The ever-churning red Terminus roiled. Only the most robust or imperiled realties floating within that lethal flow of entropy could survive nestled at the heart of the Warpworld . Yet orbiting the deadly display, like Mercury to the Sun, lay a small reality. It was not robust. It was not imperiled. It was not natural. This was the gleaming and seemingly indomitable Ark of Worlds.
The Ark was a successful thorn in the side to Omega, Lord of the Terminus. Reach as he may, he was not able to successfully snare the Ark in the tendrils of his Doom Coil. And so the Ark of Worlds continued its mission of recording what once was and is no more: the recording of retroactive continuity.
The Ark had few needs for staff and only had a handful of residents. Cheif among them was Vicki Atom of Earth 65126 also known simply as "Prime". She was accompanied by her brother Chase Atom who had long since dispensed with any need or desire for a codename. The last of the trio from Earth 65126 was a young woman who told people her name was Jane Doe or Genesis. In recent times Jane had been increasingly absent but not today. Not now.
"VICKI!"
Prime raised an annoyed hand to the earpiece that now shrieked at her.
"We need a Med Team in the hanger. RIGHT NOW!"
While the voice of Jane was full of panic, it was not shared by Vicki. "Can you make it?"
"I'm in." Jane's voice again came through the comm. It was full of exertion and exhaustion. "Where's the Team Vicki? Tell me they're coming!"
"Calm down Jane." Vicki slowly rose from her workstation. Not one fraction of Jane's state had entered Vicki's demeanor. "Breath. Think. You called it in only seconds ago. Breath."
"Come on. Come on, Vicki. The Med Team." Jane's voice took on a pleading tone.
"We're coming." Vicki exited her laboratory. Her pace was little more than a stroll. "Jane, you're inside the Ark. You can calm down now."
"Right...." a deep breath. "Right. We made it. We're good. We made it to the Ark."
Vicki leaned into one of her brother's laboratories and gestured for him to follow her.
"Okay. Now, Jane, without getting upset stay focussed and tell me about our patient." Vicki continued with no sign of urgency.
"Blackstar impaled Dad..."
"Stop." Vicki sharply cut Jane off. "Be specific please."
There was a pause before Jane responded. Her voice was becoming calmer by the moment. "Right. Sorry. We were on Earth Prime, I mean 502..."
"Of course you were." Vicki's tone was droll.
"Vicki please." Jane's voice momentarily elevated again. "The Mentors had taken the Bolt Mark 2 to stop Collapsar the Devourer..."
"And you decided to tip the scales." Vicki kept her voice dispassionate as she and Chase continued down corridors towards the hanger.
Again there was a long silence. The silence itself was sullen.
"Yes." Jane's voice chriped again in Vicki's earpiece.
Vicki was finally making headway in the conversation. "So, if I follow you correctly, Adrian Hooper of Earth 502 has been injured. Is anyone else with you?"
"Yeah. Tara's here." Jane's voice indicated she had almost completely settled. "She's in aqueous form keeping him stable."
"That's thoughtful but unnecessary now." Vicki and Chase could finally be seen from the hanger. "The Ark has Mr Hooper now. Tell Tara to get off him."
Vicki and Chase swept into the hangar. One wall was given over to a force field holding back the Terminus. The rest of the enormous room was empty save for two red-haired women and the bleeding form of a large unconscious man.
Chase knelt down to briefly examine the man. "We've seen worse. Given his powers..."
Vicki cut off Chase. "...we just need him conscious, lucid and able to focus. Challenges for Mr Hooper on any day ending in the letter Y."
Tara wiped the blood from her arms. "Really Vicki? Seriously, now? You have to do this now?!"
The protest was met with a shrug. "The hard part is over. You pair got him to the Ark. Good job. No one can die here. Mission accomplished. Hit the showers."
Tara looked about to lash out before Jane restrained her. "No. She's in one of her moods but she's right. Dad's fine now we got him. Let them work."
Vicki gave the pair a shooing gesture. "I'm always right. And Jane please don't let your affection for Earth 502 cloud your perception. This is not your father. It's a younger version from an alternate universe."
This time it was Tara who did the restraining. "Let her work Jane. You're family. It doesn't matter what Vicki says."
...
The bed was unfamiliar but comfortable. The room contained a number of floating screens and readouts and little more. He knew where he was. He closed his eyes. He ached. Ached and itched. There was a stabbing pain in the right side of his chest.
Adrian tried to focus but the pain and exhaustion robbed him of his intended action. He tried again but once more he couldn't push past his present state. He couldn't activate his active size-changing powers.
"Okay," Adrian muttered to himself. "Jane explained this. It's all self-image. I just gotta let the passive part of my powers push me back towards my self-image."
He tried to stand. When that failed he opted to compromise at sitting. The pain was significant. Adrian raised his hand to his torso where some form of patch covered his right pectoral muscle. He gently reached behind himself. The pain came in shots but he was able to locate another patch on the back.
"So... shot in the back." He slumped. "Shot in the back AGAIN. Why do I always get shot in the back?"
To his surprise, a velvet alluring voice responded. "That's because, you Lunk, you're always looking out for others and not yourself."
Trying to turn was unwise and was rewarded with a substantial helping of pain.
Tara moved around the bed to greet him with a smile. "There' my man. Shot through the heart."
"And you're to blame." He winced.
Tara smirked. "Darling you give love a bad name." She placed a finger on his lips stopping further lyrics. "This one's serious so hush. What do you remember?"
"Ummm... Blackstar and the Blackguard Corps had the Bolt. We and the Band were going to free it and rescue their pilot... umm... Wally."
Tara sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Okay, so no memory loss."
"Really? Then who are you?" He tried to jest but again was only rewarded with pain.
"No dear. I mean it." She wrapped an arm around him. "This was a close one. Blackstar shot you clear through the chest. Luckily you weren't shot through the heart. If he had hit your left side it would have been..." She choked.
Adrian paused to process. It was true he couldn't recall feeling this much pain ever before. Over the years he had far more than his fair share of injuries but this felt much worse.
"So..." he hesitantly spoke. "So... Jane was right. This mission, more often than not, is lights out for Extent."
"Not just Extent. All of us." Tara hugged Adrian despite the wince that came from him. "That was where so many versions of us die."
It was a sobering thought that hung in the air.
After a period Tara broke the spell. "Vicki says it's... the event... is not as common as Jane says it is but still..."
Adrian was numb at the thought. "Yeah. So that's where I would have died if Jane hadn't come and brought the Band with her."
"I think all of us would have died, dear."
"Nah." He adjusted Tara's death grip on him. "It sounds callous but you would have survived. You're immortal."
"I'm not immortal Lunk," she chided. "I'm just really hard to kill."
"Yeah but harder to kill than Jane, or me."
"Yeah, honey. Harder to kill than you or Jane. But I think being vaporized on an alien planet would probably do it."
For a time the room was peaceful. Adrian let Tara continue to hold him despite the occasional twinge. For his part, it was good to be alive. It was good to have Tara here. It was good to... a thought struck him.
"Uhh... honey? Where's the baby?"
"Hush Lunk. Vicki let me bring Jennifer to the Ark. She's asleep."
Adrian relaxed. He hadn't even realised he had tensed up. "That couldn't have been easy."
"No dear," Tara nuzzled his shoulder again. "Vicki banned Jane from the Ark while Jenniffer is here."
"Who's keeping her powers in check?"
"Chase is handling it. For now." Tara had started sounding confident but it quickly trailed away. "He seemed pretty confident. And he is one of the smartest men alive... I mean Vicki let him so it must be okay.... right?"
"Okay," Adrian disentangled his wife and began to lie down once more. "Starting to get tired and best not fall over. I'm guessing we have until Chase's patience runs out for me to heal. How long have we been here?"
"About a week." Tara eased Adrian back to the bed.
"I'm guessing that if I feel this bad on the Ark then I can't go home yet."
"No dear," Tara confirmed. "It still pretty bad. Probably still a critical injury back on Earth Prime."
"Yay" Adrian weakly cheered.
"Now that you are awake Vicki will be able to move things along a lot faster." Tara kissed him.
"Really. What's she got planned?" His voice started to drift back into the darkness.
"She's calling it physiotherapy. It probably won't be fun. Sleep well my Lunk."
"As you wish."
...
"You did WHAT?" Adrian wasn't sure he heard correctly.
Vicki was undisturbed. "I don't see why you're upset. You have a low-level pseudo regeneration. Your body will return to normal soon enough."
Adrian and Vicki were in what was effectively a gymnasium of sorts. Adrian was carefully making sure not to skip leg day.
"I get the regen part, Vicki." Adrian struggled to explain himself. "That's not what bothers me. Well, it kinda does but not really. I mean, I'll deal..."
"Please get to the point."
"Okay." He paused. "Let me see if I understand it. First, you did what you call a quick patch job by parallel processing some alternative versions of you who are surgeons."
Vicki nodded.
"But then you decided to switch to organic healing? Rather than send for a super powered healer."
Vicki tutted. "Please don't call it that. I'm a scientist and what I did was science. It will result in a better outcome for you. You'll heal faster and with less effort from me."
Adrian was still wrapping his head around it. "Yeah, but you got other versions of me to repeatedly shrink and enlarge me."
"Yes." Vicki was unperturbed, as always. "When one was tired I switched to another. I went through them in shifts. There were breaks. For recording and study. There was too much damage to fix with a small number of shifts but a prolonged series? That was a more interesting study.""
"I think I would have preferred you do the surgery. I mean you could have asked any number of healers to come. There are several at Claremont and AEGIS."
"Nonsense." Vicki stood to leave. "I'm busy and you were in the safest of hands: your own."
"But Vic, you were really placing a lot of faith in my powers and the other me's."
Vicki walked to the door before pausing. "Adrian, your power works on self-image. You know what you should look like without a hole in your chest. I don't know or care. But the other versions of you do know and do care. As I said I did do some screening to make sure that your carers where physically very close."
Adrian raised a finger. "Then why does it feel all itchy and... weird."
"Bravo Adrian," Vicki made it clear this would be her parting statement. "As you know every iteration of you is different. Each one applied their self-image to you and each self-image is slightly different. They put their versions of your missing parts into you by copying their own. Now YOU need to swap those parts out for ones you create using the correct self-image; your own."
"Hang on. You put knockoff parts in me and now you leave me to replace them with genuine parts."
"A close enough analogy if you will. Goodbye Adrian. Now go inflict micro injuries so you can fix them with genuine parts."
...
"I wanna go home." Adrian sat in an almost empty dining hall. With him sat Jane.
"Yeah, well you can't yet Daddio. Let Mom and Jen have some time back home."
"I still have trouble with this whole copied parts thing."
Jane gave him a patient look. "Okay. Remember when I told you that you shunt matter to and from the Terminus and that your shunting is based on what you think you should look like?"
"Yeah," Adrian confirmed. "But you said that anything not me wasn't affected by my self-image so simply grew or shrank in proportion and didn't actually change."
"There!" Jane crowed. "That's it. You almost got it. If you extend your mass shunt field to something not you it just size changes but what Vicki did was really clever. She used other versions of you to extend their field so you changed together. This you was drugged out of it. Since the other you self-image field applied it was the other you self-image that got applied to both of you."
"So..." He could feel himself losing it again. "Instead of size changing one to one like on a foreign object, the field attempted to make both of us identical. I mean slowly. Like small peices at a time."
"That's it!" Jane almost clapped him on the back. "The biggest differences between the various you-s was your injury so that is where most of the change occurred. But you picked up a few traces of the others that need to be purged before you are back to 100% version of you-you."
"But my mind..."
"Isn't affected Daddio," Jane's tone was reassuring. "Your mind and your image are still you. And what you are doing right now is tweaking yourself back to match that."
"Hence all the size changing regiment." Adrian felt the concept was finally sticking in his mind this time.
"Technically mass shunt Daddio but basically yeah."
"Will I ever be 100% old me?" Adrian voiced his nagging question. "Will parts of the other me-s hang around in me forever?"
"Noone is every 100% old them. Cells replace themselves continually. So will they hang around? Nah. You'll have self-corrected in a few more days. Provided you keep up the exercises. Then you can go home."
"Jane, was this all just a big experiment to Vicki? I mean she could have sent for someone with healing powers."
"Knowing Vicki, Adrian," Jane kept her face unreadable. "You absolutely were an experiment."
...
Adrian was dressed. He had no luggage. He didn't live on the Ark and when he did spend time here it largely had all he needed.
The Embarkation Room, as it had been dubbed long ago, was designed for mass transport using Vicki's interdimensional transit cubes. Today it was cavernously empty apart from Adrian, Jane, Vicki and Chase.
Adrian pulled at his jersey and rubbed the back of his neck. It was a habit that betrayed discomfort. "So..." he muttered numbly. "Back off home then."
Vicki stood impassively. "Bye."
Chase gave his sister a disapproving look before stepping forward and offering his hand to Adrian. "I'm glad we were able to help Adrian. Don't be a stranger and give our love to Tara and Jennifer." Unlike his sister Chase was warm; uncharacteristically affable even.
Adrian looked down at the slender man. "This is gonna hurt ain't it?"
A look for confirmation flashed across Chase's normally disinterested face. "Yes. I think it is. The Ark has amazing recuperative properties but you're not fully healed."
Vicki cut in. "You need to go home, Adrian. You need to reacclimate to your reality."
Jane put a hand on Adrian's shoulder. "It'll be okay Daddio. You'll be fine. They won't let on but they love you too."
"Oh Jane," Vicki tutted. "I have access to near infinite Adrians. They're like pet goldfish."
Jane raised her other hand to tear apart reality. A red swirling flame that reached to another world flickered from it. "Ignore the old sourpuss. It's just for show. Come on."
Adrian and Jane passed through the red portal which quickly burned itself closed.
Vicki and Chase stood. Vicki stared at the place where Adrian and Jane departed. Chase shifted uncomfortably as he waited.
"You know Vicki," Chase nonchalantly ventured, "There really isn't a reason to push them away."
"Yes." Vicki had not moved. "You know it."
"Vicki, " Chase gently took his sister by the shoulders. "You can let them in. Just like you let Jane in. It's okay to have friends. It's okay to have a family again."
"Is it?" Vicki was uncharacteristically quiet. She turned her head from Chase. "Getting attached just leads to pain Chase. You know sooner or later we'll lose them too."
Chase turned his sister and started to walk her from the Embarkation Room. "Vicki you don't get it. This version of you. My version of you. You process at such an incredible intellectual level but you don't get emotions."
Vicki brushed Chase's hands away. "Oh, I get them Chase. I understand them from an intellectual level but it's you dear brother who doesn't understand."
"Educate me then. I take all knowledge to be my province." Chase was clearly bemused.
"I let people in once Chase. Our brother and sister: Maximus and Tesla? Dead. Jack Wolf? Dead. Our friends back on Earth 65126? We're not likely to be able to save them from the Doom Coil. They keep getting closer every year. Sooner or later they'll all be dead except us. You. Me. That's it. The two of us."
"Vicki," Chase reached out to his sister again only to be once more brushed away. "All love invariably involves pain and loss. Very few things endure. You and I know that more than anyone. Something fragile is all the more precious for it. It needs to be enjoyed while it endures."
Vicki breathed deeply. It was rare for her to reveal anything beyond the emotional mask she wore. Sometimes she wondered if there was anything left of the woman she once was. There were times, times like this, when she was painfully reminded that there was more to her than the cold machine of Prime.
"I'm sorry Chase. I'm not strong enough. I can't... I can't let anyone else in."
They had stopped moving. Chase watched his sister with equal parts empathy, sympathy and curiosity.
"Jane's right. This one, Adrian E502, he's gotten to me. The others... They're all good natured. They're all friendly. They're all goofball Adrians with emotional hang ups and dysfunctional families."
"Chase... this one got to me. I don't know why or how. I... I don't want to lose this one and I don't know why."
"I do."
Vicki was offended. "You do? Chase, don't make me laugh. When was the last time you knew something I didn't?"
"Now." He could have smirked. He could have crowed about it. Vicki was always right and despite his own brilliance, it was rare for him to reach a conclusion before her. It might once have been something he would revel in. But right now what Vicki needed most was not a comeuppance. It was understanding.
"He got to you because," Chase moduled his voice carefully to keep his sister calm. "This Adrian made you part of his family. You tried to push him away like all the rest but he did it anyway. He doesn't need you to love him back. He loves you as a sister without expecting anything back."
Chase paused. He wanted to be sure his words had the correct impact.
Vicki quietly processed.
"Bastard!" She exploded. "I knew it wasn't something I did..."
Chase carefully gauged Vicki. She was processing it surprisingly well. Her intelligence was never an issue. It was always going to be how she reacted to a crack in the emotional armor she habitually wore. "You're angry at him?"
"Of course I'm angry at him."
One final connection is all it would take. Chase had to exercise great care. He might have prodigious mental powers but he wouldn't use them on his sister. He could shape realities using his warp smith abilities but this was something he needed to guide Vicki towards. She had to reach conclusions herself or she would never be satisfied. He ventured one more prompt.
"Just like when Maximus or Tesla got one on you."
"Yes. Exactly. Damn."
Chase checked his emotions. Vicki had worried him. She had worried him for years as he watched her becoming colder and more callous with time. Vicki claimed she didn't need anyone but he could see she was one of the loneliest and saddest people in the Omniverse. She bore the weight of saving countless realities upon her shoulders and felt compelled to bear it alone. Now, something had snuck in. Some she wasn't prepared for. Something she never knew she needed.
"See Vicki. You do have a family after all."
The Ark was a successful thorn in the side to Omega, Lord of the Terminus. Reach as he may, he was not able to successfully snare the Ark in the tendrils of his Doom Coil. And so the Ark of Worlds continued its mission of recording what once was and is no more: the recording of retroactive continuity.
The Ark had few needs for staff and only had a handful of residents. Cheif among them was Vicki Atom of Earth 65126 also known simply as "Prime". She was accompanied by her brother Chase Atom who had long since dispensed with any need or desire for a codename. The last of the trio from Earth 65126 was a young woman who told people her name was Jane Doe or Genesis. In recent times Jane had been increasingly absent but not today. Not now.
"VICKI!"
Prime raised an annoyed hand to the earpiece that now shrieked at her.
"We need a Med Team in the hanger. RIGHT NOW!"
While the voice of Jane was full of panic, it was not shared by Vicki. "Can you make it?"
"I'm in." Jane's voice again came through the comm. It was full of exertion and exhaustion. "Where's the Team Vicki? Tell me they're coming!"
"Calm down Jane." Vicki slowly rose from her workstation. Not one fraction of Jane's state had entered Vicki's demeanor. "Breath. Think. You called it in only seconds ago. Breath."
"Come on. Come on, Vicki. The Med Team." Jane's voice took on a pleading tone.
"We're coming." Vicki exited her laboratory. Her pace was little more than a stroll. "Jane, you're inside the Ark. You can calm down now."
"Right...." a deep breath. "Right. We made it. We're good. We made it to the Ark."
Vicki leaned into one of her brother's laboratories and gestured for him to follow her.
"Okay. Now, Jane, without getting upset stay focussed and tell me about our patient." Vicki continued with no sign of urgency.
"Blackstar impaled Dad..."
"Stop." Vicki sharply cut Jane off. "Be specific please."
There was a pause before Jane responded. Her voice was becoming calmer by the moment. "Right. Sorry. We were on Earth Prime, I mean 502..."
"Of course you were." Vicki's tone was droll.
"Vicki please." Jane's voice momentarily elevated again. "The Mentors had taken the Bolt Mark 2 to stop Collapsar the Devourer..."
"And you decided to tip the scales." Vicki kept her voice dispassionate as she and Chase continued down corridors towards the hanger.
Again there was a long silence. The silence itself was sullen.
"Yes." Jane's voice chriped again in Vicki's earpiece.
Vicki was finally making headway in the conversation. "So, if I follow you correctly, Adrian Hooper of Earth 502 has been injured. Is anyone else with you?"
"Yeah. Tara's here." Jane's voice indicated she had almost completely settled. "She's in aqueous form keeping him stable."
"That's thoughtful but unnecessary now." Vicki and Chase could finally be seen from the hanger. "The Ark has Mr Hooper now. Tell Tara to get off him."
Vicki and Chase swept into the hangar. One wall was given over to a force field holding back the Terminus. The rest of the enormous room was empty save for two red-haired women and the bleeding form of a large unconscious man.
Chase knelt down to briefly examine the man. "We've seen worse. Given his powers..."
Vicki cut off Chase. "...we just need him conscious, lucid and able to focus. Challenges for Mr Hooper on any day ending in the letter Y."
Tara wiped the blood from her arms. "Really Vicki? Seriously, now? You have to do this now?!"
The protest was met with a shrug. "The hard part is over. You pair got him to the Ark. Good job. No one can die here. Mission accomplished. Hit the showers."
Tara looked about to lash out before Jane restrained her. "No. She's in one of her moods but she's right. Dad's fine now we got him. Let them work."
Vicki gave the pair a shooing gesture. "I'm always right. And Jane please don't let your affection for Earth 502 cloud your perception. This is not your father. It's a younger version from an alternate universe."
This time it was Tara who did the restraining. "Let her work Jane. You're family. It doesn't matter what Vicki says."
...
The bed was unfamiliar but comfortable. The room contained a number of floating screens and readouts and little more. He knew where he was. He closed his eyes. He ached. Ached and itched. There was a stabbing pain in the right side of his chest.
Adrian tried to focus but the pain and exhaustion robbed him of his intended action. He tried again but once more he couldn't push past his present state. He couldn't activate his active size-changing powers.
"Okay," Adrian muttered to himself. "Jane explained this. It's all self-image. I just gotta let the passive part of my powers push me back towards my self-image."
He tried to stand. When that failed he opted to compromise at sitting. The pain was significant. Adrian raised his hand to his torso where some form of patch covered his right pectoral muscle. He gently reached behind himself. The pain came in shots but he was able to locate another patch on the back.
"So... shot in the back." He slumped. "Shot in the back AGAIN. Why do I always get shot in the back?"
To his surprise, a velvet alluring voice responded. "That's because, you Lunk, you're always looking out for others and not yourself."
Trying to turn was unwise and was rewarded with a substantial helping of pain.
Tara moved around the bed to greet him with a smile. "There' my man. Shot through the heart."
"And you're to blame." He winced.
Tara smirked. "Darling you give love a bad name." She placed a finger on his lips stopping further lyrics. "This one's serious so hush. What do you remember?"
"Ummm... Blackstar and the Blackguard Corps had the Bolt. We and the Band were going to free it and rescue their pilot... umm... Wally."
Tara sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Okay, so no memory loss."
"Really? Then who are you?" He tried to jest but again was only rewarded with pain.
"No dear. I mean it." She wrapped an arm around him. "This was a close one. Blackstar shot you clear through the chest. Luckily you weren't shot through the heart. If he had hit your left side it would have been..." She choked.
Adrian paused to process. It was true he couldn't recall feeling this much pain ever before. Over the years he had far more than his fair share of injuries but this felt much worse.
"So..." he hesitantly spoke. "So... Jane was right. This mission, more often than not, is lights out for Extent."
"Not just Extent. All of us." Tara hugged Adrian despite the wince that came from him. "That was where so many versions of us die."
It was a sobering thought that hung in the air.
After a period Tara broke the spell. "Vicki says it's... the event... is not as common as Jane says it is but still..."
Adrian was numb at the thought. "Yeah. So that's where I would have died if Jane hadn't come and brought the Band with her."
"I think all of us would have died, dear."
"Nah." He adjusted Tara's death grip on him. "It sounds callous but you would have survived. You're immortal."
"I'm not immortal Lunk," she chided. "I'm just really hard to kill."
"Yeah but harder to kill than Jane, or me."
"Yeah, honey. Harder to kill than you or Jane. But I think being vaporized on an alien planet would probably do it."
For a time the room was peaceful. Adrian let Tara continue to hold him despite the occasional twinge. For his part, it was good to be alive. It was good to have Tara here. It was good to... a thought struck him.
"Uhh... honey? Where's the baby?"
"Hush Lunk. Vicki let me bring Jennifer to the Ark. She's asleep."
Adrian relaxed. He hadn't even realised he had tensed up. "That couldn't have been easy."
"No dear," Tara nuzzled his shoulder again. "Vicki banned Jane from the Ark while Jenniffer is here."
"Who's keeping her powers in check?"
"Chase is handling it. For now." Tara had started sounding confident but it quickly trailed away. "He seemed pretty confident. And he is one of the smartest men alive... I mean Vicki let him so it must be okay.... right?"
"Okay," Adrian disentangled his wife and began to lie down once more. "Starting to get tired and best not fall over. I'm guessing we have until Chase's patience runs out for me to heal. How long have we been here?"
"About a week." Tara eased Adrian back to the bed.
"I'm guessing that if I feel this bad on the Ark then I can't go home yet."
"No dear," Tara confirmed. "It still pretty bad. Probably still a critical injury back on Earth Prime."
"Yay" Adrian weakly cheered.
"Now that you are awake Vicki will be able to move things along a lot faster." Tara kissed him.
"Really. What's she got planned?" His voice started to drift back into the darkness.
"She's calling it physiotherapy. It probably won't be fun. Sleep well my Lunk."
"As you wish."
...
"You did WHAT?" Adrian wasn't sure he heard correctly.
Vicki was undisturbed. "I don't see why you're upset. You have a low-level pseudo regeneration. Your body will return to normal soon enough."
Adrian and Vicki were in what was effectively a gymnasium of sorts. Adrian was carefully making sure not to skip leg day.
"I get the regen part, Vicki." Adrian struggled to explain himself. "That's not what bothers me. Well, it kinda does but not really. I mean, I'll deal..."
"Please get to the point."
"Okay." He paused. "Let me see if I understand it. First, you did what you call a quick patch job by parallel processing some alternative versions of you who are surgeons."
Vicki nodded.
"But then you decided to switch to organic healing? Rather than send for a super powered healer."
Vicki tutted. "Please don't call it that. I'm a scientist and what I did was science. It will result in a better outcome for you. You'll heal faster and with less effort from me."
Adrian was still wrapping his head around it. "Yeah, but you got other versions of me to repeatedly shrink and enlarge me."
"Yes." Vicki was unperturbed, as always. "When one was tired I switched to another. I went through them in shifts. There were breaks. For recording and study. There was too much damage to fix with a small number of shifts but a prolonged series? That was a more interesting study.""
"I think I would have preferred you do the surgery. I mean you could have asked any number of healers to come. There are several at Claremont and AEGIS."
"Nonsense." Vicki stood to leave. "I'm busy and you were in the safest of hands: your own."
"But Vic, you were really placing a lot of faith in my powers and the other me's."
Vicki walked to the door before pausing. "Adrian, your power works on self-image. You know what you should look like without a hole in your chest. I don't know or care. But the other versions of you do know and do care. As I said I did do some screening to make sure that your carers where physically very close."
Adrian raised a finger. "Then why does it feel all itchy and... weird."
"Bravo Adrian," Vicki made it clear this would be her parting statement. "As you know every iteration of you is different. Each one applied their self-image to you and each self-image is slightly different. They put their versions of your missing parts into you by copying their own. Now YOU need to swap those parts out for ones you create using the correct self-image; your own."
"Hang on. You put knockoff parts in me and now you leave me to replace them with genuine parts."
"A close enough analogy if you will. Goodbye Adrian. Now go inflict micro injuries so you can fix them with genuine parts."
...
"I wanna go home." Adrian sat in an almost empty dining hall. With him sat Jane.
"Yeah, well you can't yet Daddio. Let Mom and Jen have some time back home."
"I still have trouble with this whole copied parts thing."
Jane gave him a patient look. "Okay. Remember when I told you that you shunt matter to and from the Terminus and that your shunting is based on what you think you should look like?"
"Yeah," Adrian confirmed. "But you said that anything not me wasn't affected by my self-image so simply grew or shrank in proportion and didn't actually change."
"There!" Jane crowed. "That's it. You almost got it. If you extend your mass shunt field to something not you it just size changes but what Vicki did was really clever. She used other versions of you to extend their field so you changed together. This you was drugged out of it. Since the other you self-image field applied it was the other you self-image that got applied to both of you."
"So..." He could feel himself losing it again. "Instead of size changing one to one like on a foreign object, the field attempted to make both of us identical. I mean slowly. Like small peices at a time."
"That's it!" Jane almost clapped him on the back. "The biggest differences between the various you-s was your injury so that is where most of the change occurred. But you picked up a few traces of the others that need to be purged before you are back to 100% version of you-you."
"But my mind..."
"Isn't affected Daddio," Jane's tone was reassuring. "Your mind and your image are still you. And what you are doing right now is tweaking yourself back to match that."
"Hence all the size changing regiment." Adrian felt the concept was finally sticking in his mind this time.
"Technically mass shunt Daddio but basically yeah."
"Will I ever be 100% old me?" Adrian voiced his nagging question. "Will parts of the other me-s hang around in me forever?"
"Noone is every 100% old them. Cells replace themselves continually. So will they hang around? Nah. You'll have self-corrected in a few more days. Provided you keep up the exercises. Then you can go home."
"Jane, was this all just a big experiment to Vicki? I mean she could have sent for someone with healing powers."
"Knowing Vicki, Adrian," Jane kept her face unreadable. "You absolutely were an experiment."
...
Adrian was dressed. He had no luggage. He didn't live on the Ark and when he did spend time here it largely had all he needed.
The Embarkation Room, as it had been dubbed long ago, was designed for mass transport using Vicki's interdimensional transit cubes. Today it was cavernously empty apart from Adrian, Jane, Vicki and Chase.
Adrian pulled at his jersey and rubbed the back of his neck. It was a habit that betrayed discomfort. "So..." he muttered numbly. "Back off home then."
Vicki stood impassively. "Bye."
Chase gave his sister a disapproving look before stepping forward and offering his hand to Adrian. "I'm glad we were able to help Adrian. Don't be a stranger and give our love to Tara and Jennifer." Unlike his sister Chase was warm; uncharacteristically affable even.
Adrian looked down at the slender man. "This is gonna hurt ain't it?"
A look for confirmation flashed across Chase's normally disinterested face. "Yes. I think it is. The Ark has amazing recuperative properties but you're not fully healed."
Vicki cut in. "You need to go home, Adrian. You need to reacclimate to your reality."
Jane put a hand on Adrian's shoulder. "It'll be okay Daddio. You'll be fine. They won't let on but they love you too."
"Oh Jane," Vicki tutted. "I have access to near infinite Adrians. They're like pet goldfish."
Jane raised her other hand to tear apart reality. A red swirling flame that reached to another world flickered from it. "Ignore the old sourpuss. It's just for show. Come on."
Adrian and Jane passed through the red portal which quickly burned itself closed.
Vicki and Chase stood. Vicki stared at the place where Adrian and Jane departed. Chase shifted uncomfortably as he waited.
"You know Vicki," Chase nonchalantly ventured, "There really isn't a reason to push them away."
"Yes." Vicki had not moved. "You know it."
"Vicki, " Chase gently took his sister by the shoulders. "You can let them in. Just like you let Jane in. It's okay to have friends. It's okay to have a family again."
"Is it?" Vicki was uncharacteristically quiet. She turned her head from Chase. "Getting attached just leads to pain Chase. You know sooner or later we'll lose them too."
Chase turned his sister and started to walk her from the Embarkation Room. "Vicki you don't get it. This version of you. My version of you. You process at such an incredible intellectual level but you don't get emotions."
Vicki brushed Chase's hands away. "Oh, I get them Chase. I understand them from an intellectual level but it's you dear brother who doesn't understand."
"Educate me then. I take all knowledge to be my province." Chase was clearly bemused.
"I let people in once Chase. Our brother and sister: Maximus and Tesla? Dead. Jack Wolf? Dead. Our friends back on Earth 65126? We're not likely to be able to save them from the Doom Coil. They keep getting closer every year. Sooner or later they'll all be dead except us. You. Me. That's it. The two of us."
"Vicki," Chase reached out to his sister again only to be once more brushed away. "All love invariably involves pain and loss. Very few things endure. You and I know that more than anyone. Something fragile is all the more precious for it. It needs to be enjoyed while it endures."
Vicki breathed deeply. It was rare for her to reveal anything beyond the emotional mask she wore. Sometimes she wondered if there was anything left of the woman she once was. There were times, times like this, when she was painfully reminded that there was more to her than the cold machine of Prime.
"I'm sorry Chase. I'm not strong enough. I can't... I can't let anyone else in."
They had stopped moving. Chase watched his sister with equal parts empathy, sympathy and curiosity.
"Jane's right. This one, Adrian E502, he's gotten to me. The others... They're all good natured. They're all friendly. They're all goofball Adrians with emotional hang ups and dysfunctional families."
"Chase... this one got to me. I don't know why or how. I... I don't want to lose this one and I don't know why."
"I do."
Vicki was offended. "You do? Chase, don't make me laugh. When was the last time you knew something I didn't?"
"Now." He could have smirked. He could have crowed about it. Vicki was always right and despite his own brilliance, it was rare for him to reach a conclusion before her. It might once have been something he would revel in. But right now what Vicki needed most was not a comeuppance. It was understanding.
"He got to you because," Chase moduled his voice carefully to keep his sister calm. "This Adrian made you part of his family. You tried to push him away like all the rest but he did it anyway. He doesn't need you to love him back. He loves you as a sister without expecting anything back."
Chase paused. He wanted to be sure his words had the correct impact.
Vicki quietly processed.
"Bastard!" She exploded. "I knew it wasn't something I did..."
Chase carefully gauged Vicki. She was processing it surprisingly well. Her intelligence was never an issue. It was always going to be how she reacted to a crack in the emotional armor she habitually wore. "You're angry at him?"
"Of course I'm angry at him."
One final connection is all it would take. Chase had to exercise great care. He might have prodigious mental powers but he wouldn't use them on his sister. He could shape realities using his warp smith abilities but this was something he needed to guide Vicki towards. She had to reach conclusions herself or she would never be satisfied. He ventured one more prompt.
"Just like when Maximus or Tesla got one on you."
"Yes. Exactly. Damn."
Chase checked his emotions. Vicki had worried him. She had worried him for years as he watched her becoming colder and more callous with time. Vicki claimed she didn't need anyone but he could see she was one of the loneliest and saddest people in the Omniverse. She bore the weight of saving countless realities upon her shoulders and felt compelled to bear it alone. Now, something had snuck in. Some she wasn't prepared for. Something she never knew she needed.
"See Vicki. You do have a family after all."
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