"What the—" Overkill shook himself free as they broke their embrace. "What the hell just happened?" Overkill glanced around in a daze. "Why's everything gotten so damn quiet?!"

The music had suddenly stopped, and the lights had dimmed, blinking as they turned off and immediately back on. All of this activity had happened in the span of mere seconds—and Overkill knew from experience that this could only mean trouble.

"DB!" Overkill barked up at the ceiling,"What in the HELL is going on!?"

Arthur is in pain," the ship declared with grave concern. "He needs a medic!"

"I'm a medic!" Dot called out automatically. When she finally reached her brother's side, he was scrunched up into a tightly wadded up fetal position. He was shaking uncontrollably, tumbling over and over in mid-air as he kept writhing about and moaning with pain. "Arthur!" Dot gasped in shock; she'd never seen him in such a state before.

"What's the matter?" she demanded, trying to get his attention, "What's wrong!?"

"Head…" Arthur finally answered with a grunt as he kept groaning and clutched his aching skull, "L-lots of—pain—!—Su-Superian—dy-dying! F-fate—a-asteroid—ship—disguise—must go—Now!"

"Fate!?" Destiny rushed over to Arthur. "My sister?" she exclaimed, hovering over Arthur with excitement and disbelief, "You've actually seen my sister!?"

"Stand back!" Dot barked, quickly placing herself between them. "He needs room to breathe!"

"D-D-Destiny," Arthur moaned, "F-Fate…."

Destiny had to lean forward in order to make out the words:

"N-n-not on the moon!" Arthur grunted the barely audible words as he writhed about and moaned, "Asteroid—disguised—ship—Torture—" he groaned, "T-T-Treason…"

"He's delirious!" Dot gasped. She immediately placed an ice pack on Arthur's forehead.

"Not delirious," Destiny beamed down at Arthur adoringly, "he's coming online!"

" 'Online'?" Dot stared at Destiny as though she had three heads. "What are you talking about!?" she snapped, glaring darkly at the woman, "He's not a computer!"

"Of course he's not a computer." Destiny laughed as though she were the crazy one, "but he IS a Category—"

"Overkill!" Dot wasn't paying attention; she was now in full-throttle EMT mode. "Where's the First Aid kit?"

"I've got something better." Overkill, who had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, was advancing slowly in Arthur's direction. To Arthur's shock and horror, was holding what appeared to be a hypodermic needle. Arthur's eyes grew wide. "Wh-wh-what are you doing with that—?"

"It's a heavy-duty sedative," Overkill informed him matter-of-factly. "It's chock full of painkillers. The good stuff," he added, "trust me—You'll thank me later."

"Wh-w-what!?" Arthur stammered, "No way you're sticking that thing in me—"

Overkill gave the needle a test squirt and replied, "It's for your own good!"

"Oh, FUCK NO!" Arthur (who rarely swore) hollered at the top of his lungs, "G-GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"

"Tick!" Dot shouted to the Tick, who was watching with horror from afar, "Help me!"

"What in the world of the whole big wide Universe is happening to my Chum?" the Tick moaned, covering his face with his eyes. "I can't bear to watch this monstrous atrocity!"

"Destiny!" Giving up, Dot hollered for assistance from anyone she could find. "Hold his feet!"

Destiny immediately complied, holding onto Arthur's feet to keep him from spinning, as Dot placed her hands on either side of Arthur's skull.

"D-d-d-d-DOT!?" Arthur cried out in a near-complete panic, eyes wide and pleading to her for help.

"Shhh," Dot whispered, stroking Arthur's head and trying to smile at him in spite of her fear. "We're gonna take care of you."

"Hold still Arthur." Overkill leaned forward, hovering over Arthur with the needle in hand, looking as though he'd done this only perhaps a thousand times, "This is for your own good," he added deftly, as he brought the needle down and made instant contact with Arthur's thigh; Arthur let out a petrified blood-curdling scream and immediately went slack.

"ARTHUR!" The Tick pushed through, cradling Arthur in his arms. "Oh my Arthur!" He glowered up at Overkill. "What have you DONE to my ARTHUR!?" His eyes flashed a warning. "You MONSTER," the Tick declared with a tone of voice that none of them had ever witnessed before, "You-you-you evil FIEND!" A primal growl sounded from deep inside the Tick's throat, as he kept glaring more darkly at Overkill.

"NO Tick!" Dot rushed between them. "STOP!" she screamed, managing to block him just as the Tick was about to lunge for Overkill's throat—and Overkill managed to duck out of the way just in time.

"But he's DEAD!" the Tick wailed, glaring vengefully at Overkill, but allowing Dot to keep them apart.

"NO Tick—he's not dead!" Dot placed a reassuring hand on the trembling Tick's shoulder. "He's just sleeping," she explained gently, "The needle—it isn't dangerous—it just looks scary," she added, "it's actually really just a sedative."

"It's called pain relief," Overkill grunted with disgust, "asshole."

"Friends…" The Tick's shoulders sank in crestfallen defeat as he realized his most unfortunate mistake.. "Forgive me—for I've acted badly, like an incompetent child." He gently touched the sleeping Arthur's face as tenderly as a mother would. "Overkill…" He looked the one who seconds earlier had been his target directly in the eye. "I treated you like a nefarious fighting tyrant, but nothing could be further from the truth…for you are nothing of the sort! I should be praising you for doing what's right, for you were only trying to save my friend….Can you ever forgive me?" The Tick turned away covering his eyes in shame.

The sudden unexpected sound of laughter caused the Tick to turn back around, and he was shocked to find it was Overkill who was laughing, nearly in stitches, laughing uncontrollably, as though the Tick had said the funniest thing in the world.

"What did I say?" The Tick was laughing too. This just made Overkill laugh harder.

"Is he okay?" Destiny murmured with amazement as she helped Dot guide the unconscious Arthur into his seat..

Dot stared in wonder at Overkill. "I'm not sure…"

"Overkill?" Dangerboat's voice was surprisingly grave. "This is a matter of urgency! I have just scanned the area, as I suspected something anomalous was in our vicinity—it is in fact the asteroid in which Arthur was talking about!"

"What's he saying?" Dot was reeling. "What's he talking about?"

"Dot," Dangerboat proclaimed, "Arthur is telling the truth!"

Dot blanched at the notion, then turned with a wide-eyed stare at Destiny, who was grinning back at her (however a little too smugly for Dot's taste).

"From what my intel is telling me," Dangerboat informed them with growing excitement, "what appears as an asteroid, is not in fact actually an asteroid! It is, in fact, an alien airbase that is also an interstellar spaceship! I would imagine that they are holding Superian prisoner there. They are orbiting the planet in the asteroid ship, it seems as though they were previously on a trajectory towards Earth from the moon—"

"So that's why Fate was telling me they were originally on the moon!" Destiny exclaimed. "It all makes so much sense now!"

"It does?" Dot stared at the woman with complete exasperation, as though she had three heads. "We're talking about aliens capturing Superian—SUPERIAN—how can Superian be captured by anyone!? And why are you talking about Fate like it's an actual person—" She stopped herself mid-sentence and couldn't help but blush when she remembered the name of the woman who she was speaking to was Destiny.

"That's because she IS a person," Destiny exclaimed with building excitement and delight, "She's my sister! "

"Your…" Dot simply gaped at her, completely dumbfounded. "Your…sister?"

"We're identical twins, actually," Destiny smiled sadly through her tears, which were a mixture of joy and sadness. "She—well—it's a long story but—she had been missing for the longest time—" She smiled endearingly down at Arthur. "Dot," she managed to utter, "your brother found her! He's actually led her to me—and he's leading us to Superian—which proves he's not as frail as you imagine him to be—"

"Excuse me?" Dot narrowed her eyes darkly. She was trying to calm and collected as possible, and failing as her face had reddened considerably. "You know nothing about my relationship with my brother!" she hissed.

"I do know quite a bit, actually," Destiny replied nonchalantly, completely unphased by Dot's protests. "For instance," she added just as calmly, "I know for a fact that you take on far too much of his problems as though they were your own."

Dot blinked with astonishment—how could this near-complete stranger possibly know her relationship dynamic with her own brother? "Bold statement," she replied coolly, "for someone that you just met."

"Look…" Destiny suddenly appeared uncomfortable, which made Dot smile with self-amusement, "I don't want to freak you out…but I can read your thoughts if I want to," she proclaimed, blushing at the floor.

"Alright…" Dot crossed her arms defensively. "So then, tell me—what am I thinking right now?"

Destiny was avoiding her gaze. "Are you sure you want me to say the answer?"

Dot blinked for a moment in stunned silence, then managed to answer flatly, "Yeah—go ahead."

"You're thinking that even though you're probably a Category 4 and you have precognitive, potentially time-lapse and moment-reversal abilities, you couldn't predict that your brother would suddenly be in agonizing pain, and thus you couldn't stop it—and you're also wondering why you couldn't have discovered this knowledge about yourself sooner, because any of the unfortunate people on your emergency shifts who died on your watch could all have been saved."

If Dot was dumbfounded before, now she was frozen into a state of shocked silence.

"Dot…" The Tick moved forward, and placed a big blue hand on her shoulder, "you have to remember you can't save everyone—"

As soon as his hand connected, Dot sprang to life. "I didn't LOSE any patients!" she spat, staring right at the Tick, who stared back in wide-eyed wonder as well as confusion.

She then pivoted towards Destiny, who was staring back at her with a neutrally slack expression. "So you see? You're not always accurate about everything!"

"I remember one." A voice spoke up.

"CHUM!" the Tick exclaimed with joy—and everyone whirled about, staring with shock and awe at Arthur, who was awake and sitting upright in his seat. He'd been listening to the entire conversation, and the Tick was overjoyed to see that he no longer appeared to be in pain. However, he was watching Dot with a pained expression, and it was clear he didn't want to say what he was about to say next.

"It was when you first began as an EMT," Arthur continued softly, "it was an old guy who was in his 80s. He died of a heart attack. You tried to resuscitate him even though he was pronounced dead on the scene–"

Tears flooded Dot's eyes. "Arthur stop—" she croaked, but Arthur wasn't backing down.

"You played it off to everyone that it was just an old guy whose time had come," he continued, holding his gaze, "even after they told you to take the rest of the day off, and the next day—but you weren't okay, Dot," Arthur declared solemnly, "we all knew it…and Mom heard you crying in the bathroom—"

"DAMMIT Arthur!" Dot exclaimed with complete exasperation, "must you remember EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING!?"

"Wish I didn't," Arthur muttered, "because then I wouldn't have to remember Dad's death like it was yesterday." He looked up at Dot guiltily. "Sorry," he whispered, before abruptly looking away.

"FINE. You're right, Arthur," Dot spat before she let her shoulders fall with defeat. "Being an EMT sucks!" she admitted with complete exasperation. "I wish it didn't-but It really does—okay? Especially when a patient dies on your watch—which only happened once," she added quickly, before sending a pointed death glare at Destiny, "so you can take your head out of your ass for a bit and leave me the fuck alone!" Dot wished she wasn't weightless because she would have loved to have stomped off in a rage.

"I didn't mean to cause you pain." Destiny swam over to Dot so that she could speak directly, even as Dot looked away. "I can imagine that job must be very difficult."

"Yeah…" Dot hated to admit it but Destiny was right. "It's pretty damn difficult," she admitted, surprising herself.

"I doubt many EMTs can say they made it to outer space though," Destiny added with a grin, giving Dot a playful nudge on the shoulder, which caused her to glance up with surprise. "You've managed to save a lot of people too, Dorothy."

"Dot," Dot corrected, but she couldn't help but smile softly at the compliment. "And…thanks," she added, "I try to always do my best."

"Just remember," Destiny smiled back, placing a gentle hand on Dot's shoulder, "your best is always good enough….even when you don't think you're doing your best."

"Arthur." Dangerboat spoke up excitedly. "We have located your asteroid! You received a message about one from Superian. What else did he tell you?"

"I…I think he's being held prisoner," Arthur tried, "on the asteroid itself…"

"Not ON the asteroid," Destiny proclaimed suddenly, "InSIDE the asteroid! Arthur—we've discovered Superian's true location! He was first on the moon, right? This asteroid is an anomaly—it was traveling towards the Earth from the moon—as though someone was steering it—"

"The aliens are steering it." Arthur's eyes widened with realization. "it's actually—"

"-a spaceship!" Destiny finished his sentence excitedly, "it's like an off-base station, used to hold prisoners of war."

"Well then let's get on it!" The Tick placed a determined fist to his palm. "Asteroid—HO!"

"Wait–" Arthur sat up gingerly. "How are we going to just sneak onto this ship? What if they take us all as prisoners because they think we're hostile—"

"I've got another secret, Arthur." Dangerboat spoke up, his voice beaming with pride, "For you will be reassured to know that I've got a specially created, especially self-contained, and unified electromagnetic shield that can in fact render me automatically invisible!"

Everyone stared up at the ship's eye-lens in complete amazement.

"Jesus DB!" Even Overkill was in shock. He kept shaking his head with disbelief, unable to tell if he was more annoyed or secretly very impressed (though he preferred to think the latter). "Aren't you just a barrel full of surprises..."

"But how do you know these advanced alien species won't be able to detect it?" The Tick couldn't hide his confusion, nor his admiration and awe.

"The shield is expertly programmed to protect from any potential outside influence throughout the cosmos," Dangerboat explained, "and I presume it will protect detection from any hostile alien forces."

The Tick beamed brightly back at Dangerboat, as relief and excitement spread over his face.
"KEEN!"