As Dustrielle's eyes adjusted to the flash of blinding white from the slice in space, he brought his hand down from his face and blinked.
It looked almost as though they had entered a tunnel. The "walls" surrounding them were a vibrant electric blue, with flashes of bright white light dancing in the expanse. Darting his eyes in front of him, he saw another white "tear" in the space. Dustrielle presumed that it must lead to the Elemental's pocket dimension. It was no more than a two minute walk between each tear.
From behind him, Dustrielle heard as Cortex made a noise somewhere between a groan and a roar of fury.
"I thought the Slicer had the right coordinates set!"
Maybe it was the fast approaching crash from the high of the adrenaline that had worked its way into every one of Dustrielle's cells during the standoff. But any hint of proper decorum he might have had in his response was replaced with what venom he could muster.
"I'm not a physicist, dude, but maybe if we're making a wormhole, it might take a couple of steps to walk through it. Or would you rather walk the long way?"
He didn't look back at Cortex, he just trudged one foot in front of the other, with blood pounding through his face, and anger mingling with pure exhaustion.
The silence hung over them for a few seconds, finally broken by a sharp exhale from Cortex.
"I liked you better when you were quiet. Or were you just scared?"
Dustrielle didn't respond. Partially because he didn't want to give Cortex any satisfaction at generating a rise from him. And partially because he simply couldn't muster up the gumption.
They were no more than fifty feet from the second rip when Brio suddenly spoke up.
"Cortex, I'll give you c-c-credit. You considered a lot of possibilities in this little ssssscheme, but you left a gap. A small one, but a g-g-gap regardless."
"Oh, did I now? Care to declare checkmate then?" The sarcasm in Cortex's voice coated every word in a thick, paralyzing layer of patronization.
"Yes, you do have N…N….N. Tropy in his bindings. Yes, you ensured that they wouldn't have an easy escape. But you did l-l-leave Gin untied."
"And?"
Brio paused.
"Did you not consider the p-possibility that Gin might attempt an escape? Or rrrrrelease Tropy? That both might actually find a way out of that r-room?"
He stopped again, and as Cortex inhaled to speak, he interrupted sharply.
"You very well could have a f-f-fight ahead of you when we get b-back. And there are four of us. And one of you."
Cortex scoffed. "Please. Gin is the absolute last person who would betray me. I'd betray myself before he betrayed me."
Brio grit his teeth. "The possibility still exists."
Cortex shrugged. "At any rate, should a scuffle happen, my tractor beam can accommodate a few extra bodies. And quite frankly…"
Cortex's smile grew wide, toothy, and triumphant.
"That would give me an excuse to not even take the risk of using the Cortex Vortex. I'd be delighted to have a more permanent solution for Nefarious. And if you don't mind your manners, I could easily apply such a solution to every one of you."
He let the words hang there for a beat, chilling the air more than it already was.
"But I think that none of us really want that. So behave yourselves."
It truly was a wonder that Dustrielle could continue to put one foot in front of the other, considering the weight of the reality of Cortex's anger, madness and capabilities.
But that didn't matter much. Because at that moment, his foot stepped through the other rip, and the surrounding area dimmed to a dull grey atmosphere.
Dustrielle looked around, and his breath caught in his throat. That was then promptly ripped from him by the blast of wind that nearly knocked him over.
He was a skeptic, having put religious thought behind him even before he left Maine. But this seemed, to him, the closest possible depiction of a real-life Hell.
The ground beneath his feet was an uneven set of plates of rock, pockmarked with what looked like the craters of miniature meteors, with large cracks with what looked like spouts of fire emanating from them. He covered his ears as a boom rocked the area, and a geyser of water spouted no more than 100 feet away. And the wind… the wind was a constant blast that did not stay in the same direction for more than ten seconds at a time, constantly throwing Dustrielle's balance all over the place.
Then came the voices. Dustrielle could not tell whether they came from a specific direction, the entirety of the dimension, or from within his own mind.
"Who in their right mind would dare to trespass here?"
"One of those worthless maggot bandicoots and their good for nothing mask, probably!"
"No…they'd have no reason to come here. This is someone else. With an agenda, no doubt."
"Oh, wait! Look! It's that pile of hot air we worked with all those years ago…oh, what was his name again?"
If the voices are coming from my own head, Dustrielle mused, I must have a knack for characters.
The first voice sounded like one of those "alpha bro" types that Dustrielle was well familiar with. If the accent had been New England-esque, he might have wondered if it belonged to someone he'd attended high school with.
The second voice was the exact stereotypical pitch and fervor of a drill sergeant. Like something straight out of Full Metal Jacket.
The fourth voice was snivelly, whiny, the kind of voice that could get your blood boiling and your nerves itching to wrangle the throat it came from. The kind that belonged to someone who would gladly bait you into a fight it knew you couldn't win.
But that third voice… was something else. Snide, cold, and clearly very cunning. That was the voice that got under Dustrielle's skin, and into the panic center of his brain, the most.
Though it wasn't as though he had too much time to process the voices, because Cortex had already cleared his throat.
"Yes, yes, it is I, Doctor Neo Cortex."
Dustrielle yelped as Cortex shoved him aside, standing next to Dustrielle and squinting, eyes darting around.
"Where are you?"
The voices melded, harmonizing into a choir of twisted laughter. Then a series of bright flashes lit up the area, revealing the four masks, the ones that Dustrielle had gotten a glimpse of in the hologram when Cortex first revealed the plan…good God, it had been a couple of months.
"Doctor Cortex…" Py-Ro narrowed his eyes to slits, smiling. "What brings you to our humble abode? I apologize for not cleaning up the mess."
The other masks began to cackle at Py-Ro's joke. Cortex merely rolled his eyes.
"Very funny, Py-Ro. I'm here to offer a deal. I have a new scheme in the works and I could use your help. I'm sure we could come up with an agreement that we both deem suitable."
"Does the agreement involve a victory in this battle? I think we all know what happened last time we fell under your team's command!" Wa-Wa barked.
Lo-Lo snickered. "Fat chance. This blowhard coming up with a successful plan? Next you'll tell me that the bandicoot gave a lecture on aerodynamic physics!"
Cortex set his jaw. "Well, this plan is being conducted entirely behind closed doors. No one knows outside of the core team. Uka Uka's exposure to the plot is limited."
The Elementals didn't say anything, though Rok-ko exchanged a glance with Py-Ro, who nodded and turned back to Cortex.
"Is that so? Dare to tell us what this plan involves?"
Cortex exhaled heavily. He almost sounded relieved.
"Your involvement is limited, just providing some power for our distracting maneuver. We have a machine that will allow us to shrivel all the vegetation on the Earth-"
Wa-Wa's face cracked into a wide grin. "Ohhh world destruction? I'm willing to take this chance if you all are!"
Py-Ro smirked slightly. "Simmer down Wa-Wa, we've barely got enough information yet."
Cortex, instead of looking more relieved at the enthusiasm, almost looked…more tense.
"Well we'll only require maybe an hour of your time on the actual day of execution, though probably about twenty hours of total work in the weeks leading up to it. I must mention to you that our device is only distracting. The bandicoots will most likely try to get to the bottom of the natural destruction, and we'll use that opening to launch our Super Cortex. After we activate it, eradicating the free will of all sentient beings…we do have a way to reverse the vegetation deterioration. We…we wouldn't want to inherit a world that's, you know, useless…"
He trailed off as the Elemental's faces all morphed from enthusiasm to deflated, disappointed anger.
"No deal! No dice!" Lo-Lo cried out. "We've been itching for the opportunity for destruction of your miserable planet since…whenever we worked with you last was!"
Py-Ro rolled his eyes. "Sorry Cortex, but we're not interested in the business of conquest. It's not like the money and the riches mean anything to…well…beings far above the power and desires of weak little men like you."
Cortex nodded, a flash crossing his eyes, as he glanced at Dustrielle. Dustrielle knew exactly what Cortex wanted from him. It was not a job he was eager to do…but what other choice did he have?
He cleared his throat and gave a little wave.
"Uh…hey Elementals."
Rok-ko sharply exhaled in a cackle. "Hello, wimp, care to comment?"
Dustrielle raised his hands. "Look, I haven't worked with you guys before. What's got you so hung up on destruction? Legitimately curious."
Alright Cortex, I'm gonna induce a long-ass monologue here, now's your chance… He really hoped that Cortex would hear his faux-telepathic message that he desperately tried to will into Cortex's consciousness.
Py-Ro raised an eyebrow, but, thankfully for Dustrielle, didn't blast him into ashes.
"Alright, kindling, I'll take your word for it that you're curious. But I'll ask you something in return: why do you eat? Why do you sleep? Why do you walk and read and laugh?"
Dustrielle shrugged, trembling. "Uh…I mean…aren't all of those…like…intrinsic human things?"
"Precisely. You have human nature. We ARE nature. Every destructive force and ability comes from us and makes us up. Ebbing and flowing to and from us, like your blood flows from arteries and veins. Your species have individuals that will gladly destroy your planet in pursuit of a temporary cash flow, or as a means to satisfy a misanthropy, or to seek a high. We cut out the middle man. We want destruction because we ARE destruction."
Dustrielle, as much as the theater lover in him enjoyed the monologue, didn't think it was the kind of speech that encouraged return dialogue. It seemed like this wasn't exactly up for debate. He didn't exactly have a convincing sales pitch in mind.
And Cortex still hadn't activated the goddamn containment field. Dustrielle still needed to stall for time…but…he had no idea how…
He gulped. "Yeah. I guess I could see that…but…I suppose…well, this is an unparalleled opportunity…"
Py-Ro's face broke into a sneer. "'An unparalleled opportunity?' Please. We're just biding our time until the day the planets align into the delta configuration. Then will be our unparalleled opportunity. We'll gain energy from that configuration, the likes of which has never been seen and cannot be stopped."
Cortex raised an eyebrow, seemingly nonplussed. "And that day is more than 3 million years away."
"We are patient! Especially when it comes to the perfect time to strike!" Wa-Wa barked.
"But, at any rate…" Py-Ro's sneer widened, "We could use a bit more entertainment in this dimension. Cortex, you have some medical training, don't you?"
Dustrielle felt something eat into his spine. It was instinct. And it forced him to start backing away. He glanced over to Brio, who was doing the same thing. Cortex, rather oddly, was standing his ground, though his hand was no longer in his pocket, and the corner of his mouth was twitching.
"I did go to medical school. Why?"
Activate the containment field, you idiot! Dustrielle's mind was screaming.
But almost immediately after that thought came another: ..if he could, he would've done that by now.
Something had gone wrong. Dustrielle didn't know what, but something had gone wrong.
"What percentage of the human body can sustain third degree burns and still have the person survive?"
Cortex had lost the one thing that could protect them from the raw power of the elements. And they weren't even the type of elements Dustrielle could manipulate.
Dustrielle's feet moved quicker, though the Elementals didn't seem to care that he was leaving.
"The general rule of thumb is less than 50%."
Cortex you fucking idiot, stop playing along! Dustrielle's mind was raging.
Py Ro cackled. "Well, why don't we put that theory to the test? For the next few million years!"
Those were the only words, Dustrielle needed to hear.
He turned around and sprinted towards the tear, and caught Brio also running, not far behind him. Two seconds later, he heard Cortex yell incoherently, and heard another set of footsteps begin to run as well.
Dustrielle supposed that he probably should feel a vindictive crumb of Schadenfreude that Cortex's plan had left him boldly fleeing. But as he stepped through the tear in space, his eyes went wide, as he noticed the tear leading back to the castle beginning to shrink.
"Brio!"
"It's shrinking!" Brio yelled back.
Dustrielle had already been sprinting, but tapped into every possible energy reserve to make himself go faster.
"It'll be close!" He yelled to Brio. He supposed that Cortex also heard it, but he didn't give a rats ass about Cortex.
Especially considering that he could tell, already, that it wasn't close. But if the animalistic understanding of that fact told his conscious and sane mind that, his composure would break.
And if that happened, it was already over.
The tear was no more than fifty feet away now. Maybe…just maybe…
He saw a blue flash of light suddenly streak past him, threading into the rapidly closing hole of the tear.
The light subsided, revealing the rapidly disappearing form of Cortex, holding Tropy's arm.
Oh, that bastard…
Cortex had used a tool at his disposal, his side arm, if you will…and had managed to save himself.
And as his sneering face, along with the rest of the castle, was closed off, Dustrielle finally slowed down, and stopped. He turned to look at Brio and yelped as Brio collided with him.
The two fell to the ground, groaning, and Dustrielle darted his eyes around. Nothing but the white expanse of the in-between of the tunnel. No tear ahead of him. And no tear behind him. They couldn't even take their chances with the Elementals anymore.
Dustrielle slowly, tentatively, ambled to his feet, and turned to Brio. For the first time since he'd met Brio…it was Dustrielle's turn to stutter.
"W-what now?!"