Lets see here. Stuff to know about this chapter besides what a pain in the ass it was to write. Three pro wrestling references, Sammy's alias (only Jason and Rose are privy to his real name), S.D. (Special Delivery) Jones, was a jobber to the stars back in the 1980s WW-at the time-F. Hard times is an allusion to an all time great promo by "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes. C.L.B. is what Chris Jericho called Christian (Cage) back in the day. It means creepy little bastard.

Two other things. A Barghest is a demon dog native to, just a sec, lemme check Wikipedia... the north of England. And scriptor animadverto means scribble reality (I hope so anyway). Thank you, free online language translators... specifically English to Latin. Awesomness.

A disclaimer is too complicated to try and attempt. It'd be really long, and at this point it would be a spoiler, too. The rediculous length would probably be good for comedic effect, though. I'll try it someday. Might be fun.

Titans Interdimensional
Somewhere Between Here and the Moon
World 1-4: One of Those Nights

After bathroom breaks, decontamination, and debriefing, several hours have passed, but nobody feels like sleeping before doing a little exploring of the great city. Though it's not long before 1:00am on a cool, breezy night, more than half of the city remains full of life.

In an especially lively sector of the LYC, Julio, now wearing an ill-fitting but expertly made grey pinstriped suit, clothes by Hot Topic Gadriella and the armored soldier seek out fine dining of the sushi variety and a fabled arcade a starry-eyed Sammy called "gaming nirvana".

"Ehh… why are you still wearing the armor, dude?" Julio asks the soldier. "And what should I call you anyway?"

"Because without it I would fade out of existence… Poof," he says in a disturbingly nonchalant tone. "As far as what to call me, well, I do quite like my codename… Warmaker One. I came up with it myself. Some variation of that will be fine."

"Very well. I'll just go with Warmaker then. Are we, uh, getting close?"

"Just a couple more blocks to the finest sushi on the planet," the armored warrior says in an upbeat tone.

"This is where we part ways… for the moment. I have a last bit of unfinished business before I can come with you on your journey. There is someone I must say goodbye to, and someone who… unfortunately, I must see one last time," Gadriella's voice has none of the playfulness it usually does.

"She looked worried. Hmm…" Warmaker thinks aloud.

"Hold on a sec. You can see her, too?!" Julio's eyes grow wide.

"Yeah. I can see beyond the realm of what the main senses allow one to. Maybe they can't interact with it the way you can, but you would be surprised how many people can see the world the way you do."

"Huh…"

----

A seedy, dingy neighborhood is where we find Zee and the Super Soldier that can transform into water.

"I've been meaning to pick up some old books. This girl I knew back in the day found solace in them, and I have grown to, as well. See if I can find anything relevant to what I seek, and anything else that catches my interest. Maybe I can find a spell book. I'm out of practice. You say there is an old creepy bookstore nearby?" Zee mutters absentmindedly to his Super Soldier attaché, Flow. "Are you okay? You seem to be leaking, Major."

"Yes, I believe it is still here," the soggy trench coated man replies. "I'm fine. It is… somewhat difficult to keep a human form. I couldn't at all when I first received my power. Leaking, as you so eloquently put it, is part of the deal."

"Received?" Zee queries, a rare look of true surprise on his face.

"Yes. We were chosen for the experiment because of our exceptional natural abilities. Not everything went as planned, though. We were technically one of A-EGenesis' first victims. They attacked the base while the experiment was taking place, screwing things up, destabilizing and unbalancing our powers to varying degrees."

"I see. So, you have only had your power for a short time?"

"Correct. It has been less than a year. Only about eight months, give or take. Ah, here it is," Flow answers as they approach a small, barely lit building.

"You have gained remarkable control of what Rose tells me is a quite impressive power, in a very short period of time. I can't control my power without the aid of a talisman, and even then it can be more than a little sketchy," Zee loses himself in self-pity… and a destructive flashback, briefly. His vision blurs for a second, but he blinks it, and the uneasy feeling it gives him, away, as he follows his guide through the creaky door.

"Tell me about this girl you knew," Flow smiles. "She sounds like a very interesting person."

"Very well. Her name… is Raven…"

----

Far north in a residential sector, Sammy and the Super Soldier 4-D share a tender embrace on the steps of her small house.

"I had a wonderful time tonight, Lea," Sammy smiles as he kisses the female Super Soldier.

"So did I, Jones," the elegantly dressed Captain says softly as they stare longingly into each others eyes, lost in the moment.

The ominous growl of an engine slowly moving up the street snaps the duo out of their trance just as the black sports car stops in front of the house. As the windows roll down, 4-D shouts, "Get down!" pulling Sammy down with her into the bushes as two guns point out the windows and two ninja looking people climb out on the other side.

Over the next 56 seconds, four plasma rifles turn the house into Swiss cheese. Satisfied with their work, they get back in the car and speed off.

"You okay, S.D.?" 4-D asks.

"Yeah, as good as you can be after getting shot at. No holes, meheheh. I should have known something like that would happen… it always does," Sammy mutters in a mix of anger and defeat as he grabs the now normal sized pen and a small notebook from his pocket.

"Scriptor animadverto!" he shouts/stumbles over as he quickly draws something, then wads it up and puts it in a pocket.

"We should go after them," the Captain says pulling her guy up.

"You are so right," Sammy takes her hand and runs to his motorcycle.

In a matter of seconds the duo is in hot pursuit of their attackers on Sammy's overpowered powder blue sport bike.

"They're going to try and get lost in a more lively part town. Oh, and about my name… it is actually Sammy Wray. S.D. Jones is an alias. I don't suppose it should really matter, but certain people will never let me forget my past. And all I want… is to forget the past," Sammy laments.

----

Two scientists in survival gear stand inside what was once an important, but now a burned-out derelict old skyscraper.

"Okay, so all that's left with this place is finding the big safe, Dr. F.?" Jason asks.

"Yes, that and procuring a certain something from it, assuming what we are looking for is still there," Dr. Forrest confirms. "They will be imploding this place before the week is out. There won't be another chance to come back. Oh, and call me Corella."

"So that's why we've been coming here all the time, uh, Corella. This is very important to you."

"Meh…" Dr. Forrest blushes as she brings up a holographic map. "Just making something right."

----

"I think you've got enough comic books and manga to last you till yer 20, kiddo," the metahuman soldier accompanying Rose comments.

"I'm not the only one who reads them. They're not all for me, especially this creepy one. Can you move it somewhere else, please?" Rose angrily taps her chin on the manga atop the stack she carries with a naked android woman on the cover, prompting her guardian for the night to quickly grab it away. "What is your power anyway, Cap? It looked telekinetic, but someone at the security building told me it was something totally different."

"I can, with varying degrees of success, control the fundamental forces of the universe. Gravity, as it happens, is one of my specialties," he beams with tongue-in-cheek pride.

"Ahh… so that explains your weird codename… well, I can almost understand the connection anyway, Pulse 8. That's a pretty cool power. Can I have your autograph?"

"Okay…" he says cautiously, taken aback by Rose's response to the revelation of his powers.

"What's wrong?" she asks him.

"Usually people get scared when they learn of my power, because with it I am entirely capable of killing people without much effort."

"Meh… it comes with the territory for me. I've been up and down that road probably longer than I can remember," Rose mutters apathetically.

"I have no idea how to respond," the look on the super soldier's mug is completely blank for a moment.

"Yeah, I know. Happens sometimes. There isn't anything you can do to impact the situation, so you could try changing the subject or something while you try to wrap your head around my messed up life," Rose musters up some happy emotion to ease her accompaniment's troubled look. "Relax, it could be exponentially worse. Trust me."

"… Very well, I'll try not to dwell on it," Pulse 8 says, trying not to dwell on it. "Hmm… subject change. Ah, how about this? You kids sure know how to take advantage of a good thing."

"What, that the governor guy threw out the red carpet for us? Might as well. We'll probably end up in the middle of everything. With Zee and Julio, it's inevitable," Rose says in wistful resignation. "It's like hazard pay. And besides, I can read people. 'The Governator' has pretty much resigned himself to the fact that the world as he knows it is doomed."

"You are just full of pleasant thoughts this evening," Pulse 8 says sarcastically.

----

"You look worried… about Gadriella," Warmaker says to his troubled charge.

"Do you really have to say it like that, with such confidence that you don't even need to phrase it in the form of a question? I've gotten enough of that for one lifetime already. I don't need you doing it, too!" he shouts, before sheepishly admitting, "… True though."

"It's an easy assumption. You've mentioned her every other subject. What is she to you?" Warmaker asks.

"She is very interesting. I made with her what she called a Spirit Pact," Julio says, the uncertain look in the eyes behind his glasses betraying the understanding in his voice.

Warmaker notices Julio's uneasy look. "You think something is odd?"

"It was… well. It seemed a little too easy for something called a Spirit Pact," Julio utters uneasily. "All I had to do was say that she was 'smokin' hot' when I mentioned her to my friends."

"Ahahahahaha!" Warmaker's tinny laugh echoes through the restaurant. "That sounds like her Gadriella!"

"You know her?!" Julio shouts.

"Yeah, I know her. It is little wonder her pact was so easy. She is desperate to leave this place," the voice of the man within the armor regains its composure. "Wanna here a story… her story?"

"Tell me."

"Very well my young Barghest warrior friend," Warmaker begins. "The story of Gadriella… It was about five years ago she arrived in this dimension with a brave adventurer on an epic quest, who had saved her from an evil demon when she was a small child.

"The adventurer, whose name only she knows, destroyed troublesome interdimensional being called Om, who nearly caused a civil war on the Iccan continent, but died in the fierce battle as well. He is buried at Wanderer's Point; in the city's western most district, where those just passing through, your party included, stay.

"But before she goes there, there is a chop shop a few blocks from here. She's gonna square things up with the creep owner, for all the problems he's caused her. Put hard times that girl, he has."

"You know, y'all will be here a few more days; the arcade could wait a day or two," Warmaker offers.

"This is true. The arcade can wait. Shall we go see if Gadriella needs a hand?" Julio rises from the table, the possibility of raining down righteous vengeance upon a deserving individual bringing a smile to his face.

"I thought you'd never ask," a new spark of energy emanates from Warmaker's voice.

----

At the exact same moment, in a nearby chop shop, Gadriella is mopping the floor with an enigmatic man's henchman.

Gadriella turns her disdainful gaze to an unspectacular looking young man as the last of his "flying monkeys" falls to the ground, unconscious. "You will never cause me any trouble again, you arrogant C.L.B.!"

"Well, well, you seem to get stronger every time we meet. You've even managed to gain a level of physical tangibility, not to mention a ton of newfound confidence, to stand up to me," the short, skinny man of Asian descent sporting a buzz cut smiles, his soft tone is very antagonistic, yet a strange sense of pride also echoes in his voice.

"However, I had hoped you would be far stronger by the time you decided to challenge me. It is truly a shame you have no hope."

"Enough!" she screams, running toward him, firing thorns from her arms.

He dodges the thorns effortlessly as she lunges at him, vines coming up through the concrete binding the venomously smiling man.

----

Zee and Flow are both carrying stacks of books nearly a dozen strong as they walk up the street towards Flow's big old beat up Oldsmobile.

"You ready to call it a night, Zee? Almost 2:30 in the morning," Flow asks as he puts his books on the back seat.

He turns around just in time to dodge a black sports car followed by a powder blue motorcycle. "Was that Lea and S.D.?"

"S.D.?"

"The weird pen dude," Flow winces.

"Oh, I guess he never did tell us his name," Zee thinks aloud as he rushes around the car to where Flow stands. "Did I here a splash when that car went by?"

"They… ran… over… my… feet…" Flow stifles his pain and anger as he looks down at his slowly reforming feet.

"Should we go after them and find out what's going on?" Zee does his best to keep from laughing at Flow's injury.

"Hmm… yes, I suppose that would be in order. Anything to recover my dignity," Flow grumbles, sliding into the car.

----

A short time later, Rose is fading fast as they muddle their way through the last of a traffic jam, finally escaping into the open space of a small residential neighborhood.

"Can't wait to sleep in a nice warm bed again," Rose murmurs as she leans against the window, barely able to keep her eyes open. "Doesn't happen nearly enough, you know, Pulse-dude. Jumpin' from world to world to world, never knowing what we're in for. Has its moments, though."

"I bet it does. I bet it- Hey!" Pulse 8 cuts off as he's nearly run off the road by a black sports car, followed by a light blue motorcycle, and not long after that a beat up Oldsmobile.

"Wha-huh?" Rose snaps back to consciousness from the edge of slumber, looking around bewildered. "What happened, Pulse?"

"The night isn't over yet, kiddo," the super soldier grunts as he floors it, screeching off towards the rest of the pack. "We just became part of a high-speed chase."

"Cool!"

----

Deep within the burned out labyrinthine skyscraper, a three foot thick safe door crashes to the floor. "We finally made it. I could kiss you, Dr. Rusch!" she immediately turns away, blushing.

Jason bites his lip as a giant sweat drop appears on the back of his head. "So… what exactly are we looking for?"

"Files pertaining to the Forrest family, in particular my namesake," the doctor states as she looks over the endless rows of safe deposit boxes and file cabinets. "Let's get started then."

As Jason begins closing in on the files starting with 'F', Dr. Forrest gets a strange look in her eye. She begins looking for a certain safe deposit box, running her hand along the rows of forgotten boxes, somewhat lamenting not being able to liberate any of items contained within from their implosive fate. Finally, she comes to the box she's been searching for far longer than she ever wanted to.

"Open sesame," Dr. Forrest whispers as she pulls the box out of its compartment, breaking it open with the aid of a pocket laser. Golden light emanates from the safe deposit box's contents, shining on her smiling face. "Finally found you. Maybe my luck will finally turn… Nah. It won't be that easy, no chance. Still, tonight feels like a win."

"I found it!" Jason shouts as Corella puts the artifact in her bag. "So this is what you were after? Old newspaper clippings and pictures and court documents and stuff."

"Yeah. These items prove her innocence. Like I said, just making things right. Keeps my life in balance," she shrugs, taking the thick file, and turns to walk out of the dimly lit safe.

Near the exit, she suddenly stops, turns back around, and walks back. "You know what, Dr. Rusch? I am never going to have another chance like this."

"Uhh… okay?" Jason's voice cracks, his face changing from mortified to realization to elation in the split second before Corella's lips make contact with his own.

And switch scene… now!

----

Both combatants are looking battle damaged as the fight wears on, though it appears the mystery man is in considerably better condition than he is letting on. Gadriella lets out a primal scream as she lunges at him once again.

"I don't know about you, but I'm tired of playing," the mystery man sneers as he latches on to Gadriella's outstretched arm, nonchalantly flinging her into a wall.

"The bad thing about having a solid physical form, G., crashing into walls hurtslike a something. You might want to rethink it," he muses, walking towards her.

CRRRRAAAASH!!!!

"Hey, we made before the chapter ended. I didn't think we had a chance," Julio mutters to Warmaker as they stand where a wall used to be.

"I said I was sorry, jeez. I haven't been here in a long time," the armored soldier whimpers.

"Whatever, we're here. Let's help Gadriella whup this chump already," the young warrior dusts himself off and begins removing his tie.

Warmaker and Julio look at each other and nod, then walk toward their enemy with a purpose, meeting him in the middle of the busted up garage.

"Well, well, Scotty. We meet again."

"Bite me, Masaki," Warmaker hisses.

"It can be arranged," the so called Masaki responds, baring his teeth. "Who is your goofy looking little friend?"

"Who am I? I'm your worst nightmare," Julio smirks, glancing over at the once again upright Gadriella staring a hole in the ground, before moving in face to face with his newfound enemy.

They stare at each other for a tense minute before, without warning, Julio smashes his head into the forehead and bridge of the nose of his foe with lightning speed, knocking him back and onto one knee' pawing at his bloodied face.

Looking down to see the blood on his hand, his expression becomes one of absolute terror. "No… It can't… It can't happen. N-no. NOOOOOOO!!!!"

Julio looks down, puzzled.

"NO! This can't be… happening. Nnnng," he holds his sides, sweating profusely.

"Oh but it is happening," his voice becomes deep and booming, shaking the very ground beneath them. "Hahahahahahahaha! Thought you could lock me away, did you? Well guess what. I'm baaaack! Hahahahahahahaha!"

"Uh, oops," Julio sheepishly murmurs, staring at the person before him slowly lose the fight raging within himself, screaming and crying as his body transforms into something a bit more monstrous.

"Hmm… don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure this was inevitable," Warmaker thinks aloud.

Gadriella falls to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Before her partially corporeal body fades all the way back into its intangible state, she brings her right fist to the floor, smashing the concrete and sending a violent shockwave through the room.

"Om…"

End of World 1-4

Another chapter in the books. A lot of stuff I made up on the fly, mid-chapter. Giving Gadriella a backstory and a quest of her own being the major thing. Oh, by the way, she can kind of tangible (though still invisible to most), but she isn't that strong yet (as noted by Julio in chapter uno). The tangibility thing is reliant on being born with the ability and level of concentration, not the actual power of the elemental spirit itself. Blah blah blah.

It didn't turn out exactly as I intended, but I guess Corella was trying to seduce Jason.

It was really difficult jumping around like this chapter did. Gonna be real fun when the entire main cast has been introduced. Seven of them, plus whoever else is important to the story arc, and minor characters and/or guest stars of interest. Damn, I'm gonna need to story board this shit.

Hmm... the only thing deserving a teen rating thus far seems to be my salty language pre/post chapter notes.

The offer of a cast list remains permanently. Just ask and I'll send it. Stay tuned for more in the (hopefully) near future. Please review this trainwreck. Ciao.