AEGIS: Ramifications

AEGIS: Ramifications

Originally Published by Jason Cochrane on Sep 11, 2016 at 04:24 AM

"And you just let her take it?" Tara let her surprise surface.

Adrian shrugged. "What was I going to do? She knew I had it and apparently she needed it."

"But why? She can dimension shift. She didn't need the hypercube." It wasn't that Tara cared very much for the now absent device. If anything it was more of a monkey paw than a useful device. The trouble to her thinking is that in the wrong hands it could be dangerous. Very dangerous. Adrian seemed resigned to it's loss and that infuritated Tara even more.

The large man turned to Tara and continued in his reasoning. "Jean... sorry, the Sovereign Citizen One iteration of Jean, said she needed it to help bounce her dimension's trajectory away from the Warpwold. It was to save that reality. Besides dear, how was I supposed to stop her?"

Tara calmed. Adrian had points. It was a noble sacrifice and one that they both would have made without hesitiation. Jean was one of a handful of Omniversal physicists known on Earth Prime. It was a select and electic group consisting of Navigatrix, Gateway, the Atoms and the villianous Vagabond. If Jean said she needed Adrian's hypercube then she would have needed it.

Then there was the issue of how they would have said no if they were inclined. Jean, any incarnation, could easily take the hypercube if she wanted it. Only the most foolhardy person would try to say no. Tara had seen enough versions of Jean in the hypercube to know better than to try and deny Jean something she really, REALLY wanted.

So now the hypercube was gone. Hopefully it was destroyed in Sovereign Citizen One's experiment. Tara hoped so.

Such a tiny device with so much destructive potental. The tiny device, reminiscent of a Rubik's cube, worked on different principles than Jean's powers. The hypercube breifly connected two realities. When Jean travelled she... didn't. Jean transversed the Omniverse in another way entirely. Overall Tara greatly preferrred hypercube transit. For starters, it was much safer than travelling with Jean. Of course what Jean lacked in safety she made up for with versatility. Tara recalled Adrian's frustration over the years when attempting to "dial" specific realities. The coordinates of any given reality were very specific and with over 43 quintillion combinations it was easy to "mis-dial". Fortunately there was one address that Tara and Adrian had permanently and indelibly committed to memory: Home.

"Right," Tara accepted it's loss. "It's gone. Now the important question. Why wasn't in our safe? Why did you have it on you?" The question was almost schoolmarm in it's delivery.

Her fiancé shifted uncomfortably. Despite being several heads higher than her Adrian gave the distinct impression of a naughty boy who had been caught. The fact that he shrank slightly (an involuntary power reflex) confirmed his embarassment.

"Ah... well... you see..." Adrian's eyes bored into the floor. "Eric was there for Intake and I thought some back up might be useful...." He trailed off lamely.

"With Jean right there..." Tara cut in.

Adrian protested. "We didn't know for sure she'd be there..."

"And with Navigatrix over at Claremont a phonecall away."

Adrian shrank a little more. "Well yeah but..."

"You were hoping for a joy ride weren't you?" Tara accused.

Adrian had shrank down to eye height. "You were hoping to visit another reality without me. Without me!" Her voice raised a few octaves.

A sheepish smile crossed Adrian's face.

"And you did! You went without me!" Tara's indignation was white hot. She hit Adrian's arm. Hard. "That's not fair Lunk!"

"It... uh... wasn't a plan." Adrian demurred. "It was a precaution. Honest. Sure I got a little trip but it was backup in case something went wrong with Eric."

Tara was having none of it. "You can't follow dimensional anchors. Jean and Navigatrix can.... so... what did I miss?"

Adrian could sense the worst of the storm had passed. "Jean conquered the world. Killed all the supers and built Guardians."

"I hate those things," Tara sighed sourly.

"We all hate those things," agreed Adrian.

Tara expressed her passing interest, "So one of the class 6 superclusters, huh?"

"Yeah. I wonder why those things only show up in class 6."

With a plop Tara flopped heavily on the couch. "Don't know. Navigatrix said she doesn't know and Jean won't say."

The couch groaned as Adrian lowered himself next to Tara. She noted he had clearly regained his default size and mass.

Adrian lay his head on hers. "We could ask Victoria or Jean for a new hypercube."

Tara sighed. "Nah. Let sleeping dogs die. You know those things. They always end up back here sooner or later."

"Omniversal Constants," the pair muttered together. The phrase was spoken with a tone of resignation.

Tara snuggled. "Are we doing Henry's barbeque?"

"It's been a rough day," Adrian shifted comfortably. "Subjective and relative time didn't match up. I'm kinda beat."

"It's kind of expected of us." Tara chided, "If I go, you'll have to look after Jennifer by yourself. Can you handle that lunk?"

"Uh... probably but if I fall asleep she might do something we'll regret." He stood up and stretched. "So I guess we're all going. Just for a bit."

"Okay. Just a bit." Tara's smile lit up her face, her mood and the room.

Without warning a deep stuttering reverberation echoed about the room. There was no discernable source. Tara and Adrian seemed undistrubed. A kaleidoscope of colour folded in on itself on the coffee table. When the light and sound faded a multicoloured cube with 9 squares on each face lay on the table.

"Right on cue," observed Tara.

"Yup." Adrian scooped it up. "Time for it to go into the safe." He snatched it up and paused.

Tara noted the movement. "Problem?"

"Yeah. No..." Adrian gnawed at his lip. "I mean it's not the same one."

Tara moved to observe the cube. It was slightly different to their lost hypercube. "A new one?"

"Looks that way. Colour is off and weight is different. I guess the last one is kaput. I hope Sovereign Citizen One is okay."

"It's Jean. I'm sure she'll be fine. She's a survivor." Tara encouraged.

"Yeah," Adrian sighed. "Yeah she is. Let's just hope she survived as Jean."

"Hmmmm..." Tara darkened. "There is that but there's nothing we can do about it... unless you got her address?"

Adrian shook his head. "Nope. I guess we just hope for the best."

"Unless she got our address..."

Adrian looked thoughtful. "There is that. I guess we just wait and see."