He is here, Uatu. I saw him. He spoke with Rayse...spoke with his voice.

The bridgemen were all saying that the highstorm will arrive soon and that, though for Radiants it will be safe and perhaps Stephen too, Mikey, Leo and Raph will have to hide with Rock and other "common" people. This was a weekly routine for Bridge Four - leaving Urithiru and its close borders to see what is happening or if Odium's servants are close. Windrunners like Kaladin were carrying the others through air, Lashing themselves and then going up. The captain said that, though it might be true Windrunners can easily go alone for a patrol, this is a good training for everyone.

"How many spheres do we have?"

Teft and Lopen both looked at their own spheres, which were glimmering with pure light. "Mine is full." Teft said, while the others raised theirs as well. "And the others."

"My Stormlight has started leaking, gancho." Lopen looked at it. "But I think it will stay long enough."

"It's better we don't count on it." Kaladin looked to the sky. "When the highstorms come, we will leave the spheres so they gather some Stormlight from it. Rock, will you do that?"

"On your orders." the Horneater smiled.

Leo and Raph sat beside Kaladin, who was still looking at the sky. "You guys can fly through the highstorm, no cap?"

"Marshal."

"Huh?"

Kaladin just said that passingly. "I am a marshal, not a captain. Everyone is just used to calling me that."

"Well, sorry then." Raph said. "Anyway, you can fly through the storm, right? It's your element, so to say."

Kaladin winced, cracking his knuckles. "Well, yes. But..." he tsked. "I was once caught in the middle of the highstorm before I was a Radiant, left to die. It is no longer dangerous to me, but...Stormfather and me don't like one another, let's leave it at that."

"Aha." Syl zipped around them, flying above Raph's vexed face. "Kaladin was the first Radiant I bonded after thousands of years and my father didn't like that. But since he has bonded Dalinar, he understands it better."

"Hold up." Leo said. "This Stormfather...that's Dalinar's spren, or I am understanding something wrong?" Kaladin nodded. "And he's the one making these highstorms in the first place?"

"Sort of."

"Then why the heck doesn't Dalinar tell him to stop! Thousands of people must have lost their lives in those storms!"

"Because spren are stubborn and proud." Kaladin said, at which Syl sighed. "They refuse to go against their own nature, especially Stormfather."

"That is not true!" Syl hissed. "He cannot go against his nature - he must bring the highstorm or he will cease to be who he is."

Raph shrugged. "That sounds like - how do I put it lightly - an excuse."

Syl shook her head. "You...you don't understand."

"What? Another secret we don't know."

"No." Kaladin said bluntly. "It's what you think it is - spren do not want to change."

Syl gasped. "What has gotten into you now? His highstorms are the reason you can even be a Radiant. Without Stormlight, you wouldn't be able to fight Odium. And just so you know, he has changed."

Kaladin waved away. Raph wanted to continue, but Leo laid a hand on his shoulder. "Leave it, it seems they don't like to talk about it." Raph hissed in response, meaning to tell Leo how he is not his boss, but the tingle on his feet interrupted him. Balls of boiling blood-like liquid played around his feet. "Agh!" He jumped away, falling over the rock. Leo instantly pulled him up, brushing dirt off his shell. "What in the shell are those?"

"Angerspren." Kaladin said. "And honestly, they'll appear more the angrier you get."

"These things," he pointed at the red pools. "are everywhere? How do you guys deal with them?"

Syl mimicked him and chuckled, while Kaladin shrugged. "We see them every day, every hour. That's what it is. Maybe we've just gotten used to them."

"Well I certainly won't." He sat down again, and then Syl flew near him.

"I told you I like him!"

"Get away!" He waved as if she were a fly.

She did not even try to stifle her laughter. "Forget Michelangelo, this one is the funniest!"

Raph snarled, meaning to hit her, only for more angerspren to emerge from the ground. "Shell!"

Lopen smiled. "Spren have their good side to them."

"Thanks I hate it!" he said.

The Bridge Four were all laughing and chatting together in the face of the coming storm. Even Kaladin, who preferred silence, was enjoying himself with his men. Mikey remembered how they all used to laugh in their sewer with Casey, April and others, like Mutanimals. The Kraang and the Triceratons were there and what was left of the Foot clan, yes, but at least they were at home. Raph and he would probably be playing with the pinball, Leo would be training and Donnie would be doing something in the lab. Instead, they ventured into this mess of the Multiverse - the only good thing he saw in that was that they gained new friends in Stephen and others. What if they do not return and die lost, billions and billions of light years away from their home? But if they do succeed...will they just forever say goodbye to Stephen, Wong, Tywin, Logen and the rest? And if it ends...when is it?

Around his head, small ripples appeared in the air as if they were a pool at which you threw stones. He counted three and tried to touch them, though they disappeared when he did that. "Uh...Lopen, whag are those?"

"Concentrationspren, gancho." He rubbed his temple. "Or was it thoughtspren? Maybe wonderspren? I don't know, there are all sorts of them. Hard to keep counting."

"Geez." He rubbed his chin. "Do they do...something or just pop around?"

"These lesser ones?" He took a chouta. "No, they just float around. True Spren you can bond, but these are just like flies."

"Can I bond a spren?"

"Well...I suppose so, but would you really want to? You're not staying here forever."

"Huh." Stephen was walking around without direction, testing his own abilities and making circles in the air. "Having a little fairy around my neck is the last thing I need."

Kaladin and other Radiants all stared at him as he was casting Spells of Relief, Warmth and Wind Manipulation. He was casting them separately rather than combining them, which would have drained him of too much energy had he tried it. "How exactly do you do all of that?" Teft asked. "Do you bond or use something?"

"Nah." Stephen mouthed, carefully putting the red circle of relief down.

"Do you speak some special words?" Lopen scratched his head.

He slowly shook his head. "Sometimes, but no, it isn't necessary." The circle of Warmth he pushed towards the wind, keeping only Wind manipulation.

Sigzil, rubbed the tattoo on his forehead. "Maybe you need to know the elements? Or is just an ancient technique?"

"That's probably the best way to put it." He grabbed the circle and absorbed it. Taking a deep breath, he climbed up a small rock, which finally made him taller than others, except Lunamor.

"So what is it?"

"It is an ancient art of manipulating your surroundings." he bothered to answer. "With training, all I need to do is grasp the atoms of a universe and..." he smirked, feeling the air tighten around him. He had never done this before or tried, but the way it was going it looked like it will work. He jumped from the rock, waiting for the air to obey him, only for it to slip out of his hand the moment he was up. "Oh." He fell down, his knees making a small crack. A small cut appeared on his hand - small, but still burning, enough to make him cuss. Bridgemen tried to help him, but he pulled himself up. "No, no, it's alright. This sometimes happens." He sighed, cleaning his hands. "I think I don't like your queen."

Lopen pursed his lips. "Well, few do, gon. I assume that includes Dalinar and lady Navani. She is her mother, after all."

"Pardon?" Mikey asked. "Navani is Jasnah's mother? Isn't the Dalinar dude her uncle?"

"King Gavilar," Sigzil said, still writing something down. "was Navani's husband before Dalinar, though I think the queen always loved Dalinar more. So they married a few months ago."

"Oh." Mikey said. "Sorry. Fine then."

Almost all of them gazed at Mikey, Teft speaking first. "Fine? It is incest. Sacriligeous, even."

Stephen frowned. "Uh...why would it be? They're nothing to each other."

"Nothing? Storms, they are brother and sister by that first marriage."

"But they are not related at all by blood."

"How exactly does that matter?" said Dabbid. "How does it make sense to marry you brother's widow." Kaladin lightly slapped Dabbid on the shoulder and turned his head towards Renarin, who was leaving the conversation. "I mean, Dalinar is someone we trust in more than anyone, but still..." he shook his head. "It's not something you do."

Renarin glanced at them, though he said nothing until the Rock patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go make stew, what do you say?"

"I mean, maybe if your brother is alive it's disrespectful, but what's the trouble if he has passed away?"

"Because," Peet said. "it is disgusting, that's why."

Stephen sighed and sat down. "How, by the common sense, is it wrong when no one is hurt at all by it? Who are the brother and the widow hurting if they marry?"

Teft clasped his hands and looked up to heaven in a type of prayer. "Almighty help you, you are mad." Kaladin was rubbing his forehead, looking down.

"Hold up, hold up, guys." Leo gestured towards nothing. "What is exactly wrong about it? It's not like they are cheating anyone or hurting."

"What is wrong about cussing?" Teft said, making a questioning gesture. "What is wrong about lying or deceiving?"

Stephen stared at him. "Are you seriously saying that?"

"You say something is wrong only if it hurts someone." Teft insisted. "So why is cussing or lying wrong?"

"Because lying can hurt someone and cussing makes people uncomfortable."

"The same way marrying your brother's sister makes everyone around you uncomfortable?" Teft was wondering whether he should stop, though - it was Dalinar he was talking about.

"That is your fault at being provoked by something that has nothing to do with you?"

"Nothing to do with me?" Peet chuckled. "Well, fine then, I suppose slaves and beggars have nothing to do with me as well, so why should I care about them."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Those two situations are in no way similar."

"Says who? You?"

Rlain sat beside Mikey and Kaladin. "Humans." He said to Mikey. "Sometimes I cannot understand them."

Mikey chuckled. "Shell, dude, definitely."

"Trust me, we understand ourselves the least." Kaladin murmured then raised his head. "Alright, that's enough, we should leave the spheres to..."

"So it's the rules for the sake of rules with you guys?" Stephen continued. "Like, there's no point, just rules."

Lopen shook his head. "Well, gancho, I don't know...how else would we live without rules?"

"But rules need to have a point." Stephen raised his voice. "Which, in this case, they don't."

Sigzil cleared his throat. "I don't think he's wrong."

Teft's eyes widened. "Don't tell me that you agree with him?"

"What was the point of rules that made us slaves before Dalinar freed us, Teft?" he reminded him. "Nothing, but torture for us."

Teft waved. "That was different. Most of us were made slaves unjustly..."

"Heavens, help me!" Stephen raised his hands. "If someone told me I'd meet a person that said slavery is not evil in itself, I would have laughed in his face."

Teft held his spear up. "And what will you do with murderers, traitors and criminals? Just kill them all?"

"Why not put them in a dungeon instead?" Raph said. "You know, killing them or enslaving them aren't the only options."

"How is imprisoning someone different from making them a slave?"

"You don't abuse him that way.

Teft scoffed. "Now that is not true, for certain."

"Why, because you say so?" Stephen said rather free.

Peet tilted his head, biting his lip. "You really look down on us, don't you? You think we're some half-wits, eh?

"Oh, please, Peet." Teft gave up, gesturing towards him. "He's a lighteye, what did you expect? They're all like that." Except Dalinar.

"You said I'm what?"

"Light-eyed!" Teft repeated louder. "And deaf, apparently."

Stephen winced. "What does my eye color have to do with anything?"

"Stop, stop!" Kaladin stood up before anyone said anything more. "Just, stop, all of you."

"But, Kal..."

"Enough!" Syl appeared on his shoulder again. "All of you. This is neither a time nor a place for squabbles." He looked to his men. "They are not from our world - storms, they do not even truly speak our language! Be more considerate. What is odd to them is normal to us or opposite."

Leo snapped his fingers. "You see? That's a reasonable man."

"You three aren't perfect either."

Raph snarled. "What the shell did we do?"

"Well, you could be a bit less arrogant and proud. It is just my counsel, however."

Stephen sighed. "Kaladin, if I may..."

"Uh, guys." Mikey called them while Rlain made a Rhythm of Warning. "I think we've all got a bigger problem."

In the distance, over a yellow hill, huge, grey clouds already took dominion and their blue lightning hit struck the distant tops. Stephen thought them so large and powerful even from this distance that he thought a tornado was a better way to describe it than a storm (though it did not have the same shape).

"Huh." Raph leaned closer to Syl. "Your dad's present, I see."

"We need to leave." Kaladin said. "Is there a stormshelter nearby?"

"One is half a mile away, Kaladin." Sigzil said.

"Then we better go soon." Kaladin said. He took his sphere and absorbed as much Stormlight as he could, his eyes gaining a blue glimmer again. "Leave your spheres in caskets during the highstorm."

"Yes, yes." Teft said. "We all know how it goes." They all started gathering their spheres. Lopen and Mikey made a small game with them, only to be scorned by Teft.

"Hey, boss!" Raph said. "Why don't you let us go with you during the storm?"

Kaladin blinked. "Don't you have eyes? That storm is the most destructive thing on Roshar."

"Oh please, I've seen worse. What can happen?"

"Well, if you want the storm to take you and tear your body apart, by all means do so. I am not stopping you."

Raph scoffed and went on his way.

The "shelter" was in fact a rocky construction with a single opening without the door. Barely six feet tall and very thin, they all needed to sit down next to each other. Raph had the bad luck of having to sit beside Teft, while Leo and Stephen took their place beside Kaladin. Mikey was in the corner with Rlain, Lopen and Rock, if it could be called a corner. They were all breathing at each other's necks. Meanwhile, spren had the privilege of flying through all of it.

"Wonderful!" Syl returned from her own "patrol" of the storm, and sat on Raph's head. "Too bad you can't see how wonderful the storm is!"

He boiled. "Is there any way to get rid of you? How am I able to see you, for shell's sake?"

"Oh, because I want to."

"Well, go away!"

Syl touched her blue chest, sighing. "You...you want me to leave."

"Yes! Very much."

"Oh..." She looked down, wiping something from her eyes. "Fi...fine then. I'll leave you alone, Raphael." A light sparkled and she was gone.

"Finally!" Raph wiped his chin, barely stretching his hand against Teft's. "At least I'll have peace."

"When I want to!" She popped up in front of his eyes. He screamed and flinched, trying to get up, but all he did was his Teft, who did not just take it.

"Be still, storm you!"

"It's not me, it's her!"

"So what! As if you've never..." He cussed. "Ah, forget it."

"Why can't you be like their spren!" Raph said, pointing at the group. "None of them is as annoying as you!"

She gasped in, again, an exaggerated manner. "Shame on you! Others are more irritating than you can imagine! Try and talk to them."

"I certainly won't after meeting one like you!" Then the wind blew, so sharp that it hurt Raph. He leaned towards the opening, despite others holding him. "And your dad can go to shell as far as I am concerned!" Now, she snarled and returned to Kaladin. "Can't you just, I dunno, keep her still!"

"I told you." Kaladin insisted. "Spren are not servants, but companions. I cannot command her to do anything. Most of the time we just agree."

"So," Mikey spoke louder, stopping any argument before it began. "the guy that's doing that thing on the outside...he's a spren too, right?"

"Yes." Sigzil said. "Stormfather."

Mikey smiled, rubbing his chin. "I guess you could call him the chief of all spren, right?"

Some Bridge Four members shook their heads while others wondered. Kaladin pursed his lips. "Well, that might not be the best way to put it, but...yes. Sort of."

"Then I'll call him:" Mikey exclaimed. "Rainboss! Like rainbow, only he's a boss."

Stephen and other Turtles chuckled, but Bridge Four members, even Lopen, gazed at Mikey astounded. "But...he already has a name."

"Well, the old saying says: 'How many names you have – that many times you are a man!'"

"Languages." Leo said. "Mikey, it's how many languages you know."

"And, even besides that, he's a spren, not a man." Stephen added.

Mikey rolled his eyes. "And you guys say Donnie is boring."

"Geez Mikey, I could have made a better name." Raph said. "No, I take it back - he could!" he pointed at Lopen. "You have a better name for him, don't you?"

"The Lopen?" Herdazian played humble. "Oh, well, I don't know. I just call him penhito."

"Penhito?" Stephen said. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"Oh, you do not want to know, gancho!"

"I doubt he was curious to know." Teft sighed. "Storms, even we do not understand you most of the time."

Even though Kaladin was silent, one who seemed most absent was Renarin Kholin. The young man was stuck between Rlain and Lopen, but kept his sight down, as if he was hiding. Stephen thought to help a bit. "So, how's it being a prince?"

Renarin felt called out already, looking at Stephen. He carefully glanced at others, looking distressed, at least until Rlain patted him on the shoulder. "Not as good as you imagine, probably."

"Really? I'd have thought being rich is good." Stephen chuckled at his own joke, while Leo facepalmed.

"I think Mikey is right." he said.

"Well...it doesn't mean a lot to me." Renarin continued. "It never helped me or aided me, it just..."

"It...it's okay kid." He raised his hand. "I was just kidding.

"Oh. I...I'm sorry."

"Don't bother." One sentence and one stern look from Kaladin was enough. Renarin was a very shy person, it seemed. He already started sweating.

"I...I don't feel right." He wiped his temple. "Something is off..."

Every bridgeman focused on him. Kaladin noticed the sweat and approached him, touching his forehead. "You...you're burning." He looked to the opening. "It's the storm."

"I'll take you lad." Teft said, touching him. "Let's leave, you should go back to Urithiru."

"No!" He said, surprisingly loud and firm. His eyes glanced at the storm in the distance as he pushed Teft's hand. "No, it's not the storm. There is something out there."

Kaladin sighed. "Renarin, I am sure it is a fever. We should take you..."

"No!" Stephen raised his finger and leaned his head against the wall. "He's right. You three feel it too."

Leo scratched his arm. "Yes."

Mikey swallowed. "Oh, man. This isn't the best timing for this at all!"

Stephen clapped, blue circles racing up and down his arm. "Let's go out!" He made a step out, only to get pulled in by Kaladin. "What are you doing?"

"Me? Do you have any idea how dangerous the highstorm is?"

"I do." He shook the circles around his arms. "And that is why I will use a shield, genius!"

Kaladin shook his head. "These storms are able to hurt most of us, yet we are using their light for our own powers. How do you expect your foreign powers to protect you?"

"I've faced powerful magic before and won." He still remembered Wanda, Dormammu, the Sinister Strange and Thanos. "I think I can handle this too."

"Not now!" Kaladin pressed his hand. "Not until the storm passes!"

"The person we came here to find is in the storm! For all we know, they could be dying and that would be catastrophic for the Multiverse! We must go there and find them or the entire Cosmos will suffer."

Kaladin looked at the storm again. Whatever the reason was, he really hesitated. "What if something happens to you..."

"Listen, Kaladin." Stephen insisted. "With all due respect, I am probably two times older than you and, if I'm not mistaken, have a better grasp of my magic than you do over yours. I think we'll be fine."

Raph scoffed. "Yeah, as if that helped us before."

Kaladin looked at the storm again. Syl appeared on his shoulder and they just exchanged looks. "Fine." Stephen almost made a step again, but Kaladin grabbed him. "But we are coming with you! Teft, Lopen, you two are coming with me."

"Of course, gancho."

"The rest of you are staying with Renarin." He took what little Stormlight he had and his eyes glimmered, Syl turning into a spear in his hand.

They took a moment for the first edge of the storm to pass. The debris of some unlucky, forgotten constructions had passed above the roof. One piece of rock almost hit Raph in the head, but he rumbled about it more than it was worth. Clouds now mostly brought just rain and some boulders in the distance, but nothing to hurt them now. Kaladin and Stephen walked out first, and at his command the circles grew larger, surrounding them and creating a spherical shield that Leo, Raph, Mikey, Teft and Lopen walked into easily. It moved along with Stephen. Rain would be absorbed by the shield and boulders bounced away.

"What do you say to that?" Stephen said. "I bet your Surgebinding can't do this.'

Kaladin slightly shook his head. "It can. Not like this, but one can protect their body from damage."

"Is it as easy as this?"

The Radiant sighed.

"I'll take that as a 'no'."

Looking up at the storm and its lightning that changed from blue to yellow, it appeared that the clouds were in a war with one another. Thunders that roared up there were the loudest Stephen and Turtles had ever heard - they did not think an ordinary storm was capable of such loud tumult. Everything around them was carried by the storm - dust, stone, thick logs of wood, and dozens of hard materials that a normal storm should not be able to carry. It really was more like whirlwind, only different in shape and its properties like lightning and rainfall. If I leave this shield I'll be carried like a piece of meat, Raph thought. Even Donnie would ignore the need to discover something about the highstorms and hide. Damn you, Stephen. Really damn you.

"How long does this last?" Stephen had to yell, unable to hear his own voice.

"I don't know!" Kaladin tried to glimpse something in the distance. "Every storm is different! But we passed the first hour, so it will grow weaker by every moment." He looked up. "Though this one wasn't that strong to begin with."

Stephen's eyes widened. If this is mild, then what is the strongest highstorm like?

"How do you all live with this?!" Leo asked. "How don't you all get caught in this storm?"

"The storm repeats in similar cycles every few days!" Teft said. "Stormwarders can predict when each one will appear."

Raph stumbled over a rock while he was staring at the sky. Brushing dust off his face and ego, he glanced up to pull himself. But something was off. In the clouds, something was moving. Something that had long, thin legs that were glowing and faces that looked like clouds, striding on the storm. He screamed and pointed towards it. As the lightning struck, it became visible to others. "What is that?!"

Kaladin held him by the arm and narrowed his eyes to see. "Stormstriders!" He helped him walk. "Don't worry! They are spren. They are not dangerous."

"They are giants!"

"And they are not dangerous!" Teft said. "Just listen to us when we tell you. As if we wouldn't know what is what here!" He pushed him, though Raph was staring at the large spren instead of paying attention to what was happening. "Do you feel anything at all?"

"There is something!" Stephen said, scratching the itch on his cheek. "They are here but...I can't say where exactly!"

"Then why did we come here at all!" Teft grumbled. "Storm you, that's what I say!"

"Oh you want that to happen to you?" Stephen yelled. "Just be quiet."

Lopen and Mikey held together, staring back to the shelter. "Gancho, forgive me but...there's nothing here."

"There is!" Mikey said. "We're telling you, dude - we all feel it!"

"Nothing except your stormstriders!" Raph groaned. "I've had nightmares better than this."

"Look at it from the brighter said, Raph!" Lightning struck again behind Leo. "At least this storm has some green in it, our favorite color."

"That I have grown to dislike after being with the Four of you for so long, to be honest!" Stephen commented. "Now I see the green everywhere."

The bridgemen all looked back at them, with Kaladin shaking his head. "There is no green in the highstorm. Never."

A huge bolt of that exact color interrupted their reaction. The shield broke in Stephen's hands, sending them all flying away. Leo would have been carried by the wind if he had not stabbed the ground with his sword. He got back down, yet felt the wind trying to force him up. He gnashed his teeth and grabbed Stephen before he was carried too. The sorcerer gathered back his senses, casting the strongest Spell of Stillness he could, battling the storm that tried to claim both of them. He succeeded, but felt the force of it still present. A blue ribbon appeared, and out of it Lopen came, holding Mikey. "Where is Raph? Guys, where is Raph?!"

The wind carried him in the air, turning his stomach. Raph was twitching in the air, beating it in vain, trying to grab the rope that was not there. Coldness entered his shell and the rain slapped him so strong he felt he will pass out. He shivered and jerked in the air, trying, hoping that something will grab him. When he felt like it was all over, a pale blue light blinked in the corner and the man grabbed him. Warmth that came from the Stormlight filled Raph's body, filling him with strength once again. "Hold on!" said the man. Kaladin. It was Kaladin who rose now above the storm and looked to the east, leaving temporary trails of blue behind him in the air. The cloud in the distance rumbled at Kaladin's boldness.

For a moment, Raph could swear he saw a face formed in the clouds, a face that frowned at him and Kaladin. Two pale clouds stood in the middle of it like eyes, shifting its focus from them to the green power behind him. Kaladin stood in the air for a bit, only to jump down again. And as they were going down, Raph saw that the rain became weaker and weaker. Seeing the ground, he wanted to yell at Kaladin to slow down, but the last step the one who saved him made on it was light and safe. He sighed. "Thanks. I owe you my life."

"Don't mention it." Kaladin looked up and Sylspear in his hand glittered again. The rain was still falling, but the wind was weaker and thunders were only in the distance. "This was too quick. Center of the highstorm is supposed to last longer."

Raph tsked. "It lasted long enough for me, I tell you!"

A green mist descended from the grey clouds, in the distance. It sent more bolts of green lightning, but they both jumped before it hit them. "Raph, dude!" Mikey ran towards him and hugged him from the back. "You're okay!" Others followed, Teft, Lopen, Stephen and Leo, all of them standing behind Kaladin. Stephen and Leo stepped forward to stand beside Kaladin and the three of them were looking at the sickly green sphere in front of them.

"Is this what you were looking for?"

Stephen felt the itch. "Yes." But he felt something else too.

Carefully, Radiants and Turtles all raised their weapons, and Stephen formed circles of flame. They walked quiet, moving step by step. Pinches of green energy fell or were thrown out of the thing. It smelled and looked not necessarily badly but...it was wrong. Like it was not supposed to be here or to be even thought of. Everything else became secondary to them, so they stared at the strength of it, until the sphere itself blinked. It opened, retreating back to its source. Barely seen behind the remaining mist, a figure in black stood out. The shadow had horns and held a long, thin staff in what appeared to be its left hand, but then, the mist cast a light and the figure was more clear now. A woman, with a pale green skin and eyes like gold. Stephen and Turtles first narrowed their eyes, then flinched at the sight of her.

She stared at them. Her face was perfect by every beauty standard...perhaps too perfect. She was inspecting them, touching the sphere on top of her staff. Stephen tried to move, to make a sound, to slap himself out of fear. He took the moment of courage to raise his hand and hold the chain on his hand up, and others followed him, raising their weapons. But she smirked, and as she did, her eyes shinned and the green mist gathered around her, striking them all. The thunder above rumbled and clouds tried to seize her, but she just laughed at it.

"Well, well, well." she said, her voice elegant and commanding. "What do we have here?" She raised her staff, green bolt coming out of it, striking the clouds above. Radiants, Turtles and Stephen all returned to their previous positions, looking right at her. Kaladin, Lopen and Teft summoned their spren again, their weapons gleaming stronger now and eyes as bright as Stormlight and Stephen held the most powerful spell he could remember, demonstrating his power. She considered Turtles as little more than an oddity, but glared at Stephen and Radiants instead. "Oh, equals I see." She kept her smile, her chuckle making Mikey shake. "I must admit I have always looked for such. They are rare where I come from."

"Please." Stephen said, almost letting go of his spell. "We mean no harm."

She glanced at Raph, who showed his teeth. "Your turtle friend doesn't agree with that, I am afraid."

"Please, listen." Stephen spoke before Raph said anything. This is not your world."

"Oh, I could have said so myself."

"We promise, we will bring you back, but you need to come with us first."

"Oh, I'm don't think I want to, dear." She rubbed her sphere again, looking at the clouds. "No, I don't."

"If you don't come with us, it will be horrible for everyone." Leo said. "Your world and this world will both be in a great..."

"A lovely, land, I see." The rain had almost stopped falling, only small drops coming now. "It quite fits my taste."

"It is not yours." Kaladin said. "Leave with them, or my men and I will make you leave, this way or another."

"Oh." She made herself appear sad, but then laughed again. "We will test it, I believe."

Kaladin raised his Sylspear. "You don't want to test us."

"Oh, darling, you are very mistaken." She raised her staff. "I do."

Her quiet tone when she said that was starkly contrasted with the sound of cries and screams that followed the mist she sent at them. The Turtles jumped through it, but the mist had thickness to it - it felt like they were going through water and not air. The air turned around them, trying to envelop them, but Teft cut through it easily with his spear. At one point, he almost hit Raph though. "What the shell are you doing?"

"I...I wasn't looking, sorry..."

"Damn it, you weren't. You did it on purpose."

Teft spat. "I did not, fool!"

"You are in for a big..."

"For shell's sake, guy!" Mikey pulled both of them towards the height on which Lopen, Kaladin, Stephen and Leo were trying to get her. She would appear in one place, only to turn into a laughing ball of pale green and escape their strikes over and over. She enjoyed it more than her fight with the clouds above, which now focused on trying to get low enough to seize her.

Leo would have gladly cut her in half, but knew it was the last thing they needed. "Call yourself to reason and listen to us!"

She continued laughing and sending waves of her force at them, which took shapes of claws and daggers trying to stab them. Stephen tried to tie her with a belt, but it was like trying to catch a fly. Lopen and Teft jumped and jumped again, each trying to catch her by surprise just like the Turtles, but failing miserably, as she was using their own powers against them, letting them fall to the ground surrounded by mist. Kaladin was the only one able to reach her close enough, but even he was smacked across the face by her mist multiple times - each smack felt like a hit by a shield rather than a mist. For what he could do, Stormlight seemed frustrating enough to make her hiss. In response to that, she threw another bolt of green at him, strong enough that he could hear even Syl screaming in pain. At that, Kaladin Lashed himself up, but she avoided his strike again, raising her staff. But as she did that, dozens of blue lights appeared again, Lashing themselves at her. Kaladin knew - others left the shelter. But she, seeing the danger, hissed again.

"Fine. I will do it quickly!" She raised her staff again, green mist gathering and growing thicker and thicker as she was about to make her final hit. But lightning from the sky intervened, hitting the mist and making a huge explosion of something that was stronger than a mist, yet weaker than light. Barely pulling himself up, Stephen was caught in this, paralyzed in the moment. Everything turned green around him and then it faded to black. Leo was able to grab him as he fell to the ground.

"Kaladin!" Drehy helped him get up, while the others helped carry Stephen. "What happened?"

"Their intruder." he said, calming Syl as she was still distressed in his hand. "She...she is dangerous. As much as we are. Storms, she beat us!"

"Was...that what I think it was, Mikey?" Raph himself could not believe.

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure we saw the same thing, bro."

Kaladin turned towards them. "You know her?"

"Shell do!" Raph said. "She's in a movie where we come from!"

"A...movie?" Lopen asked.

"A fairy tale." Mikey said to simplify. "One that I hated as a kid." He shook. "Shell, the memories!"

"A fairy tale?" Kaladin said. "But...how is she..."

"Don't try to understand the Multiverse, dude." Mikey said. "It'll only make your head hurt."

Kaladin nodded. "It already has. What is her name?"

Mikey sighed. Even thinking of that name as real made him shudder. "Maleficent."