesn't give any indication that he even heard her. "If you don't answer, I'll just keep asking. I know you hate that question. So, you better tell me if you're okay."
Alt. Piper and Ray give her unsure looks. Alt. Bose speaks up. "He's not listening. I don't even know if he's really hearing anything right now. It's like his brain is in a different place. I'm not even sure what's going on in his brain." Alt. Bose peers hard as he tries to make sense of the information he's reading in Henry's mind.
Bose follows his counterpart's lead, less sure of how to do it, but trying to read Henry's mind. After a moment he exclaims, "Oh god! Oh no! No, no, no, no! That's not good!"
"What? What?" everyone else asks him.
Bose runs around to be as close to Henry's head as he can while he tells him. "You're not dying! Henry, you're okay! Drex isn't killing you! That was months ago."
"Bose! What?" Piper demands.
"It's about when Drex tortured him," Bose says. "He's remembering when he was dying, but it's like he thinks he's there again. He's stuck in that part of his brain. We gotta get him out."
"Drex did what?" Ray asks with a furious disbelief. He glares at the villain across the room and starts to get up.
"Don't!" Bose begs. "You can beat Drex up later but we gotta help Henry now!"
"Well, how do we get through his forcefield?" Alt. Schwoz asks.
"We can't," Chapa says. "His forcefield is more indestructible than Ray."
"Then how can we help him, if we can't get to him?" Alt. Piper asks.
No one offers an answer. "Hmm… Bose!" Bose says.
"Yeah?" Alt. Bose answers.
"We can talk with just our minds. Can I talk to his mind? Tell him things right into his brain so we can get him out of his bad memories?" Bose asks.
"Yeah," Alt. Bose says.
"How?" Bose asks.
Henry's no longer sure what's going on. Things in his head are contradicting each other. He's numb and also in terrible pain. He's certain Drex is hurting him but every time he searches to feel where Drex is attacking him he gets intense signals from all over his body and can't pinpoint what the villain's doing in particular. He knows he must be dying, but alongside hearing Ray's voice, he's hearing Piper and Schwoz and Chapa and Bose. None of them are dead. The only thing he's totally sure of is his pounding heart and trouble breathing.
Out of nowhere, a voice that his not his own speaks in his head. It sounds strangely like Bose, but it'd definitely not coming in through Henry's ears. "Henry!" the voice says. "You're okay. You're not going to die. You need to let your forcefield down." Henry shakes, trying to reject the voice. He must be going insane now, hearing his sidekick's voice. "You've got to let it down. What you're feeling isn't real, Henry. You're safe, but you're going to hurt yourself if you don't calm down. Put down your forcefield so we can help you, please!" the Bose-ish voice begs him.
Henry doesn't know what to do. His forcefield isn't working properly in the first place, so why is the voice telling him to let it down? How can what he's feeling not be real? It's very, painfully real. But then, there's the numbness too. Thinking about it, he can feel the floor he was laying on, and it isn't dirty cement in a sweltering room; the pain of his injuries seems to be there and not, echoing from his mind to his body and back. And the voices are there, his friends and team. They're calling his name. And he remembers, Drex had been killing him, then he'd heard Rays voice and others, Drex had forced a gumball into his mouth and run away as Miles appeared in the awful little room. They had come to save Henry. He was dying still, but they were going to help him.
"Yes!" the Bose-ish voice says. Then people are all around Henry, close and touching him, saying his name and asking him questions. It doesn't help his terror or confusion. He opens his eyes, snapping himself out of the dark memories. Ray, both Pipers, both Boses, Chapa and Alt. Schwoz are gathered around him with concern written all over their faces.
With awareness of reality returned, Henry suddenly feels very stupid and embarrassed. He stares wide eyed back at them as he struggles to gain control of his breathing. Though the phantom pains of his old injuries have faded his chest still hurts from the stress on his lungs and heart.
"Just breathe Kid. You're safe," Ray tells Henry, pulling him under his arm. He coaches Henry into stabilizing his breathing.
"I'm fine," Henry says as soon as he's able to make words.
"Dude, no," Chapa chastises him. "Don't even try that."
"You're having a panic attack," Alt. Schwoz says.
"No, I'm not panicking," Henry insists. "I'm fine."
"I read your mind," Bose says. "The stuff in there was bad."
"Having flashbacks to being tortured is not fine," Piper growls at Henry. He flinches tellingly.
"I would argue that I have really enjoyed this turn of events. At least wherever you came from I got the chance to scar you for life." Drex grins maliciously at Henry. Henry reacts with a violent jerk away from the villain. His heartrate immediately spiking and throat constricting. Ray hugs him tighter and reassures him that he's safe. Drex's smile grows and he laughs with dark delight, "This seems more than fine."
"Shut up!" Alt. Volt says and kicks him.
"Why is this happening?" Henry asks Ray in a whisper. "I never panic. I'm not afraid of Drex."
Ray responds with an apologetic tone. "Hate to tell you, Kid. But I think you are." He pauses. Henry huffs annoyed. "What did he do to you?" Ray asks quietly.
Henry huffs again, but with the air of fear. He doesn't answer, instead he tucks himself into Ray's side. "Can we stop talking about how terrible my universe is and do anything else?" he begs.
(Commercial Break)
March 19, 2022
Danger slides under Jeff's punch on his knees, he takes out the criminal's legs and throws him over his own head with a helpful shove from Captain Man. Jeff is left sprawling. Captain Man helps Danger to his feet. Danger smiles wide and says, "This is great! It's been so long since I've been in a simple brawl."
"Nice one, Kid," Captain Man beams. "I missed having you around. It's so much more fun to fight the bad guys with a friend." They both take a step around each other to punch another villain each, coming up behind the other.
"Dude, if you wanted someone to fight with, you have my sister and Danger Force. You didn't have to fight alone," Danger says. Captain Man rolls his eyes and looks away to knock out the Butcher, without answering. "Bro, what is it between you guys? Why don't you guys like each other or work together? Why does Schwoz work with them now instead of with you?"
"Cause he's a traitor," Captain Man says annoyed.
"I ain't done!" Jeff says getting up. He rushes at the two and is met with both their fists, raised nonchalantly to meet his charge. He falls back to the ground, dazed.
"What happened between you?" Danger asks.
"I don't want to talk about it," Captain Man grouches.
"My sister said you ditched them all, she's the one leading Danger Force despite the fact that she's got very little crime fighting experience, and Schwoz gave the Man's Nest to them instead of you," Danger presses. "That would've happened just after the Mancave blew up and Kid Danger died. So, what exactly happened for you to cut ties with them?"
"You died!" Captain Man returns annoyed. "That's what happened."
"What does that have to do with…?" Danger tries to ask.
"Because you were my sidekick, you were my best friend and you died," Captain Man said. "Then there was a bunch of kids expecting me to teach them, to make them my new sidekicks. They acted like they could just replace you. But they can't and I wasn't going to let them. I couldn't do it, and I would not take on any more sidekicks. That job got you killed, and I couldn't handle your blood on my hands, let alone anymore. If I'd taken them on and they'd died like you…" he shakes his head stubbornly.
"Cap, my blood was never on your hands. In this world or mine. I chose to die for you," Danger says. "I chose to be your sidekick, and I chose to stay on that blimp so you would live."
"You shouldn't have!" Captain Man argues. "I was the hero, I'm supposed to be the one who sacrifices for the safety of our town. You were supposed to live and take over for me."
Danger sighs, turns to kick down the goon that's trying to break his neck, and says, "I didn't want to take over for you, and you knew that. I wasn't your sidekick anymore and I wasn't about to let you die."
"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Captain Man grumbles, punching both Lizard Twins in the face with a dramatic pizazz.
"You can't blame yourself for my choices; and you can't blame my death for you pushing everyone away," Danger replies.
"I don't want to talk about it, Kid!" Captain Man says more firmly.
Danger scowls but lets it go as he fights against Tyler Mayhem. Tyler falls as Danger spin kicks him. Danger is simultaneously attacked from behind by Kevin. Kevin tripping the hero as he hits the ground and grabbing his arm to flip the smaller man over his shoulder. Danger crashes onto his knees, rolling and grabbing his knee with a, "Ow! Dang! Ow!" He tries to stand but his knee refuses to support his weight.
Kevin hits him, a move he'd started prior to seeing the full situation. He pulls back and asks, "You alright, Kid Danger? Did I lose you?"
"Ugh," Danger says trying again to get up. This time succeeding, though standing gingerly, all weight on his good leg. "Just an old injury, bad knee. I'm good." He dismisses.
Kevin doesn't come back in for another attack, casting a doubtful look at Danger. Captain Man steps closer to them and asks, "Since when do you have a bad knee, Kid?"
"Since Drex," Danger grumbles.
"What?" Captain Man asks. "What exactly did he do to you? How badly did he hurt you?"
"We're not going to talk about that." Danger says firmly.
"If it's going to affect your fighting, we should talk about it," Captain Man insists.
"If we're not talking about your problems, we're not talking about mine," Danger counters.
"Fine," Captain Man harrumphs.
"Good," Danger counters. The two men frown at each other then turn to grab hold of Time Jerker and flip him over onto his back. A couple more criminals each, Captain Man taking the biggest and being overly protective of Henry. They fight until they find they're the only two left standing in the whole of The Beatin' Dungeon. "Nice!" Danger smirks.
"Feel better?" Captain Man asks.
"Yes," Henry snips at him. "And we're not talking about it."
"I'm not," Ray says. "Just wondering if it truly was a good distraction from how 'terrible your universe is'?"
"Ray!" Henry complains. "We came here to get off that topic, so please stay off it." He walks towards the exit.
Ray frowns sorrowfully, taking a minute before chasing after Henry to catch up to him. "You know," he tells the Kid, "You don't have to go back. You could stay here; you'd be completely welcome in this world."
Henry glances his way, for the quickest moment a sparkle of longing glimmering in his eye. "No, I can't," he speaks lowly. "I've got to go back. I've got to stop Shadow Man and save the city."
"Do you?" Ray suggests. "You said he's already killed hundreds; he's basically already won."
"So, I cut it off? Leave what friends I still have there to be killed?" Henry demands angrily. "No!"
"Then bring them here. We'd have you and Charlotte and Jasper back. Your parents are alive here, and me." Ray says.
"And what? There'd be duplicates of everyone else?" Henry asks. "Two Danger Forces? Two Schwozes?"
"Never hurts to have a backup," Ray shrugs comically.
Henry laughs, "That's kind of dark. And it doesn't change things. I can't leave my whole world to his mercy, not even if I'd love to never go back."
"Kid," Ray intones.
"It would be pointless anyway," Henry goes on. "It's me he's after. If I don't go back, he'll probably just find a way to get here. I can't let him become a threat to all of you. I can't let him kill you again." He whispers the last sentence.
Ray sighs hopelessly, he searches the air like it'll have an answer for him. "Then I'll go with you. I'll go to your world and help you beat him."
Henry pauses in his step, again giving Ray that look of momentary longing, "Ray…" he begins to say before being interrupted.
Over the comms, Alt. Schwoz comes calling. "Ray! Henry! We've got a portal opening up here! You should hurry back!"
In the Danger's Nest, the Danger Force of this world and the misplaced heroes from the next are gathered around a portal with flickering edges, through which the interior of the Man's Nest can be seen. The rest of Henry's team waits on the other side. Both sets of heroes deep in excited conversation.
"Henry!" Dawson calls, spotting him first.
"Lil' D," he returns.
"Oh my…" Schwoz utters seeing Captain Man.
"Ray?!" Mika and Miles exclaim at the sight.
"He's alive here. It's a long story," Henry says. "This portal is to our universe?"
"Yeah," Dawson says.
"Can we be sure of that?" Mika asks. "With the infinite worlds of the multiverse, surely some are going to be virtually identical. How can we know if we've actually found the right missing Dangers?
"Yes, yes," Schwoz says.
"Every universe has a unique molecular signature," Alt. Schwoz continues.
"I used ours to track our Henry, Peeper, Chapa and Bose to this dimension," Schwoz concludes.
"Great!" Mika says. "Then please get back over here. Henry still has the sword, and it would have been a serious problem if Shadow Man decided to attack while you and it were out of reach."
"He didn't try anything did he?" Henry asks walking towards he portal.
"Wait," Schwoz cautions. "I want you all to come through as close together as possible. I'm not sure how long this portal will hold, so you four need to move fast."
"Us five," Ray amends.
"Uh, what?" Piper asks. Everyone but Henry on either side of the portal looks at him without understanding.
"Ray," Henry says lowly, with no muster.
"I told you I'd come with you," Ray asserts. "I'll come help you stop your bad guy."
"You want to go live in their awful universe?" Alt. Chapa asks. "Deal with the psycho from Dystopia who killed the other you?"
"I'm going with Henry," Ray affirms.
"Coming here?" Miles asks.
"To our universe?" Dawson questions with an odd, less than pleased look.
"Yes," Ray says.
"No," Henry counters despondently.
Ray looks at him confused. "If you can't stay here, then I'm coming with you."
"You can't just switch universes, Ray," Henry argues. "This is your world."
"Says who?" Ray questions. "There's nothing for me here. You need my help."
"No!" Henry says more forcefully. He rakes a lightly trembling hand through his hair as Ray frowns wounded at him. "This world needs you. I've told you that. Your Henry told you that on the blimp. Swellview, this Swellview, needs you. They need you," he indicates the alt. Kid Danger and Danger Force.
"No, we don't," Alt. Piper argues.
Henry gives her a knowing look that she cannot lie to. "You are bossy and vicious, but you have no training. None of you have much experience. You need a real leader. And that's you, Ray. You are the hero here. You need to work with them."
"I need to go with you," Ray says firmly. "I cannot lose you again, Henry!"
Henry swallows hard and says, "And I want you back more than anything. I miss you more than I know how to say. But they need you here, Ray, I don't. I can stand on my own as a hero now. I don't like it, but I can do it. I can train sidekicks and protect my Swellview without you."
"Henry," Ray begs.
"I'm not even the Henry you lost, Ray. I'm a different person than he was; and you're not my Ray." Henry says. "As much as I want you to be, as much as I want to take you with me. It's not right. We belong where we belong. As much as we hate it, that's how things have to be. We have to do the right thing. It's our job."
Ray's wet eyes bore into Henry. Henry's eyes are equally wet. He hugs Ray tightly one more time. Which Ray returns with at least as much enthusiasm. Henry pulls away after several long minutes, Ray reluctantly letting him. "Goodbye, Ray." Henry says.
Next episode: S1E29: Finale Part 1: Out of the Shadows