In the post-apocalyptic reality, public transportation was impossible to come by and cost loads of money, which most citizens no longer had.

Good thing Peter was good at sneaking onto trains.

Olivia was trailing a little as the train was picking up speed. She probably would not have made it had Peter been ready to reach out and pull her in.

She fell on top of him, but pushed herself off once he give her that nasty but charming smirk. Peter's face then went sour again. "What the hell were you thinking taking that long? You could've missed it."

"I know," said Olivia. "I just wanted to show you that I was getting better."

"Well you failed," said Peter. "You can't fool me, Liv. I saw you almost fall because of your own ankle."

Olivia bitterly ignored him for the rest of the trip. She sat against the wall looking out through the cracks of the rugged train car they were in, watching the gray barren landscape as they went by. It looked more miserable with every mile they traveled. Every 10 miles or so, they would be in plain sight of a massive dead pit.

Peter was reading one of the magazines he brought with them. This particular magazine dealt with the most chilling form of weaponry being used in this reality. The most frightening of which Peter though was "The Invisible Microwave". "The Invisible Microwave" was a radioactive weapon in the form of a floating disc that could travel through the air, to any spot on land. When it found its direct coordinates, a massive pink ray would come out and stretch to an entire acre. Like a microwave, the entire acre of land would deteriorate and burn from radioactive heat rays in about 30 seconds or less.

Along the way, some of the damage from this form of weaponry could be seen some melted trees and powerlines. The only good from a nasty weapon like that was there was no fallout to worry about. That was the intention of many of these power weapons, to kill only at an instant and not have long-term effects that spread.

Sadly, it didn't work.

They arrived in New York City after a matter of hours and Peter was very surprised to see much of the city was still intact.

"Come on," said Olivia. "It's gonna be a long walk where we're going."

But as they entered the heart of Manhattan, the place seemed empty and hollow. There was only a small amount of population and military officials roaming the streets. Buildings were empty up and down the block.

Peter saw how worried Olivia looked. "What's wrong?"

"This isn't right," said Olivia. "When I was here last time, it was busy. There were people everywhere and helicopters…like it was a normal day."

"Well," said Peter. "Things must have gone to hell quickly after you left."

Olivia then realized, "…or after Bell died."

Peter cranked his neck up at the two tall massive buildings that were their destination.

"You do realize how freaky this is," said Peter as they walked into World Trade Tower One.

Immediately they were confronted by security guards. Olivia was about to pull the revolver out from under her when one of them said, "surrender all weapons and state your business!"

While Peter was forced to give up his rifle, Olivia took the revolver out slowly and said, "We're here to see Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic."

The guards look confused. "Ma'am we don't know what's this Massive Dynamic business is that you're talking about?"

"Then let us see Ms. Sharp. She knows what we're talking about."

"She's not here."

Peter was immediately suspicious. "So you automatically know she's not here without calling her office?"

"Hey! We don't want any trouble from you people. So I suggest you turn around and leave the premises immediately before we have you two shipped to a detention facility, got it?"

Peter eyed Olivia as she cautiously took a step towards the door. He then asked the guards "Can we at least have our guns back?"

The guards droved them away until they were out of the building.

Olivia turned to Peter for the one theory they both seem to agree on. "They were lying, weren't they?"

Peter nodded. "They're covering up something. None of it makes any sense. They have no clue of Massive Dynamic and yet they immediately knew who Nina Sharp was?"

"Maybe Massive Dynamic doesn't exist in this reality. Maybe it's a different company…William Bell may have created a different organization here."

"Whatever it is," said Peter. "Something's not right."

Olivia looked long and hard at the other entrances to the building and then asked "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Peter smiled. He was.

~*~*~*~

Walter took a deep breath before leaning his face against the glass of the Thai restaurant.

He said under his breath "Praise Einstein!"

September was sitting in a booth in the far back, dumping an entire bottle of hot chili sauce into his soup when he looked up and saw a gleaming, smiling Walter. "Hello, Dr. Bishop. It's nice to see you again."

"I'm just ecstatic that you got my message," said Walter.

September crushed an entire pepper into his soup. "You are here to discuss with me the matter of your son, Peter Bishop and one Agent Olivia Dunham, both of whom are currently residing in the alternate reality."

"Oh yes, very much so." Walter leaned over hoping to keep the conversation between him and September. "I figured if anyone could help…it could be you."

September took a sip of his soup and then said, "I cannot help you."

"I'm sorry," said Walter who looked very confused. "What was that you said?"

"I'm afraid I cannot help you on this matter, Dr. Bishop."

The words weren't getting to Walter…well, he did hear him, but Walter was refusing to believe them. "What? What do you mean you cannot help?"

"I cannot interfere in this matter."

"But, I don't understand. You've interfered in matters before. Are they not important to your cause? My son and Agent Dunham?"

"They are of great importance Dr. Bishop. But this is a rather unusual and delicate situation. We as Observers cannot interfere in all affairs and…"

"Then what makes this one any different?!" Walter was getting very frustrated now.

September placed a $20 bill on the table and got up to leave.

"The children are back where they belong now."

Walter ran after him before he reached the door, tugged the Observer's coat as he got down on his knees. "Please," he said in tears. "You cannot do this! Not to them! Not to my son!"

September showed no emotion as he looked down at the helpless scientist and spoke to him to truth. "It is going to get much worse for them. There is nothing I can do."

With that, Walter's grip on September's coat was gone. He remained there on the floor unable to control his cries as September regretfully walked out.

~*~*~*~

Two garbagemen had arrived at the back entrance where there was virtually no security or even other humans present for that matter.

After Peter and Olivia knocked them out, they put on their outfits (Olivia putting on a hat for good measure) and they took a back elevator up to the near top where Bell's office was.

They arrived to find the floor in complete darkness. Nearly every room they would walk pass down the hall had been emptied.

Once they found William Bell's former office, Peter broke the door open with much perseverance. Much of his remainings were left untouched. Olivia rummaged through the drawers and started searching through folders. Peter found himself a nice looking gun hanging on a mantle.

"Peter…"

He came over and saw Olivia looking at one particular folder. There was a note written and attached to the front that said:

'I need you to ensure that these people are dead or have them eliminated immediately.'

It was signed by William Bell.

When Olivia opened the folder the first thing she saw was a photo file of Nina Sharp herself. A giant X had been marked on the photo with the word 'terminated' written on the margin.

She put the photo aside and her eyes went wide.

Another photo. Giant X. Terminated.

It was Phillip Broyles.

The third photo was the most shocking.

She had almost forgotten that she helped them when they were small children. The fate was something she did not deserve.

But there it was. A photo of Astrid Farnsworth with a big X. On the margin was written 'executed 9-14-01'.

"He killed them," said Olivia. "He killed all of them."

Peter sighed. "He knew we were coming…and wanted to make sure that we couldn't rely on them for help."

Olivia said nothing and just stared at the photos for a very long time.

"Liv?" said Peter. "We better get out of here before they find us."

Olivia was feeling greatly uncertain. "And go where?"

"We'll go back to Boston. Wait for Walter. He won't give up on us. We can't give up waiting for him."

They were in the elevator and got to around floor 16 when the lights went dark and everything started to shake.

Peter remembered the gun he got from the office. "Stand back," said Peter. "I think they found us."

Sure enough the elevator stopped at floor 8 and the doors open. Peter fired the first shot and brought down one of the guards. Olivia went after the other guard and disarmed him quickly and knocked him out.

Peter saw more guards were coming.

"Let's go Liv!"

She got her own gun and followed Peter down the hall. They ran for the stair exit and found themselves leaping whole steps of them to move faster.

"Head for the bottom floor!"

Peter agreed with Olivia to head all the way to the bottom. They found themselves in a massive dark parking lot zigzagging their way through rows of piles cars as the guards finally caught up to them.

Peter found a water pipe as they got near the exit and fired. Water began spewing out and pouring into the parking lot slowing the guards' pursuit. Olivia took out the guard at the exit and the two just ran for it. They ran through the World Trade Plaza praying to get out of this alive.

They got lucky once they got to the streets, but neither of them saw the truck that seemed to be charging right toward them.

Yeah, that's right...you got cliffhanger'd! Again! Sorry this took so long for me to update. I've been in writer's block hell with this one. Don't expect things to be all epic and fully thought out like its predecessor. This one I plan to make relatively short. Ugh, now I really am regretting just making these additional chapters in "Growing Up" but oh well.