Chapter 3

Don looked around. He was now on some kind of spaceship, along with all his rescuers. He could see them all now, and there were some that had not been a part of his rescue. And the strange thing was, they all seemed strangely familiar.

"Data; get us out of here now." The winged alien demanded.

"Yes, Alpha." An alien with multi colored hair and eyes, reached forward and pressed a button on some panel. Then, Don was almost sure he'd been sucked into Star Wars, because the hyperdrive had been hit.

When everything settled down, Don looked around in shock. "Okay… what's going on? Can I go home soon?" Everyone turned and looked at him in shock.

"Is… is that…"

"It can't be…"

"It's him."

Don was now thoroughly confused. Everyone seemed to be having some kind of intense emotional reaction to him. There were tears sliding down three of his rescuers faces, and everyone seemed to be in shock.

"Uhhh what? What's going on?"

"It's Don." The winged alien said. Dove had pretty much decided he was the leader. "There were complications, and we had to take him with us. He could be here a while." One of the people stormed out of the room, Don was sure he was crying. This made no sense at all. Then, one of the people walked over to him.

This one was taller than the average human, though he looked mostly like one. He had brown hair, and was one of the ones who had gone to rescue Don. He was carrying several weapons, was incredibly muscular, and seemed ready to fight on a moment's notice, not that in that respect he was any different from any of these others rescuers. He stared into Don's eyes. "You know who we are."

"No I…" Don stilled, staring into the eyes, the eyes that he knew so well, the eyes of… "Hank?"

The alien's (Hank's?) fingers traced over Don's cheek with such heartbreaking tenderness it was all Don could do not to wrap his arms around him and hold him tight. "Don." he whispered. "Don."

Don couldn't understand. If this was what he thought it was, then these people, all Hank, had to be from different Earths. But why? Why would Hank become some kind of interdimensional space traveler who was driven to tears by the mere sight of a version of his brother? When Dove thought about it, there was only one answer.

"I die don't I?" He whispered. "For all of you. I die, you can't save me… and now that's all you do. Save me, I mean. In all the realities."

"He looked so much like you." the Hank alien whispered helplessly. "So small. So gentle."

"Leave him alone." the winged Hank said, stepping forward, and brushing Don back with a powerful wing. "There'll be time enough to socialize later. For now, we need to introduce him to everyone, and make sure he knows where he is."

"How do I understand you?" Don managed. "You can't all speak English."

"We'll introduce you to everyone first. We all have translators, so we can communicate, but you would call us all Hank. So we have other names. I'm Alpha; I'm in charge. That's Hardware." He motioned to the Hank in front of Don, the one who had revealed them all to be Don's other dimensional brothers.

"Retriever is the one who teleported us out; he usually gets you out of whatever dangerous situation you're in." Retriever looked like an Andorian from Star Trek, but without the antenna. He seemed as though his pain was closer to the surface than the others, as though his wound was tortured day by day.

"Data is our information gatherer and ship operator and technician." Alpha gestured to an alien about Don's height, with a smaller build, and more reserved stance. He wouldn't look Don in the eye. He had light rainbow hair and eyes, and very light peach skin, almost white. He seemed softer than the others, and looked as if he had been emotionally crushed.

"Cannon is on strike team. He breaks things." Don figured his own brother, from his universe, would be on strike team. Cannon had large fully black eyes, with with slightly purple tinted skin. His hair hung down to almost over his eyes, and was very pale. He had a look of an android, devoid of color and life. His body was compacted, explosive, strength, packed within a body one would think couldn't possibly be so powerful. There was a heart rending loneliness about him, that spoke of a soul torn in two. He was the one that had left the room.

"Fireblaze is also on strike team. He breaths and manipulates fire. Don't worry; he can choose to keep his flame from burning. He also has a destructive energy he can emit around his hands and throw" Fireblaze was thin but wiry, with flame spilling from his mouth, as if there was an ever burning fire there. He wore armor with a distinctly otherworldly look to it, and seemed to embody antisocial. He was someone who was separate from the world, and liked it that way.

"Quicksand is strike team; he has enhanced speed." Quicksilver was well built but thin, with high cheekbones and pointed ears. He looked overall very aerodynamic, with a light armor that covered everything but his face. He had human looking eyes but black and catlike, without eyebrows. He had slight claws on his hands. His eyeing of Don was uninterpretable, but it gave Don shivers, though he was equally unsure of how to interpret those.

"Dagger is on strike team, he can materialize hand size daggers already in motion. He's new, hasn't been on a mission yet." Dagger was heavy built and strong, with intricate black markings all along his skin. Don was pretty sure they were natural. Dagger also had black hair that seemed permanently ruffled, and he looked like a natural born gymnast. And was looking at Don as though he were some long lost treasure. Right, he was new. That probably meant he had just lost his Don. Oh.

"If you're wondering why we're all basically humanoid, it's because this ship is best for humanoids, so that's what we have the most of. There are others, but this is the bridge crew. Now I'll show you around."

Don nodded, and followed after Alpha, gently brushing Dagger's hand as he went. He felt a slight shudder pass through Dagger's hand as they pulled apart.