(A/N: I do not own Paw Patrol, enjoy!)
A Test Too Far?
The next morning, Cinder was feeling better, but she was not ready to continue. It was understandable considering what had happened. Finding out that a wall less than a foot thick could stop them from communicating was a shock for both of them, and her unease with Gizmo's procedures had only magnified. He hadn't taken her health into consideration at all, and that was where the twins drew the line. With Marshall at her side, Cinder searched for Gizmo to tell him they wouldn't be continuing the tests unless their mental wellbeing was taken into account. Since they hadn't seen Gizmo after the incident the day before, they weren't sure where to start their search, but eventually they found him resting by the cliffside and staring out into the ocean.
Gizmo's ears perked up and he swiveled his head to look at the Dalmatians as they approached. Recognizing them, he rose to his paws. "Oh, hi Marshall, Cinder. I was hoping we could talk."
"We were as well," Cinder began. She was about to launch into a full-blown rundown of everything he had done wrong when Gizmo forestalled her.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," Gizmo apologized. "When constructing my test, I focused all my efforts on preserving physical safety and not mental wellbeing. I was reckless and inconsiderate, and I wouldn't blame either of you for canceling the tests. I'm sorry for everything, and I hope you can forgive me."
Cinder and Marshall paused. They had expected for Gizmo to be resistant to the delay, and weren't sure how to respond. Well, what do you think? Marshall asked his twin.
It felt really… sincere. He must have felt bad about what happened, Cinder observed.
I agree, Marshall concurred. I can kind of see how that sort of oversight could happen, even though it shouldn't. I think we should forgive him.
Alright. I still don't want to continue the tests today, though, Cinder replied.
"We forgive you," both twins chorused synchronously. "But," Cinder amended, "we aren't ready to continue the tests yet. Does tomorrow work for you?"
"Thanks, guys," Gizmo smiled. "Tomorrow works fine. I'll be sure to take care of you to the best of my ability."
Having reached a mutual agreement, they spent the day just enjoying life and the company of the other pups.
The day after, Cinder was begrudgingly ready to continue. Once again, they met Gizmo in front of the lookout and drove up together. Once again, they walked into the testing room. This time the door on the other side was open. The room inside was empty, just like the others.
"Alright, today's test is going to be a bit different. I'm going to run this test on one of you at a time, and instead of talking, you'll be listening. Cinder, you'll go first, if that is alright. I'm going to walk with you into this side room. You'll see a bright flash of light, which will indicate that the test has started. I'll leave you there for three minutes. Once the three minutes have passed, the light will flash again to show that the test has ended. Because of the nature of this test, we won't have any means to communicate until after the test is over, so I need to tell you what you have to do beforehand."
This is already making me nervous, Cinder thought to Marshall.
"In the test, all you will be doing is listening," Gizmo continued, "I don't know whether you'll hear anything or not, but if it works, you'll be listening to a hypothetical conversation between yourself and Marshall. If you can hear anything, I want you to tell me what you hear, how clear it is, and anything else you notice. Then I'll send Marshall in so he can hear the same conversation. But I have to make one thing very, very clear. Under no circumstances should you try to take part in the conversation. I don't know what could happen, but it could have dire consequences."
Cinder narrowed her eyes. "What could possibly be so dangerous about trying to mentally talk in a hypothetical conversation?" she inquired.
"Just trust me, please. I can't tell you why, but trust me when I tell you that it's very important."
"How are we hearing this hypothetical other conversation?" Marshall asked skeptically.
Gizmo shuffled his forepaws uncomfortably, "I just want to try something. I have no idea if it will work or not, but please just trust me."
"You aren't doing so hot in that department" Cinder replied softly.
"I know…" the Labrador sighed. "I'll tell you what. Do you remember those inventions I told you that I can't tell you about for personal and public safety? Well, how you're hearing it is based on one of those."
"Which is why you can't tell us anything," Marshall finished. Gizmo nodded in confirmation.
This doesn't feel right, Cinder thought to Marshall.
No, it doesn't, Marshall agreed, do you want to walk?
Cinder pondered that for a moment. I think he isn't telling us exactly what he is doing because he doesn't want to lie. I think he is testing something, just not what he is telling us. Why don't I test this out and see what I can learn?
Will you be ok? Marshall asked seriously. You had a panic attack last time, and almost a free heart attack.
I'll be ok Cinder assured him, I know I may or may not hear anything this time, so I'm ready for either case.
Three minutes is much longer, Marshall warned her.
It is, Cinder admitted, but I can do this. Besides, I can stop the test whenever I want.
"Ok, I'm ready," Cinder softly said.
"As I mentioned before, the nature of this test means you have to be completely separated from us. That means we won't have any means of communication, we won't be able to see your heartbeat, and we won't have any other monitors," Gizmo cautioned. "However, if you start to freak out, you can stop the test at any time by pushing the red button beside the door. The test will stop immediately. Are you okay with that?"
"You better hope that nothing bad happens in those three minutes" Marshall muttered darkly, "Like anything that would prevent Cinder from stopping the test..."
"I don't have to hope," Gizmo reassured them. "I know nothing like that can happen."
"Ok, here goes," Cinder softly said as she stepped into the room. Gizmo closed the door behind her. For a moment, everything was so quiet, she could hear herself breathing. As she listened to the deafening silence, she became aware of a humming sound steadily rising in pitch, as if a machine were powering up. After ten seconds, the flash Gizmo had mentioned occurred, turning the room a brilliant white. It was so bright that Cinder had to blink to get her eyes to adjust back to normal when it was over.
Nothing looked like it had changed, so Cinder started to listen. She compared it to being on a stakeout that Augie had once told her about. Listening, ear muffs on, not knowing when or if something would be said. It kept the constricted feeling away for now as she sat down to wait.
Cinder! Come back, I just want to talk!
Cinder's heart stopped for a moment. She dared not think. All she could do was keep listening.
No Marshall, she heard herself say, you and dad treat me like a glass egg and not a firefighter! You did the same thing yesterday, Marshall, and got hurt doing it; but because it was me, today, you are both freaking out!
Cinder! she heard Marshall plead, don't shut me out…
She heard the silence answer her brother.
Please Cinder, she heard Marshall on the verge of tears.
Cinder felt the flashback taking over her thoughts. She could see herself there, walking away from him and slamming the door to her room in his face.
Cinder? Marshall's pleading thought echoed in her head. But she ignored him; she was so upset with him and her dad.
Cinder clearly remembered what she had done. It was a fire training scenario where she was on a ladder climbing up to rescue someone and they jumped out the window. The right answer was to shout a warning to the firefighters on the ground who had a handheld emergency rescue trampoline at the ready.
The right answer was not to jump off the ladder and try to catch them, which is exactly what Cinder had done. With grace that made it seem effortless, she snagged the survivor, curled up in a protective ball around them, and guided them to land in the center of the rescue trampoline without a scratch. Perfectly executed, exactly how she wanted it.
What she wasn't prepared for was the visceral reaction her father, who was training her, had to her doing it. Even more infuriating to young Cinder was Marshall adding his own two cents, after he had done the exact same thing the day before, and missed the rescue trampoline, and had the bruises to prove it.
Both of them harassing her about her perfect catch set Cinder off like never before, leading to her leaving the training complex and storming home in a fit of rage. It galled her that Marshall dared to follow her after he had betrayed her like that. So, for the first time, she tried to physically shut him out of her head. After slamming the door in her twin's face, she had spent the rest of the afternoon fuming. She had even skipped dinner because she was still upset with both of them for mistreating her.
Cinder would have stayed there longer if her mom hadn't come up. "Cinder, sweetie, open your door please," Ash softly requested.
With a grumpy harrumph, Cinder got out of her bed and opened her door. "What, mom?" she softly half-growled.
"I brought you dinner" Ash said, nodding to the plate of food balanced on her back, "may I come in?"
Cinder stepped back from the door to make way for her mom, who serenely stepped in and set the food down. "Shall I just leave this here or do you want to talk?"
"Dad and Marshall are such hypocrites!" Cinder spat before realizing the words were leaving her muzzle. "They talk about fire and rescue safety all day, go out and ignore it for themselves and then try and throw the book at me when I do the exact same thing!"
Cinder remembered her mother sitting quietly through her daughter's tirade until Cinder was out of things to say. "I understand your frustration, sweetie," Ash softly said, "but have you thought about why your father and brother are saying what they are saying to you?"
"There is no logical reason for the double standard," Cinder spat, "which is what makes this so infuriating!"
"Let the double standard go for a moment," Ash gently advised. "Did either of them say it was the wrong choice?"
"Dad said 'it wasn't necessary', once," Cinder grouchily admitted.
"Ok, so, if you weren't wrong, why would they be all over your spots?" Ash asked placidly.
Cinder didn't have an answer for that as her mom got up and kissed her on the head. "Eat some food, and maybe it will come to you," Ash said softly as she walked out and closed her daughter's door behind her.
Cinder pondered her mother's question as she ate. Usually, she would just probe Marshall's mind and find out but she wasn't ready to open herself like that just yet. Slowly, it clicked for her that there were really only two possible motives for why they did what that did. It was either because they loved her, or they disliked her. Cinder was smart enough to know that the latter of those two options was ridiculous, which meant that they did it because they were genuinely worried about her.
Cautiously, Cinder opened her door. Laying in the doorway was a black and white blob of such a size to be easily distinguishable for who it was. "Cinder?" Marshall softly said as he raised his head.
"Who else did you expect to come out of my room?" Cinder softly said with a roll of her eyes.
"I wasn't sure if you would ever come out," Marshall softly whined.
"Shut up and get in here," Cinder softly said with a roll of her eyes as she dragged her twin into her room. As soon as the door closed, Marshall wrapped his twin up in a snug hug.
"When you shut me out, I was worried I had lost you forever," Marshall softly admitted.
"Fat chance of that," Cinder softly snorted.
The two of them had spent the rest of the night talking, Cinder remembered. The next day, she had also done a thorough debrief with her dad. Sparks had been complimentary about everything except one small detail. "Cinder, here is the trajectory your survivor was on, prior to your jump." Sparks showed his daughter a diagram showing Cinder where the rescue dummy would have landed had she done nothing. It showed the training survivor landing on the rescue trampoline. "Cinder," Sparks said gently, "your technique was perfect, but in the heat of the moment, you have to make judgements on which tactic best fits the situation at hand. You may start out as just a fire pup, but you won't stay one forever, or very long if I know you," Sparks added with a wink at his daughter. "Focus your learning efforts on managing your risk and your team's risk. And don't forget that you also have a family who expects you to come home from saving everyone else."
Cinder was abruptly torn from her reverie as the bright light flashed again, indicating the end of the test. Cinder blinked the stars from her eyes as she stood, surprised at how many memories could fill a three-minute span of time. There was no way Gizmo made that up. He wasn't telling them the truth, or at least not the whole truth.
The door opened and she stepped out. Whatever the case was, she was going to find out.
"Did you hear anything?" Gizmo asked with baited breath.
"We are done for the day," Cinder softly said firmly as she walked past him, ignoring him almost completely. He even had to move so she didn't stomp on his paws.
What's wrong? Marshall asked as he turned to follow her. She wasn't frantic or out of sorts that he could tell. But something was definitely wrong, and it had her laser focused.
Not here, she replied as she pushed the door open and jumped into his fire truck. Marshall jumped up and started the engine. As he drove them away, Cinder looked back and saw Gizmo watching them in confusion. He could wait a little longer for his precious research, she decided.
When they were half way home, Marshall finally broke the silence. So…what happened?
Gizmo is lying to us, Cinder thought firmly. He knows more than he is telling us. We just need to figure out what he is doing when he is running his "tests."
Ok, so how do we do that? Marshall asked.
Simple, Cinder replied, we pull our location data from each test. You said Ryder was monitoring it, right?
Yes… Marshall thought slowly, but I'm assuming that he did his boy genius thing and set the computer up to do the monitoring and tell him if anything went wrong.
Exactly, Cinder continued, Gizmo would have expected that, probably even counted on it. Which is why his tests are so short. He knows that he can't do anything for long without alerting Ryder. How long before the safety system triggers an alert when a pup tag goes offline?
Marshall racked his brain for the answer. Five minutes, he finally replied, unless we are on a mission.
Perfect, that gives Gizmo time to run a test and the tag to reconnect without anyone the wiser.
This is sounding kind of conspiracy theory-ish, Marshall replied doubtfully. What if you are wrong?
Then I'm wrong and we keep going. Cinder admitted, but if I'm right, he's mine…
I don't think he'll like the sound of that, Marshall thought with a snicker.
The two of them pulled up to the lookout. "Hey, you guys want to play?" Chase called out to them.
"Not right now," Marshall answered as he parked and changed his truck into his pup house. "We have something to take care of first."
"Need any help?" Chase asked as he bounded over to them.
Marshall and Cinder looked at each other. "No" Cinder said softly, "thank you though, Chase. This is something the two of us need to do alone."
"Ok," Chase sighed with a droop of his tail.
"Hey," Marshall said, turning to his best friend and brother, "we'll take care of this, then come back and play any game you want."
"Ok!" Chase yipped cheerily; his spirits immediately lifted.
Good save, Cinder thought.
Practice, Marshall replied with a smile.
The two of them rode the elevator to the top of the Lookout and stepped off towards the mission computer. "Hey Marshall and Cinder, how goes it?" Ryder asked from his office.
"Just fine, Ryder," Marshall called back, "we are just going to review some old tapes. Gizmo was asking about something."
"Need any help?" Ryder asked.
"No, it shouldn't take long, thanks though!" Marshall yipped.
"Ok, yelp if you need anything" Ryder offered as he went back to work.
When did you learn to lie convincingly to Ryder? Cinder asked, mentally flabbergasted.
Lie? Never, it's 100% true that we are going to look at tapes, Marshall thought back. I just didn't tell him which tapes. And Gizmo did ask about if anything is different when we share things under stress, like during the second test.
Everest has been an influence on you, Cinder mentally laughed, I'm not sure whether good or bad.
Ask her, I'm sure she'll say good, Marshall added with a laugh of his own. He quickly pulled up the GPS logs for his and Cinder's tags. What am I looking for?
Anything around the time of our "tests" with Gizmo, Cinder replied. Marshall dutifully pulled up the logs from their first visit to the cabin. They watched both of their tag GPS signals follow the route to the cabin.
Fifteen minutes and 45 seconds, Marshall observed, I was right.
No surprise there, Cinder replied. They watched as they entered the cabin. Hold on, what just happened to the signal?
I don't know, Marshall said as he paused the playback. He clicked on his icon and noticed something. For some reason, the GPS is showing decreased accuracy, like it lost lock on some of the satellites. Not enough to trigger any alarm but still noteworthy.
How would that happen by walking inside? Cinder asked, and when did you learn about GPS?
I helped Rocky with one of his ideas one day, Marshall replied. He is working on a drone to deliver supplies we need to a rescue scene using the GPS signal from our tags.
Innovative, and super helpful if he can get it working, Cinder noted. Was that what he was testing at the junkyard?
Yes, Marshall confirmed, my help was more keeping him company while he worked and not touching anything. But we did talk a lot about it.
Figures, Cinder replied with a smile. So, basically when we enter the cabin, our GPS stops working as well as it normally does.
It appears that way, Marshall verified. It could be that the cabin walls are messing with the signal, but I don't think wood should have that kind of effect. They continued watching the replay. Their signals stayed right in and around the cabin.
Ok, this is the time when the call came in, Cinder thought as she looked at the time.
And there we go, Marshall thought as they exited the cabin. Yup, GPS signal back to normal. Now, it should take us… Marshall's thought trailed off as their icons disappeared. Wait, where did we go?
Ah ha, look! Cinder thought urgently. Somehow, the display was showing that they had covered a huge chunk of road in a split second.
That isn't possible, Marshall mentally gasped. Did we…teleport?
Look, it happened again!
Sure enough, they had covered the majority of the forested part of the way back in less than 30 seconds and were already back in town. That is how we got back in so fast, we literally skipped most of the route, Marshall thought disbelievingly.
He couldn't do it in town because you know it too well and would notice, Cinder theorized. But in the forest, it is easy to think you lost track.
Fat chance of that Marshall replied with a snort, I make enough trips up that mountain that I know it almost as well as Everest. Speaking of which… Marshall pulled up a different map.
What are you looking for? Cinder asked.
That cabin wasn't there before Marshall asserted as he scrolled across the map. At one point, Everest and I mapped every cabin, abandoned or not, so we could use them as reference points for mountain rescues and as emergency shelters. We keep it up to date as we go.
Because the two of you never get caught out in snow storms, Cinder added with a giggle.
Define 'caught', Marshall thought back. We occasionally choose to spend them alone with each other. And lots of other people need rescuing in storms so we need places for them to warm up if we can't make it back to the lodge. Look, we went through that area in the last month and there was nothing. A cabin couldn't have been built and aged in that time frame.
Which means it was built to look abandoned, Cinder finished the thought.
Exactly, Marshall mentally crowed, and the only reason you make something look abandoned is to keep people away or to hide something.
The plot thickens Cinder insinuated. Not only can he make us teleport, but he can make a cabin appear in the middle of the forest. Pull up the second test.
Marshall went back to the GPS logs and pulled up the second test day. Once again it took just over fifteen minutes to get from the Lookout to the cabin. Always nice to get confirmation Marshall noted.
Focus on your position, Cinder advised. It started out staying there. Then, unexpectedly, it vanished. Pause here, find where it says you went.
Marshall zoomed out until his icon appeared again. What am I doing by the Lookout?
I knew it! He made a way for each room to be in a different location, Cinder hypothesized. He wasn't testing different materials. He was testing the distance.
Let's keep going then, Marshall suggested. Sure enough, just over 30 seconds later, he vanished again. Hold on…there I am! Marshall shifted the center of the display to center on his signal. It finally stopped on the far edge of Heartland.
No wonder it was weaker, you were really far away, Cinder mentally gasped.
But that also means that we can actually talk from farther away than we thought, Marshall realized. Normally, we can only hear each other when we are that far apart if something crazy is going on.
Fair, but it is also possible that the instantaneous increase in distance is a factor too. I would be curious to see if the results would be the same if we flew that far apart in the Air Patroller, Cinder wondered, where did he send you last?
Marshall played the recording again until he vanished. Then, he hit the button to center it on himself again.
The display zoomed and scrolled until it finally stopped over somewhere that neither of them expected.
Antarctica! they gasped at the same time.
That is insane, no wonder I couldn't hear you, Cinder mentally whined.
I thought it felt a little cold. I was starting to joke about it when I felt you start to panic Marshall mused. It is amazing I felt your panic that far away, too. Ok, so we know he can teleport us to any location.
But that doesn't explain today, Cinder noted.
What did happen today? Marshall asked gently.
When he told me to listen, I heard us having a conversation that we had years and years ago…back when Dad was training us to be fire pups.
You mean when you got mad at us for wanting you to be safe? Marshall asked, just as stunned, but immediately knowing the conversation in question.
Cinder nodded, that very conversation where you followed me home and I slammed the door in your face and shut you out. Cinder paused for a moment. Sorry about that, I was a bit upset with you and dad.
It's ok sis, we forgave you and you were right to an extent. Worrying about each other goes both ways… Marshall mentally cooed, nuzzling her.
Thanks, Marshy, Cinder replied as she rubbed her head against his lovingly. But that specific conversation is what I heard. Since Gizmo hasn't figured out how we communicate, there isn't a way for him to simulate a conversation between us. And even if he did, I doubt that he would have chosen to create a moment of us fighting that just happened to perfectly match an incident in our past. Which means that the only way I could have heard that was if he actually sent me back in time.
But how would that be possible? Marshall asked.
How is any of this possible? Cinder pushed back. Do you remember when we first met Gizmo and he told us not to worry about messing up a timeline? Well after that, he said, "Time is irrelevant." It struck me as odd; as if he meant what he was saying literally. If he can time travel, time literally is irrelevant to him because he can go to any time he wants. And it would explain why he couldn't communicate with me during the test or monitor my vitals. And if I had thought anything, our past selves would have heard it which would have changed history. Let's see what my tag does.
They didn't have to wait long. Right on cue, the signal for Cinder's tag dropped offline. Immediately, a five-minute countdown started ticking away the seconds Cinder had been gone. Right at the three-minute mark, Cinder's icon reappeared and the countdown stopped.
Holy spots, Marshall breathed. He actually did it, he sent you back in time to see if you could hear our past selves.
I think it is high time we had a chat with our little "friend," Cinder said as she turned toward the elevator.
Let me just shut all this down Marshall replied as he closed everything and reconfigured the display for normal use. I also need to pick up something from Rocky before we leave.
"Did you find what you need?" Ryder asked as they walked past his office.
"We did," Cinder softly answered, "it was quite eye-opening."
"Great," Ryder said with a wave as they left. He made a note to look at the mission that they had reviewed later. If they were still learning from it, maybe the other pups could too.
Gizmo was in his lab working when he heard the cabin door slam open in the next room over. Immediately on high alert, he activated his defensive gear which consisted of his helmet and a set of metal shoes. Cautiously, the Labrador crept into the main room. But when he got there, all he saw were two Dalmatians, one of whom closed the door behind them. Gizmo's visor slid back up as he recognized them as not being a threat.
"Oh, Cinder, Marshall, I thought you were done for the day," he sighed in relief.
"Done testing for the day" Cinder softly said as she swiftly started closing the distance between them. "Done asking questions, definitely not."
Oh boy… Gizmo thought as the stern Dalmatian rapidly approached him. So much for them not being a threat… Immediately the visor slid back down, shielding Gizmo's eyes as he rose to his hind paws. Holding his forepaws out in front of him in a defensive stance, he gave Cinder a warning, "Stay back. I don't know what you're mad about, but don't come any closer. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."
"I figured you wouldn't be beneath that," Cinder softly noted, cocking her head to the side.
Gizmo glanced behind Cinder to see Marshall holding something that took him a moment to recognize. When he did recognize it, though, he realized he was in trouble. It was an EMP generator, presumably built by Rocky. Marshall pressed a button on the device and an explosive sound echoed through the room as everything electrical in the lab overloaded at the same instant and the overhead lights shut off, plunging the lab into darkness. Gizmo ripped off his helmet and tried to find the twins in the pitch blackness, but it was too late.
Before the Labrador realized what was happening, Cinder rammed into his stomach, sending him flying into the wall of the lab.
Immediately after he landed back on the ground, Cinder grabbed Gizmo by his scruff and flung him into the center of the room. It threw the black Lab off balance and he tumbled. If his electromagnetic shoes hadn't been shut down by the EMP, he could have recovered. But Gizmo was out of luck, and he skidded across the ground until he came to a stop.
Immediately, he felt a heavy weight on top of him. "I'd stay down and answer her truthfully if I were you" Marshall whispered in his ear.
At that point, the red emergency backup lights clicked on, illuminating the situation. However, what he saw made him nervous. Stalking toward him was Cinder, but it wasn't the Cinder he had studied from afar. All traces of her kind, gentle nature had vaporized. All he could see was icy anger in her stunning sapphire eyes.
"No more games," Cinder hissed as she got right up in Gizmo's face. "You are going to tell us exactly what you did for the second and third tests. And you are going to tell us why you are doing this. Then, maybe, we can work together."
"And if I don't?" Gizmo replied, trying to reassert some level control.
Cinder smiled. But it wasn't a smile Gizmo had ever seen on her before; it was the smile a predator gave its prey before devouring it. "Then, we tell Everest exactly how you lied to us and played with us, along with where you are. Then we leave you tied up for her to deal with. We will erase every log, detail, or indication that you were ever here, including this cabin, wherever it might actually be."
She was deadly serious, Gizmo concluded, and he didn't fancy finding out what Everest would do with him. Even though he knew the rumors about that newspaper in Heartland weren't to be believed, he knew she had lived wild in the Antarctic at one point. Even though Gizmo knew he would be able to escape any situation they left him in within ten minutes, he also knew that being tied up by Marshall didn't sound like it would be very comfortable. As a paramedic, Marshall knew every joint backward and forwards, exactly how far they could bend without breaking, and he could knock him out without needing to resort to any of the drugs in his pack or truck. And Cinder's last comment…
"It sounds like you already know what I did," Gizmo stalled, "so why do I need to tell you?"
"Because," Cinder growled, "I want you to admit what you did to us, and how you lied to us."
"I didn't lie to you" Gizmo rebutted.
"Distance is not a material with an impedance" Cinder countered.
"And I never told you I was testing material impedance," Gizmo replied. "I told you I was testing impedance and that there would be different physical barriers between you two, which there definitely were. I never said the physical barriers would be what was causing the impedance."
Cinder narrowed her eyes as she took the opening Gizmo left her. "So, about those 'physical barriers', where did you send Marshall through each door?"
Gizmo didn't see any way to talk his way out, and Cinder clearly wasn't giving up until she got what she wanted. "The first door was still in the lab," Gizmo finally said. "The second door was to a room on the beach near the Lookout, the third to a room in Heartland."
"And the last one?" Cinder pressed.
"Antarctica" Gizmo admitted slowly.
"And today, you didn't just send me somewhere, did you?" Cinder growled.
"I take it you heard something, then" Gizmo surmised, momentarily forgetting his predicament as he realized the implications.
"I heard something that happened in the past," Cinder almost spat, ignoring Marshall's still surprised reaction in the background. "I don't know how, but you sent me into the past to listen to me shutting out my brother!"
"I didn't know that you were fighting with Marshall at that time" Gizmo admitted, "I just knew it was a random day in your past that was likely to have some sort of conversation between the two of you at that moment since you'd just gotten back from training. I tried to make it long enough ago so that you wouldn't remember it. But it looks like I was wrong."
"So, you aren't all-knowing then," Cinder replied, a trace of her usual softness creeping back in for the first time, "but why? Why all of this?"
"You're… not gonna believe me," Gizmo sighed submissively.
Cinder scoffed in amusement. "You just admitted to us you sent me back in time. At this point, we'd believe almost anything."
After a moment, Gizmo complied. "Alright. Well, I'm doing it for Marshall."
"Huh? Me?" Marshall blurted out in confusion.
"No. Not you," Gizmo groaned as he shook his head. "My Marshall. And I know that doesn't make sense, so let me explain. First, you should know that I'm from an alternate universe where the Paw Patrol also exists. I won't explain too many details, but Ryder - the Ryder from my universe - asked me to start researching other universes for threats and allies. Yours happened to be one of them. I had been watching this place for about a week when I learned about your telepathy. I really wanted to research it, but after last time Ryder told me not to interact with anyone unless it was inevitable. And if I did interact with anyone, he told me I couldn't tell anyone about some of the more 'futuristic' inventions of mine, like portals."
"So, what do you mean Marshall asked you to do these tests?" Cinder pressed. "You still haven't explained that.
Gizmo took a deep breath before he continued, "Well, a few days ago, my universe's Marshall found out that there was an alternate version that shared a telepathic link with his twin. In my universe, Marshall's twin is named Auburn but he is not as close with her as you two are and they don't share any kind of link. And… he wanted to know if it was possible for him to do the same with Auburn."
A minute passed as the weight of what he said sank in. "So, do you think it's possible for… *your* Marshall to do it?" Cinder asked quietly.
"I don't know yet," Gizmo reluctantly admitted. "There has never been anything like it recorded in the past, present, or future so far as I can find. It is truly unique, a blend of ordered science and a miracle. It is beyond fascinating." Gizmo paused for a breath, "I don't know whether it's just science I don't understand and haven't figured out how to measure yet, or a miracle without explanation. All I know is that whatever the answer is, the only ones who will ever truly fathom it are the two of you."
"At least that was sincere," Marshall said from his perch on top of Gizmo. For a few moments, none of them spoke.
"Umm, are you going to get off me?" Gizmo finally asked.
"Not just yet," Cinder said softly. Gizmo found his vision filled with Cinder, staring into her blue eyes again, only this time the iciness was replaced by curious intensity. "So, when you travel time, do you ever change things?"
Gizmo was slightly taken aback by the question. "Change things? Um, no… not really," he replied nervously. "When time traveling, I take precautions to prevent that from happening. Even the smallest of differences can cause huge problems in the timeline. Even things like sending you back in time for that test can be dangerous."
"Well, get ready because you are going to go back and make a change," Cinder softly said, "there is a life that only you can save…"
Gizmo's eyes grew wide as he realized what she was implying. "Ohhhhh no! No no no no no!" he rapidly protested. It seemed that underestimating Cinder was deceptively easy to do … and came with consequences of its own.
"Oh yes, you are going to go back and save Augie" Cinder softly whispered. It may have been barely audible, but there was no mistaking the command in her voice.
A/N: Special thanks to RodentRacer for bringing his OC Gizmo into this world and his help writing and proofing this chapter!
A/N: The plot has really thickened now. And unfortunately, this is where we will leave it for the moment. Due to work, I will not be able to post any stories reliably for an extended period of time. Rest assured, I will be working on this when I can and will post when the opportunity arises. Is Gizmo going to do as Cinder commands? What will he do to keep Augie from dying? What will the consequences be? The only way to find out is to follow the story so you know when I'm able to post chapters!