Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ellie woke up.

There was nothing strange about it, thankfully. Her eyes shot open, her body sat up with a gasp, and there was a brief moment of utter despair as she remembered that she woke up in her least favorite place on Earth every single reset. It was nothing out of the ordinary. 

She was back in the Wall.

She was back to freezing winter and cruel guards and Wardens with grudges and the reason she could wake up silently from terrible nightmares. Henry had never experienced it, not truly. He was only here for maybe three hours in most runs, five or six if he was especially unlucky. 

Ellie, though…

She had never told them the extent of her stay. They thought it was three or four weeks. Her imprisonment was more like three or four months by her last count, but the Wall’s techniques made it difficult to track time. The timelessness was another way to numb its prisoners.

By the time she would have told them, a year into that first Triple Threat, she just wanted to be rid of the blasted place in her mind. That meant letting the boys believe a little lie so that they wouldn’t go on a warpath. Henry was prone to such shortsighted acts of devotion. 

It meant that she had to stifle screams at night and hide tear tracks the next day, then she would do it.

She still had scars. They were fresher now since she was technically a year closer to the incident that caused them.

She sighed and flopped back onto the hard cot, staring up at the dingy gray ceiling and over at the cold gray walls. She barely stopped herself from rolling onto the hard gray floor. There was nothing in the cell besides the cot. Throughout her many years, she had searched this place so completely and thoroughly that she felt as though this awful, awful place was burned into her memory more thoroughly than her and the boys’ apartment. And she wanted to live there.

She wrapped her arms around herself in her flimsy jumpsuit, which hardly staved out the deep chill beginning to settle unpleasantly in her bones, and did as she did in every timeline. Here it goes.

Breathe in, breathe out. Get my bearings. Wait to be taken to the holding cell where Henry will be-

Reach into your pocket.

-and then we get out. Easy. Simple.

Ellie sat up. The urge to shove her hands as deep into her tiny pockets as they would go pressed to the forefront of her mind. It would be useless, though. The pockets were a size that would put the skimpiest of women’s clothing designers to shame. Something something ‘prisoners could hide stuff’ something something.

She crossed her arms and tried to focus on something besides the stinging cold. She could always count. In the later timelines she would count to see how quickly Henry could get there. He made a point to try and beat her time every iteration. He sometimes succeeded. The last Triple Threat, the one that had gone all wrong, had been the fastest, though now-

Reach into your pocket.

-she couldn’t really remember how many seconds that had been. How many numbers, really. As a musician she had trained herself to count as evenly and monotonously as possible for long stretches. It came in handy here, where there were no strings under her fingers and no bow curving in her hand, but there was infinite time to trace imaginary frets and desperately picture a song she couldn't quite remember.

She missed the violin. She hadn’t played it at all in the last year. Between timeline weirdness, anxieties, worries, leading the Toppats- there was no time, really. But that wasn’t the root of it. 

It had never felt like a… trustworthy place to practice. 

She had only really felt comfortable doing it alone, and then in her and the boys’ shared apartment. Never where any Toppat could be listening. Never where that little piece of hers, that little piece that was hers and wasn’t a prisoner’s or an arsonist’s or a thief’s, felt too precious to dare-

Reach into your pocket.

And she did.

The moment she did a queasiness flared through her stomach and she scrambled back, yanking her hand out. Her mind reeled.

That… hadn’t been her voice. That hadn’t been her thought.

That powerful sensation and desire hadn’t gone away. If anything, it seemed to grow more persistent the more she tried to resist it, the more alien the emotion felt. 

But that wasn’t her voice. Something was in her head. It was alien, and it was wrong, and it felt so strangely normal and it made her want to throw up, pushing her to do that simple action that really wasn’t that sinister at all and it would be so easy to just reach-

She grabbed her arms with her hands and dug in so deeply that she swore she drew blood from the pinpricks of pain in the shape of nails across her skin. She shoved up from the bed and paced, trying to focus less on that urge and her fear and more on her feet crossing the gray stone.

What the hell was happening to her?

“Shit,” she whispered to herself. “Shit, shit, shit.” What else could she do? Moments into a new timeline, and something was up. Something was in her head, telling her to reach into her tiny little pockets of all things for some nefarious(?) or at least a very puzzling reason. 

“The hell have you done to me, Henry?” she groaned aloud. Surely he did something to her. First it was remembering through the timelines, then Civil War, then- probably a bunch of other things. The easiest thing in the world to do was blame everything on Henry. She and Charlie did it all the time. Often, they were right.

It was getting so easy to not pay attention. Every time she didn’t, her hand strayed from her arms. She snatched her fingers back from brushing the fabric of her pockets.

A nagging thought: this reminds me of how Henry looks when he uses his powers. An absentminded reach into-

Wait.

For just a moment, the urge vanished. 

Hadn’t Henry described it that way? Just an urge, at first. I only realized when I pulled an entire shovel out of my vest pocket that something was very, very wrong. Or at least… different. 

Were these… Henry’s powers?

Why did she have Henry’s powers?

If that’s what they were at all. 

“What have you done to me?” she whispered to herself, more in wonder than fear.

It hadn’t been an unusual reset. Sure, Henry had a flair for the dramatic. The snap was a little overboard, in her opinion. But none of it was extraordinary, where the question lay. Unless- well, unless something went wrong far before, right when Henry had died. Charles had done the airship mission, after all, and that wasn’t normal. Had that messed something up with Henry’s powers? With this whole timeline thing?

Or maybe something else was going wrong, and she was breaking out of the Wall before she was supposed to. That was a whole thing, right? Order? Henry mentioned something about there being a “cosmic order” or something to all of these things, but that may have just been him being… Henry.

She rubbed her freezing arms again and groaned at the way she still wanted to reach into her pockets. 

“The hell do you want?” she hissed aloud.

A tugging insistence to reach into your-

“Damn it, I know that,” she snarled. “Why?”

To get out-

“Yeah, yeah. To get out of the Wall.” She sighed. 

Maybe… that wasn’t such a bad idea, though. Yeah, yeah, Henry’s powers, weird stuff, blah blah blah- but getting out of the Wall now instead of in four weeks…

Well. That was certainly tempting. And clearly what she was meant to do, if Henry’s powers had a mind of their own, as they so seemed to have.

Her mind supplied plenty of rationale to not use Henry’s powers. What if it messed something up again? What if this was breaking the world further? What about Henry- would he lose the powers if she used them? Was he going through the same things?

Really, there was only one way to find out. Breaking out of this hellhole.

And that meant using Henry’s powers. 

Whatever consequences of her actions would have to be dealt with by Later Ellie. Later Ellie was seeming to be a much more competent and resilient person than current Ellie. Of course I would be, because I can think about something besides these awful gray walls and the cold.

She could handle whatever was coming her way, just as long as she was out of this place. I’m not thinking about this any longer or else I’m going to talk myself out of this, she thought determinedly to herself.

Then, she screwed her eyes shut, sucked in a deep breath, and shoved her hand inside her pocket. 

The sensation was… strange. It wasn’t at all like she had imagined Henry feeling. She had always figured it would be a kind of void, in which Henry would feel for an item, no matter how large or small, and then use anomalous magic or something to pull it out and use it. 

Instead, she felt three cards. 

As she touched each one, knowledge sprang into her mind. Blowtorch, said one. Grenade and Telekinesis were the others. Somehow, she felt that if she pulled out one, the others would vanish. 

Hadn’t Henry said that he could only choose one thing at a time? Was she supposed to… choose one card to use to escape?

“Henry, Henry, Henry,” she hissed between her teeth. “What the hell did you do? What the hell am I supposed to do about any of this?”

Esca-

“BESIDES escape,” she snapped as the word popped into her head. “Why do I have these powers now? Of all times?”

Silence.

“Very helpful. Super helpful. Great. Fantastic!” Ellie dragged herself up, still running her fingers across the cards. If I let go, will they disappear? Has Henry ever done that before? He pulls them out pretty quickly.

“Fine,” she said to the not-voice in her head. “I’ll use your stupid cards. Happy?”

Silence.

Was this what Henry felt all the time? Something at the edge of his mind, words slipping into his head that weren’t his own? Powers that weren’t his own invading his body? Henry was fantastically powerful- even more so than Ellie, whose telekinesis relied on her exercising it and wasn’t useful in all situations. But she couldn’t imagine not owning her own power. It filled her with… uneasiness. 

She dragged herself off of the cot. She could debate herself in her own mind all she wanted, but that wasn’t getting out of this horribly freezing place. 

Blowtorch, Grenade, Telekinesis…

Grenade was obviously not the best choice. The only thing she could imagine was blowing up the wall or the door, both of which was a bad idea. Shrapnel from the door or wall would probably kill her, and if she did survive unharmed somehow, the noise alone would send Wall guards crawling over her cell like ants on a forgotten sandwich. 

Blowtorch… It wasn’t a terrible option. She could probably melt the door. Melting the wall to the outside was out of the picture, as even the small window would probably be superheated slag she couldn’t slip past. That left her in the Wall proper, though, and that was always undesirable. 

But by far the best would be Telekinesis. It was her power. If this little card boosted her power past the meager stores she had every time she reappeared at the Wall (turns out malnutrition and no shelter was bad for your health! Who knew?), then she’d be able to destroy the wall that led outside. Then, it was only a matter of catching herself as she fell with telekinesis and then she’d be out.

Simple and easy, right?

Letting go of the other two cards, she pulled out the Telekinesis card. As she did, though, it seemed to melt into dust in her hand, vanishing entirely as she brought her hand up in confusion. 

Woah! Power flared through her chest like a surge of adrenaline was pumped into her heart. Gasping, she brought up her trembling hands in front of her face, twitching with the urge to blast power. She grinned and laughed unsteadily. She hadn’t felt that much power in… a while. Since Triple Threat.

She twisted and thrust her hands out. A shockwave of pure power flared from her hands and slammed into the wall, blasting horrible gray stone out and away into the freezing night. She sucked in a deep breath of ice-cold air, not so much bothered by the temperature, as it was sweet and pure and fresh. She stepped toward the shattered pieces of her prison and smiled, leaning over to peer over the depths.

Then, the ceiling rumbled. Ellie glanced around in alarm as the thin walls around her suddenly buckled, breaking into a thousand pieces. She had just enough time to try to throw her hands up, thousands of pounds of stone and debris crashing down around her-

FAIL: Turns out that’s a load-bearing wall.

-when suddenly she was standing facing the wall again, her hand in her pocket and brushing the three cards. 

She stood there for a moment. Pure adrenaline slowly faded from her racing heart as she glanced around frantically, scanning the room for any signs of danger. 

“What the hell?” she said aloud. 

The wall was repaired. The cards were in her pocket. Her hand was in her pocket. Everything else was exactly as it was a few seconds before she had taken the card. Everything aside from that voice had been the same. 

“‘Turns out that’s a load-bearing wall’?” she muttered to herself. Well, clearly it was, now that it had fallen on her. Real helpful, mystery voice.

She didn’t seem to be hurt in any way. To be honest, it felt as though time had somehow reset to the point right before she had taken the card. Maybe… it had? Henry could reset whole years. Was it a stretch to say that his powers could reset when the cards failed as well?

It was odd that the reset happened automatically, though. Henry seemed to be able to reset the years on command. On top of that, Ellie also couldn’t remember whenever Henry reset time in these smaller chunks. Wasn’t she supposed to be able to remember everything? What was up with that?

I’m sick of all these questions, she thought. Once I get out of this hell, then I can focus on figuring out why Henry’s powers are invading my own.

And that meant figuring out what the right choice was.

If her telekinesis had failed so spectacularly, she couldn’t imagine Grenade going any better. For all she knew, all of these stupid walls were ‘load-bearing walls’ or whatever. That left Blowtorch.

The walls were solid stone, so that was a no-go. But the thin metal door…

Of course, that led deeper into the Wall. That wasn’t ideal, but it might be better than she had initially thought. She could probably grab her things that she had come into the Wall with. Though it had been years since she had retrieved those items, she could remember each and every one like the day she had lost them: her leather jacket, her cream sneakers, her favorite pack of matches. The rosin she had planned to fix her violin bow with. The maroon T-shirt with a rose on it, bought as a joke by somebody she half-remembered, but now was the few consistent things throughout these timelines. 

Granted, the blowtorch had to work first, but if it failed horribly then she would always… restart.

She pulled the card out of her pocket. When she looked down at it she was holding a huge blowtorch, and she grunted at the sudden weight. Swinging the nozzle toward the door, she allowed herself a second to take a deep breath, and then she hit the nozzle. 

A massive gout of fire erupted from the blowtorch. Ellie staggered back from the force and hissed to herself, gathering up power and bracing herself with it. She flicked her hand and the blowtorch began to hold itself aloft, and she backed up quickly.

The once-frozen room immediately began to heat up. The duality of sensations were strange- to her back, the chill ate through her clothes, but to her front, blistering heat flooded her senses. Lines of heat shimmered up from the floor as the fire pounded against the metal door. Then, the first droplets of metal began to slide down the door.

Within moments, just as the heat was becoming unbearable, the fire melted a hole through the door wide enough for her to slip through. Ellie quickly shut the blowtorch off and lowered it to the ground, making a wide berth around it as she hurried toward the door. 

Her time started now. It wouldn’t be long before a Wall guard happened to wander by and spot the blowtorched door. 

She slipped through the opening, careful to redirect any still-dripping pieces of metal, and looked around furtively. A long hallway stretched both ways, all lined with cells in precise increments. No guards were in sight. 

She released a breath. She would win in a fight against any one Wall guard, but if one managed to sound the alarm before they went down, her escape plan would get trickier. She kept her power close to her fingertips as she turned and darted left as quickly and as quietly as possible. 

The lack of cover left her feeling horribly exposed. Four bare lines of concrete broken up only by the flat gray metal door left much to be desired from a thief. All the more reason to speed this escape up, she thought to herself. 

The hallway ended with a nearly identical gray door and two more hallways branching off. Her personal items were in there. She had discovered that in- what was it, one of Henry’s lone thief timelines? Some time ago where she had been bored and Henry had already left. But then, there had always been a Wall guard around for her to knock out and loot…

Did something else change? she wondered, tapping her chin. No. I’m just early.

I guess I’ll have to find a different way in…

Without realizing, her hand had strayed into her pocket. There were three more cards. 

Battering Ram, Lockpicks, and Telekinesis.

No matter the boost to her power, telekinesis was going to be a bad idea. There was every chance the entire place would collapse on her again. Plus, she wanted to conserve her energy for a real fight where she would need it, not a heavy metal door.

Lockpicks, maybe? She wasn’t as good as Henry- turns out telekinesis was the solution to most flimsy doors past a certain power threshold- but she was good enough to warrant it being a major part of her thieving arsenal. Battering Ram sounded absolutely horrifying, but then again Blowtorch had, too.

Lockpicks was safest. 

But Battering Ram sounded so funny. Nobody ever said that she couldn’t have a little fun experimenting with these weird new powers. 

“Oh, what the heck,” she muttered to herself. “I’ll just rewind anyway, right?” She pulled out the card, which turned to nothing in her hands.

She frowned. Then where was-

Woosh.

Ellie had just enough time to fling herself out of the way as a massive wooden log went flying past. It slammed into the metal door with a horrible crunch and crumbled the steel into an unrecognizable piece of junk. The hinges were ripped off with a screech as the entire array went flying into the room beyond, crashing loudly. 

Ellie laid on the ground for a second, frozen with fear.

…That had worked. The battering ram had worked . Which meant- How would lockpicks not work?

She shook herself out of her thoughts and scrambled up, darting inside. If she hadn’t drawn attention before, she was definitely going to now. 

The room was mainly bare aside from lockers, a table sporting a few cans and a discarded game of cards, and a couple random chairs. There was a massive log and door laying in a heap on the ground, below which an unfortunate Wall guard was laying. The log seemed to have hit the opposite wall and lost enough energy to not go through. It was enough to decimate that guard, though.

Eh. They knew what they signed up for, she thought. She flicked her hands and flung open the lockers with a rush of power. They weren’t even locked. Really goes to show how much these people cared about their prisoners, she thought dryly.

She stepped over the log gingerly and scanned the lockers. There was somebody’s tuxedo, quite a few top hats, and that one had a knife. She picked through them, taking the knife, a bottle of alcohol, and a rag. As long as she still had her matches, it could be a formidable combination. Also, she suddenly very much wanted to hurl a Moltov cocktail into Dmitri Petrov’s face. 

Finally, her eyes caught on a leather jacket, and a smile broke out across her face. Sure, her life was in mortal danger- but she couldn’t help but grin as she tore off the jumpsuit and scrambled back into her familiar, comfortable clothing. Somehow, even the matches were still in her jacket pocket.

The horrible chill of the Wall was stifled slightly by the warmth of the jacket and her jeans. As an afterthought, she took a swig of the alcohol, sighing as burning vodka slid down her throat and sent shockwaves of heat through her stomach. It was a pity she had to save some for the deadly cocktails.

As she suspected, there was no sign of her violin. No matter how many times she looked, how much she looked, it was never there. She had never found it before. 

She still missed that old piece of wood. Throughout her tumultuous teenage years, it had been the one constant that had kept her out of the darker places, places that would have left her dead instead of imprisoned. She could still feel the grooves where she had banged it against corners and walls. The smooth, dark lines of its wood were still burned into her memory, as were the painful prickles of calluses forming and the snap of broken strings against her hands when she changed the strings.

She’d just have to get a new one. 

She stuck the alcohol and rags in the inside of her jacket, then picked over the battering ram. “Sorry, dude,” she said to the arm sticking out from underneath the battering ram. “It was nothing personal.”

Her head whipped up as she began to hear shouting and footsteps down the hallway. Welp. That was inevitable. She skidded outside. There were two guards running down the hallway, spears and guns at the ready. Their eyes locked onto her.

Suddenly, she had a sense that something was in her pocket. Huh? Shoot, shoot. There was- Telekinesis? Wait, what? Didn’t I just-

A laser beam slammed through her chest. 

FAIL: Too slow, amigo.

She skidded outside. There were two guards-

Wait a damn second. Wasn’t I just-

A laser beam slammed through her chest. 

FAIL: Too slow, amigo.

She skidded outside. Without thinking, she dragged a random card out of her pocket, felt power roar through her chest, and flung her hands forward. 

Both guards went flying. She raced forward as both hit the ground with painful thumps. One was unconscious immediately. She lunged toward the other one. She grabbed his spear and drove it through his chest without a second thought.

The guard gasped and slumped. She yanked the spear out and tore down the hallway. Behind her, she hear the unconscious guard mutter and begin to scramble up, shouting weakly, “H-hey! Get back here!”

It took only a moment for Ellie to run out of his line of sight. Unfortunately, she wasn’t out of the woods yet. The living guard would raise the alarm soon. 

How do I get out of here? The Wall guards would be on her in an instant if she didn’t figure out a way to keep them off of her. Two weren’t a problem (she would have been fine if the cards hadn’t distracted her), but five? Ten? Twenty? 

She jumped as above her, a red light began blaring an alarm. Siren by siren she heard them go off throughout the entire Wall. 

“Emergency,” said a calm female voice in Russian over an invisible intercom. “A prisoner has escaped in the left wing. I repeat, a prisoner has escaped in the left wing. Secure them immediately. I repeat, secure them immediately…”

She had kind of hoped that she would be able to avoid anything drastic… but clearly, Dmitri and Grigori left her no choice. 

Feet pounding on the floor, she turned right at the next intersection and raced for the center of the Wall. 

She had a riot to start.

Chapter Text

Dave woke up. 

Almost immediately he staggered back, panic flooding through his mind. His back slammed into a hard metal wall. When he twisted around, panicked, his arm partially hit and partially phased through another metal wall. 

How- what?

“Ahh… doesn’t it feel nice to be back where it all began?”

“Shut up,” Dave muttered. He glanced around.

Four cold metal walls greeted him. The window, slightly above his height, revealed a horribly familiar red interior to the place Dave had never wanted to be again. Bewilderment choked his throat. In horrified wonder Dave sank back against the back of the small cell, hands coming up to cover his mouth. 

How was he back here?  

The moment he thought it, he knew what the answer was.

Henry Stickmin turned back time.

I remember it.

How did he remember it? He thought that was the point- only Henry and Henry’s chosen could recall past timelines. At least, that was what he had gathered.

Had he chosen Ellie and Charles? Did they just remember? How did that work?

One thing at a time, Dave.

Now Dave remembered. The memories burned bright in his mind. He remembered that horrible CCC truck and the base he had gotten caught in. He remembered the deep humidity of the jungle and the bright sun beating down on him. Most of all, he remembered the soldier Rupert, and his rare smiles and even rarer laughs. He had been the only person Dave had felt hadn’t looked at him like a freak. 

Well- no. That was wrong. Rupert clearly thought he was a freak. It was the fact that Rupert hadn’t treated him any differently than any other person despite finding him strange. 

Only moments before he had found the soldier standing next to him, his very presence a grounding anchor… and now he was gone. Those few short weeks had been the highlight of what had turned into his miserable life. 

He probably didn’t remember Dave. He wasn’t as far gone into becoming an anomaly as Dave was, if that was the catalyst for this ‘memory’ thing. Which, if Dave remembering had anything to do with it, was probably the cause.

Now he was back here, with metal too thick to teleport or phase through, with the only person who had made Dave feel normal forgetting everything about him, and no way out.

None of this made any sense. It probably never would.

Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he curled his legs up to his chest, burying his face in his hands.

He had never felt so alone. 

…

Rupert woke up. 

His feet were on swaying, dipping metal. His ears roared with the rush of helicopter blades. The only thing that stopped him from collapsing, shouting, or doing something drastic was instinct, balancing him on the helicopter floor. Rupert gripped the gun in his hands tighter as if it would provide a stability his body was refusing to acknowledge.

…Wait.

Helicopter?

Rupert looked around wildly. He was standing in the middle of a government helicopter clearly in midair, if the movement was any indication. He felt off-balance. His body seemed to revolt at the idea that he had been standing on solid ground only seconds before, and now was in a twisting vehicle that rivaled a tiny, battered ship with its chaotic movements.

“You seem to have lost your air-legs all of a sudden,” chuckled a voice beside him. 

Rupert jolted straight up and whipped his head over. Galeforce raised an eyebrow at him. Rupert opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Galeforce? What was he doing here? What was Rupert doing here? He had just been at the CCC base, watching Charles and the two thieves make a deal with that crazy doctor lady. That simply did not translate to ‘Rupert standing in a helicopter next to the general’.

Had Henry done something?

“Cat got your tongue, son?” Galeforce asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He chuckled again at Rupert’s discomfort, and then dropped his voice, leaning in conspiratorially. “Look, I know you’ve got a thing against this mission, but I didn’t think you’d be sick at the thought of using the thief for the airship mission. You’ve gone soft.”

“...Thief?” Rupert said faintly. He shook his head. “No, general. I’m fine. Just, uh, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“If you say so, kiddo,” Galeforce said, in his I-don’t-believe-you voice. That was alright. Galeforce didn’t need to believe him. Rupert just needed to figure out what the hell was going on. 

First of all, what thief was he talking about?

When he lifted his head and spotted the figure sitting across from him and Galeforce, he quickly found his answer. Rupert’s eyes widened in shock.

It was Henry Stickmin. 

He was wearing a light blue button-up, the sleeves casually unbuttoned around his wrists. The rest was black- black pants, a black belt, black shoes. He was sitting on a long bench, leaning up against the wall with his arms and legs crossed. Despite being kidnapped, he seemed relaxed, gazing down at the floor with a neutral expression. He wasn’t paying attention to Rupert or Galeforce at all.

Rupert stared at him. Henry seemed so alien without his flamboyant Toppat attire; Rupert felt like he hardly recognized the thief. There was none of the power and menace there now- only an eerie calmness that set Rupert’s teeth on edge. 

When Henry did glance up, there was no surprise or response in his eyes. Rupert stiffened, sure that Henry would recognize him, see him, call him out- but Henry’s gaze only flicked disinterestedly over Rupert before returning to the ground again. 

There was no way Henry didn’t recognize him. There was no way. This has to be some sort of sick joke, he thought desperately. Only seconds ago he had been standing next to Dave, confused and angry at just about everything, and now he was standing here. In front of Henry. Next to Galeforce. In a helicopter.

His heart pounded with rage. He couldn’t tell if that or fear was stronger.

Where was Dave? Was he okay? What exactly had Henry done? Was this one of these reset thingeys, or was this something completely different? Why didn’t Henry seem to recognize him? How-

“Check check, this is Charles!”

Rupert nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden, loud voice in his ear. When he reached up, he felt an earpiece attached to a small mic.

“We can hear you loud and clear, Charlie,” Galeforce said beside him. 

“I can, too,” Henry said. Rupert jerked his head toward Henry. Henry was still ignoring him, but there was a small smile on his face. 

“...Same,” Rupert said. 

Galeforce cast him a long, suspicious gaze before turning back to Henry. “Alright, Stickmin. I assume you already know why we’ve grabbed you. You’re a talented thief, to say the least, and we need an airship infiltrator to do reconnaissance. If you’re able to find enough evidence to incriminate the Toppats, you’ll walk out of here a free man.”

“Sounds simple enough, captain,” Henry said.

“Airship?” Rupert said, startled. 

Galeforce glanced over. Rupert stiffened again as Henry’s dark eyes slid over to study him, almost bored. 

“You must be really tired, son,” Galeforce said slowly. “The airship mission’s today.”

“...Yeah. Right.” The airship mission- today? How was it happening again?

Did we go back in time?

“Dang, Rupert! I didn’t think you pulled all-nighters anymore!” Charles’s chirpy voice tore into Rupert’s ears like knives. His eye twitched in sudden fury.

“I don’t,” he snarled. “Lay off.”

Rupert tried not to shift uncomfortably as Henry’s eyes sharpened. His gaze was eerie; it was wide-eyed and seemingly accusing, boring into him like a laser. Charles trailed off.

“Uhhhh, okay! I didn’t mean anything by it…” Charles hesitated. “We’re swinging up near the airship. Get ready, Henry.”

“Roger, pilot,” Henry said. In an instant that intense stare was off him, replaced with that infuriating smile. Henry stood and trotted forward, grabbing the handle of the helicopter and yanking it open. Wind rushed in and slammed into Rupert. He nearly stumbled back, but Henry stood calm and immovable in the face of the endless expanse of sky. 

The airship loomed beyond. 

“Right, how d’ya wanna get in?” Charles asked. 

“Here we go,” Rupert muttered. He glanced down at his watch.

July 13th.

…

Charles woke up. 

Charles was remarkably skilled at waking up now. He could come to consciousness after a reset and within seconds would be adjusted to the new world. He had first been able to do it within a couple of resets, which was lucky considering he most often woke up flying a helicopter. 

This time, he was prepared. The helicopter dipped ever so slightly as Charles shot awake and got his bearings. Within seconds the muscle memory kicked in and he gently sloped the helicopter to the right, following the path of the red dot quickly getting larger and larger. Sighing in satisfaction, he rolled his shoulders and wiggled his fingers.

Hold on a second! Charles lifted up his arm and gave a small delighted laugh. Relief coursed through him at the new use of his arm again. “Check check,” he said, grinning hugely. “This is Charles!”

“We can hear you loud and clear, Charlie,” came Galeforce’s voice.

“I can, too,” said Henry. Charles smiled broadly at the quiet contentment and relief in Henry’s voice.

Finally, they could get their lives back on track. An airship mission and a Wall breakout later, they would finally be back in the timeline they were always meant to be in.

“Same,” said Rupert. He sounded distant.

Charles listened as Galeforce explained the airship mission. He busied himself with getting close to the airship without being detected. The quicker and smoother the airship mission was, the quicker they could get back to their lives. 

“You must be really tired, son. The airship mission’s today,” Galeforce said.

Charles laughed lightly. “Dang Rupert! I didn’t think you pulled all-nighters anymore!”

“I don’t. Lay off,” Rupert snarled suddenly.

Charles hesitated. That was… strangely hostile, even for Rupert. “Uhhhh, okay!” he said, trying to sound light. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” He trailed off, uncertain of how to calm Rupert down. He could almost feel Henry’s confusion through the receiver as he made a small noise of discontentment. “We’re swinging up near the airship. Get ready, Henry.”

“Ready, pilot,” said Henry. Charles grinned. 

“Right, how d’ya wanna get in?”

Rupert muttered something. Charles frowned but elected to ignore it despite the flutter of anxiety that went through his chest. 

Something felt off. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it- but something was wrong. 

Charles couldn’t recall Rupert ever being tired on the airship mission before.

“I’m thinking I’m gonna… use this.” There was a crackle of static. 

“Oh, what the hell?” Rupert said gruffly. “How in the…”

“Hm,” said Galeforce. “That’s certainly interesting.”

Wait. Wait a second. Galeforce and Rupert weren’t supposed to notice Henry’s powers.

That was… kind of the whole point. Charles had noticed the powers, and so had Ellie, but non-anomalies never commented on the strange ways Henry solved problems or his conjured items. In every single airship mission, Charles had been the only person to notice that Henry used some kind of ‘magic’ to get over to the airship.

“Uhhhh, I didn’t see anything weird?” Charles said quickly.

“‘Course you didn’t. You’re in the pilot’s seat, idiot,” Rupert grumbled.

“I’m over,” Henry said. Charles glanced over and spotted him at the balcony of the airship. Henry looked over and locked eyes with Charles. He glanced around, peered over the railing, and then back at the airship. 

Problem? Charles mouthed. Rupert and Galeforce remembering… that was an issue.

Henry shook his head slightly. Not yet. He turned and vanished inside.

“Curious trick you’ve got there, son,” Galeforce said. “What in tarnation was that?”

“...Could you be more specific?” Henry said.

“You know what I’m gonna say, son.”

Henry paused. Charles could feel his mind racing. “Alright. You got me. I pick up a lot of things on my… trips. I found a few of these neat little things.”

“Found? You… found something that could teleport you from place to place?” Rupert said disbelievingly.

“I mean, it’s not the most unbelievable thing in the world,” Charles tried adding.

“I don’t know what to tell you, captain,” Henry said. He added a touch of irritation to his voice. “Do you want me to do this mission or not? You did kidnap me for a reason, I presume.”

“Yes. Continue,” Galeforce said. Rupert made a gruff noise of discontentment.

“Right. I’m gonna head for where they keep their files, and then their prisons.”

“Prisons?” Galeforce asked.

“I, ah, heard through the grapevine of a civilian prisoner they were keeping,” Henry said. There was the sound of shuffling. Henry paused for a long moment, the only sound his breaths, and then soft footsteps passed. When he continued, his voice was softer. “...I figured helping a civilian out would be a cherry on top, don’t you think?”

“I certainly hope you’re right,” Galeforce said with a wry chuckle. 

“...How can we trust a thief?” he heard Rupert mutter. “He could really easily betray us. He could sell us out to the Toppats in a second.”  

“He wouldn’t,” Charles said immediately. “You know, he can hear-”

“Oh, of course,” Rupert said sarcastically. “You’re just a personal expert on Henry Stickmin, aren’t you? The master jewel thief, friend to none.”

Charles shifted, confused and getting more and more worried. “I- uh- no. No, of course not. I mean, it would just be stupid at this point. He gets his pardon, he walks free in regular society… plus, he’s never worked with others before.”

“Really now? He’s never worked with the Toppats?”

“Rupert-” Charles sucked in a breath. He could practically feel Henry’s concern from here. “You seem a little on edge, buddy. I get it- you don’t wanna trust this guy, but, uh, you don’t have to take it out on me…”

“Fine.” Rupert fell silent.

He could feel Galeforce studying the encounter. His confusion and suspicion was almost tangible.

Charles sat back, nerves twisting through his chest, and listened to the mission continue.

Never a dull July 13th, he thought.

…

Dave had forgotten about the boredom. 

At this point in his stay, he had been fairly certain the Toppats had forgotten about him. He felt that was the case now. Maybe it had been the chaos of the previous few weeks, but Dave’s attention span was nowhere near as good as the first time he had been stuck in here. The impatience was grating. 

Distantly, he heard footsteps outside his cell. The occasional Toppat wandered by. However, not many stopped at the brig. It was only the few that would bring him food and water, and sometimes one who took pity and brought something like a book or some form of entertainment. 

The boredom was the worst part, honestly. Once the terror had worn off and it was certain that the Toppats wouldn’t hurt or kill him, sitting in a cell for twenty-four hours a day was certainly depressing. Especially when Toppats outside of the ones assigned to take care of prisoners… forgot about him.

Before everything that had happened the past few weeks, Dave had been this close to just suggesting that they kill him if they were never going to release him, just to spare them resources and himself a life of misery.

…If death was even possible anymore. Maybe he’d just instinctively phase around the bullet, or he had a television where his heart should be and a radio for a brain.

The thoughts spun through his head as he ignored the footsteps. He didn’t hear them approach each cell in tandem, and he didn’t hear when they paused thoughtfully outside his cell.

He heard a strange murmur-

“Yes, I was right. Civilian prisoner right here.”

-and then a click.

He lifted his head. Static buzzed around him, raising slightly in volume and pitch. Civilian? What kind of Toppat would talk about him that way? They didn’t particularly care who he was, only that he had seen their heist. I was right? What did that mean?

To his bafflement, the door swung open. 

Dave’s heart froze in terror.

Standing in front of him was Henry Stickmin himself.

Henry had traded out a flamboyant Toppat attire for something more akin to his thieving nature. His eyes, chips of blue that glittered like a diamond, gazed down at Dave with something like… relief. As Dave stared, unmoving, a small smile spread across Henry’s face. 

Spiderweb-thin strings began to trace across his limbs.

“Good. You’re unharmed. I know this must be frightening, but I’m from the gove-”

Dave launched himself forward with speed that shocked him more than Henry. Henry fell back easily, face twisting in surprise, but wasn’t fast enough to dodge Dave as he grasped Henry’s shirt and bowled him over. 

Static roared in Dave’s ears. His eyes filled with nothing but Henry. Even as Henry looked at him with bewilderment and surprise, there was nothing like fear. Could he even feel fear? Dave’s breath hitched in panic as strings began to creep into his vision, tangling around Henry’s joints like some kind of macabre puppet. 

Voices were creeping into his ears. “Stickmin, what’s- alright?- better not be a-” The radio system around Henry’s head sparked and reached out electrical wires to Dave’s hands, connecting to his skin like silk. Words rolled out of the headset like a script, and Dave could hear them all perfectly.

He stared down into the face of the man who had begun it all and howled, “What have you done?!”

“I- A lot of things, actually,” Henry said. He wasn’t struggling against Dave. He held up his hands soothingly and tried to give Dave a comforting smile. “I know this is a lot, but I’m here to help. Let’s just calm down, okay?”

“How the hell is this helping!” Dave wailed. “Stringing us along like puppets. You can’t even control yourself! And you- and you- I’m back HERE!”

Henry froze. His eyes lit up with knowing alarm. “Back here, you said?”

“...Dave?” said one of the voices softly. It sounded like Rupert.

“Stickmin, describe the situation now,” said an authoritative voice. General Galeforce?

“It’s okay,” said Henry. He didn’t take his eyes off of Dave. “He’s just panicked after being in here for so long-”

Words were pouring out of Dave’s mouth. “How did you do that?” he whispered. “How did you drag the entire world back here? We were just at the CCC base! I had gotten out of here! You let me out!” He thrust himself up and away from Henry, backing up against the wall. Static was pouring out of him like a tidal wave, and he could hardly hear anything over it. 

“Is that Dave?” choked Rupert’s voice. 

Dave whipped his head up. He said my name. He said my name? How? “Rupert? You- you know me? You haven’t forgotten me?”

“How on God’s green earth is he on this channel?” said Galeforce. “Rupert, what in the hell are you going on about?”

“I think we’re all just a little tense right now!” chirped another voice. The doomed pilot. “I mean, getting kidnapped by the Toppats is gonna be a pretty dang, uh, pretty dang traumatic experience for anyone. Rupert, I don’t really think you know a Dave?” A light chuckle. “I mean, we’re about your only friends, bud-”

“Charles, I know him. I’ve known him.” said Rupert. His voice began to grow louder. “Are you trying to lie to me?”

“You two, standby,” demanded Galeforce’s voice. “I have no idea what is going on anymore.”

“General, it’s fine!” said Charles. “We’re all just a little, uh- little tense. Rupert’s had a stressful day.”

Rupert snarled. “Shut up, Charles. You know something’s wrong.”

“What did you do? How did you do that? Is this why the CCC is after you?” Dave said frantically. He flinched as Henry slowly pushed himself up, holding up his hands. There was no telling the multitude of ways he could end Dave with a thought.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Henry said slowly. “That’s about the furthest thing from my mind right now. I just think you’re panicking from being in here so long.”

He heard Rupert’s grainy, vicious laugh. “Oh-ho-ho, I’m not imagining it. What the hell. You remember, too?”

“Just wait a second,” Henry hissed. “Come on. We’ve never met before-”

“I’d love it if everybody stopped lying to me!” Dave shouted. His head felt like it was about to burst. “I remember you, and your pilot, and your right hand, and everything else! I do!”

Henry fell silent for a long, long moment. His eyes bored into Dave and made all of his nerves flare like live wires. 

“...Oh,” said Charles softly.

“Can someone please explain what’s going on!” shouted Galeforce.

Henry didn’t respond. He didn’t seem to even notice Galeforce’s voice. He dropped his hands and sighed heavily, and then he crossed his arms. 

“Well, shit, Charlie,” he said, almost casually. “They remember. Shall you explain, or shall I?”

The general sighed even more powerfully than Henry. “Very helpful, Stickmin. That explains nothing. Charlie, what’s this got to do with you?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhh- just about everything?” the pilot squeaked eventually. “Hen, I’m not really good at this… talking stuff…”

“You’ve got a silver tongue if I’ve ever heard one,” said Henry, chuckling fondly. “It’s not just about eloquence. But sure, I’ll explain to the general- and our two latent anomalies.”

“What?” Dave whispered. “Just- just like that?”

“I’m not unreasonable, nor a monster, Dave Panpa,” said Henry Stickmin calmly. “Despite everything you’ve been led to believe, I’m really not. We’re not going to sit here and gaslight you.”

“You’ve got a lot of damn explaining to do,” Rupert growled. 

Henry didn’t seem to notice Rupert. He was still staring at Dave. “So, if you would, please let me explain so we don’t have any other problems.” He frowned slightly. 

“Sorry for, uh, trying to gaslight you?” Charles said. “But, seriously, bud- we’ve never had this happen before. This is- this is weird.”

“I was going to say the same thing,” Henry said. He pinched the bridge between his eyes. “This is unprecedented- for us, at least. Normally resets go much smoother. Of course, I should have expected something like this, especially after last time. I’m sure Grace pulled some shit on us-”

“Could be worse!” said Charles. “We could have messed things up further! It’s only Dave and Rupert that remember so far. That’s fine. That’s fine!”

“I’m right here,” Rupert snarled, “and none of this sounds like a goddamn explanation.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “Patience, please. I’m trying to tread carefully here.” With some effort, he turned back to Dave with a smile. “I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot here. I’m Henry, as you know. Before I explain what’s going on, I would love to get off of this airship. We’re still surrounded by enemies, after all, and I’m still on a mission. We have to complete it. Once we’re back on the helicopter, I’ll explain everything. Okay?”

He held out a hand encouragingly.

Dave hesitated. On one hand, this was a terrifying force of nature who Dave was not entirely sure wasn’t toying with him for the fun of it. Henry could put him back in there with a thought. He had multiple times, it seemed.

On the other hand, Dave would love to get off this airship. An explanation of what was going on might also be nice. He was tired of floundering around like a chicken without its head.

Dave stepped forward, every nerve in himself screaming, and took Henry’s hand. It took him three times to get it right.

Henry smiled. The expression was surprisingly genuine. 

“I’m sorry we had to meet this way,” he said quietly. “Why don’t we turn over a new leaf and start again?”

Then, he and Dave vanished.

Chapter Text

The heart of the Wall loomed before her. 

The only sounds that weren’t a cacophony of voices and screeching alarms were the little flashes of laser beams behind her, shooting past and hitting the walls, floor, and ceiling with perfect little burnt holes. Her feet pounded on the concrete, aching already with strain. Adrenaline pumped through her body as she ducked to avoid another laser.

Ellie’s strategy hadn’t gone exactly as she had hoped. There were a lot more people following her than she wanted, for starters. And there were alarms blaring. And there was a non-zero chance that Dmitri and Grigori were already on their way down here, ready to kill a wayward arsonist for daring to escape their precious little Wall. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be nothing but a ‘died under mysterious causes’ log in the back of the Wall’s records.

Ellie was nothing if not careful. 

She threw herself to the side as a spear hurtled past her, nearly slamming into the wall as she did so. She twisted around, and despite knowing she was wasting precious seconds, she psychically grasped the spear and hurtled it back at the guards. It caught one in the leg, who cried out and collapsed. The others behind them were briefly slowed as they redirected around their fallen coworker. She staggered, but she dragged herself up and flung herself into the heart of the Wall.

It was a panopticon. Guards flocked through the wide space before her. Each floor was tiered but open in the middle, displaying rows and rows of doors on many floors like a huge library of prisoners. Beyond that, there was a small, glass-enclosed room sporting several control panels- one of which contained exactly what she needed. 

There was one tiny problem, however.

She hit the ground running. She raced into the open room. 

For a moment, there was blissful silence as a hundred guards watched in utter shock as the one thing that did not happen in the Wall rushed toward their control room like she was running from the Devil himself.

And then, a hundred minds shut off, focusing only on the prisoner. A hundred tasers, guns, and other assorted laser weaponry were yanked out of their holsters, raised, and fired.

Ellie flung herself to the ground. She quickly summoned a dome of energy around herself, tightening it and spinning it to deflect any bullets, and at the same time clapped her hands over her ears.

The cracks of the guns going off nearly deafened her. Her meager protection saved her from a busted eardrum, but not the pain and ringing that followed. The Wall’s guns were relatively quiet compared to normal ones, she knew, but a hundred firing at the same time amplified their effects. 

She twisted onto her back and gazed up, trying to focus through the pain on her surroundings. Her shield wavered. Through gritted teeth, she forced power to flow from her into the shield, demanding it stay unbroken.

A few booms dotted the world beyond her hearing. It was less, though, and Ellie pushed herself up. The shield rippled like a bubble as she did so. 

The Wall’s guards were not handpicked for intelligence. It was often the opposite. So perhaps they could be forgiven for thinking that shooting at someone in the center of a massive circle, with no care as to where the bullet would go afterward , was a good idea. 

Less than half of the initial swarm of guards were still standing. The ones that were still upright blinked stupidly at the unexpected carnage. Behind her, she could hear muffled shouting, and a glance back revealed that the guards chasing her were wisely scrambling back into the hallway to stay away from their friendly-firing coworkers. All reacted slowly as Ellie staggered forward.

Reach into-

Alright, I get it! she thought, or maybe shouted, since her ears still felt stuffed with cotton. 

In the corner of her vision, a guard raised his gun.

She lunged for the door and grabbed a card at the same time. 

She crashed face-first into the door, and in her hands was a set of skeletal lockpicks. There was a muted boom. Pain exploded through her chest as something small and hotter than hell ripped past her skin, her bones, her lungs, and straight into her heart- 

The lockpicks go in the door, not your face.

In the corner of her vision, a guard raised his gun.

She lunged for the door and grabbed a card at the same time. 

She was suddenly wearing a hat. For a moment, she felt her entire body shimmer and dissolve as if composed of only air molecules, and instead of face-planting, she fell through the door. She slammed into the floor on the other side, wheezing as the air was knocked out of her. A bullet cracked.

The hat shimmered out of existence. Ellie lay there gasping, shuddering at the sensation of her entire body being seemingly ripped apart and stitched back together, along with the earlier sensation of a bullet entering her heart. She allowed herself a moment to suck in breaths and still her racing heart before she pushed herself up on her hands and knees.

She lifted her hazy gaze.

A petrified man sat in a swivel chair in front of the panel. He stared at her in shock.

“Hey, man,” said Ellie. “What’s good? Not me, that’s for sure.”

“You’re-” She couldn’t hear much, but there was definitely bewilderment in his voice. “You’re not supposed to be in here. How did you do that?”

“Oh, good. My hearing’s returning.” Ellie dragged herself to her feet. She made jazz hands. “Magic. Now hold tight for a second.”

The man got all of two seconds before her foot connected with his face. His head slammed into the wall with a painful impact. Ellie made a face as he slid down the wall. “Yeesh. That looked like it hurt.”

She jumped as something banged outside the door. Once, then twice, then several times in quick succession. 

“Uh-oh,” she said to herself. She limped over to the panel and scanned it frantically for the correct button. Her head throbbed to the racing pulse of her heartbeat as she stared dumbly at the thousands of colorful blinking lights, switches, and levers. Charles’s dream, but her nightmare.

“Shoot, shoot, shoot, it’s been so long since I’ve read Russian,” she muttered, scanning the unfamiliar Cyrillic for anything she recognized. Ugh, she knew she should have taken Henry up on practicing it. Was there a way that she could just hit as many buttons as possible and hope for the best? Would that have the same effect? Well, maybe with her luck, it would insta-kill every prisoner inside their cell. Or she’d accidentally press a panic button and summon backup for the Wall. Yeah, that wouldn’t be good. 

Not for the first time, she lamented her lack of companionship. Charles is the tech guy. God, I wish he was here right now. Heck, she’d even take Henry, even though he could do little she couldn’t. At least he might get some kind of trick or trap that could-

Well. She could do that, couldn’t she.

She glanced at the door. It was beginning to bend slightly. Outside of the bullet-proof windows, several guards pointed spears at the door, lasers blasting out of the tips. She grimaced and turned back to the panel.

Her eyes landed on a button. It was in the very center of the panel. It was also huge, bright red, and had exclamation points written all over it. It couldn’t have been designed more perfectly if it had been a trap set specifically to trick Charles into pressing it. She could almost feel him now, looking over her shoulder. Press it, he was whispering.

“Oh, what the hell?” she said. “Maybe it’s this one.”

Her hand landed on the button. It was almost insultingly easy to press in with a satisfying click.

Then, there was one glorious moment of pure bliss. A robotic woman’s voice said something in Russian over a speaker, of which she could guess the three words spoken: Opening all cells. Outside of her little bubble of safety, a thousand iron doors clicked and swung open.

For a heartbeat, all was silent. Even the guards at the door had stopped their assault and were looking around in bewilderment, tinged with mounting fear. One by one, she saw prisoners begin to creep out of their cages, hesitant and cautious. Both sides watched and waited.

Then, she saw a woman with bright hair lunge at the nearest guard and punch them in the face, yanking the spear out of his arms. “Let’s get the fuck outta here!” she yelled.

Her hearing pulsing back into existence, she heard the first shouts and screams of the guards outside and the rallying cries of prisoners unexpectedly free. She turned and gazed outside. 

If the Wall’s ranks of guards weren’t already lowered, it was a massacre outside. There were at least three prisoners to every one guard. Though the guards had spears, guns, and tasers, they were quickly being confiscated by the prisoners. Most uniformed bodies she saw vanish under a sea of orange-clothed, revenge-seeking convicts. 

That was only the first floor. Gazing upward, the chaos didn’t stop. The other floors were ganging up on their respective guards, too. The guards fell under fists and feet, cracking on the stone floor in the same ways they would inflict on the prisoners only minutes before. It was a moving, breathing, living sea of violence.

A smile began to crawl unbidden across Ellie’s face. A giggle burst its way out of her throat. Something cruel and giddy was coiling inside her chest, relishing in the guards’ panic.

Of all the parts about the Wall that she loathed, this was the only tolerable asset. In every iteration, she escaped. And in every iteration, she caused as much chaos as possible. 

She turned to the other door in the control room. Past it, somewhere, there had to be an elevator out of this godforsaken place. Grabbing the unconscious control guy’s body, she yanked the key ring off of his belt, and the ID badge around his neck. She cast one more glance back toward the chaos.

They got what was coming to them.

She vanished through the door. There was a long hallway to either side of her, but directly in front of her, lit by cold fluorescent lighting, was an elevator. She scanned the ID badge and watched the elevator’s numbers tick down slowly. 

Distantly, she could hear shouting.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen…

Ellie tapped her foot impatiently. For the Wall being a state-of-the-art prison, they weren’t up to snuff on technology. Dmitri was cheap with everything except for what kept the prisoners in.

To her right, a door banged open. She jumped and whirled as two guards tumbled through. One slammed the door shut, holding it there, and both gasped for their breath. 

“What the hell is going on? Why did someone release all the prisoners? ” one snapped.

The other dragged a hand down his face. “I don’t know! Don’t look at me! Just- we need to get out of here, okay? They’ll kill us!”

“Dmitri’ll kill us first if we don’t try to get this under control,” the first one hissed. He gritted his teeth as there was a pounding on the door. “I can’t hold this for long.”

“Do you want to kill us?!”

Ellie watched with morbid curiosity, trying to stay silent. The two continued arguing. The elevator finally made a pleasant ding as it reached the ground floor, and at the noise, both guards jumped and looked over. 

They locked eyes with Ellie. She froze, and so did they. For a long, agonizing moment, the three of them stared at each other.

“Uh,” Ellie said cleverly. “Hey.”

“You’re not a guard. You can’t be here,” the second guard said weakly. 

Ellie frowned. “That’s kind of the point?”

The elevator doors slowly dragged themselves open with a terrible squealing noise that made her flinch. The first guard jolted as if he’d been shot. He kicked the other guard as the banging on the door got louder.

“Get her! I bet she let out the prisoners!” he shouted. The guard also jolted and scrambled up, staggering forward toward her. 

“Bye,” Ellie said, stepping into the elevator. She pressed the top button, and she swirled up her power around her as she heard rapid footsteps racing toward her. The guard’s face appeared just around the bend as the doors squealed shut.

Ellie sighed in relief. She really hadn’t wanted to use more of her power than necessary. Over the years she had built up her stamina and power, but releasing the prisoners was just the first step. She had already almost died (or had died, if that phantom pain in her chest was anything to go by) and been forced to use a pretty powerful shield to deflect the bullets. 

Beyond these elevator doors, there was no telling what would be waiting for her. The prisoners at the Wall, she hated to admit it, were just as likely to turn on each other for old grudges than they were the guards around them. The ones outside would also begin equipping themselves with military-grade weapons. They had helicopters and rocket launchers.

There was also the issue of Dmitri and Grigori.

…

The headache wasn’t helping.

Ellie sighed heavily and leaned back against the elevator. It squealed with her weight. She let energy dance between her fingers, causing them to glow softly and illuminate how rough the elevator was. It was rickety and riddled with holes. It shuddered violently every few moments as it dragged itself up out of the Wall’s depths. The dim lightbulb flickered ahead, casting the elevator in deep shadows.

Her fingers dug into her arms. It was chilly in the elevator now that she wasn’t running and the mass of packed bodies filled with rage weren’t warming her. With each inch the elevator crept higher, the colder it got.

The closer to Dmitri Petrov she got.

There were a few rules to this whole Wall shebang. At least, ones she’d pieced together.

The elevator dinged pleasantly as it rose another floor:

5.

He was always waiting for her. 

It was probably one of those things written in the universe, like Henry’s penchant for chaos and Charles’s savior complex. Dmitri was the worst of the two of them, taking genuine pleasure in tormenting the prisoners underneath his watch. Genuine pleasure in tormenting her, when she wasn’t fast enough to escape the Wall after escaping its prison.

Each Wall escape was an exercise in finding a new way out, and an exercise in frustration as Dmitri inevitably just so happened to be in the same area. One could quickly guess how that confrontation would play out.

4.

He would never stop chasing her. 

The breakout must always break something in him, she thought. She had never seen someone so doggedly committed to a confrontation so doomed. In the timelines without a powerful organization protecting her, she had to stay constantly on the move lest the Wall find her. It seemed like Dmitri poured all his resources into specifically hunting her down. 

Even in those two little timelines- what had Henry called them, Pardoned Pals and Toppat Recruits?- he had been right there, ready to storm a government camp for the sole purpose of capturing her.

It was desperate. It was pitiable. Above all, it was exhausting.

3.

They would always find each other.

Every timeline was the same. Whether Ellie hunted him down, sick of his shadow looming over the future, or Dmitri finally grew a pair and tracked her down himself, it always ended with her versus Dmitri.

Once, she had tried to live and let live. It was Triple Threat- an ending that was good for the Wall anyway. The Toppats were in their prison, Ellie was pardoned of her crimes with the government, and there was absolutely no reason for either of them to seek each other out, vitriolic hatred or not.

He hadn’t been able to let it go. Ellie’s crimes against him were too disrespectful, too insolent to let live. Sometimes it had been assassins. Sometimes it was sabotage. Sometimes it was a Wall envoy threatening to take matters into their own hands if Galeforce didn’t hand her over. 

She had gotten sick of it. Charles had gotten a helicopter, taking a test flight, General; don’t worry about us , and they were off. 

She and the boys may have committed more than a few crimes that night, but the brief peace she had felt with his blood staining every inch of her was worth it.

2.

It was a bloody fight. 

In some iterations, he had gone for her with a gun, shooting burning holes in the pale snow. In others, it was a fist fight, the ground stained with blood and gore by the time she staggered home, broken bones and bruised ribs to show for it. Another, she had managed to break both of his arms, but she had dragged herself out with a shattered ankle. 

Regardless, the shattered bone and clots of blood caused by that fight were as familiar as her own hands at this point. It had grown less over time as she had gotten smarter and he had gotten more predictable, but there was still something about him that was a cruel antithesis to her.

This was going to hurt.

1.

She always killed him.

Every single timeline, a bloody end had come to Dmitri one way or another. 

It got easier with time. Her powers grew. Her knowledge grew. Her skill at defeating Dmitri grew. But Dmitri was always starting from square one, fighting an increasingly powerful opponent like he was Sisyphus. 

She almost felt bad for him.

Back in that last timeline, she had killed him. She had snuck out one night after she had become the Right Hand Lady. She had commandeered an escape pod, popped down to the Wall, and then popped a bullet between his eyes. Not before he managed to stab her, though. That had been fun to lie to Henry about, what with his uncanny ability to know when she was lying.

As the elevator shuddered to a stop, she glanced through the keys on the ring she had taken. Keys to some kind of vehicle were on it. She dragged it off the key ring and shoved it into her pocket, dropping the rest of the keys. 

The elevator dinged again and opened. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and stepped outside.

If the Wall below was chaos, the Wall above was complete anarchy. Accompanied by a backdrop of screams and gunshots, prisoners and guards ran around with alike confusion. Wind whipped freezing snow and ice around like a hurricane. There was an ocean to her left, a tall wall with a twisted, broken gate in front of her, and nothing but snowy wilderness to her right. Her only obstacle to freedom was the mass of fighting bodies in front of her.

And, in the center of it all, stood a familiar, tall figure. He wielded a long spear that crackled with electricity and a heavy gray jacket sporting the Wall symbol to protect against the biting cold. There was fury on his haggard face- a familiar fury that she had caused so often. Snow whipped around him like a cloak.

She stepped into the biting cold. Her leather jacket had never done her wrong, but in this winter wonderland, it barely protected her. As she scanned the chaos, looking for the parking lot that would hold the vehicle on her key ring, Dmitri’s eyes drifted over to her.

Their eyes locked.

Dmitri’s eyes widened in rage. His face twisted into a hate-filled snarl. Briefly, she felt pinned by his gaze, like she was back in that very first time with Henry: relatively new to the world of anomalies and time manipulation and vicious multiversal agencies despite her powers, fascinated and terrified by each new wondrous thing she was seeing, and eager to escape. That had all paled in comparison to the fear and anger she had felt in that first fight.

“Motherf-” Ellie cut herself off with a growl as Dmitri began to stride toward her. He raised his spear and easily tossed aside guards and prisoners alike, eyes locked on her. 

Well. I’m not gonna be able to escape fate this time, it seems.

She walked forward as well. As if sensing the energy beginning to buzz around her (like Charlie always described it, electricity ), the people around her parted. They didn’t stop their fighting or running, but they did send her fearful glances, as if the power racing underneath her skin was tangible to people not anomalies. Or maybe it was the natural apprehension toward someone acting very calmly in a very not-calm situation.

“You!” Dmitri bellowed. He shoved through the rest of the crowd and stopped a few feet away from her. “You did this,” he spat. “You incited this- this pathetic rebellion. Do you know who I am? What I represent?”

“Better than most, I think,” Ellie growled. 

The flash of confusion in Dmitri’s eyes passed, replaced quickly by rage. “I will not allow you to make a mockery of me and mine, Ellie Rose. You think you are great- but you are nothing but the crimes that landed you here. Whatever happens, even if you do get past me- you will find that nobody wants you, and nobody needs you, and you will be back in these walls before the year is concluded.” 

“You know,” Ellie said with a harsh laugh, “that’s all probably true. More than you realize.” She summoned her power to her fingertips, and the snow fluttered beneath her. “But I’m still gonna fight like hell. Just to spite you.”

Dmitri’s face flashed with fury. Without a moment’s hesitation he reared back and drove the spearhead toward her.

Words that were somehow cards flashed through her mind: Psionic Deflect, Psionic Shield, Psionic Blast.

For the briefest of moments Ellie held a card that said Psionic Deflect before it dissolved. She twisted toward the side. She deflected the spear with a narrow barrier of solid air and slipped fully out of the way as Dmitri staggered past her. He cried out as she kicked him in the back of his shoulder with a painful crack , the blow stronger from the energy she had put into it. She must have hit a pressure point, as Dmitri's arm fell limply to his side.

Still, even with one arm hanging useless, Dmitri whirled around faster than a snake. She tried to dart further to the side, but he had circled her, and she stumbled as he stabbed quickly. It glanced off of her shoulder, sending a flare of pain down her arm as the spear crackled. She grasped for the energy within her and forced it to her arm. The electricity from the spear dispelled harmlessly through the air, dissipated.

With a snarl she reared back and gathered as much force as she could into her fist. Before Dmitri could move, she slammed it into his face. His head snapped to the side satisfyingly, a split on his cheek leaking blood along with the cuts along her knuckles. He stumbled. She took the opportunity to crack a foot along the back of his leg, sending him to one knee with a shout of pain. Something cracked with the force of her kick. 

His spear flashed out and she barely twisted back, watching the electrified point flash through the air, and she whipped her hand out, invisible fingers closing around the hilt of the spear and yanking. The spear spun out of Dmitri’s hands and somersaulted over the crowd, disappearing into the snow. 

Dmitri snarled in frustration. As he struggled to get up, Ellie hesitated. She turned, looking toward the parking lot. It was getting increasingly devoid of useful vehicles- one of which was her only reasonable ticket out. 

She couldn’t stay and finish this fight. She was going to lose her only method of escape if she stayed. Even so, as she stepped toward the parking lot, she faltered.

5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

This would only spell trouble later on if she didn’t finish it now. Dmitri was nothing if not persistent, perhaps his one redeemable trait. If she and the boys were doing Triple Threat again… well, Pardoned Pals and Toppat Recruits had a terrible time getting the Wall off their collective backs. It was perhaps worse for Henry, the one who always initiated escape.

But she couldn’t give up an easy escape. If she didn’t it would be miles of trudging through wilderness with only a vague idea of where the safehouse was- and she wasn’t stupid enough to attempt that in this kind of weather. 

It would be better this way, she realized suddenly. No Henry here meant no reason for Dmitri to pursue him. All of the heat would be on her. Maybe, if I can’t do anything else, I can take that off of him. It’d be better for everyone for him to only be after me.

Then, maybe she could just deal with him her way, without Henry getting hurt or worse. He didn’t know the rules that governed this strange fate-led rivalry. She did, and she knew exactly what to do to win.

Escape with Motorcycle and Finish Him flashed through her hands. 

She didn’t need any stupid cards to make decisions for her. She already knew those were her options. At least the key was to a motorcycle; that was useful to know.

She stepped toward the parking lot.

A hand grabbed the back of her jacket. She whirled as she was dragged back, Dmitri’s iron-tight grip unyielding. As quickly as he had grabbed her, she sent a burst of energy toward his head. It snapped back sickeningly fast. Dmitri’s hold fell with a shout of pain and anger.

She wasted no time in racing toward the parking lot, dodging quarreling guards and prisoners, occasionally using her powers to toss someone out of her way. 

As she neared, she fumbled the motorcycle key out of her pocket. She slowed, suddenly realizing that she had no idea where this motorcycle was. Uhoh.

A twinge in the back of her mind in the form of a card. Her eyes automatically drifted to one sitting near the broken gate.

Oh. Well. Maybe this power was more useful than she had thought. No matter that, it was a grim reminder that she shouldn’t have these powers, and really shouldn’t be doing this at all. This was all different.

She hurried over to the motorcycle. Somewhere behind her, a boom rattled the ground. That hadn’t happened before. She turned long enough to see a whole section of the Wall’s wall vanish underneath rubble and smoke. This was way bigger than anything she and Henry had done- or had they always gotten out before?

No; it can’t be. The Wall was still functioning to put all the Toppats in when we did Triple Threat.

She couldn’t stop to think about this now. Grigori was no doubt on his way to attack her for beating up his boss, and Dmitri wasn’t going to stay down for long. She hopped on the motorcycle and stuck the key in.

As she revved it, it squealed, and she spun in a circle. Briefly, she caught sight of Dmitri’s furious face as he limped to his feet. Angry, injured, but definitely not dead.

I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me, she thought darkly.

Then she twisted the gas and the motorcycle roared to life. With a growl it shot forward, past the twisted ruins of the Wall’s once-great gates, and into the snowy landscape. Within minutes, muscle memory kicked in, and she was speeding toward the safehouse.

The purr of the motorcycle nearly drowned out her spinning head. With effort, she shoved the whirl of her thoughts out of her mind.

It was safehouse time. She could worry about… everything later.

Chapter Text

Ellie couldn’t tell if it was worrying or simply relieving for the rest of her journey to be uneventful. There was no sign of roaring trucks or purring motorcycles behind her as she sped through the forest. There weren’t even any former prisoners lucky enough to find the road- only dark deciduous trees and pale snow, packed tightly together in a wall of its own, and the sound of her motorbike shattering the stillness of the wilderness. 

Nobody expected the loneliness of the Wall. There was nothing for miles around. Dmitri seemed to purposefully ensure that you interacted with nobody except the guards that hated you and the other silent, resentful prisoners. Despite her wariness of Henry in those early, early days, she had nearly cried in relief when he had begun a conversation with her.

Now, again, she was leaving it all behind.

The ground rumbled beneath her wheels. She ducked closer to the handlebars.

After ten minutes, she eased up on the gas. She was still cruising steadily at seventy miles, whipping around narrow curves and across icy lanes, but it was nothing like the nearly hundred and thirty she had pushed it to at the beginning. Icy wind and air stung her face. It was only once she had settled into a rhythm, racing toward a familiar location, did she allow herself to think on her next move.

Her cheeks and extremities, no longer protected by the Wall’s concrete, were numb with cold. The safehouse had some warmer clothing. She could also pick up a hot meal at the tiny, run-down gas station that marked the beginning of civilization away from the Wall. Soon, it would be flooded with escapees and guards alike in a silent camaraderie. 

The gas station was blessedly close. Ellie slowed, turning into the parking lot and alerting the bored-looking twenty-something who glanced out of the window, headphones in, before turning back to a book. Its peeling sign was too faded to see letters any more. The pump itself was definitely breaking several OSHA violations with how decrepit it was, but Ellie doubted anybody aside from Wall employees, herself, and Henry knew about the little place. It seemed to settle outside the realms of time and space, existing unchanged all this time. She could almost imagine that it remained as she was through the timelines- physically the same age, but years older in reality.

She trotted inside and sighed in relief as a blast of warm air hit her. She shuddered involuntarily. The twenty-something glanced up again, but their eyes rolled back to their book.

She beelined for the back of the store. While it felt a little amoral to do this, neither she nor Henry had anything like cash stashes to spare, and it was the poor unfortunate soul who forgot their wallet’s fault. Said wallet was laying on the ground behind one of the sparsely stocked shelves. She quietly picked it up and shoved it into her pocket, then continued walking.

Her eyes lingered over the meager shelves. 

“Hey; you want anything?”

Ellie glanced over at her fellow escapee- Henry, he said his name was. He watched her expectantly. 

She looked back to the racks. Despite the lack of items, the chips in wrinkled bags and drinks cast in flickering fridges made her mouth water. Real flavor was something she had been craving since being locked up in the Wall nearly a year ago, and now, even the stalest junk food would probably taste positively succulent. 

But…

She glanced at the young-looking attendant and tried to keep her voice casual, lowering it. “I mean, we don’t have any money. And I kinda don’t wanna have to hurt this dude if we steal anything.” 

Henry shrugged, and then he held up a wallet. She stared at him, eyes widening, and wondered dimly how stupid she was being by trusting him so readily.

But, then again, he had helped her out when he didn’t have to. He seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on with this Groundhog Day madness. And even when he had left her there for the day, he explained that he was coming back.

She hadn’t trusted him. But he had come back.

“Someone dropped theirs. I readily doubt they’ll come back for it way out in the middle of nowhere, so- free game?” He raised an eyebrow at the sudden growl in her stomach. She rolled her eyes as he laughed.

She was stuck in this time loop with him. For whatever reason, had decided that he was going to make friends with her when he could have easily left her behind. He was friendly. Charming, even. She could (well, she thought she could) read people, and he had kind eyes.

Not the worst person she could be stuck with.

Maybe… someone she could be friends with.

“Well then, it’s on you,” she said, nudging him cheerfully. The warmth from his body was so unlike the cold of her cell. It burned in a patch on her shoulder she rubbed absently. “I want one of those awful little gas station pizzas.”

“Hey! Those are fantastic, thank you very much. They kept me alive during my daring escapes.” Henry nudged her back, a little harder this time. This time, her arm burned.

“Loser. A rich thief eating gas station pizzas?” Ellie shoved him. He shoved her. They both let out ridiculous little giggles and continued until the attendant glanced up, at which they reluctantly stopped, still nudging each other.

She felt warm for the first time in years.

“Wow. Immature, much?” Henry said teasingly.

“That’s a lot of sass for someone who I can easily beat into a pulp. I’ve gotta get you working out, with those noodle arms.”

Henry chuckled lightly, and stepped up to the counter. 

Ellie watched him as he ordered- how the light reflected off of his smile, and that miniscule tightness at the edge of it faded when he turned to her.

…She could get used to this.

Ellie shook her head out of the memories. The first time we escaped. Why did I think of it now?

Perhaps it was the last year that brought those simpler times to the surface. Maybe it was just because Henry wasn’t by her side now, burning holes into her carefully constructed distance. 

She glanced up to the cashier again. She had seen this cashier so many times that their face was etched into her memory, and yet, this was the first time they had seen her, for the sixteenth time. It almost made her feel guilty, as if she was somehow stealing time itself from others.

Who was she kidding? This wasn’t a life she would wish on anybody else. It was all remembering what she could and couldn’t say, knowing enough to guess what might happen, and long nights spent dwelling on apocalypses only she could remember. Sixteen stolen years. She tried to not think about it too hard. The amount of power she ended up holding so often made her feel a little nauseous whenever she realized exactly what she could do with it.

But above all else, knowing the future was so… dull. So lonely. There was no excitement- only a routine anxiety. She knew each person she often had to interact with like the back of her hand, while she was nothing but a stranger to them. Worse, a stranger who had the upper hand. 

Rupert, for instance. There were several ways that her initial meeting with him could go awry. But there were just as many ways, as she had discovered, that she could instantly endear herself to him and hasten friendship with him. All because it was easier.

How mad was that? How terrifying that someone Rupert had never met could essentially manipulate his emotions to ensure a certain outcome?

She passed the drinks, glancing toward their dull shells. Henry always had a better time with this sort of stuff. Maybe it was because he had the time powers; maybe it was because he always seemed to know more than either her or Charles. It’s not bad, he would say. These are just the circumstances we’ve found ourselves in. We have to use this knowledge to help us, or else we’ll just be another variable in whatever chaos is happening this week. We have the power to control the outcome.

And, well. It’s not like they’ll remember it, anyway.

But she did. Something about that amount of control itched her brain in a very certain negative way, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t use her powers to her full advantage. Telekinesis was a… very useful power to have.

“Two of the little pepperoni pizzas, please,” Ellie said as she trotted up to the counter. This was something she always looked forward to- her body starved of actual flavor, these two awful pizzas would taste like filet mignon. She was already getting the exact change out as the cashier tugged their headphones down and slowly moved to grab one of the tiny cardboard boxes. 

“It’s-” The cashier hummed as Ellie set down the money. “...Okay, I guess.” They grumbled underneath their breath, exactly like last time, as they quickly counted the change up and shoved it in an aging register. Then they handed Ellie the two pizzas. She held them close to her chest.

“Cool,” she said, mouth watering as she turned to hurry out of the store. Right before she did, she paused, and glanced back. “Uh, you might wanna get more… prepared. There’s gonna be-” She hesitated as the cashier glanced up, raising one bored eyebrow. “-a lot of people coming through.”

The expression morphed to one of confusion. “Wha- huh? We’re in the middle of goddamn nowhere.”

The bell dinged apathetically as Ellie pushed her way out into the freezing temperatures. Grimacing, she surrounded her precious pizzas in a bubble of force that might hopefully keep in the warmth. She glanced around for any newcomers, but saw nothing but snow and ice.

Distantly, dark smoke fluttered high into the clear blue sky. It was in the direction from the Wall. 

She felt a secret flash of vindication and hopped onto the bike. Soon, the gas station vanished behind copses of trees. With the freezing wind in her hair, food awaiting her, and the warmth of the safehouse coming quickly, she found her mind wandering to possibilities.

Theoretically she could take the motorcycle and make a break for the government camp or the City. Even with few stops and illegal speeds, it would take her multiple days. Perhaps even a week or two, if she was cautious and avoided Dmitri’s forces, or if she killed some time to buy Henry and Charles more of it. 

Plus, heading there was more appealing than waiting around. Something about this whole Wall breakout was setting off alarm bells. From developing Henry’s powers, to breaking out alone, to the actual escape going smoothly.

Then again… there was no reason for the government to take her in. She had done nothing for them. Besides, once Dmitri got out of the Wall (rules dictated that he wouldn’t die here), she’d be on the top of every wanted list. 

No. The government would be tantamount to suicide.

Henry’s apartment, then? She thought he was still paying the rent, at least for another couple weeks.

…But then she’d be alone with no way to earn a pardon. At least when Charles picked her up from the Wall, they would do the rocket or something else to gain Galeforce’s trust-

Oh, no. The rocket. Ellie grimaced as she made a particularly sharp turn. What was it- June, right? July? This was early, right? The rocket wouldn’t be ready for ages. Months, at least. This was all messed up.

And that led down to the crux of this entire issue: she absolutely was not supposed to break out this early, mainly because she wasn’t the one who needed to initiate the breakout. Henry was. Henry with his powers, the powers that she now possessed.

Had- had she stolen them from Henry somehow? Was the timeline messed up already? What the hell was going on?

God, this was making her head hurt. 

She tried to let the motorcycle’s roar dull the noise in her head. It only worked a little.

“WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO DRIVE THIS THING?” Henry shouted. Despite her reassurances on how safe it was, how good she was, and that it was only a short drive, Henry’s arms were locked tightly around her waist. With every sharp corner and patch of ice, she felt his grip increase tenfold in terror.

“A few years ago, I had one,” she called back.

“WHAT?”

“I DON’T KNOW; I’M JUST WINGING IT.”

Henry’s look of terror was worth it. “PLEASE DON’T KILL US. IT’D BE A CRIME WITH A FACE THIS PRETTY.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “We’re fine. You were a whole lot braver when breaking out, you know.”

“THERE I HAD COMPLETE AND UTTER CONTROL. I DEFINITELY DO NOT HERE.” He squeaked in terror as she gunned it down a hill. Admittedly, she did it just to bother him.

Ellie frowned. “I don’t think you were in control of an entire riot, dude.”

Henry paused for a moment. “...I’LL EXPLAIN LATER.”

“Magic stuff?”

“IT’S NOT MAGIC.” 

“I can hear you just fine, you know.”

Henry sighed heavily, and she snorted. He dropped his forehead against her back. How he was so comfortable with her already, she didn’t know, but… it wasn’t unpleasant, per say. 

She was a bit of a loner. Most people came and went from her life untouched. She had always suspected that people saw something about her- something other, something uncomfortable, something dangerous . They never stayed. Even the ill-advised friends of her teen years seemed to sense the power lurking beneath her skin, never truly hiding their nervous laughter or distrusting gazes. 

Henry didn’t seem to care. 

He was… really nice, actually.

“ARE WE THERE YET?” Henry shouted.

Maybe a little annoying, too. 

Ellie abruptly veered to the left onto a small, packed dirt path. It was nearly invisible through the snow. The canopy of black trees shielded her from the sky above, and the branches pressed close. Not even a car could get through here. She lifted up as the bike bounced over rocks and roots, struggling determinedly through the trees.

Henry had been such a big baby about this place, she recalled with a smile. If you’re going to go shoot me out in the woods, at least treat me to dinner first, he had said. 

After a couple miles of untrod path, most of which could be mistaken for wilderness, the hostile forest suddenly opened up. Ellie slammed on the brakes. The bike skidded to a stop, kicking up snow and ice as it slid, and once again she was awed.

The dull greenery and grayish snow fell away to reveal an icy sea, blanketed by a pure blue sky that was quickly fading into navy. The waves crashed gently against the sheer gray cliffs, splashing high with white crests along viciously sharp rocks. Sheets of ice floated aimlessly about the dark water. Though she hated the Wall more than anything, the landscape around it held a frozen beauty that she both despised and loved.

In the center, a few hundred feet from the cliff face, sat a quaint cabin. Inside, were enough slightly-stale provisions for a couple of weeks, firewood, equipment, and, best of all, warmth. She tottered off the bike and kicked its kickstand down, hardly waiting to ensure that it was upright before she hurried inside. 

The cabin was small but not uncozy. It had only the bare necessities of rooms- a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom- but little else. All the dusty furniture looked brand new. A stale chill held over the entire house. She shuddered and grabbed some of the firewood.

The safehouse had originally been hers. Well, rather, it was a friend of a friend’s, neither of whom she could remember the names of after sixteen long years. But they had said she could use it if she was ever in town. She had used it far more than they had expected, she was sure.

She wondered how that friend of a friend was doing. She wondered if their memory of her was still fresh, from that party that had happened seventeen years ago and yet was technically only one year. She wondered if they ever actually used this place, or if this little getaway cabin was something that they had bought but never bothered to come to besides getting someone to stock it.  

The owner must have been rich. Nobody just built something like this place all the way out here without some serious money to back it up. If she was recalling correctly, she had stolen their wallet a few hours later.

How time flew. It felt like an eternity and yet yesterday she stepped inside for the first time, cold and in shock at her successful escape.

She floated a few pieces of firewood into the fireplace, shifting them around until they were poised correctly. Then, she grabbed some matches and a little bit of gasoline from the containers outside. She sprinkled gasoline on the logs and then carefully threw a match in. The flame whooshed up, growing slowly until it consumed every inch of the wood. She occasionally used her telekinesis to safely move them around.

Soon, the fire was burning merrily in the hearth. Its soft crackling was the only noise besides her own soft breaths. Soon, it would be the only light for miles around besides the moon; the only beacon of warmth and safety in the frozen, silent sea.

It was lonely without Henry’s chattering or Charles’s remarks. She preferred noise. The Wall was so utterly still all of the time. It was maddening. While this wasn’t the silence of the Wall with her own misery being her only company, it was still too quiet.

She tried to focus on the flickering flames. 

She floated her pizzas over. Not bothering to move from directly in front of the fire, where warmth seeped painfully into her numb fingers, she opened the boxes. The smell of the mediocre food made her mouth water like a starving wolf seeing fresh meat. Still, she forced herself to have enough self-restraint to hover the pizzas over the fire, warming them until the cheese was bubbly and the crust was soft.

She ate slowly, contemplatively. It was hard to unlearn the prison habit of eating as quickly as possible and getting out of the often-fraught cafeteria, even after years and years, but she forced herself to chew slowly, savoring each bite. Who knew how long it would be until she had fresh food again. If Henry was only now doing the airship mission…

What did that mean for the timeline? Would Henry still get kidnapped by the Wall? Would she have to rescue him instead? Would he even do the airship mission, if she was breaking out of the Wall?

And how the hell did she have Henry’s powers?

All things I’ll get the answers for in weeks, she thought dismally. She tore off a chunk of crust and swallowed it half-heartedly. Yay.

She finished the pizzas all-too-quickly and tossed the cardboard into the fire. The flames leapt up to devour it. After another moment of staring into the flames, she forced herself up with a sigh. It was getting dark, and it wasn’t like she had anything better to do than sleep. 

Well, wasn’t this going to be an exciting few weeks. Wake up, stress over all of the possible ways this timeline could go wrong and already had gone wrong, eat, sleep.

God, she missed Henry and Charles. They could make anything bearable. 

Heading to the bedroom, she found a long-sleeved shirt and sweatpants and changed into them. Then, after a moment of staring forlornly at the empty, cold, dark bed, she grabbed as many blankets as she could with her telekinesis and headed back into the living room. She set a pillow down on one side of the couch and made a nest of blankets on top. The fire crackled comfortingly as she crawled underneath the covers and snuggled in.

The room, and by extension the cabin, was starting to warm up nicely. Heat leeched slowly into the blankets from the fire and her body. She shuffled until she was facing the fire, back pressed against the couch. The flames crackled and leapt like rabbits, turning gold and orange and red in the darkness of the room. 

She gazed into the fire.

“Hell no, I’m staying right on this couch where it’s WARM. I haven’t been warm in…” Ellie trailed off, the joking smile fading from her face. 

How long had it been? A year, at least. How… maddening.

It made something dark and horrible twist angrily in her chest.

“Okay, okay. Point taken. I was in there less than you,” Henry said, raising his hands in defeat. “But I’m not going to the bed. It’s way too cold. Plus, you banished me here, didn’t you?”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Fine. We’ll have to share, then.”

Henry grinned, a twinkle in his eyes. “Between a frozen bed and a warm couch and fire? I’ll take the couch any day.” He reached over and grasped the piles of blankets they had dragged in. He tossed a few to Ellie on the opposite side of the couch and took a few for himself, snuggling into the blankets with a contented sigh. Ellie did the same.

It was incredible, the lack of conscientiousness she had right now. She was way more comfortable with Henry than she had expected, especially considering that she hadn’t felt comfortable with anybody in years. She found, though, that she didn’t particularly care if she looked ridiculous. 

Maybe that was what happened when you survived something awful with another person. Or maybe it was something else, something she couldn’t place her finger on.

“...So this guy you have coming to get us,” she said. “What’s he like?”

Henry gave her a dazzling grin. “Oh, you’re gonna love him.”

Ellie floated another piece of wood onto the fire. She shifted and stared out of the window into the quickly darkening, cold night air. It was beginning to snow softly. She watched the fat snowflakes as they fell softly upon the already-coated ground, speckling the darkness like stars.

She missed Henry and Charles. But at least now, she was warm, relatively safe, and full.

An indeterminable amount of time later, her eyes slipped shut, and sleep poured over her.

Chapter Text

“...And we ended up here.”

The following silence was deafening. Well, it might have been, but Dave had an undercurrent of static flowing through and out of him at all times, causing a gentle white noise to fill the interior of the helicopter. That felt even more deafening, mainly because of how embarrassing it was.

Great job, Dave. Go ahead and make this even more awkward for everyone involved.

Occasionally, Galeforce would glance at him. That felt much less piercing as Rupert straight-up staring at him with an unreadable expression. Surprisingly, Henry was the only one who didn’t seem to be interested in Dave one bit. 

He was… grateful for that, he thought. Being in such close proximity to Henry made him uncomfortable for a reason he couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t like Henry was trying to hurt him or anything. For so long he had this sense of Henry, a terrified knowledge, and now having him stand so near-

He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it. If he was being honest, it was underwhelming. He expected something… more. A dramatic monologue. Sinister gazes. Something more intimidating than a kind smile and an interest not in evil but in talking with Charles. An almost relieving lack of interest in Dave himself.

That was also almost disappointing. Henry seemed so confident in the last timeline, and despite his words, he didn’t seem to be any less in control now. 

The strings surrounding Henry were gone. At least, for now they were. They were still there, just… invisible. Dormant. Slack, maybe. Dave, the coward he was, didn’t have the courage to ask about them.

Rupert kept staring at him. What was with that stare? It was beginning to freak Dave out. He didn’t look, even as he could feel the eyes on him. What would he say to Rupert? What could he say? He had a flimsy hope that they could still be friends, but at this point, he figured Rupert was more his assigned babysitter than anything. And besides, Rupert was going through a lot more than Dave was at the moment.

He had just found out that his best friend died. Charles was still alive, of course, but that didn’t lessen the impact, he was sure.

”…That’s certainly some story,” Galeforce said finally. 

His voice broke Dave out of his thoughts with an electric pop! Dave wasn’t sure he could flush any more with how his body had been changed, but from the confused, yet amused look Galeforce gave him, his body was certainly trying. He scrubbed a hand across his face.

”I- uh, yeah. Yeah, it is,” came Charles’s voice from the cockpit.

Charles, a mystery to Dave. At least he’d been able to learn some about the Toppat lead- no, Stickmin and Rose- through the CCC files and other avenues. They had been leaders. Public figures. Dave had at least found something about them. (Even if most of the CCC’s information was clearly biased and incorrect.) 

Charles, though?

He wasn’t sure how Charles fit into this whole equation. Ellie was a fellow thief, highly accomplished in her own right, and with some weird anomalous stuff going on. She was a parallel to Henry. Deadly, scary, all of those adjectives.

Charles seemed utterly normal.

”I promise, general- it’s all true. Even Rupert can- uh, well; I can just guarantee that it’s true.” Charles stumbled through the latter half of his sentence at the look Rupert gave him through the metal separating them, as if he could feel the glare. Dave was just relieved Rupert’s eyes had shifted off of him for a moment.

“Well, the past year of my life can’t be a lie,” Rupert growled. “Somehow. You-“ He narrowed his eyes at Henry, who raised an eyebrow. “What the hell did you do? With those CCC agents, right before all of this?”

“Reset,” Henry said coolly. He leaned back. “Like I did those past fifteen times. The time I died wasn’t intentional.”

Rupert was quiet for a moment, as if waiting for Henry to continue. Henry didn’t. Rupert laughed incredulously. “Just- just like that? To get your happy ending? With no thought of how it would affect anybody else?”

“Before this, nobody had ever been affected because none of them could remember. There was nobody else to consider.” Henry smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Besides, I doubt you liked the year before this- aside from your friendship with Dave here, of course.” He smiled more genuinely at Dave. Dave felt like simultaneously exploding and teleporting to a remote jungle. “I mean, Charles got kicked out of the military, there was a bunch of drama, and I think I heard the CCC was in your camp? How did that happen?”

“Well-“ Rupert stammered a little. “Maybe I didn’t like it. But that’s not for me to decide.” Before Henry could retaliate, Rupert pressed on. “Okay, fine. You’re the person who gets to decide. Then why didn’t you just not reset after the first year? Wasn’t that your happy ending?”

It was. He didn’t want to reset, Dave realized as Henry’s eyes went distant and a little sad. Dave glanced down at his hands. Like I didn’t want to phase, or teleport, or… do any of this, really.

“It was, Rupert,” he said, looking away. “I wouldn’t have if I could. It’s more complicated than that. Up until recently, I couldn’t reset willingly.”

All of the bluster seemed to leave Rupert’s sails. He paused. “…What?”

“More supernatural nonsense,” Galeforce muttered, though he was looking between Rupert and Henry with keen interest. 

A sharp one, the general. Curious. Risky, but clever enough to calculate how good his odds were and adjust. No wonder he had let Triple Threat work for the government. 

“We didn’t want to do any of this, Rupert,” Charles piped up. “I mean, you saw what happened last year- why the hell would we want to do that? Gah, I got chased out of my own military camp! Henry speedran being the chief of the Toppats! It was a nightmare. Triple Threat is our happy ending.”

“Everything Charlie said. The timeline that I died in- the last Triple Threat run- was supposed to be it ,” Henry added. “Somehow, for some reason, I couldn’t control resetting until then. The timeline always lasted around a year, and then I would feel this- this sensation. How do I describe it-“

“Like being yanked back by a super big string through a wind tunnel trying to blow you the other way?” Charles supplied.

“Exactly, dear.” Galeforce raised an eyebrow at Henry’s use of the pet name, but didn’t interrupt. “I couldn’t control when or where it happened. The first time, we were eating frozen pizza, of all things. Just got settled in, too.”

“It kept happening until a… year before last. The timeline that Henry died in,” Charles continued. “He could stop. It didn’t force him to reset anymore.”

“I’ve got no idea why,” Henry said. “I just thought it was lucky that it was the timeline I liked the most that I could choose whether to reset or not. And so I chose not to reset, and to remain in the normal flow of time.” He laughed darkly. “You can see how that turned out.”

Rupert sputtered. “But why? Why can you reset? Why couldn’t you stop? How do you not know anything about the things you can do?”

“Anomalous powers like these don’t exactly come with an instruction manual,” Henry said wryly. “I was just- pardon my French- bullshitting it until something stuck. Perhaps I ran out of endings to choose. Maybe I ran out of power. Maybe, god, I happened to be wearing something every year consistently enough, and it gave me the powers, and then I stopped wearing it. I truly don’t know. You can’t tell with these things.” 

Dave couldn’t help but feel a flash of sympathy. The frustration in his voice was all too familiar. Dave remembered agonizing nights in the beginning when his own powers were unknowable and unidentifiable, every new sensation sending a jolt of mind-boggling terror through him. While Dave’s powers were confusing, Henry was literally rewinding time. That had to have been scary.

It wasn’t like Dave’s powers were changing the landscape of the world. To have that much power was horrifying. How Henry could stand it was madness.

A little bit of guilt edged into the staticscape of his mind. For so long he had gone thinking Henry was the boogeyman when, in reality, he seemed to be just like Dave. Maybe not as neurotic after over a decade of doing this, but just as confused. 

Not as helpless either. Henry had friends, too. But the similarities were there.

“Uh-“ Dave tried not to clam up as everyone’s eyes swung to him. “I- Like me, Rupert. I don’t really know what’s happening to me, and, well, it’d kinda be weird if they knew but not me. I guess. We’re all just… trying to figure it out?”

“Yeah. I… guess so,” Rupert admitted. After a moment, he added gruffly, “Sorry.” He was still looking at Dave as he said it.

Henry smiled faintly. “Thank you. That about sums it up. Now, general-“

“Oh, goodie. Do I get to be part of the conversation again?” Galeforce said wryly. He chuckled at Rupert’s eyeroll. “My questions first, if you don’t mind. I’m sick of this supernatural silliness for right now, frankly, so I’ll stick to the mundane sort. What exactly am I supposed to tell my higher-ups that you did?”

Henry's answer was immediate and almost rehearsed. ”I rescued a hostage. He should have valuable information about the inside of the Toppats, not to mention that rescuing a hostage should be a priority for any government, so that should take care of the whole pardon thing.” Henry nodded at Dave. “I’m sure you don’t want to talk to a lot of people, so I can just give Galeforce some stuff I’ve learned as leader of the Toppats and a recruit on multiple occasions.”

“…Oh. That’s… very kind of you.” Dave felt a wave of relief so powerful he nearly had to sit down from how much his legs were shaking. He hadn’t even realized that he would have to- god forbid- talk to more people than just the people in this helicopter. Even talking to Henry was sending his head into spirals, threads of blue weaving through his grayscale mind.

Who knew that the person he had built up to be someone so grand, terrifying, and powerful was just a normal guy? I did! Shut up.

“Wow. You been practicing, kid?” Galeforce asked. 

“We had to convince you sometimes,” Charles said with a laugh. “We couldn’t tell you any of this, so it was a lot harder to convince you.”

A sudden thought occurred to Dave and he winced. “Uh, general?”

“Dave. I was wondering when you’d want to speak up.” Galeforce studied him critically. “You’re not… injured, are you?”

Dave blinked for a moment- I was just a prisoner; it’s not like they were torturing me- before he realized what Galeforce meant. ”Oh- heh. No, this is just how I normally look now. Sorry if I’m freaking you out.”

“You’re not,” Rupert said quickly.

Galeforce glanced almost in surprise at his soldier, but continued. “What do you need, son? Besides the, ah, the therapy from being kidnapped, a stable income, housing, food, water, and presumably a way to control your condition, if you’re similar to Henry.”

Dave hesitated. He hadn’t considered… any of that. 

A contestant always needs the perfect backdrop! Will our player choose wisely? Or choose certain death?

“Ow, feedback,” Charles muttered. At the same time, Rupert stiffened. 

“General, if it’s not too much trouble, could I- could I stay at your camp? At least for a while?” He tried not to think about the words. I don’t even want to know why the Announcer wants me there. 

“Yes. Yes, I think that will work just fine,” Galeforce said, stroking his beard as he mused. “That actually might do us some favors. It’d take a hot minute to get anything sorted for you, anyways, and you do seem to know young Rupert here well. Plus, I’d imagine that any real-world circumstance is going to be uncomfortable for you right now.”

“He can bunk with me,” Rupert said immediately. He looked away, embarrassed, when Dave looked at him.

Rupert was being exceptionally kind to him. Everyone else seemed to think he was tetchy and rude, but Dave couldn’t see it. Rupert was about the kindest person he’d ever met.

“It would be safest, too,” Henry said. Dave blinked in surprise at him before he realized what Henry was referring to.

“I used to just take night jobs and cover up well, but that was before all of this… I can’t control it any more. It’s too severe right now.” Dave glanced down at his hands, which shimmered in and out of view, grainy like an old screen.

“Not to mention the CCC would be on you in a heartbeat,” Henry said darkly. “I don’t know if you’ve had any run-ins with them, but they’re not kind to people like us.”

Dave and Rupert winced in tandem. “That’s actually how we… met,” Rupert said. “The CCC brought him to us while looking for Charles. You guys were off in an airship, or whatever.”

“What an origin story! Aw, that reminds me of me and El,” Charles laughed.

Henry whistled. “What did you do after you broke out of the Toppat airship to do that, Dave?”

“Uh.” Oh god; awkward. “I broke into a CCC base to- to research some things.” There, that was nice and vague.

Henry broke into a bright grin. “Oh, that’s nice. Very nice.”

“Mhm,” Dave squeaked.

“So, Hen, about our other concern?” Charles prompted. Dave jolted slightly as the helicopter swung to a stop, slowly and gently beginning to lower. Looking out one of the windows, Dave saw an expanse of rich green broken up by a clearing of brown, with clustered buildings creating a small area resembling a town. The camp.

“Actually,” Charles continued, “How are we gonna hide Dave?”

There was a beat of silence as the helicopter touched down. Dave sucked in a breath, anxiety spiking through his chest. So many people, so many eyes on him, and so few ways to hide.

Rupert tried to put a reassuring hand on Dave’s shoulder, but it phased through three times before Dave finally managed to solidify his shoulder long enough to allow it to happen. He wanted to curl up and die of embarrassment.

“I’ve, uh, I’ve actually seen the inside of General- uh, Captain Galeforce’s office. I can teleport there,” he said quickly.

“That’ll work for now,” Galeforce said thoughtfully. “We’ll have to work something out more permanently if you’ll be staying here, though. I wouldn’t want you to have to tiptoe around everybody, but I really don’t know how I would explain this to the other soldiers, much less my superiors.” He made a face, seemingly at himself. “God almighty. Is this my life now?”

“It gets stranger, general,” Henry said with a laugh. “I would brace yourself.”

Dave concentrated as they spoke. He pictured the four beige walls, the deep wooden desk, the cushioned chairs, and felt himself begin to fade.

“Hm,” he heard Henry say softly. 

“Wait-" Rupert began, but it was already too late. 

The strings were visible, wrapped around Henry and dark fingers, for an instant before Dave was gone. For the briefest of moments Dave was flung into a familiar river, rushing along the current of static, before he was standing somewhere else. 

And by the sudden gagging he heard, Rupert had come with him.

“Oh, no- Rupert, I’m so sorry; I forgot you were holding onto me and I just-“

“It’s fine,” Rupert muttered. Dave felt a stab of guilt as Rupert leaned away, clearly struggling to keep his composure. After a few moments he straightened. "Gah. I never get used to that.”

Dave nearly replied, but something in Rupert’s tone made him pause. For a heartbeat it had almost felt like Rupert… sounded like him, or something. A touch of overlay to his vocal chords. If Rupert was feeling like him… that’s really bad.

“Rupert? You’re not… feeling weird, are you?”   he asked.

“I mean, nauseated,” Rupert said. “I don’t know how you stand it. Just makes my stomach turn inside out.”

“Oh. Okay.” Not the answer I was looking for. Well, Rupert didn’t seem used to teleporting, which had to be a good sign. One of Dave’s first signs of him completely going off the deep end was barely noticing the effects of teleporting. So Rupert was probably fine. Just fine.

You can keep telling yourself that, contestant. But I think he’ll be playing the game very soon! I can also keep telling you to shut up.

“How about you?” Rupert asked. Dave jumped. “Are you okay? After… all of this madness?” He flopped down in one of the overly cushioned chairs, sighing heavily. “It’s enough to make me feel like I’m going crazy, and I’m not the one with the freaky powers.”

"…Uh.” That was a very good question. What was he feeling right now? 

He felt like he should be more anxious. God knew that he felt enough on a daily basis. Between meeting Henry, remembering everything from the last year, being back in that Toppat airship, having to meet new people, and the knowledge that he would probably be hiding for the majority of his time here… It was a lot. All of it combined would normally send him into a panic attack.

But when he looked inside himself, he felt only relief.

"I don’t really know,” he replied slowly. “A lot has been happening, but… I don’t know. I’m just glad to be out of the airship.” A beat. “And to remember you.”

Rupert flinched. Dave frowned, wondering what he said wrong, but Rupert didn’t comment. He just shifted so that his legs were flung over one armrest and his back against another, watching Dave with that familiar scowl. It looked more pensive now.

“I don’t know, either,” Rupert said. “I think I’m mad at Charles, and pissed at Henry, but- I don’t know. I don’t know!” He dropped his head back against the chair, gazing up at the ceiling. “I don’t even know why I’m mad at Henry anymore, really.”

“Yeah. Me neither."

“I’m, um. I’m happy to be able to remember you, too.” Rupert stared fiercely at the ceiling as he said it. 

Dave smiled. “Thanks, Rupert. That means a lot.”

For a little while, they were both silent. Dave was glad for the quiet. After the chaos of the past few hours, any moment not filled with groundbreaking information on the nature of reality was a nice one.

The only sound was his static. Dave felt the anxiety slowly slip away, draining out of him like water through a sieve.

“Okay!” Both Dave and Rupert jumped as the door suddenly swung open. A pilot- oh, that must be Charles; Dave recognized his face from the CCC’s files and voice from the helicopter- stepped inside, a slightly manic look in his eyes. “Let’s get this party started!”

“A little warning, Charles?” Rupert said wryly. “I think Dave got so startled that he nearly teleported to the City.”

“Oh. Shoot. Sorry.” Charles shot Dave an apologetic, lopsided grin. 

“It’s fine.” Dave forced himself to become nearly completely visible again, though pieces of him continued to phase in and out. “I’m used to it.”

Henry slipped in behind Charles. “Move out of the way, dear. You’re blocking the whole entrance.”

“Oh, whoops.”

Charles followed Henry to one side of the room as Galeforce stepped inside, again casting Henry a strange look. Henry leaned against the wall next to Charles, bumping their shoulders together, and Charles wrapped an arm around his shoulders. 

Galeforce shut the door. He sighed. ”Alright. Wow. This was… not the day I expected or intended it to be.” Slowly he walked over to his desk and slumped in it, pinching the bridge between his eyes.

“…We’re sorry?” Charles said hesitantly. 

“Presumably, none of this is necessarily your fault,” Galeforce said. He opened his eyes and gazed wearily at the pair. “You said you wanted to talk to me about something? Beyond… whatever that mission was?”

“Yeah. It’s about Ellie,” said Charles. 

Right, Ellie Rose. The Right Hand Lady. Dave had almost forgotten about her in all of this chaos, even though she was arguably the most dangerous out of the three. Even more so now that Henry didn’t seem to have total control over his powers. Ellie seemed to be doing just fine with hers.

Galeforce raised an eyebrow. “Ellie…?”

“Rose,” Henry said. “Yes, the infamous criminal, and yes, the one currently in the Wall. You liked her more than even Charlie sometimes.”

“Did I now?” Galeforce sighed. He waved a hand defeatedly. “I might as well. Tell me, Stickmin and Charlie both. I assume you bring her up because you want her out. So why should I get her out, or let you get her out?”

“We took down the Toppat rocket with her,” Charles said. “And I know it’s only in its planning stages right now, and you guys probably don’t even know it’s gonna be a thing, but I promise. You do not want that thing in the air. In the government years we didn’t take it down-“ His face darkened. “It wasn’t fun for us, general.”

Henry snapped his fingers. ”Exactly. With all due respect, general, I personally think you’d be stupid to not get a telekinetic powerhouse on your side. With only me, her, and Charlie, we managed to take down the Toppat rocket. She’s loyal- to Charlie, at least- she genuinely seemed to like working for the government, and did I mention the telekinesis?”

“That all sounds lovely, Stickmin, but I can’t exactly break her out,” Galeforce said, leaning over the table and pressing his hand into the wood. “I’m still a captain. Not only that, but Ellie Rose is infamous. Dangerous. They’re not going to allow me to bring her out. The only reason I managed with you is that you were at large, and potentially amiable enough to be a recruit.” He huffed and sat back. “Even if it’s not what happened, the reasoning is still there.”

Oh, I don’t think you’ll need to break her out! How utterly ridiculous. Where are my ladies? Girl power, am I right?

Dave hesitated. He touched his head, static flaring to life in his mind. “What…?” he whispered to himself. 

Don’t be stupid! A lady like that doesn’t need any help! Damsels in distress are so out- damsels causing distress are in!

Beside him, Rupert shifted uneasily and rubbed a hand against his temple. Dave wondered if the teleportation had caused a headache.

“Guys?” For once, Dave didn’t flinch as the others’ eyes landed on him. “I think- I think something happened. Something big, to do with your friend.”

“Oh, god,” Galeforce muttered.

Henry suddenly looked worried. He straightened as Charles frowned. “What do you mean? Do you have some kind of, like, I don’t know, clairvoyance or something?”

“Kind of? It’s hard to explain; I’ll do it later.” Dave winced as static flared to life through his mind with such power that everything was briefly drowned out. And in that static- the moving, twisting shapes of lines breaking apart from their siblings, forming momentarily a motorcycle, on which a figure sat. Blue, green, and red lines of lightning seemed to twist out of her, and then-

He was back. He was back and Rupert was standing, holding his shoulders. (How was Rupert-?)

“What do you know?” Henry asked, his worry giving way for intensity.

“I don’t think your friend is in the Wall,” Dave said faintly.

SLAM!  

Dave jumped as the door slammed open. Instinctively, he teleported behind Rupert, hiding as another figure skidded into the room. 

“CAPTAIN!” the figure shouted. He was wearing the same military garb as Rupert, with carrot-orange hair contrasting heavily with the dark green. Pinpricks of sweat shone on his forehead. His wild eyes landed on Galeforce. Meanwhile, Rupert shifted slightly to hide Dave better, eyes narrowing at the intruder. Charles shifted away from Henry, removing his arm.

Galeforce stood, chair squealing. “Calvin. Control yourself, please. We have guests here.”

Calvin, chest heaving, seemed to finally glance around the room. He shifted uncomfortably as his eyes landed on Henry, who gave him a small wave with an easy grin. He steeled himself and looked back to Galeforce.

“What’s got you so riled up that you have to bust in here all willy-nilly?” Galeforce said.

“It’s bad,” said a new voice. Two other soldiers appeared to catch up to Calvin, also heaving for breath. The one who spoke, a woman with dark hair, flashed Charles an uneasy grin. “Hey, guys. Calvin’s just- super fast.”

“Hey, Amelia,” Charles said. “Something wrong?”

“I know you guys just got back, but it’s urgent news,” Calvin continued. “Captain, there’s been a breakout at the Wall.”

There was a moment of stunned silence. Dave wasn’t surprised at all. 

“…Oh,” Charles said slowly. He laughed nervously. “Legit?”

Henry looked startled. He stepped away from the wall, toward Calvin, eyes dark. “A breakout? Are you sure?”

Calvin hesitated. Galeforce waved a hand dismissively with a slight growl. “Go ahead; answer his questions. He’d probably know the most about it, anyway, being a retired thief.”

Henry flashed Galeforce a smile. “You won’t want me being retired entirely, g- captain.”

“I’m sure I won’t,” Galeforce sighed.

“Uh… okay.” Calvin shifted nervously as someone who looked just like him pressed in behind him. “Yeah, captain. A breakout. Massive one. Someone beat up the warden, Dmitri Petrov, in his own prison yard! Holy shit! It’s chaos. The actual breakout probably happened a couple of hours ago, but since it’s so remote, nobody knew it happened until Warden Dmitri and his assistant Grigori managed to call for backup.”

“Who incited it?” Henry asked.

“A… a woman with red hair. According to some prisoners that the police up there managed to round up, and some Wall guards who managed to escape the carnage, they think she was the one who fought Dmitri, too. But she was gone before anybody else got to the Wall.” Calvin shook his head. “We don’t have barely anything, sir. It’s all chaos.”

“That can’t be right,” Henry murmured. He turned abruptly to Charles, and they shared a secret, worried look.

Dave knew, suddenly and certainly, that the breakout shouldn’t have happened. It wasn’t supposed to happen. Not yet, at least.

After all, Henry was supposed to do it.

Galeforce was silent for a long time, staring down at the desk. The soldiers’ eyes were focused on him, their nerves palpable through the thick tension in the air. 

“General,” said Charles softly. Henry turned to look at Galeforce imploringly.

“Wait, why is he here?” Amelia muttered to Konrad. “Isn’t he that thief guy?”

Galeforce snapped to attention, eyes darting up to the three soldiers. ”You three are dismissed,” he said. “Thank you for telling me, Calvin. You would do well to go get some food and rest up before we’re inevitably called out as damage control for this whole mess. I still have an airship mission to report on.” He sunk back into his seat, leaning back and staring listlessly up at the ceiling.

Calvin startled. “Uh- right, captain. Yeah. Sorry for the interruption. We’ll just, uh-“ He backed up, shoving the other two out. He cast one more long, confused look at Henry before carefully shutting the door.

“Now you don’t have to break her out,” Charles said immediately. “And we know where she is.”

“For god’s sake,” Galeforce groaned.

Rupert turned to face Dave as the two continued arguing. “Hey, are you alright? After that voice and all.”

Dave paused, then nodded. “You remember when it happened before. At least this wasn’t, like, too terrible. Like it’s a breakout, sure; but apparently it happens every year.”

Rupert frowned. “I guess. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t… I don’t know, in pain or anything.”

Dave smiled. “No, I’m not. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He glanced at Henry, Charles, and Galeforce. “I think we should go get you settled in before I go braindead listening to them argue.”

Dave laughed. “Yeah. That sounds nice.”

“General, we’re gonna- uh-“ Rupert stopped as Galeforce waved a hand. 

“Go, Rupert. That’s fine.” Then, he turned back to Henry and Charles, and sighed. “Look. I like you, Henry. I really do. And Charlie. You’ve been my favorite for years. So believe me when I say that the consequences are going to be dire if you fuck this up.”

Both Henry and Charles broke into wide grins. Charles squeezed Henry’s shoulder. “I promise, general,” Charles said excitedly. “You won’t regret taking Ellie in. We’ll set out first thing tomorrow.”

Galeforce rubbed his temples with a hand. “I better not regret it, or I’m killing you both personally with my bare hands. Go.”

Rupert pulled Dave out of Galeforce’s office. Henry and Charles darted out after them, heading the other way. They were whispering conspiratorially, their heads ducked close together and Charles’s arm wrapped around Henry’s shoulders. Galeforce, back in his office, dragged a hand down his face. 

“Let’s go and just leave him to his misery,” Rupert murmured. “I bet he’s got a lot to think about.”

Dave followed Rupert down the winding hallways. Like the general, he had a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

Ellie awoke on the couch with a backache and a mild chill. She was completely bundled up in all of the blankets she had gathered up, curled up tightly into a little ball. Groggily she pushed her head out of her blanket fort and gazed around at the safehouse. 

The cold instantly hit her. She shivered and dragged the blankets up to her chin, sitting up. The fire was naught but ash. No wonder the house was freezing.

She huffed. Getting warm meant relighting and stoking the fire, and that meant getting up, which meant getting colder. The cold, seeping into and freezing her bones into place, blackening her fingers and icing her lungs. Winter could be tolerable- with friends and holidays and her partners to distract her- but everything else about it was a miserable affair.

Winter was the prime culprit of forcing her to stay inside to- get this- actually be warm. Which meant she was stuck inside, in an enclosed space.

Did she mention that it was cold?

Thank god that it was summer at the government camp. The eternal winter of the Wall was spiteful to her and only her. 

The windows revealed a clear morning. Already the sun was beaming brightly down onto strikingly white snow. It wasn’t too early- probably around nine or ten, if she had to guess. Definitely far too late to be getting up at a government camp, but whatever. I deserve this after the day I’ve had.

As she dragged herself up and got dressed, she dimly hoped that Henry and Charles would be a bit faster this time about picking her up. After all, she had already broken out, hadn’t she?

She paused as she put her shirt on. If the Wall breakout was always meant to happen one way or another, had she already… completed it? Did that mean that Henry didn’t have to? Or could only Henry himself meet those requirements, and he’d have to get kidnapped by the Wall even though Ellie had already broken out?

Hell, maybe Ellie had broken out before the airship mission. Maybe this was all wrong.

Whatever. She wasn’t going to think about it right now. She had done enough thinking on this subject for a lifetime. Nothing was going to get answered (or at least talked over) until she met back up with the boys.

She instead focused on reigniting the fire. A few sparks, a few breaths, and a few logs later it was a cheerful little blaze, and Ellie moved to work on breakfast while the living room was heating up.

The cabin was, as she suspected, woefully understocked. There were some non-perishables, some basics that were far out of date, and some military-grade food that would probably live through the apocalypse. Most looked so unappetizing that her appetite dimmed. She might have to actually consider that cross-country road trip in a couple of weeks once the searches died down. It was an unappealing thought, sure, but it was better than being here. Maybe she could even catch Henry after the airship mission and figure out a way to earn a pardon.

That, however, was a plan for later. The Wall was still in panic mode. She sighed heavily and selected a packet of oatmeal, grabbing a bowl out of the cupboard and heading to the sink. They would probably be sending out search parties across the land for miles. It would probably die down in about a week or so, once the men assigned figured out that laying low in a bar and sending in bad reports was preferable to long hours of trudging through snow and ice, but the boys constantly told her she needed to be more careful. At least a week was necessary.

She turned on the faucet. It dribbled a little before shooting out black, chunky water. Ellie grimaced and waited for a few minutes, watching the water eventually stop sputtering and transition into a clear stream. Then she watched suspiciously for a few more minutes before reluctantly dipping a pot in. 

The ancient stove was working, thankfully. She set a pot with water on it and left it to heat up.

She stood staring at the pot for a moment. Then, feeling a little like a toddler, she turned away to find something to do. “Watched pot never boils,” she muttered to herself, to make her feel a little less like one.

Jeez. No idea how people do meditation or whatever. This sucks. The distraction of phones was never appealing- the Wall had killed any desire for that; plus phones had trackers that made being a professional thief inconvenient- but the lack of stimuli in a frankly very unpleasant environment was grating.

She wandered into the living room. The couch, the doors outside and to the bedroom and bathroom, the fireplace with a cheerfully roaring fire, and a bookshelf. The bookshelf would have to do. She wasn’t a reader necessarily, but times like these, as well as long-scale missions back in Triple Threat (hopefully later this year, too), gave her an appreciation for offline activities. Sometimes she and Henry would have a little book club where they’d read the same series over the course of the mission. They would discuss the books if they were good, or compete to find the most egregious sin if they were bad.

She trotted over to the shelf. Brushing a hand over the dusty shelving, she scanned the titles for anything interesting. Bridges Throughout History. Boring. The Genteel Life of Alabaster. Oh, that could be- nope, some government dude. Just Us. Ew, romance. Who’d want to spend hours reading two people pining over each other? Get a room. 

Much of the other titles were the same: uncomfortably long books on history, romance, romance, more history, some poetry to spice things up, history, something interes- that wasn’t action, that was more romance!

She huffed to herself. Could a girl not enjoy some nice old-fashioned action and adventure? She wanted to see some teeth get knocked out, dammit! Some drama! Stakes!

She was nearly ready to give up when finally, something caught her eye.

Hm. Her hand stilled over a title. The Supernatural and Technology Aren’t Opposites: Discussions of the Strange and Mechanical. She squinted at the slightly lower lettering. By Gabe Gears.

She paused, then let out an incredulous laugh that echoed through the empty house. “Gabe…” she muttered to herself. “Couldn’t be Gadget Gabe, could it?”

Henry had regaled them with many tales of a Gadget Gabe invention he summoned gone wrong. Somehow, despite Henry’s seemingly infinite supply of things to summon, his power tended to stray toward this one man’s unfortunate creations. 

Which, she supposed, was a power that she had inherited, too. 

Nope. Not thinking about that. Instead, she pulled the book down from its place. Yes please; she would love to read about one misfortunate man’s venture into everything strange. 

Trotting back into the kitchen (the pot still hadn’t warmed up to her liking), she flipped open the inside cover. Maybe there would actually be the name of the guy who owned this place. And, despite everything, she’d like to know who she was freeloading off of.

She paused as her eyes scanned the inside cover. She squinted at the inside of the book. Written in neat, gold script across the inside cover was a familiar cursive scrawl: Property of the Archivists. If lost, please return to the Archive.

Ellie blinked in surprise. The Archivists here, of all places. In the safehouse she and Henry had been in for years, all without them noticing. 

I guess we never really had a reason to look through the books. That would have been a helpful bargaining chip. Could still be, if we need it.

The Archivists- an elusive, anomalous organization led by its esoteric Librarian and her brother, Pietro. They were weird, but usually friendly. 

Well, friendly was the wrong word. They were cordial to other people and organizations. In the grand scheme of things, they were primarily interested in their infinite library and the upkeep of the various anomalous items they collected and preserved.

They weren’t hostile to outside allies. Henry had done several trade deals with them for information or access to the Library for one reason or another. The Witch from the Toppats knew of them. The CCC was all too familiar with them- the Archives, being a treasure trove of anomalous items, was a prime target for the CCC. Ellie could only fantasize about them tearing each other apart.

Her personal relationship with them was… weird. They often seemed more interested in studying Henry than they did considering him a person. Once Henry would make it clear that he was only there to browse their collection, the Librarian would lose interest and drift off, leaving him only with the occasional attendant spotted between the bookshelves. Ellie was just thankful that her own powers hadn’t been revealed to them yet.

She gingerly set the book down as the pot bubbled to the right temperature. After she had made the oatmeal, pot resting in the sink, she sat down to eat and begin reading. Whether or not it was the Archivists’ book, she was going to find out what ‘wisdom’ Gadget Gabe had on the nature of anomalies.

She had made it nearly through the increasingly bizarre introduction (of which Gabe discovered his first anomaly and decided to figure out how it worked) when a dim noise caught her attention.

She paused, spoon halfway to her mouth. She set it down slowly, and she slid the book into her jacket. She tilted her head, listening intently. 

Chop-chop-chop-chop.

Ellie’s eyes widened. She leapt out of the chair and raced to the porch outside, heart pounding. The chill hit her like a truck and she staggered to a stop, momentarily frozen in place. Gritting her teeth, she forced her icy limbs to move, and she headed to the edge of the porch. She made sure she stayed safely under the protection of the overhang. 

Had the Wall found her? A helicopter- she knew they had one or two; Dmitri was always boasting about being able to find inmates anywhere if they did get out. At the jolt of adrenaline, a gentle simmering feeling began to pulse through her chest. She flexed her fingers and felt the unnatural force press up against her skin.

The helicopter was getting louder. She peeked out from her safe overhang, glancing toward the forest and the ocean. The ocean had her helicopter- it sped over the waters, heading straight for the safehouse. 

She furrowed her brow. The forest made more sense for a Wall-oriented helicopter. There was no reason to go anywhere over the ocean unless they had a different destination in mind, which was frankly just not the case. The helicopter was heading straight for her.

Which meant… Charlie? 

No way. Not this fast. There’s no way Henry could have gotten- 

You know what? Whatever. She was already beginning to feel giddy at the prospect of getting out of here.

The helicopter flew closer. She grinned as she spotted its military green hue, complete with a star on the side representing the government.

Oh, sweet salvation. She raced from the cabin, skidding to a stop a few feet from the edge of the cliffside. Her jacket was tossed and turned by the violent chop-chop-chop of the helicopter’s blades as it beat above, settling down in the snow between her and the cabin. She waited a moment, arm held up in front of her face to shield herself from the wind and the snow, and lowered it as the helicopter’s blade ground to a halt.

A door on the side slid open. Out of it Henry hopped, and within a few strides he crashed into her, wrapping his arms around her. Ellie let out a surprised laugh, having to lock her legs against Henry’s assault to avoid falling over. She hugged him back and buried her face in his shirt. 

For a moment, they stayed like that, breathing each other in. Though realistically it had barely been a day since they had last seen each other, to Ellie it felt like a lifetime. Everything’s gone so wrong that- oh shoot, he doesn’t know about that!

She patted Henry’s back, carefully dislodging herself from his embrace. She held his shoulders at arms length, and then, at the same time, they both shouted, “Something went wrong!”

She stared at Henry. Henry stared back at her. The grimace he was making did not reassure her one bit. 

“I know,” he said. “You broke out of the Wall. I wasn’t supposed to get kidnapped by them for another- another few weeks at least. How did you break out? Not that you couldn’t, but-“

“I kind of have your powers,” she said. “Whoops?”

“Well, Rupert and- wait, what?” Henry stared at her in utter bafflement. “Back up. What?”

“I don’t know how else to explain it, dude. I have your powers. ”

Henry’s mouth opened listlessly. “Wha- no, I still have my powers. And I sure didn’t get yours. We didn’t swap. You- have them? How is that even possible?”

“To be honest, I was hoping you’d have an answer for that,” she said worriedly. “You don’t know?”

“Hell no.”

“Well.” Ellie made a face. “There goes that, then.”

“Wait wait wait,” Henry said, pulling back and shaking his head. “We’ve-”

“El!” Ellie looked up at the shout, spotting Charles grinning and waving like a doofus at her. Thankfully, he was sling-less, arm technically never broken in the first place. She let out a fond laugh and waved back. 

Henry grasped her arm, brows furrowed in deep contemplation. “That is bizarre. Uh- let’s get in the helicopter. We’ve got plenty of time to discuss this on the way back to base in the warmth of a helicopter. God, I forgot how much I hated this place.”

Ellie’s smile faded. She squinted at Henry’s back as he began trotting toward the helicopter, pulling her along. “We’re not going to the rocket?” she asked.

Henry looked back with a tight smile. “Darling, the rocket won’t be built for another several months at least. Possibly longer, maybe more than a year with how accelerated this timeline seems to be.”

Ellie opened her mouth. Then she closed it with a snap. “Oh.”

“Hey! How are you?” Charles swept her up in a hug the moment her feet touched the helicopter, lifting her off the ground. She laughed and managed to reach around and pat his back through the rib-crushing embrace.

“Oh, y’know, just trying not to get crushed by a certain government pilot,” she said casually, smirking as he immediately dropped her with a sheepish laugh.

“Charlie, we’ve got a problem,” Henry said as he clambered in. 

Charles blinked as Henry swept past. “Wait, what? Already? What is it? Worse than ours?”

“Wait, you guys have been experiencing weird stuff too?” Ellie exclaimed. 

“Let’s get into the air. We’ll explain everything there, and you can tell us what happened in the Wall.”

Charles’s smile faded. “Did… something happen, bud? Besides the obvious, that you, uh, you shouldn’t be out yet.”

“It’s got a lot to do with that, actually,” Ellie said. 

Charles frowned, but climbed back into the cockpit. Henry and Ellie followed. Henry motioned her into the copilot’s seat and hung onto the backrest. Charles sat with a huff and cracked his knuckles and his neck before flicking a few levers and spinning several knobs, the helicopter roaring to life. Within moments, Charles was pulling back on the yoke and lifting off into the air, speeding off over the glittering ocean. 

Ellie sighed in relief as the warm air of the cockpit filled her lungs. Even the rumbling of the helicopter felt like a hug. “Man, am I glad to not have to stay in the safehouse for months. I was seriously considering heading down there already.”

“Speaking of that,” Henry said, perching on the copilot’s armrest. “What happened?”

“Yeah, spill!” Charles said.

“Oh, right. Where do I begin… Well, I woke up, like you guys did, and then I got the urge to reach into my pocket...” 

Ellie spent the next several minutes detailing the strange voice in her head, the miraculous conjuration of cards that gave her objects, and her subsequent escape from the Wall. All through it, Henry and Charles were completely silent.

“...And then I got to the safehouse, where I slept. You guys showed up today.”

She sighed and fell quiet. For a moment, the only sounds were the beating of the helicopter blades and the tight knot of anxiety in her chest.

“Well,” Charles said, exhaling in a woosh. “That’s, uh… that can’t be good.”

“No,” Henry said firmly. “We don’t know whether it’s good or bad. It could be either. While, yes, Ellie escaped early, she did have my powers while doing it. That’s a consistent piece through the timelines- me escaping with my powers. As for Ellie- we don’t- we don’t know.”

“The real question is how?” Charles asked. “I mean, if the criteria is ‘doing the thing Henry did’, then shouldn’t I have gotten the powers last year? When I did the airship mission?”

“Well, at that point, I had already broken Ellie out of the Wall,” Henry said.

Charles wilted. “Oh, yeah.”

“Okay, so we don’t know what caused it,” Ellie interjected. “That’s fine and dandy. We can figure that out eventually. What I wanna know is what the hell was up with that voice in my head.”

“That is weird,” Charles mused. “Hen’s never mentioned a voice.”

Beside her, Henry flinched. She craned her head to look at him. He carefully avoided her gaze.

“Hen,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “What’s that look for, Henry?”

“Uhoh,” Charles muttered.

“I haven’t been… entirely forthcoming about my powers,” Henry said slowly.

At the looks they both gave him, he quickly continued. “I always meant to, but there was never a good time, and, well… I really never thought we’d end up in a predicament where I would actually have to explain it.”

“You have the voice? You’ve always had the voice?” she exclaimed.

“Yes,” Henry said, “and it’s not just a voice.”

“Ohhhhhhh boy,” Charles said, chuckling. Like he always did when he got nervous, there was a wide smile plastered over his face. 

“Wait, wait, wait-” Ellie leaned forward, dragging her hands over her face. “The hell do you mean, ‘ it’s not just a voice’? Is there a- a person in my head? In our heads?”

Henry swallowed. “Just… let me explain the full story, okay? Don’t freak out. I’ve had it for… almost two decades now, and we've always been able to work this out.”

“‘We’ve’,” Ellie commented. Henry reached down and grasped her hand, squeezing it. To her surprise, it almost seemed to tremble slightly.

“Please?” he whispered.

She stared at him. “Alright.”

Henry swallowed and took a deep breath. Then, he began.

“I had broken into a bank. Turns out that banks have alarms, no matter how you get in there, and not even a good lawyer can get you out of a prosecution based on camera footage and prints, so I was sent to prison. The attempt was nonviolent, but I was going to be moved to the Wall anyway. I was miserable. I had resigned myself to my fate when… a package arrived. 

“It was an ordinary-looking package. I don’t think the guards even checked it. They just put it into my cell and left. I didn’t have any relatives, all my friends from high school had no doubt written me off as a failure- in short, nobody would have sent me this package.” He laughed lightly. “I still opened it without a second thought. Inside was… something. I learned later that was when the Narrator bound itself to me.”

“The Narrator?” Ellie asked. “Is that its name?” She hesitated. “I mean, it did narrate me dying…”

“That’s what I’ve been calling it, anyway,” Henry said. “It’s never given me a name. Anyway, the package had a cake, inside which I got my first choices. Several of them killed me. Through the Narrator’s power, I suppose, time was reset to before I died, allowing me to pick a different offered item or action. Conversely, when I escaped, the world reset back to the beginning, and I had to choose a different option until all were exhausted.” 

He reached over and patted Charles’s shoulder. “It happened several times, in minor instances, after that- times where I might have died changed by a sudden choice.  I figured things out about ‘my’ powers- what choices usually would work, what kinds of situations triggered the choices, that nobody else remembered the stretches of time that had been reset except for me. It wasn’t until the airship mission that I met someone who did.”

“I thought you could reset on command,” Ellie asked. “After, like, storing up power. Does the Narrator do that?”

“The year-long resets,” Henry said. “I never knew why, but after a certain point- usually after whatever we did after the Wall breakout- the Narrator would reset. I figured out that it was around a year before the Narrator had the power to reset again. That’s why I reset after the first Triple Threat- quite literally, I had no choice. The Narrator did that. I only use the powers that have been given to me. Usually, it leaves me alone to choose, but for some reason, this was different.

“After the first Triple Threat, and then the next pathway, and then the next, I realized its motivations. It wanted to see everything. It wanted to see each pathway, each year, what ripple effects my actions had on the narrative. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted to stay with you two. I wanted to… go back to that first timeline.”

He smiled grimly. “It talked to me a few times, moreso in the early days before I met you two, when I had no idea what was going on. It would explain my powers; make fun of me on the FAIL screens, of course. Sometimes, very rarely, it seemed to want to just listen to me.

“That was when I dragged it out from deep inside of me and told it I wanted to make a deal.

“I would do what it wanted: these years and years of different choices, all endings played out- as long as it gave me what I wanted in the end: the happy ending with you two, in that first route. I didn’t care if I had the powers or not after that. I just wanted to be with you two.”

He laughed, glancing away. “I won’t deny that it was a win-win for me. Many of those options were fun. We stole things, we explored, we went on missions. I couldn’t have predicted the… the bad ones. Still, at the time, it was a good deal. And it still is.”

Ellie opened her mouth, but Henry beat her to it. “The only time the Narrator spoke to me after that was the first day of last year. I don’t know if it has emotions, but it did seem apologetic that the world had been reset again. See, I wasn’t supposed to die like that. They killed me prematurely, with the Narrator still in my head. It reset and saved my life. I’m still not sure what exactly happened. I died, and the world reset, even though the Narrator didn’t have to do that. Maybe it wanted to. Maybe it realized it could see more by resetting the world again. Who knows?”

Henry fell silent. He glanced over at Ellie. “Any questions?”

Ellie sputtered. “Uh- yeah! Yeah, a lot, actually! What the fuck, Henry?”

Henry shrugged. “I really, truly, don’t know. It’s not like I thought this was ever going to come out- I always had it under control, at least from my side of things. The Narrator was predictable, at least. Until now.”

“Yeah, why Ellie? And not me?” Charles asked. 

“Dude, the powers are not that cool,” Ellie said.

“I’m just asking!” Charles protested.

“Again, I don’t know. I don’t even know what the Narrator is, much less what it’s like. It’s not exactly chatty. For all I know, it’s just as much an anomaly as the rest of us. It might be sentient, might not. Maybe it just likes Ellie. Why it would give her powers now, I don’t know.”

“Wait, don’t you still have your powers?” Ellie asked.

Henry nodded. “We were using my powers all throughout the day yesterday, which seems to be when you were using them.”

“So it can power two of us? Why wasn’t it before?”

“Again, I don’t know. Maybe it wanted to spice things up since we’re doing a Triple Threat run again. I feel like that’s the most likely answer. Technically, it’s not violating our deal. We’re still ending up in Triple Threat, right?”

“If everything goes well,” Charles said. “Not to be a bummer, but the rocket hasn’t even been built yet. That’s what we’re supposed to do- right? Prevent the rocket from taking off?”

“We’ll figure it out,” said Henry, pinching the bridge between his eyes. “Perhaps we can do something different. For now, let’s say we’ll prevent the rocket from taking off, and assume that’s our mission. Sound good?”

“We’ve been doing this for years. Might as well continue now,” Ellie said, flopping back into her seat. She buried the palms of her hands in her eyes. “Hooooooly shit. It’s, what- like eleven? And I’m already ready for this day to be over. The voice in my head is secretly some kind of god-thing, it’s been fueling you for the entire time I’ve known you, and the CCC still thinks you’re a mastermind with world-ending powers.”

“It does seem to mind the world ending,” Henry said, sighing. He leaned back, wrapping an arm around Ellie. She squeezed his hand. “It’s never let them end the world before.”

“Wait- they’ve ended the world?” Charles said, alarmed. “Oh, god. Thank god I’ve never remembered through those little mini-death-resets before.”

“Speaking of that,” Ellie said, a thought occurring to her. She craned her head up at Henry. “I didn’t notice any, like, blips in time, or any of that. Did you?”

“No?” Henry responded.

“Well, I guess we can only remember our own deaths,” Ellie said. “That’s good, at least.”

“But I did too, though,” Charles murmured.

There was a moment of silence. The helicopter began gently banking.

“Alright, guys. Let’s… get ready to try and explain all of this,” Charles said, his usual energy seeping back into his voice. “We’re about to land.”

Ellie sat bolt upright, nearly tipping Henry over. “Wait! Oh, shoot. How are we gonna explain this to Galeforce? We don’t exactly have a rocket to destroy. How am I not getting arrested immediately?”

“Relax,” Henry huffed, straightening. “He’s expecting you.”

She hesitated. “This was sanctioned?”

“In a sense!” Charles said cheerfully. He sat up, shaking himself out. His normal pleasant expression morphed over his face as the helicopter touched down. It rumbled to a halt. He unbuckled himself and reached over, slapping Ellie on the back. “Let’s go meet the general.”

…

Stepping into the general’s office for the first time, for the seventh or so time, was always an exercise in deja vu. The same desk, the same plush chairs, the same suspicious glare that Rupert was giving her, the same strange-eyed shimmering figure in the corner- all of it was familiar.

Wait a second.

She paused, confused, as her eyes landed on the figure in the corner. They gave her a tentative wave. Rupert was standing beside him, and he pushed himself up from his slouch against the wall. 

“Rose,” he growled. 

“Uh-” Ellie resisted saying his name as Charles and Henry slipped past her. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, come on. You know my name.” 

“Rupert,” Galeforce sighed. “Please be polite.”

Ellie stared at Rupert, then glanced at Henry and Charles. “I feel like I’m missing something here.”

“Oh, shoot!” Charles slapped his forehead. “Hen, we forgot to tell her what happened on the airship.”

Henry winced. “Ah. Right.”

“Oh, that just slipped your mind?” Rupert said darkly. 

Charles’s smile twitched. “Rupert, buddy. I get it. You’re disoriented, and it’s really weird, but you could kill to be nice to my friends.”

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on here?” Ellie interrupted exasperatedly. “Look, I’ve had a really, really weird past couple of days, and now I come in and you act like you already know me. Know of me.” She glanced between the shimmering figure (who looked strangely familiar) and Rupert’s glare, the dark circles underneath his eyes prominent. 

There’s only one way he could know of me like this. Charles said he was disoriented- just like-

“Wait, do you remember last year?” she asked.

Rupert sighed heavily. He slumped, some of his bravado vanishing. “Yes.”

“All of you people,” Galeforce muttered, pinching the bridge between his eyes.

Ellie whipped her head over to Henry. “What the actual hell is going wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Henry said emphatically. “And nothing has gone completely wrong yet. Look, El. Let us just tell you what happened on the airship, and then we can discuss what to do next. Okay?”

Five pairs of eyes turned to her. Distantly, she swore she could feel a sixth pair of eyes, looking from behind her own.

Ellie sucked in a breath. “Yeah. Okay. Where do we start?”

Chapter Text

“...And then we came to get you.”

Ellie was seated in one of the plush chairs, legs thrown over one armrest and head dropped back against the other. Galeforce’s sigh at her position was reasonably quiet enough for her to pretend she didn’t hear, and that’s what she did. 

“Man,” she said. “That was weird. Combined with my stuff at the Wall, this isn’t going completely wrong, but it is weird. This way isn’t how we normally do it.” She glanced up at the shimmering figure, whose name was apparently Dave. “But I’m glad Hen got you out, dude. That’s an improvement.”

“Yeah… I did appreciate that,”  Dave said, smiling at Henry.

“Sorry for, uh, freaking you out last year. We didn’t really think through the fact that you probably wouldn’t like for two Toppat leaders to release you.”

“It’s okay. I’m just thankful you released me in the first place.”

“Cool.” She sat up, looking to Galeforce. “But you don’t remember anything, general.”

“This is all supremely bizarre,” Galeforce said tiredly. “You all remember years that didn’t happen, you three have magic powers, and somehow the strangest thing isn’t that I’ve got an apparent psychic and a man who can create anything in my office- it’s that you all keep calling me general.”

“Congrats on the future promotion?” Charles said, tentatively smiling. 

“That’s always a constant. God knows why,” Henry said. 

“Thank you, Charlie,” Galeforce sighed.

“You said you did something different,” Rupert said. “If me and Dave remembering last year is different, what was different about your day?”

“Only that she broke out early,” Henry said smoothly. “Usually it’s me, and I don’t get kidnapped by the Wall for another few weeks, at least.”

“And then I would pick both of them up, and then we’d go destroy the Toppat’s rocket,” Charles finished. 

Galeforce’s eyes widened. “Blast it all. I forgot about that rocket you mentioned.”

“It’s not yet a concern,” Henry dismissed. “It won’t be anything meaningful for a few months at least. Though I would argue that it’ll be closer to a year if we capture the leaders of the Toppats.”

Galeforce’s eyes then focused on Henry, narrowing slightly. “Who said anything about a mission like that?”

Henry shrugged. “You’ve got no good reason to keep Ellie around. The way I see it, the government gets a win; me, Ellie, and Charles establish ourselves; and you have a reason to give Ellie a pardon. Just because we’ve explained things to you doesn’t mean your current superiors will feel the same way.”

“Son, frankly, I’m still trying to catch up. I’m pretty sure I’ve processed the disaster that was yesterday’s mission- well, the successful disaster that was yesterday’s mission- but I hardly know you or Rose. What makes you think I’d agree to something like this? Much less with people who, against my better judgment, I’ve allowed into the heart of camp, who could be lying to me?”

“General, dude. Would Rupert lie to you?” Ellie scoffed. She snorted at Rupert’s glare. “Come on, dude. Tell him. There’s no reason for you to back us up on the whole timeline thing if you didn’t also experience it.”

Rupert looked away, still scowling. “...I mean, they are telling the truth, general. At least, I trust that Charles is. Though I’ve trusted that Charles knows what he’s doing in the past, and he almost got shot out of the sky by a giant laser.”

“I had it under control!” Charles protested.

“...Sure,” Rupert said suspiciously.

Galeforce sat back with a sigh. “Well. Alright, then. Henry- you mentioned yesterday that you three were a special agent task force?”

“Yes, sir. You formed us, and so we answered to you directly, and nobody else.” She glanced up at Henry as he leaned on the back of her chair. His eyes were gleaming in the way they got toward the end of a successful heist. “The airship mission will promote you to general very soon. If you sent the three of us out to capture the leaders of the Toppats…” Henry trailed off.

Galeforce paused. “...Let me think about that, son. It’s not a half-bad idea, if you were really as good as you say you are.”

Henry pushed on. “And if we aren’t, then you’re not losing anything- at worst, the lives of two thieves and a pilot. Which won’t happen, by the way, but if we have to consider all options.”

“Wait, you’ll just- turn on the Toppats like that?” Rupert asked.

“Well, it doesn’t feel fantastic, ” Ellie interrupted before he could start ranting. “But it’s never been about a side. I’ve never been totally loyal to any side. The government always just happened to be full of people I liked and jobs I enjoyed, as well as where Charlie wanted to stay. No, I’m loyal to Charles and Henry. Everything else is secondary.”

“...I can see that,” Dave said. “That sounds nice.”

Rupert’s eyes flicked over to Dave. He didn’t speak for a moment. “...I guess I can get that.”

Ellie suppressed a faint flash of surprise. Oh my god. Rupert thought about someone else’s feelings. This was the weirdest timeline. 

Charles raised a finger. “Question: how do we explain Ellie?” 

“You didn’t think of that?” Rupert asked incredulously.

“We had other concerns on the ride back, such as figuring out if this timeline is still on track,” Henry explained quickly. No mention of the Narrator, huh… I guess that makes sense.  

“I mean,” Ellie said, casting a glance over the group, “It doesn’t have to be complicated. I did a different mission for Galeforce and earned a pardon, or we could go ahead and get the pardon legitimately by going and capturing Reginald and Right Hand Man.” She looked at Galeforce. 

Galeforce raised an eyebrow at the three of them. “If you think you’re up to it. I’ll sanction it. But, ah, Charlie, you’re just a pilot-”

“I have field agent training and experience from multiple timelines,” Charles said. “It’s pretty fresh, actually.”

“Well.” Galeforce blinked and sat back. “I suppose that solves this problem. You two?”

“The government gave us the same training when we became an actual special ops team,” Ellie said. “So… yeah, I guess we’re all technically qualified.”

“What about Dave?” Henry said mildly.

Dave jolted. “Uh- wait- what about me?” he asked, far more nervously than Ellie thought was necessary. 

“I assume you don’t want to be cooped up in a building all the time except at night. It seems cruel to relegate you to ‘vampire’ when we could figure out a different solution,” Henry explained. “I mean, we could try to explain your appearance, but that’s going to draw the CCC’s attention more than anything once people start spreading word.”

“I thought you made a truce with them or something,” Rupert said, alarmed. 

“We did,” said Charles with an apologetic smile. “Not you. They tend to be a little weird about the details.”

“I mean, we could always just tell the CCC to screw off if they messed with him,” Ellie said. She nudged Henry. “They’re scared enough of you already.”

“Not scared enough to leave me alone,” Henry sighed. “I don’t want to aggravate them right now, when they’ll surely be watching me like a hawk for any suspicious activity. If we must, I can, but I’d rather avoid the fight that will inevitably stem from that.”

“I don’t mind the night,” Dave said. “I’m kinda used to it, anyway? I worked the night shift at both a jail and as security at a museum… your museum, actually, Henry. And jail.”

Henry looked surprised. “Huh. That’s an odd coincidence.”

Dave smiled tightly. The static around him flared slightly. “Yes… it is.”

Ellie shifted, the static buzzing strangely against the invisible tendrils of her power absently flicking through the air. Like her own abilities, the static seemed to be a tangible entity. Dave flinched and the static retracted with a silent snap.

“That’s weird.” Ellie grinned at Dave, who tentatively smiled back. “We need to experiment more with that.”

“Experiment with what?” Rupert asked, narrowing his eyes at her protectively. 

“Don’t get your feathers ruffled. Just some of our powers are reacting oddly to each other.”

“It didn’t hurt you, did it?” Dave asked anxiously. 

Ellie laughed. “It would take a lot more than a weird buzz to hurt me. Nice of you to ask, though.”

“Well, I see we’ve made our introductions and our plans,” Henry said with finality. She could sense his impatience. “General, we’ll plan and then head off. It shouldn’t take more than a few days.”

“I’ll be watching for word of that,” Galeforce said. He hesitated. “Good luck, you three. And, Charlie… be careful, please.” 

Galeforce looked imploringly at Charles. Charles, in a rare moment of solemnness, said, “Of course, general.”

The moment was slightly ruined by Rupert making a gagging motion, which Dave giggled at and Henry and Ellie couldn’t help but snicker at.

“Oh- shut up,” Charles muttered, shoving the chair Ellie was in. She squawked with a grin and hopped up, elbowing him back. He did it back, and suddenly they were in a full out shoving war, Ellie using her powers to hold her own against the much taller and heavier Charles.

Just like that, the tension in the room seemed to fade. Even Galeforce cracked a smile.

“How dignified,” Henry drawled, smirking at the offended noises she and Charles made. “Anyways, Dave, once the CCC backs off a little, I’m sure you can emerge fully. For now, I guess try to limit your interactions to us.”

“Yeah…” Dave said. At his downcast expression, Rupert sidled over. Though his pained grimace looked like someone was pulling teeth out of him, he hesitantly laid a hand on Dave’s shoulder, patting it. Dave smiled up at him. “Thanks.”

“Please ask us to get anything you need,” Henry said, stretching. “None of us would mind, especially if you wanna pop in and have a chat at any point.”

Dave blinked in surprise. “Oh! Uh, thanks? You don’t have to-”

“Hey, we know better than anybody how isolating this can be,” Ellie said with a smile at him. “I’m pretty sure Henry would’ve gone crazy without us to talk to. I mean, you’ve got Rupert, but the more the better, right?”

“...Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I’ll… talk to you later,” Dave said. Charles gave him an encouraging thumbs up. Confusedly, he gave one back.

“Well, general, we’ll head out,” Ellie said. “Be back in a few days with Reginald and RHM. Or, well, we might need you to come pick them up, wherever they are.”

“We’ll, as the kids say, burn that bridge when we come to it,” Galeforce said with a touch of amusement.

“A joke, general?” Henry said with a gasp as Charles laughed. 

“The world’s ending again, Henry! Quick- everything’s going wrong!” Ellie said, draping an arm over Henry.

“Yeah, yeah,” Galeforce said with a snort. “Charlie, get ‘em out of here before I change my mind.”

“Aye aye, general!” Charles said cheerfully, dragging Henry and Ellie out of the office. He shut the door behind them.

For a moment, they all just stared at each other. 

“We are so back, baby!” Ellie shouted, pumping her fist in the air. Charles threw his hands up in the air, mimicking her.

“Let’s go, team. That is how we do it,” Henry said emphatically, wrapping an arm around each of them. “Let’s go capture some criminals.”

Someone coughed. 

Almost instantly all three of them spun around like kids caught with their hands in cookie jars. Ellie raised her hands, ready to punch at the offenders, but she managed to rein herself in as she saw the three very confused faces of Calvin Bukowski, his brother Konrad Bukowski, and Amelia Estaban.

“...Charles?” asked Amelia. “Uh-”

Charles yanked away from Henry so quickly that Henry nearly stumbled. “Oh, uh, hi guys!” he said, laughing nervously. “I didn’t think you guys were gonna be seeing Galeforce!”

“It’s about a mission,” Amelia said. Her eyes narrowed in confusion and landed on Ellie.

Ellie tried for a friendly smile. Amelia had never been more than a casual friend, and she racked her brain trying to recall anything potentially dangerous to them. A keen perception was the only thing that stuck out. It was a skill that almost rivaled Rupert. 

“What’s cookin’?” she said. Oh, god, Ellie. You are just a master of conversation.

“Confusion,” Amelia said. “Confusion is cooking. Uh, Charles, who-”

“Are you Ellie Rose?” Konrad asked in bafflement.

“My reputation precedes me,” Ellie said. She gave a small, faux-bow. Henry nudged her with an elbow.

Konrad’s gaze flicked to Henry and grew only more concerned. “Charles-”

“C’mon, you’re being rude to our new guests! Henry got pardoned for the airship mission yesterday,” Charles said quickly. “And, uh, guys! This is Ellie Rose. She’s, uh, gonna be working for Galeforce like Henry is.”

“Ellie Rose is working for- Henry Stickmin is working for Captain Galeforce?” Calvin squeaked, apparently having just found his voice. 

“Yes, we are,” Henry said coolly. “Is that an issue?”

“I mean, no; I guess? It’s just- wild?” Calvin said quickly. “We didn’t expect-”

“Blink twice if you’re in danger, Charles,” Konrad said.

“Well, if Charli- Charles was actually in danger, you’ve just killed him,” Ellie said. “C’mon, Konrad, that’s field agent 101.”

Amelia’s face creased, and Ellie winced. Shit, I’m not supposed to know his name.

“I’m not in danger,” Charles interrupted. “Calm down, you guys. The general is right there. Go ask him, it’s fine.”

“It’s captain. Anyways, I’m sure you two are really nice people,” Amelia said peaceably. “We’re just a little- confused, I guess? How’d you know Konrad’s name?”

Before Ellie could stumble into another bad excuse, Henry interjected. “Galeforce mentioned the three of you,” he said. “And he said Konrad was one of the twins. Lucky guess.”

“I have a fifty-fifty shot, don’t I?” Ellie added.

Amelia studied them for another moment, and then she looked to Charles. “Hey, man, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Charles grabbed Ellie and Henry’s arms. “Oh, no, I couldn’t stay and talk!” he said quickly. “The general can explain things to you. I’ve gotta show these two around the place, you know, since they’re gonna be helping us out around here and everything, hahaha bye!” 

He practically dragged them past the trio, down the hallway and out the door into the hot summer air. Ellie could feel their baffled eyes on her the entire way down, their presence only abating when Charles slammed the door shut. 

With a sigh, Charles pressed his back against the door. He dropped his head back against it and slid down it until he was sitting on the ground.

“Smooth,” Henry chuckled. “Very smooth.”

“Shut up.” Charles groaned and put his face in his hands. “It’s been so long since I’ve had to do all this…”

“You’d think with all our time on your helicopter we’d have figured out how we were gonna explain this to your friends, Charlie,” Ellie said.

“Oh, that’s simple! We don’t.” Charles smiled tiredly. “We’re just… on a task force together now. We’re friends. That’s what we are.”

“Oh, that’s gonna last long,” Ellie said, huffing in amusement as she sat down next to Charles on the warm wood of the building’s entrance. He wrapped an arm around her, dropping his head on her shoulder. “Case in point. How long are we supposed to have known each other again?”

“I’ll figure something out,” Charles muttered petulantly. He massaged his temples. “Though, knowing him, I’m gonna have to do damage control on Rupert, too.”

Henry sat, legs crossed, on the other side of Charles. “He’s never been good at lying, huh?”

“He’s an open book,” Charles lamented.

“He can do whatever he wants to,” Ellie said. “Then he’s gonna have to deal with the consequences.”

“To be fair, we’re all a little numbed to the concept of… well, everything that’s just happened,” Henry said. “It’s raw for him. It’s strange. It’s… unnatural. He’s never been good at keeping secrets, and I would be surprised if the twins and Amelia don’t know about all of this by the time we get Reginald and RHM in the Wall.”

“Well, he’s got Dave to protect, right?” Ellie said. 

Charles paused. “Yeah, you’re probably right. He really seems to care about the guy. I don’t think he’d jeopardize Dave’s comfort for, uh, the chance to rant about us to the others.”

“Regardless, we’ll be okay,” Henry murmured.

“Not if we melt out here,” Charles grumbled. “Man, I forgot how hot this place got.”

“It’s the humidity,” Ellie said. “I don’t mind the heat. Just kinda… seeps into your bones, you know? You could never get cold here.” She leaned against Charles, tilting her head up, feeling it soak into her very core. It was such an intense contrast from the Wall that, even humid and sweltering, she could only feel relief stepping from any cold interior to the blistering sun of the Dogobogo Jungle. 

For a moment they sat, watching the heat rise in shimmering waves on the dusty ground and the small figures of soldiers hurrying between buildings. 

“We better get a move on,” Henry said softly. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“UGH.” Charles squeezed his eyes shut briefly. “This day has been so long already. Can we not just take a nap?”

Ellie laughed and bounced up, reinvigorated by the heat and the reunification of Triple Threat. “Come on, agent! You’re getting soft. Get moving!” She dragged the two of them up. “How are we doing this?”

They began walking as they talked. Charles cast one longing look toward the helicopter field before sighing and turning toward the parking lots on the edge of camp.

Camp was a home she had never expected to get so attached to. In reality, there wasn’t much to love. The days were hot, the food mediocre, and it was ages from any real civilization. The jungle had a talent for creating humidity so sticky it condensed on her hands when she stepped outside on a particularly brutal day, not to mention its tendency to create those days during training and the rare off-days. Most of the people here were soldiers through and through. Ellie wasn’t even authorized to talk with most of them, considering how far below in rank they were. All of these issues were compounded by the fact that Ellie often wasn’t in the camp. She and Triple Threat spent so long running around doing missions, tracking targets of interest, and doing what the general needed that camp was a place she only returned to during slow periods and the rare time off.

Somehow, though, it still managed to hold a special place in her heart. Maybe it was their tiny, crappy apartment that they still managed to burn cakes in. Maybe it was the fantastical way the stars shone brighter here at night than anywhere she’d ever seen. Maybe it was the weeks of training that she had enjoyed much more than she could have ever anticipated, or the days of exhaustion that gave way to sleep deeper than her insomnia-wracked body had ever felt, or the way Charlie’s face would light up when they called it ‘home’. Maybe her body had simply given into Stockholm Syndrome and released dopamine no matter what was happening here.

Or maybe it was the people who stayed here- Charlie and Henry, Galeforce, Charles’s friends. After everything that had happened to her, every ‘home’ she had created, nothing felt right. Only where her boys were did home feel… real.

So for now, camp was home, and she breathed in deeply as they walked. It’s good to be home .

“I’m driving,” she said. The last time Charles had driven… Jewel Baron had not been a good timeline anyway, but it had been made exponentially worse by the fact that she had been forced to learn how Charles drove. 

Somehow, it wasn’t the way he drove that bothered her. It was his distinct way of not driving while behind the wheel that was disturbing.

“You can drive a motorcycle,” Henry said scathingly.

“You wanna go for it? ‘Less the thing in our heads has taught you to drive, I don’t think you can either, dude.”

“Touche. But, ah… it’s true.” Henry snorted as Ellie elbowed him playfully. “Anyways, I’ve got a few numbers memorized,” he said. “If I can convince one of the lower-level Toppats to rat their leaders out- for a tidy sum that we’ll have to find, of course- we can take their information and then just make sure they keep quiet. I can set up a time and place. That shouldn’t take long; I’ve got a few names.”

“For keeping ‘em quiet, I’m not above physical stuff,” Ellie said. “We could just stab them in the hand to show we mean business and call it a day? I mean, if they wanna be a traitor, they’re agreeing to anything, ‘s far as I’m concerned.”

Henry paused. “...That’ll probably work. But we’ll only resort to that if we’ve got an idea that they might squeal.” Henry snapped a finger gun at Charles. “Charlie, for that meeting, I hate to say it, but you’ll have to lose the jacket.”

Charles rolled his eyes. “Is it not enough to be the guy who stands outside making sure nothing goes wrong? Keeping an eye out? Doesn’t the jacket make me more legit?”

“I suppose, but I’d like you to be there with us,” Henry said.

“What? Afraid I’m gonna die on you?”

Henry shot him a perturbed look, but didn’t respond.

They approached the low wall around the jungle camp. Charles waved up at the two guards at the top of the wall, and they nodded. He led them out to the small parking lot beyond, filled with unused cars and military vehicles. Charles pulled a key out of his pocket and tossed it to Ellie, who twirled it between her fingers as they walked toward a beat-up, old red car. 

“Actually, Henry, that might be better,” she mused. “Me and you look like thieves, anyway. Our Toppat guy would feel more comfortable around us. Charlie, meanwhile,  looks like a golden retriever in human form. Not subtle at all. He screams ‘went straight out of high school to the military’.” 

Charles shrugged in agreement. 

“That’s true,” Henry muttered. “And a Toppat would be less wary around less people- hm. I guess, Charlie, you’re going to have to be the getaway-”

“He is not driving!” Ellie shouted the same time Charles said cheerfully, “Remember, you guys banned me from driving after-”

“Oh. Right.” Henry hissed, rubbing the bridge between his eyes. He chuckled. “Sixteen years really blurs together, doesn’t it, darlings?” he said wearily.

“And we’re still twenty-eight,” Ellie murmured. What a strange thought. She hadn’t considered all that much before- possibly, she thought, for her own self-preservation- but the fact that she hadn’t aged was… odd, to say the least. Perhaps not as odd as it should have been. She just felt… numb to it. 

“Here’s to be twenty-eight for the final time, huh?” Charles said with a smile. 

“God, I hope so.” Ellie clicked the key and threw open the driver’s side door, grinning at the squeal. “You’ve got a beauty here, Charlie.”

“Hey, I was broke and didn’t drive, like, anywhere,” Charles said, sliding into the passenger’s seat. Behind him, Henry instantly stretched out through the back seats, pulling out a phone. “It’s what I could get for a few hundred bucks right outta high school. It hasn’t died on me yet!”

“Say a prayer and keep an eye out for any choices,” Henry said wryly. “We might be needing it in this pile of junk.”

He laughed as Charles leaned over, swatting at him. “C’mon, don’t talk that way about her! She’ll carry us to victory; I know she will.” Henry wrangled Charles’s arms away from him.

“If you insist,” he said. “But if this timeline resets because we end up all dying in a stupid car crash, I know who to blame.”

“Nah. I can drive just fine,” Ellie said. She turned the key and, surprisingly, the engine started up immediately. She and Charles whooped in delight. “Alright, guys!” she called as she tossed it into drive. “Buckle up. Next stop, the City!”

…

The City was a good four hours from the Dogobogo Jungle. Ellie stuck to interstates and highways, passing only occasionally through a town big enough to be considered a small city. Mostly it was the occasional gas station, rest stop, and tiny, scenic collections of old houses between the slowly thinning trees. When they hit the desert, it was even more sparse. 

The first hour was rife with Henry’s phone conversations. Usually his voice was smooth and calm as he spun webs about some or other reason that they needed to meet with a Toppat whose funds were low. Sometimes, though, he would hold the phone away with a wince, or his voice would go tight in that sarcastic, snippy way that made her and Charles stifle laughter at his annoyance. Finally, an hour and a half in as Charles hopped back into the car from a gas station with his arms laden with snacks, Henry tossed the phone onto the seat with a sigh.

“Finally. For the amount of money I was offering you’d think I’d asked them to kill their mothers,” Henry muttered. “But I’ve got one.”

“Niiiiiice,” Charles said, handing Henry back a pack of chips and a coke. Henry murmured his appreciation. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Named… Chuck Wellington?” Henry said, squinting. “The name’s hardly important. What is important is that this guy’s inheritance has run out, the Toppats aren’t giving him near as much as he wanted, and he’s willing to meet tonight at 8:30 at a place called The Modern Ascent. How fancy. That a good time, El?”

“If Charlie’ll call a hotel and get us a reservation for afterward, yeah.” Ellie stretched her arms up as she cracked open the sweet tea Charles got her. Her true guilty pleasure- Southern sweet tea. It was a taste from her youth that she had never quite gotten rid of. The Wall’s lack of any taste made it even more delicious. 

“I think my apartment’s still there, actually,” Henry said thoughtfully. There was the swishing of fabric as he checked the date. “Oh, yeah. Yeah. It’s right after the airship mission; I’ve still got a couple weeks on the lease at least. We can crash there.”

“Cool. Charlie, put in directions to that place.”

“On it. El, are you still stuck up about carbonation?” Charles laughed at Ellie’s dramatic sigh as she put it in drive and began to pull out of the gas station. 

She slapped a hand against the steering wheel. “I just don’t like it, Charlie! Can’t a woman have her dislikes?”

“It’s just so weird. You’re, like, never picky otherwise.”

“Oh my god, it’s not that weird! Plenty of people don’t like carbonation!”

“Just in case you argue about this for the next hour, as you are wont to do, I’m gonna catch some sleep,” Henry said. She heard him shifting around in the back and the telltale sign of a seatbelt clicking off.

“Safety first, Hen,” Charles called back.

“Whatever; I can’t even die. Not permanently, at least,” he muttered. “Besides, I’m going to be the one doing all the talking tonight- more than I’ve already done. I’d love to recharge a few hours before dealing again with obnoxious morons.”

“Why’d you become the leader of the Toppats again, dude?” Ellie said, grinning to herself. “You’re simply the most charismatic introvert I know.”

“Just because I know how to be cordial and, occasionally, manipulative, doesn’t mean I like being around other people,” Henry said. He yawned hugely.

“Except for us?” Ellie prompted. She and Charles both giggled as Henry sighed.

“Yes, darlings. Except for you two.” Despite his ever-suffering tone, there was a smile laced through his voice. “Now will you please leave me be.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.”

The next couple of hours were spent in a comfortable quiet. Charles turned on some podcast on the supernatural, and they debated whether or not the sighting was an anomaly or fake as Henry remained dead to the world in the backseat. Eventually, though, traffic began to pick up, and so sparkled the bright lights of the City as the sun began to slowly begin marching down the sky.

“Hen? Hen, we’re gonna be there in a bit,” Ellie called back. Henry groaned disappreciatively, but she heard the rustling of him slowly coming to his senses. In her rearview mirror, she saw him shake his head a few times, blinking tiredness out of his eyes.

“We’ll still have a couple of hours. Wanna grab a bite to eat? There’s that old pizza place near Hen’s apartment,” Charles said. 

Ellie eased into the exit that led straight into the shining city. “I’m pretty sure that place’s a drug front, dude.”

“But they make damn good pizzas.” Henry leaned forward, arms resting on the dashboard. “Alright, friends. We haven’t done this in a… a little over a year, but I shouldn’t have to remind either of you what the code is, hm?”

“You’re Esoteric, I’m Red, Charles is Pilot, blah blah blah,” Ellie said, waving a hand. “I swear, we’re terrible at coming up with code names.”

“Mine’s cool,” Henry protested. “It’s not my fault you chose Red, of all names. Very creative, dear.”

“It’s simple to remember! Do you know how many times I’ve forgotten ‘Esoteric’? Ooh, look how smart and clever I am! I use big words!”

Henry rolled his eyes, nudging her with a fist. “It’s cool. Admit it. Anyway, I’ve gotten us a private room with this Toppat. Charlie, stand outside and look official- after he’s gone in. I don’t want a stray golden government dog to end up costing us our man. El, you’ll go in with me. If all goes well, I should be able to just do the information trade-off.”

“Hen, where’re you gonna get this cash to pull this off?” Charles said. “I mean, it’s not like we need a small amount. This is, uh, this isn’t a small thing we’re asking.”

“It’s… been taken care of,” Henry said. “Earlier, while I was talking to that Toppat… a choice appeared. One was ‘Bribe’, and I guess the Narrator wanted to ensure that I had all of the things needed for a play like that.”

“Huh. I wonder what would have happened if you had chosen the wrong one,” Ellie said. “I don’t think you’d die from choosing the wrong one.”

“The others were ‘Threaten’ and ‘Seduce’,” Henry said, with clear distaste. “With luck, the Toppat would have simply hung up, and I would have had to try again. Without luck… well, I might have been experiencing hours down the drain before getting sent back for whatever reason.”

“Seduce,” Charles said with a guffaw.

“Wait, wait, wait- stop the presses.” Ellie resisted the urge to slam on the gas, whipping her head over to Henry. “These failures can last hours before they reset?”

“Eyes on the road, darling- and yes, in certain cases. I think the Narrator just enjoys watching me suffer at that point.” As if he was unaware of the bombshell he had just dropped, Henry yawned. In the rearview mirror, she watched him rub his eyes.

“Hm. Okay. Okay.” Ellie blinked ahead to the City, looming ever-closer. The sun shone off of the giant glass buildings in dazzling rays. At night, it would be even more stunning, a whole world of speckled lights and neon signs.

There were things she missed about the City, even on the worst days. The City was cramped, but alive in a way the Wall never managed to be. The stimulation, though overwhelming at times, she welcomed. Everything was stale and gray back at the Wall. Here, each building was alive with new sights and smells. Here, sat one of the few locations she could consistently call home.

The traffic, though, she didn’t miss. Ellie sat back with a huff and tried to shut her ears to the dreadful cacophony of horns and squealing tires as she wove through cars and motorcycles. Still, even this couldn’t stop the stab of anticipation that flashed through her. 

Finally, she was back on a mission. Finally, she and her boys were together again- and not just together, but Triple Threat. She had gotten used to the hustle and bustle of missions. The excitement of being a field agent mostly scratched that itch for thrills and action that had landed her in trouble with the law in the first place. She had missed it more than she had expected, she realized, feeling the rapid beating of her heart and the way her fingertips drummed erratically on the steering wheel.

“You excited?” Charles commented.

Ellie smiled sheepishly. “Is it that obvious?”

“Just a few more roads,” Henry murmured. “We’re almost home.”

When he said it, she could just about believe it.

Chapter Text

The Modern Ascent was a bit on the nose. It was the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in the City, and it was bursting with warm light and moving shadows. A red neon sign displayed the name of the restaurant in cursive letters in the window. The sunset was a shining backdrop, casting the whole City in deep navy rays and highlighting the electric beauty of the skyscrapers. They were dull and gray in the sun, but they lit up like massive circuit boards as the moon rose. 

Triple Threat stood at the very bottom, gazing upward. The newborn nightlife moved around them in waves. The crowds had grown steadily through the afternoon. Despite their dress, few people seemed to notice them, more intently focusing on their conversations and soon-gotten drinks. Perhaps it wasn’t very strange to see a few relatively well-dressed figures watching The Modern Ascent with trepidation.

Henry glanced at his watch. He fiddled with his tie and huffed. “We should be good to go in a minute,” he said.

He was dressed in a formal navy vest over a slightly lighter blue shirt. His pants were the same grayish navy. The only slightly suspicious attire to the trained eye were his sensible shoes, which gripped the ground as if he would break into a sprint at any second. 

Ellie, beside him, had opted for one of Henry’s other outfits- a formal black jacket over a white button-up. Thankfully, she and Henry could pass for the same size. Any of the clothes that were too large were tucked in, rolled up, and haphazardly pinched together. She hoped that her creamish sneakers wouldn’t stand out too much.

Though, really, Charles stands out the most. He hadn’t changed at all. 

“Good thing you had formal stuff lying around, right?” Charles said with a chuckle. “I mean, Hen, I thought you were broke before this.”

“I had my heists,” Henry said. “And I’ve always appreciated some good clothes. Though this is a bit tacky, looking back on it…” He sighed, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. “What I wouldn’t give to have a tailor right now.”

“Ah, come on. You’re just spoiled ‘cause the Toppats got you a personal wardrobe,” Ellie said. She nudged him sharply. “At least you're not me.”

Henry rolled his eyes fondly. “You look awfully comfortable, my dear. Quit rumpling my shirts. Stand up straight.”

She shoved her hands further into her pockets. He rolled his eyes harder.

“I thought you just sold the Diamond to pay for all of that?” Charles asked. 

“I couldn’t bear to give it away,” Henry said, grinning sheepishly. “It’s just so pretty!”

“Where do you keep it? Not in your apartment.” Ellie began walking forward, staring up at the lights. “This isn’t another Little Nest Egg, is it?”

“Hammerspace, my dear,” Henry said. “Let’s go.” 

She watched his back for a moment. To no surprise, Henry made no move to explain.

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “I can see how he managed to keep the Narrator from us for years,” she muttered. They quickly followed him inside. 

The Modern Ascent seemed to be a particularly fancy nightclub. On the bottom floor, where they stood at the entrance, was a large open space. Two elegant staircases swooped up to a wrap-around mezzanine. A black material- potentially black glass, or potentially high-tech screens- made up most of the flooring and walls, shining like polished marble. People in a mixture of clashing outfits, from intensely formal businessmen to scantily dressed twenty-somethings, crowded the room. Colorful lights flashed from all angles. The bass-boosted music had been loud outside, but inside it was deafening.

She briefly wondered how they could push through the amorphous mass of dancing bodies. Just looking at the dance floor made her claustrophobia flare up.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and glanced over to see Henry. He smiled reassuringly at her, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze, before he nodded toward the crowd. He waited until she tentatively nodded back before moving forward.

“NO WONDER THE TOPPAT WANTED TO MEET IN HERE,” she shouted to Charles.

WHAT? she saw Charles mouth. He had his headphones tucked tightly against his head, one hand pressed against them with a wince. She shook her head with a sigh and focused on following Henry’s back. He was smart to not try to communicate with words here. 

Together they wove through the crowds, surrounded by dancing people and flashing lights. She felt she might’ve liked a loud, vibrant place like this if she wasn’t so intent on following Henry. Times like these she was reminded of how stealthy he really could be- he slipped like an eel through water, eyes focused on the staircases and each movement precise. He seemed to be moving silently on instinct. 

Meanwhile, focusing on Henry’s back was all that Ellie could do. She hadn’t thought the claustrophobia was that bad until the image of a hundred bodies pressed against hers was a reality. Her lungs fought for breath in the tiny space she could muster for them, and each step felt like a fight against the jostling of others vying for space. 

Come on; pull yourself together, she told herself through gritted teeth. This isn’t anything you haven’t done before.

Well, a correction. She had never done anything like this before so close to her escape from the Wall. Maybe that was the trouble- it had only been a measly thirty-six hours since she had woken up back in that awful little cell. 

Still. She had her partners to look out for. Charles already had trouble with constant loud noise that he wasn’t accustomed to, and Henry didn’t need to look after the both of them. 

Finally, blessedly, they broke through to the stairs. Ellie scrambled up them next to Henry and took a few deep breaths, reveling in the space afforded to her lungs. Even the hot air felt like a blessing. It wasn’t skin or cloth or stone, trapping her and holding her like it would never let go.

She felt Henry’s eyes on her. She gave him a reassuring smile, trying to disguise her earlier panic, but she wasn’t sure that he bought it from the way his eyes narrowed slightly. Nevertheless, he didn’t push it. He simply waited for Charles to fight his way out of the crowd before leading them upward.

Henry’s confident strides took him past the guards at the top of the stairs with hardly a glance in their direction. Even Charles made it past despite his casual dress. She felt briefly confused before spotting a little flash of dissolving paper emitting from Henry’s pocket. 

“That’s not reassuring,” she muttered to him. 

“What’s not?” Henry asked.

“You just pulled a card,” she replied. He looked startled, then laughed breathlessly.

“That’s so weird that you can see that,” he said, shaking his head. “It’ll… be something to get used to, I suppose.”

“Will I have to do any of that stuff tonight?” she hissed. “‘Cause they were pretty much bullshit last time.”

“Who knows,” Henry said vaguely. 

“Oh, well. You’re so helpful.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Charles asked loudly, pulling his headphones off. They paused at the corner between the wall of stairs and the hallway that stretched around the second floor, open to the ballroom below. For a moment their voices could be heard, the wall framing the inside of the corner protecting them from the blasting music below. She could still feel the glass vibrating underneath her, earthquake-like.

“Nothing important. Remember the plan?” Henry asked.

“Pretend like I don’t hear the screams. Got it!” Charles saluted. They both puffed a laugh.

“That’s the spirit, Charlie. Ready to finally get back to it?” Henry asked. His eyes landed on her.

“...Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I’m ready. I’m kinda relieved, actually. Between the airship mission and the Wall and all this supernatural stuff-” She shrugged, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. “I dunno. It’s nice for this to be simple again.”

“Simple as extorting a Toppat can be,” Henry said wryly. She huffed and nudged him sharply. 

“Dude, you know what I mean.”

“I do,” Charles said, slinging an arm around her. She smiled at his big grin. “Alllllllrighty, team. Let’s go torture a Toppat!”

“That’s a last resort,” Henry corrected. He began walking down the hallway, eyes scanning the rows of door numbers. “We’ll only threaten him first.”

The dancers were replaced with abstract paintings and glass statues that bubbled like lava lamps. At least the hallway was less crowded, even if it was some techno-nerd’s minimalistic fantasy. As they walked, Charles suddenly paused. 

Ellie nudged Henry and glanced back. “Charlie?” she asked.

“I’m good,” Charles responded automatically. He had stopped in front of one of the paintings. He hesitantly reached out to it before stopping himself. “It’s an anomaly,” he said. “Huh.” He chuckled. “Weird to see this here, of all places.”

“It is,” Ellie said. She frowned, feeling suddenly unsettled. “That might mean the CCC is lurking around here if there’s an anomaly here.”

“Not necessarily,” Henry argued. “Random anomalies pop up all the time and go undetected by the CCC’s radars. It just means that we have to be careful of any effects, that's all.” 

Ellie gave him a dubious look and snorted. “Yeah, right. Maybe.”

“What does it mean if the painting’s eyes are following me?” Charles asked nervously. He stepped to the side and back again, eyes focused on the painting. 

“It means we continue with the mission and vacate as soon as possible,” Henry said urgently. She could sense the underlying tension in his voice, and clearly Charles did too, as he hurried from the painting back to Henry. “Good eye, Charlie.”

“...It’s what I do,” Charles murmured darkly as they continued down the hallway. 

They fell silent as they walked. Henry’s posture was suddenly tense and whip-like, precise and quick in his movements like he was in the middle of a stealth mission. Charles’s normal bouncy gait was almost indistinguishable from normal, but from years of knowing him she could detect the frenetic energy bubbling beneath his skin as his head no longer darted around. She couldn’t blame them for the sudden nerves. She was fighting to keep her power crackling underneath her skin and not flooding out. 

An anomaly was one thing. It was nothing on its own besides a possible danger. Random chance. But with the couple of resets they just had, they couldn’t afford to act like it was a coincidence.

Even if it was a coincidence (which her paranoia was rapidly denying), the anomaly’s presence meant the potential presence of the CCC. Truce or not, that was a risk she wasn’t willing to take. 

If it wasn’t…

Of course the CCC weren’t gonna just leave us alone, idiot, she chided herself. This is the CCC.

She honestly hoped this was a clumsy attempt on the CCC’s part to monitor them. With luck, they hadn’t discovered Charles’s anomaly sensitivity and would continue these vapid attempts to observe them without resorting to more traditional means of surveillance. That would be better than the alternative- that the CCC had something else in mind.

“Finally,” Henry hissed. He stopped in front of a door- 245- and adjusted his jacket as he spoke. “I didn’t say that you were here, Charlie. If he makes a break for it and, on the small chance Ellie can’t stop him, you’ll be ready.”

“Aye aye, Esoteric,” Charles said with a cheeky grin. 

Henry rolled his eyes and breathed out a laugh. Ellie felt herself relax a little, the tension bleeding out of the air. “We’re not there yet, darling,” Henry said. “Code names on the next one, hm?”

Charles pressed back against the wall so he wouldn’t be seen as they entered. The three of them paused, glancing at each other in confirmation, before Henry straightened and flicked his hands. He reached forward and opened the door. 

This was a gambit she and Henry had played several times before. Henry was the talker, the professional with a cool smile and cold eyes. She was the slightly unkempt muscle that advertised how scrappy she was and otherwise stayed silent. That was great, because the moment she opened her mouth things tended to go wrong.

Henry nodded at her once before opening the door. He stepped inside and she quickly followed.

The room was spacious and made of the same material as the hallways. Huge glass panes made up one wall, displaying the nighttime beauty of the City. A few potted plants dotted around the interior. Most of the room was empty, but there was a bar across one wall, and in the center next to the window there were a few booths. Only one was occupied- a man in a top hat and a fancy pale red suit. He had the beginnings of a scratchy beard and slightly ruffled hair. He was chewing on a toothpick. He glanced up idly as they walked in. A smile split his face.

“My mysterious friend!” he said, standing. “Very esoteric, eh? I know so little about you.”

Henry smiled back, but it was tighter. “I appreciate you meeting with me here today, as well as your flexibility. We’ve had an… eventful day.”

“I didn’t think you’d need a friend here,” Wellington said. They sat, and he pulled out another toothpick, sticking it between his teeth. “After all, I’ve got nothing.” He held up his hands with a wry smile.

“She’s not here for you,” Henry said. He breathed out a little sigh as if the very idea was preposterous. “This City is a dangerous place, you know. Especially for people like us.”

Wellington relaxed. He slumped back into his chair somewhat, snorting. “Tell me about it. The gall of these Syndicate fellas, am I right? Glad to know it’s not just our territory they’re encroaching on.”

“They’re a nuisance for everyone,” Henry said mildly. “So are your leaders, for one.”

Wellington huffed. “Businessman, aren’t you? Whatever happened to a little old-fashioned small talk?”

“I’m a busy man, Mr. Wellington.”

“So formal.” Wellington sat back up, cracking his neck with a sigh. “Fine. Payment first, then information.”

“You could just lie,” Henry said. “Believe me, sir. I’m always a man of my word. And my dear friend here is very good at spotting lies.”

Wellington’s eyes flicked over to her. Oh, shit. She crossed her arms and gave him a little smirk. He visibly recoiled, but cleared his throat, turning back to Henry. I’m so damn good at this.

“Fine,” Wellington said, rolling his eyes. Henry’s eye twitched once. She shoved down a grin. Oh, he must be really annoying Henry to get a whole eye twitch out of him! She almost respected the slimy little man. “They’re currently in the City- convenient for you. A warehouse on the outskirts of town. Here. Do you have paper?” 

From his pocket Henry produced a slip of paper. Wellington untucked a pen from his jacket pocket and scribbled something down in neat cursive handwriting. He handed the paper to Henry, who inspected it critically for a moment. 

The silence stretched on.

“So?” Wellington said impatiently. “Anyone who’s anyone knows it’s a Toppat base. Though usually it’s a little too run-down for the likes of ol’ Reginald.”

“What are they there for?” Henry asked.

“The Midnight Syndicate’s been getting uppity. Maybe that. How the hell should I know? And why do you wanna know?”

“Just ensuring they won’t be leaving before we’re prepared,” Henry hissed with an icy smile. 

“Ooooh. How frightening. I’m positively quaking in my boots.”

Ellie resisted the urge to smile again. She gently knocked her foot against Henry’s rigid leg, willing him to see her amusement.

“Alright. Well. I did know this was a Toppat base, so I suppose this isn’t too surprising.” Henry reached into his pocket and produced a handful of sparkling gems and jewelry from seemingly nowhere. Ellie, ever a thief, felt her eyes instinctively lock onto the glimmering pile as he dropped it in front of Wellington. 

Wellington’s eyes widened in admiration as Henry sat back. Gold necklaces, silver rings, colorful jewels- all heaped in a pile, catching the light and reflecting it. Ellie shoved her hands into her pockets resolutely. 

“I assume that will suffice?” Henry said.

“Oh, it’s alright,” Wellington said as he eagerly grabbed the treasure and stuffed it into a pocket inside his jacket. “You must be pretty well-to-do if you’re paying with this.”

“Less traceable, you understand.”

“Of course.”

“I don’t think I have to describe what would happen if you were to let this meeting slip to anybody,” Henry said easily. 

“Of course not,” Wellington said with a just as easy smile. “Everyone’s lips are sealed.”

Ellie watched Wellington’s face closely. He licked his lips, one hand casually sliding off the table. She followed the movement, eyes tracking as his fingers began to grasp a shape in his pocket.

Her fingers brushed against something. 

Time slowed.

She registered three cards, the information filtering into her mind: Telekinesis, Karate Kick, and Whistle . Wellington’s hand was beginning to pull the shape out. A gun, clearly. This was the event, then; wasn’t it? Stop him from shooting them or something?

At the same time, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Henry’s wrist flick down, touching the faint outline of a card on the inside of his sleeve. Is Henry choosing something, too? She had no more time to consider the possibility as Wellington began to pull the gun out of his pocket.

Going with her gut instinct, she chose Telekinesis. The card’s shape vanished, turning instead into a burning energy that raced up her right arm, forcing a movement she barely registered. She yanked her arm out and thrust her hand forward. Her power coalesced around both hand and gun and dragged them from the pocket.

At the same time, Henry flicked a knife out and neatly stabbed Wellington through the hand that was still on the table. Wellington cried out in sudden agony. 

In Wellington’s pain, she could feel the hand still holding the gun instinctively contract as it rose toward the sky. For the briefest moment, it was pointed at her.

BANG!  

Unlucky timing.

She was sitting right next to Henry again. This time, though, she felt the remnants of a phantom headache.

“I don’t think I have to describe what would happen if you were to let this meeting slip to anybody,” Henry said easily. 

“Of course not,” Wellington said with a just as easy smile. “Everyone’s lips are sealed.”

Ellie watched Wellington’s face closely as she shoved her hands in her own pockets. He licked his lips, one hand casually sliding off the table. She followed the movement, eyes tracking as his fingers began to trace a shape in his pocket.

Her fingers brushed against something.

OKAY. NOT TELEKINESIS. She sucked in a breath as Wellington’s hand closed around the gun, and she selected.

She lashed out with a leg at the same time that Henry flicked out a knife and neatly stabbed Wellington through the hand that was still on the table. This time, as Wellington’s hand contracted, her foot was connecting with the gun. 

BANG!

It spun away harmlessly, landing on the ground with a clatter. The wall next to them had a neat little hole in it. She silently prayed that Charles didn’t burst in.

Wellington writhed. Well, as much as he could considering his hand was pinned to the table by the knife.

“That was dirty,” Henry said, sighing. “At least nobody heard you scream in here.” He drew his hand back and inspected his nails as Ellie sprang up, quickly grabbing the gun. Wellington’s eyes landed on her and expanded in fright. 

“O-oh. Look- you understand, right? It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, you know.” Wellington chuckled nervously. “Come on. I-” 

“No, I understand,” Henry said. “Expected it, really.” Without warning, he yanked the knife out. Wellington screamed. Henry waited a moment for him to gasp and blink tears of agony away. “You did tell us correctly, yes?”

Wellington’s head shot up so fast she was afraid he’d get whiplash. “Yes! Yes! All of it; it’s true. I swear.”

“Because you were going to kill us afterward, right?” Henry smiled humorlessly as Wellington gazed up at him in terror. He sighed. “Relax. We’re not going to kill you. The Toppats might if they ever see your lovely face again, because if I hear even a whisper that you’ve said something to Reginald and Right Hand Man, it won’t be me that you’ll be afraid of. It’ll be your own people.”

“Are they, if you were so quick to stab ‘em in the back?” Ellie asked. She casually cocked the gun as Wellington’s head shot to her. 

“I swear. Please. I swear on my life that I won’t tell anybody,” he begged. 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Ellie glanced at Henry as he stood. “We good?”

“Let’s go,” Henry said. He sighed a little self-satisfied sigh, one he did after every mission well done. He glanced back at Wellington, who flinched violently, but he just gently picked up the paper from the table and placed it in his pocket. “I would get that checked out, if I were you. You’ll probably still retain the hand. With all of those jewels you’ll probably even have some left over after the hospital bills. Nice doing business with you, Mr. Wellington.”

With that, Henry trotted to the door. Ellie lifted the gun- earning another flinch- and she pulled the magazine out, dropping the remaining bullets on the ground. She tossed the gun onto the table and followed Henry.

They stepped outside, and Ellie gently closed the door behind her. Charles jolted up, face pensive.

“Hey- I heard a gunshot; is everything okay?” he asked.

“Just peachy. Henry’s guy tried to shoot us,” Ellie muttered. “And I got shot in the head for it.”

“It takes a while to feel for what decision might be right or wrong, dear,” Henry said casually.

“Oh, shut up,” Ellie muttered. She paused, then whipped her head toward him. “Wait, you could see that?”

“Yeah. Unlucky timing, I guess,” Henry said.

A shiver raced up her spine. “Yeah, I guess- did you not hear the Narrator?”

“Nope. Maybe it’s because I picked correctly the first time. I suppose it was a… joint choice?”

“Huh.” They gazed at each other for a moment. “I don’t know if I like that, Hen.”

“When do we ever get what we like?” Henry smiled wryly. “Charlie, it was fine. We had to stab him through the hand, but that seemed to deter him from any other actions against us. Besides, we made it out in one piece, hm?”

“Yeah, and alerted every CCC agent within a ten mile radius of our exact location.” Charles shivered. “Man, if you guys did it at the same time, then I could feel it. Weird stuff.”

“Really? Now isn’t that interesting,” Henry mused. He began walking. As usual, she and Charles fell into step beside him. “Maybe that’s how the CCC can track me so easily- I use my powers quite often.”

“Then what about me?” Ellie asked. “I use ‘em waaaaay more than you.”

“Yeah, but you can’t- sorry, couldn’t- literally rewind time,” Charles theorized. “I mean, you can cause a whole hell of a lot of property damage, but not, like- you know what I mean. Universal stuff.”

“Maybe,” Henry said. He walked a little faster. “Even more reason to get out of here. I really don’t want the CCC knowing that Ellie has my powers.”

“I agree,” Charles said. He reached over and grabbed both of their shoulders, steering them the opposite way they had come. Ellie gave him a puzzled look, and he smiled nervously. “I don’t wanna go past that painting again. Just in case.”

“That would be bad,” Ellie murmured, glancing down at the sleek black floor. She focused. For a heartbeat before the base-boosted music and heat of the club broke her concentration, she felt two things: one, her power, roiling beneath her skin in a familiar and comforting way; and two, the uncanny sensation of strings settled just beneath her skin like invisible tendons.

Before she could latch onto it, the sensation was gone. She repressed a shiver of her own.

They reached the stairs. They trotted down and once again pushed through the crowd, which somehow felt more claustrophobic the second time. This time, though, she allowed herself to reach forward and latch her hand onto Henry’s. Henry didn’t react, which she took as not minding. It did mean that less brainpower went to focusing on Henry’s location and rather on keeping her breathing steady and calm through the ordeal.

Finally, they broke through the line of people and staggered out into the cool of the night. For a moment, they paused to breathe. Charles sighed in relief and ripped his jacket off; conversely, Ellie wrapped hers around herself tighter and dimly missed the warmth of inside. A terrible choice: claustrophobia and heat, or freedom and chill.

“So,” she said, trying to push both temperature and uneasy thoughts from her mind. “Hen, you mentioned a ‘hammerspace’ thingy? Like from comic books?”

“Hammerspace, pocket dimension, extra-dimensional fluid 4-D space- it’s just easier to call it that,” Henry sighed. He began walking toward his apartment. “It’s really not complicated. It’s a space that I discovered after several years where I could, essentially, take cards and keep them in reserve until I needed them- and then, later, I figured out how to put outside objects in.” He laughed a little. “Cue me sneaking into a bunch of places- including our armory, a very high class wine shop, and an entire aisle of a grocery store- and stuffing my pockets.”

“Like this?” Ellie pulled out the Archivists’ book from her pocket.

Henry stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at her, face a mixture of betrayal and bewilderment.

“How the fuck?” he whispered.

Charles burst out laughing. Within seconds he was on the ground wheezing, and oh yes, people were starting to cross the street to avoid them. Ellie squinted at Henry. A smile began to overtake her face.

“I just stuffed it in my pocket, dude. You… did you say several years?”

“Let’s just go,” Henry grumbled.

“Oh, Henry. It’s okay. Supernatural powers aren’t for everyone, darling,” she cooed with an exaggerated drawl, draping herself over his arm. 

“Wait, wait, guys-” Charles was still giggling madly. She heard him scramble up and jog after them. Henry stared ahead, face twisted with disgust.

“Aw, Henry. Come on,” Charles chuckled, wiping a tear away from his eye.

“You didn’t even try!” Henry exclaimed. “That took me, what- five years? But noooooo, Ellie frickin’ Rose can just pull a book out of nowhere like it’s nothing- what the hell do you need a book for, anyway? Out of all the things?”

“It was actually back in the cabin. This thing belongs to the Archivists; can you believe that?” Ellie barked a laugh. “What a coincidence.”

“Another thing I didn’t notice,” Henry groaned. “God. I need some sleep. Wellington was obnoxious and now you come in, mastering my powers already.” He sighed. “No, Ellie, I’m glad. I really am. It’ll be way easier with two hammerspaces.”

“Not even a little annoyed?” Ellie poked Henry’s cheek. He rolled his eyes.

“Okay; okay. My ego is a fragile dove. Make fun of me all you like. But just imagine I mastered your telekinesis with no effort on my part and you’ll see how I feel.”

“Dude, that’d be awesome.”

“Can I have it?” Charles asked. 

They bantered back and forth all the way to Henry’s apartment and into bed. But still, through the night, Ellie couldn’t quite get rid of that string-like sensation underneath her skin- nor the invisible eyes that watched her back.

Chapter Text

“Allllllright, guys. Test, test, one, two, three-”

“I can hear you loud and clear, Pilot.”

“Ditto.”

“And I got you guys; Esoteric, Red. You in position?”

“Yeah. I’m going second floor.”

“First floor for me.”

“Aaaaand that leaves me manning the roof. Are you guys secretly afraid of heights or something?”

“You seem to like them.”

“I’m just not crazy.”

“Yeah, yeah. I guess I do. Eso’s kicking us off, right?”

“I’m ready. Just waiting for your signals.”

“I’m good, man. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Same here.”

“Alright.” A staticky inhalation. “Headed forward. Don’t be too far behind me, now.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Ellie carefully raised herself onto her elbows. The setting sun nearly hid the warehouse in shadow. The unassuming warehouse loomed in front of her, two stories high and unattractive. Its flat roof was barely patched up in places, and the concrete peeled like scabs off skin. It was a brilliant hideaway for the Toppats. Not a soul would assume they’d be hiding in this ugly concrete box- if one ignored the chain-wire fence, patrolling guards, and flickering lights. 

Ellie was on a neighboring building, actually abandoned and even more patchy and dangerous than the one the Toppats were occupying. Her eyes flicked around the perimeter, noting the regular rotation of guards. Two patrols, it seemed, walking slowly around the perimeter every ten or so minutes. 

“You’ll be able to get in, Pilot? Roof’s a bit taller than a story,” she murmured to her comms, an earpiece and tiny microphone tucked into her dark shirt. 

Charles chuckled merrily. “Ah, I got it. Nothing like a little speed climbing to get your blood pumping. You?”

“I’ve got it easier. I’ve just gotta fly over.”

“Bud.”

“What? You like the challenge, you adrenaline junkie. You’ve been over the moon all day.”

“Please don’t distract me, dears,” Henry murmured. “I do have to talk my way in.”

They fell silent. Neither replied. She refocused on the patrols, waiting for that perfect moment. In the meantime, she let her power bubble beneath her skin in preparation.

It was only a couple hundred feet from this building to the next. She only needed a few seconds. 

Technically, Ellie could fly. She had discovered that two years ago, in the Triple Threat run right before it all went wrong. Shockingly, flight didn’t have many practical purposes outside of missions, considering it would reveal her powers in a heartbeat. But it was a useful skill to have practiced. 

“Turns out they don’t even notice someone walking in if they have a hat. God, I love these idiots,” Henry said with a small laugh.

There. A small blindspot where one patrol faced away before the other rounded the corner. Ellie scrambled to her feet and took only a second to let her bunched-up power explode from her hands and feet, shooting her forward. For a brief, disquieting moment, she was supported by the tendrils of the weightless energy boiling inside of her. Wind whipped her hair and screamed in her ears, and just as suddenly it faded to a murmur as she shoved her hands forward. Her power obediently quieted and gently settled her onto the edge of the broken window she had been aiming for. 

The first patrol was just rounding the corner. They continued on peaceably. 

At the same time, she heard quiet grunting. “I’m about in,” she whispered. “Pilot?”

“Uhhhhhh one second.”  

“Patrol’s coming your way, dude.”

“Yeah, buddy! I know that! I’m very aware, actually! It’s fiiiiiine; they never look up anyway.”

“You’re really cavalier about this whole ‘get shot off a roof’ thing.”

“Man, I’m not even on the roof yet. AH, oh, shut up.”

Ellie waited for a brief, tense moment. She peered into the window and was welcomed with a long, dark hallway barely illuminated by flickering electric lights. There weren’t any Toppats, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be crawling all over the place the moment she stepped into somewhere better lit. She needed a better way to move around.

Frowning, she pushed her head into the window, studying her surroundings. The rooms inside had walls that were only high enough to give a semblance of privacy, she realized. Above those rooms were sheets of fluorescent lighting, as unreliable as the Wall’s dim lights. Above those lights…

“Bingo,” she whispered.

“OOF. Okay. I made it up. Good thing there’s nobody up here yet, huh?”

“They just haven’t brought up nighttime guards yet, I bet,” Ellie said. “I’m headed up the rafters. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak above their heads and they won’t even notice. Eso, how’s the ground floor looking?”

“Dismal. I’ve talked to Sven, Burt, the Witch, and like five other Toppats- no sign of Reginald or RHM. Oh, and I’m pretty sure Mr. Macbeth is following me.”

“Buddy, you canNOT get hit by that gun he’s got. It’s freakin’ terrifying.” Charles’s breathing was slowing slightly.

“Believe me, Pilot, I know. I know. I’ve seen it in action.”

Ellie slipped inside the window, careful to not let the errant glass shards prick her. She seemed to be in the corner of the building. In front of her and to her right stretched long hallways, laden with doors. Offices, maybe? What mattered, though, was the fact that she could see figures moving down either hallway, bathed in the non-flickering lights. No offices down here would be occupied, she was sure, but the rafters and air conditioning vents were her best bet on getting around undetected.

She sidled against the wall, sticking close to the shadows, and slipped to one of the support beams. She slowly siphoned power to her hands and feet. Carefully, she extended that power, lifting herself into the air and gradually settling her on top of the rafters. 

“Nobody ever looks up,” she whispered to herself. Then, she began to skulk across the wooden beams.

The issue with a place as big as this was her lack of time and the Toppat’s relative inorganization. Sure, the elites and chief would get the nicest places, but in a warehouse, that could be the roof or the basement- hence why Henry was scouting through the more populous first floor. At least she had the benefit of a bird’s eye view. Slowly she crept, peering down into the rows of offices. Most were repurposed into lounges, meeting rooms, or storage rooms. Each slight squeak of the rafters sent chills through her as Toppats wandered the halls and lounged in the rooms below. As she crept along she silently prayed that each Toppat below wouldn’t look up, and if they did, that the shadows would conceal her. 

A storage room packed full of fragile boxes. A kitchen where two bickering Toppats sorted vegetables. A meeting room where several Toppat elites, including Carol Cross and Sven, pointed out random locations on a large map in the dim lighting. Ellie was quickly nearing the end of the row.

She resisted the urge to jump as a door slammed behind her. She glanced down curiously and saw Carol striding out of the room in the opposite direction of Ellie. 

Wonder if she got mad at someone, she thought before creeping ahead. 

“Ah, night guards. I’m gonna go ahead and knock ‘em out, tie ‘em up so that we’ve got our escape plan.” She heard the soft rustling of fabric. Through the headphones a muffled yelp and two thuds! sounded. 

“Clean work, Pilot,” Henry said appreciatively.

“What do you keep me around for? I may not have magic powers, but I’ve got two fists.”

“You can literally sense anomalies. How is that not a magic power?” Ellie whispered.

“ Look.” Charles fell silent. Ellie paused, waiting for a response, and then huffed a quiet laugh when he didn’t respond.

“Red, I’ve asked around, and literally nobody can tell me where the chief’s room is. They keep giving me contradictory directions.”

“I mean, if you’re not in the rafters, this place is a freakin’ maze,” Ellie whispered. “Bunch of winding hallways and-”

“RIGHT, please don’t touch that; it’s very-”

Ellie’s head shot up. She zeroed in on the sound: somewhere to the right and in front of her. Pretty near, too, if she could hear the shout through concrete walls.

“Bingo,” she whispered.

“Uhoh,” said Charles. There was a slight crackle of static.

“Pilot; you okay?” Henry asked.

“We might need to speed this up, buddy. I think someone’s gonna notice the unconscious Toppats laying at my feet in a few.” Charles laughed. “Hearing some voices.”

Ellie hissed through her teeth. “A little longer,” she whispered. “I think I hear them.” 

“Really? Pilot, stall. Or get out of there.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Power began to build up behind her fingertips, her eyelids, her chest.

She opened her eyes again and crept closer to the voices. Eventually she came to a particular room, larger than the others though outwardly no different. The voices she began to hear, though, were all the markers she needed.

She crept over top of the wall and paused on the beam as she stared down. She paused, blinking several times for her eyes to adjust to the suddenly bright yellow light. The room contained the nicest furniture she had seen yet, a beautiful desk laden with neatly stacked papers and scattered pens, with a couple couches to the side, a bookshelf with a collection of gold-lettered books in front of the large window, and even a rug and some plants. The window was surprisingly intact. That explained why this room they had chosen.

“Geez, sorry. It’s just a plant.”

“A very rare and expensive plant, mind you. Do you know how long it took that team to steal it from that greenhouse? They said the gardeners nearly shanked them.” That was Reginald’s long-suffering sigh. She could recognize it from a mile away. “Where was I?”

“Well, as I was sayin’, I still fail to see why we need to worry about the politickin’ when we could just, y’know-”

“Right. I promise, I’m getting there. But we can’t just go blasting our way through the entire criminal underworld, can we? Nobody’ll want to work with us.”

Ellie peeked past the flat lights. Reginald was seated at the desk, Right Hand Man leaning over his shoulder. Both of their faces were pensive. 

“They’ve attacked us more than once. I think that’s a good enough reason,” Right Hand Man said insistently. 

Reginald paused. “Again, I didn’t say we couldn’t attack them. They’ve probably centered into this location at some point in the last few weeks. But we need to be smart about it. I’ve heard they’re insidious, Right. We need to cut the snake off at its head.”

“I know, Reg. Just sayin’.”

Reginald groaned and flopped back in his cushy chair. “I thought we were thieves, Right. When did it get this complicated?”

I wish it were that simple, Ellie thought ruefully.

“I found them,” she whispered. “Pilot, get away from the roof before someone notices.”

“I think it’s too late for that, Red,” Henry said. I’m seeing some people hurrying to the second floor. They’ve got radios. I’ll try to get to your position. Pilot, did anyone see you?”

“No! No, I’m sure of it! Nobody even came to check on these poor guys,” Charles said frantically. “I- I don’t know what’s happening!”

“Shit,” Ellie whispered. “Okay, I’m going in. Roof is probably out. Henry, do you have an escape plan?”

“If I can get to you, we’ll be golden,” Henry said.

“If,” Charles repeated doubtfully. “I’ve gotta be closer, right?”

“Dude, you’re on a roof. I don’t see how you’re gonna get down here.”

“I find ways!”

Ellie hissed in frustration but didn’t bother arguing. Her eyes flicked around the room. Right Hand Man was the bigger threat. She’d have to knock him out first. On the desk sat a sizable paperweight; with a decent force she’d need to be careful not to outright kill him. Reginald, poor man, was squishier. She was confident a punch would keep him under. Keeping them both busy, though…

Right Hand Man patted Reginald’s shoulder and pointed at something on the paper he was looking at. They spoke softly- but together. She’d have to get behind them.

She stalked forward, eyes darting around for imperfections in the boards. Slowly she approached the position right above and behind them. Power began to thrum beneath her fingertips in anticipation.

BANG!

Ellie barely kept herself from yelping as the door to the room swung open and hit the wall. Reginald did not restrain himself, letting out a startled cry as a woman with dark hair and an equally dark top hat strode inside. 

“Jesus, Carol. Couldn’t have bothered to knock?” Right Hand Man commented.

“No time,” Carol said simply. Carol was just as Ellie remembered her: black eyes set into a grave face, movements purposeful and quick. Her voice had a blank undertone that was unfamiliar, however. Unease began to swirl in Ellie’s gut for a reason she couldn’t identify.

Reginald coughed awkwardly and straightened, attempting to regain his composure. He huffed matter-of-factly. “Well, it must be good. What drove you to barge in here?”

“Intruders,” Carol said flatly.

Oh no. “We’re found,” Ellie whispered. “How?”

“No idea, darling,” Henry said. “Focus now.”

Reginald’s eyes widened in alarm. His chair screeched as he shot up from his seat. “Shit. How the hell did the Midnight Syndicate find here so fast?”

“It’s not them,” Carol said, eyes narrowing. “I know who they are.”

I know…? Surely not. Ellie’s blood ran cold. No. There was no way. Carol didn’t know her; in this iteration they would have no reason to have encountered each other, much less Carol knowing her by name. Had her reputation really stretched that far?

“I’m almost there,” Henry panted.

“No time,” Ellie hissed. Her power bunched beneath her like a springboard. Tingles of energy raced beneath her skin, a swarm of bees eager to burst out of her fingertips. 

“Who cares who they are?” Right Hand Man grabbed Reginald’s arm. “Syndicate or not, they’ll be after you, I’m expecting. We need t’go.”

“You do,” Carol murmured. She hadn’t moved. Reginald shot her a sharp look. Ellie recognized a hint of confused fear in his gaze.

That unease shot up into her throat. She attempted to swallow it down. It’s fine. This is nothing we haven’t dealt with before. Even being found out. 

It’s go time.

Reginald and Right Hand Man turned toward the door. At that moment, the power thrilling through her feet crescendoed, and she flung herself off of the rafters.

Reginald yelped as Ellie landed in front of the door, her power easily catching and settling her to the ground. “It’s not personal,” she said before she released a shockwave of energy straight into them. 

Right Hand Man caught himself as he was shoved back, but not before floundering off balance. Reginald was not so lucky. He went head over heels, crashing into his desk and scattering the meticulously organized papers. Carol took a step back, grimacing slightly, but otherwise didn’t move. 

Ellie thrust her hand out and grabbed Right Hand Man in tendrils of force. Before he could right himself, she flung him hard behind her. He crashed into the bookshelf and cursed in pain, shouting as the bookshelf collapsed and drowned him in wood and books. Carol slipped to the side and dodged the wave of force that Ellie sent at her. With a hiss of frustration Ellie turned back to Reginald.

Reginald was struggling to get up. His eyes were wide with fear. “You’re not-” He coughed. “You’re not the Syndicate!”

“Sorry,” Ellie said. Her power bubbled contentedly in her fingertips, and she flexed them, ready to fling him into a wall-

Carol let out a vicious snarl and lunged at Ellie. Ellie staggered back, surprised, and barely dodged the blade-sharp edge of a- quill? that Carol slashed at her throat. Ellie was just barely fast enough to punch Carol in the face, deflecting her next swipe and sending her stumbling to the side. 

A quill? A quill? Not a normal Toppat weapon. Not even Macbeth’s gun. Something about it was setting her teeth on edge. 

She frowned. As Carol pulled herself back up, Ellie realized that Carol’s entire lower arms were stained black as night. 

“The hell…?” she whispered. As quick as a snake she darted forward and grabbed Reginald by the collar, flinging him to the side. Reginald slammed into the wall and slumped, unconscious, as Ellie turned back to Carol. Leaving Carol out of her sight, even for the briefest of seconds, sent a thrill of terror through her for some reason.

Carol dragged herself up. She seemed hardly affected by the punch. She began to slowly walk toward Ellie.

“You,” Carol hissed, and with a start Ellie realized Carol was referring to her. “You traitorous bastard. I can’t believe I ever thought-”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Ellie gasped. The energy flowing through her began to take an uneasy edge. 

Carol’s eyes were wild. Murderous. Her grip on that quill was so tight Ellie was surprised it hadn’t broken, and her hands seemed to be trembling with an emotion Ellie couldn’t identify beyond pure rage.

“Reginald!” Right Hand Man shouted. She glanced over her shoulder to see him struggling up from the broken bookshelf in front of the window. 

Carol stepped over Reginald’s unconscious body with hardly a second glance. She advanced toward Ellie with the careful deliberation of a wolf. 

“You know what you did, you lying traitor.” She laughed mirthlessly. “To think I thought I ever owed you loyalty.”

“I don’t think we’ve met before, dude,” Ellie stammered.

At that, Carol faltered. She hesitated. Then she spat, hot with fury. “I know you do. I saw you- you and that smug thief and that annoying little pilot.” Her voice grew stronger as she went, a boiling heat returning to her black eyes. 

“Dude- I do not know you,” Ellie insisted.

“You’re just as much a liar as the other two,” Carol breathed. “I thought you were different.”

Welp. Ellie’s power flared. She glanced behind her and grimaced as Right Hand Man shoved himself to his feet, eyes narrowing in fury at Ellie. She gathered the power in her hands and tried to think. How do I do this?

She looked at Carol, then back at an advancing Right Hand Man. Power will be weaker if I split it. At Carol, back at Right Hand Man. And Carol doesn’t stay down for long. To Carol again, then she briefly locked eyes with Charles swinging toward the window-

Ellie’s body reacted before her mind. She flung herself out of the way as Charles crashed Spiderman-style through the window, slamming feet-first into Right Hand Man. They went tumbling. Ellie fell to the ground, the breath knocked out of her. 

At the same time, Carol growled animalistically. She ignored Charles. She stalked toward Ellie and drew her quill in a long line across the wall.

Ellie watched, mesmerized, as the bright yellowish wallpaper, once some office manager’s flight of fancy in a drab gray office, began to be sucked into the pen. Dark ink spread wherever the quill’s sharp tip was dragged through, spreading and infecting the now-exhausted wallpaper in long inky tendrils like a cat’s claws. 

Ellie took a hesitant step back. Her power trembled uncertainly.

I can’t let that thing touch me, she realized. Who knew what that could do to a person?

But where did she get it? her mind whispered. And how does she know you?

Maybe let’s think about that when I’m not about to die, she thought. She scrambled up just in time to lift her hands, sending a little dart of power that deflected Carol’s first swipe. Power it was- she couldn’t risk getting close enough for that swipe to begin draining her of color like some monochromatic vampire.

Behind Carol, Charles and Right Hand Man were engaged in a similar duel. Instead of anomalous powers, though, it was mundane fists. Boring, in her opinion. Less terrifying, she concluded as Carol’s sharp quill again slashed inches from her throat. 

She grabbed Carol’s arm and flung her forward, slipping behind her. “Dude,” she said. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Stop LYING TO ME!” Carol shrieked. A waterfall of furious gibberish poured out of her mouth as she whirled and shot toward Ellie with the speed of a wraith. Ellie ducked under her first furious swipe and concentrated power into her fist, punching Carol in the shoulder. Carol snarled in pain as she was sent staggering. She swiped again, but her aim was getting clumsier as her rage grew.

That didn’t mean she was any less dangerous. Really, though her swipes were easier to dodge, they were faster and closer than she wanted. All of Ellie’s concentration poured into avoiding that black-stained tip as it whizzed past her ear or nearly brushed her sleeve. 

She’s got to be tiring, Ellie thought. Surely her stamina is still normal, right? Unless it-

Behind Carol, Charles cried out in pain. Ellie’s head whipped instinctively over to Charles as he fell to the floor and scrambled back, safely away from Right Hand Man’s ensuing punch. He rocketed back to his feet.

But it was too late. Her eyes flicked back in time to see Carol’s pen slicing toward her throat.

Ellie instinctively raised her arm.

An icy-hot sensation ripped across her arm. The pen cut easily through cloth and flesh, slicing in a neat line across Ellie’s forearm as she scrambled back. Ellie had a moment of brief confusion and horror before the pain hit her. 

She immediately collapsed to her knees with a cry as agony as hot as a thousand suns ripped through her arm, traveling down through her fingertips and up to her shoulder. All she could do was gasp, heartbeat pounding so hard it hurt, as Carol stepped back, glaring cooly at her.

“ELLIE!” Henry screamed. “What happened? I’m coming- just hold on-”

“The fuck?” Ellie snarled. She tried to rise, but the agony redoubled, pounding through her bloodstream. She collapsed again, wheezing.

“Ellie!” Charles shouted, voice hoarse with terror. She saw him through blurred vision as he continued fighting Right Hand Man. Carol, though, was the only thing she could see clearly.

Then a second wave hit her. She thought it couldn’t get worse, but the next sensation was perhaps worse than the unrelenting pain. She watched in horror as the black ink from the pen seemed to start seeping into her skin, spreading like a disease through the injury. Black veins began to creep up and down her arm. When it got to her heart…

“C’mon, do something, do something, do something-” Henry was whispering. Distantly she heard Right Hand Man shout, and then a thump, but it was muffled by the pounding in her head.

“This is what traitors get,” Carol whispered. 

“I didn’t-” Ellie gritted her teeth, breathing hard as the pain grew with each heartbeat. “You don’t understand. I liked you. But I didn’t betray you. I didn’t betray you. It’s not like that! I’m not a traitor. I’m-” She snarled in fury and realized with a jolt that the veins had spread up to her shoulder.

I don’t have much time left, she thought peacefully, as if in a dream.

“Do SOMETHING you USELESS piece of SHIT!” Henry shouted. The Narrator, maybe. It felt so far away, though.

“I’m not a traitor.” Ellie began to summon power to her good hand, even through the agony, fury and terror spurring her to make Carol pay for what she had done. “I was never your friend. This was never about you.”  

Just as Carol’s eyes widened in fury (and… hurt?) her power crackled to life.

And then she exploded. 

Her power, unbidden and unwanted, surged through her with the power of a lightning bolt. Every nerve alit with sensation, frozen fire pouring through her veins. She saw Carol’s face morph into confused terror, Charles sporting the same expression behind her, before her vision went white. 

Everything next was pure feeling. She was hyperaware of the power surging through her and every cell on her body, each place where her knees dug into the concrete floor and every frayed muscle splitting her arm. Her power raced from vein to vein, faster than light, before converging on her injured arm. 

She may have screamed as lava poured through the infected veins, but the deafening ringing thrumming through her ears drowned out all other sound. Her power viciously and forcefully ripped the inky disease from her veins, dragging it back to her wound and expelling it.

Just as quickly as it began, Ellie came back to herself, gasping and shivering. She collapsed onto her hands and knees. At the sudden absence of pain, bile rose to her throat and she swallowed it down with a burning sensation. She fell onto her side and curled up.

Carol was gone. Footsteps hurried toward her and Charles fell to his knees in front of her, face twisted in panic. “El? Ellie, are you okay?”

“I-” Ellie coughed and swallowed back the urge to throw up. “I have to be. I’m- I’m- what happened? What did she do?”

She began to struggle to her feet. Charles made a protesting noise but, at her woozy glare, he supported her with an arm around her. She blearily shoved him off and stumbled toward Reginald and Right Hand Man. With hardly a thought, though it sent waves of now-mild pain through her head, she picked up Reginald with her power.

“Carol- I don’t know what happened. She hit you and you looked like you were going to die and then you- and then you were screaming, and then- then you exploded, or something? And it was awful. All this ink poured out of your arm…” His voice wobbled. “I- oh, god, El; I was so scared.”

“I’m fine,” Ellie whispered. Her voice was hoarse. Had she been screaming? Oh, yeah. Charles had just said that. She giggled lightly. Idiot. He just told her that.

“Ellie-” Charles began.

BANG!

Charles jumped as Henry slammed the door shut behind him. She could only stare listlessly, trying not to sway, as he rushed up.

“Ellie!” Ellie stumbled as Henry practically crashed into her, crushing her in a hug. Ellie wheezed and stars exploded through her eyes as her lungs scrambled for air. Henry broke away from her and hesitated, eyes trailing down to her arm.

BANG! BANG! BANG!  

Ellie flicked a hand. With another wave of only-one-sun-amount of pain, she braced the door with her power as it began to bow inward. Charles scurried forward and grabbed Right Hand Man, dragging him up. 

“Get together!” Henry said frantically. 

BANG!

Ellie staggered as her power exploded outward, the door shattering into a million pieces. She frowned in mild annoyance. On the other side stood Macbeth, his gun smoking and face twisted in rage. And behind him…

Darkness.

“I’m gonna gut’cha, you son of a bitch!” he shouted. He yanked his gun up onto his shoulder. 

She felt Henry grab her arm. He frantically chanted underneath his breath as Macbeth’s gun began to glow a poisonous green, the world around him beginning to pitch black and white.

It all felt muted. Ellie’s eyes instead were locked onto Carol’s as she stood just behind Macbeth. A furious hate glowed from Carol’s black eyes, and pitch-dark ink dripped in steady rivulets from her hands and the quill onto the floor and her shoes. She didn’t seem to notice at all.

Were her eyes always that dark? Ellie thought distantly.

BANG!

As a white bullet rocketed forth, and she felt her body dissolve with the force of Henry’s spell, the last thing she saw was Carol’s pits of eyes.

And then she was standing in Henry’s apartment.

Ellie barely managed to stay upright as Henry jerked backward, falling away from a bullet that never connected. He crashed into the couch behind them. Charles staggered inward and fought to support the limp body of Right Hand Man. Ellie reached out numbly and flicked her fingers, lifting Right Hand Man up into the air. 

Their frantic wheezing filled the otherwise silent apartment. 

Ellie lowered both captives. They were both deep in unconsciousness. The tension in her head finally began to ease, and that awareness was replaced by a gentle throb of pain through her arm. Warmth ran down it in a steady drone.

Ellie’s head was light. She could see flecks of color in everything around her- orange poster, yellow light, blue coat, brown door, red blood. Nothing like that void black.

She was so tired.

“Darling- you’re bleeding,” Henry said.

“Huh?” Ellie glanced down at her arm. It leaked dark red blood, nearly black, dripping steadily onto the carpet. “Oh. Sorry. You like this carpet.” She squinted. It swam. Were those dogs or cats in the fabric? “Where did you get it? Weird patterns.”

“Ellie, buddy-” She looked up absently as Charles’s hands grasped her shoulders, his worried face peering down into hers. “Something’s wrong, Hen.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Ellie said with a little laugh. “I’m not a traitor.”

Her body did an odd thing then. It went limp. Charles shouted something. 

Her vision blurred like a smear of ink across a page, and then went as dark as night.

Chapter Text

Ellie swam to murky consciousness some time later. She blinked heavy, blurry eyes open. The ceiling stared back.

Softness surrounded her, but sweat stuck to her clammy skin and soaked through her tank top and shorts. She searched vaguely through her memories and found only a blur. There was a dull throb in her arm and a thick, metallic taste settled in her mouth, unabating as she swallowed reflexively. Trying not to gag, she sat up.

She was in bed in Henry’s room. Light streamed through the window, cars mutedly roaring outside. It could be anywhere from early to midmorning.

Regardless, though, she had to get this taste out of her mouth. And a shower. And maybe an explanation for what the hell had happened after she had… passed out?

Pushing herself off the bed, the throb in her arm spiked. She held back a hiss of pain and then one of surprise as she looked down at her left arm. 

A long black line ran down her forearm right where she had blocked Carol’s quill. The skin around it was puffy and red, with only the tiniest bit of blackness seeming to creep out like little lightning bolts, but the redness and puffiness seemed to be from the lines of stitches she now noticed criss-crossing her arm. There was a bandage on her shoulder.

If she had to guess, one of the boys had given her a dose of the good stuff (hidden around Henry’s apartment for situations like this, or maybe gotten from Henry’s- her- powers) and put stitches in to start the healing process. Probably a good idea. They couldn’t exactly take her to a hospital. What would they tell the doctors? Yeah, my friend here got stabbed with a spooky pen and she’s now leaking ink. Also, mind the telekinesis.

Besides, as part of being field agents, first aid was ingrained into them. This wasn’t the first or last time she’d get stitched up by either of them.

Man, though. She would love a dose of the good stuff right about now. The pain, however, had briefly taken her attention away from the nauseating texture coating the inside of her mouth, and with the flash of pain fading, it came back in full force. Resisting the urge to gag, she darted into the bathroom and spat into the toilet. 

A dark black liquid dribbled from her mouth and dripped placidly into the water. Finally, she recognized the taste and texture from that old elementary school habit of chewing on her pens. Ink.

The thought sent another wave of nausea through her and before she could swallow it down, the contents of her stomach, of which was only inky darkness, expelled itself violently from her mouth. A couple of minutes of hacking later, she was dry heaving and shivering on the cold bathroom floor, reflexive tears tracing down her cheeks and the slash on her arm throbbing. 

She didn’t look up as the door slowly creaked open. “Ellie?” came Charles’s voice gently. He made a noise of surprise at what she assumed was her ragged appearance. A couple of footsteps later, the hair was pulled out of her face, and a large, warm body settled next to her. 

She leaned gratefully into Charles as he rubbed her back and supported her with an arm around her. “Sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t realize you’d gotten up.”

Ellie tried to say something, but swallowing the saliva made her nauseous all over again. She shook her head to indicate that it wasn’t his fault. “You didn’t-” she started, before having to take a moment to spit slightly watered down ink into the bowl. “It’s fine.”

“Uh… that doesn’t look good.” She could feel Charles’s gaze on her face, tinged with worry. He gently lifted her arm and studied the stitching. 

“That’s fine, dude. Pretty good stitching, actually.” Ellie spit again, and Charles continued rhythmically stroking her back. She took several deep breaths and focused on the soothing warmth rather than the goosebumps sprinkling her chilled skin.

“Aw, thanks,” Charles said distractedly. “Isn’t this still, uh, worrying, though? Like, you’re literally throwing up ink.”

“What are we gonna do? Go see a doctor?” Ellie gave Charles a rueful smile, which must have looked bad, because he didn’t try to hide the grimace behind his weak smile in return.

“Yeah… I mean, you’re not dying, I guess,” he muttered. “The Narrator thing would stop that, right?”

“Ideally.”

Charles gave her another gentle squeeze and then his warmth was regrettably gone as he stood. “I’m gonna get you some water and saran wrap so you can take a shower, ‘kay? Then I’ll make some food to get the taste out.”

Ellie hesitated. “Just coffee, maybe. I’ll need the caffeine, but I don’t think I can stomach food right now.”

“You don’t like coffee, don’t you?”

“It’s that or be more miserable than I already am,” Ellie said. She slowly pushed herself up and clicked her now-dry tongue, an acrid taste burning her throat and mouth.

Charles left. In the meantime, Ellie turned on the shower to its hottest setting and grabbed some of Henry’s clothes and her trusty leather jacket. It was convenient they were the same size, pretty much. As the water heated up, Charles came back in with a roll of saran wrap and a glass of water. She reached over and squeezed Charles’s arm in thanks, still a little too nauseated to talk.

Charles helped wrap it around her wound gingerly. “Just, uh, don’t get it wet. I’m gonna make some breakfast before we head out.” He paused worriedly. “Do we need to say we’ll be another day, or…?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m feeling a little better right now. I think it was just…” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and came away with blackness.

Charles cringed. “Yeah. I’m just gonna-” He trotted out. Ellie laughed quietly and undressed.

She took a swig of the water and spat it out in the sink. Distilled black spattered into the sink, slowly dragged down the drain as she turned the water on. She swallowed against a fresh wave of nausea. She did it again and again until the saliva came clear and her mouth no longer looked like she had chugged a gallon of black paint. 

By that point, fog had begun to steam up the mirror as the water warmed. She took one more look at her deep-set eye bags and the slump in her shoulders. A gentle throb darted through her wrapped up arm in synchronization with the pulse of phantom scars long since erased by the butchery of time. 

Across the side of her neck where a Toppat had gotten lucky with a dagger. A bullet hole where a government agent had hit her in the leg. A slash from a Wall guard across the side. A cut across her cheek from Henry and that fistfight in Civil Warfare. A broken ankle from a fall. All were invisible now, burned into her skin by memory rather than physicality. She wondered if this one would stay. 

Shower, she told herself. As she stepped in, the heat of the water made her shudder in both relief and pain as her chilled skin burned. Gradually, though, the goosebumps subsided as she stood under the water, absorbing as much heat as she could manage. It was a little awkward handling the soap with one arm out of commission, but this wasn’t the first (nor last) time she had stitches or some other injury that required care. 

It was twenty minutes of lingering later that her body finally felt warmed to the bone and began to pass into uncomfortably hot territory. She clambered out and toweled off, getting dressed slowly as her arm twinged in pain. Refreshed and feeling a little more like a person, she headed out into the kitchen. 

Henry was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of coffee. Charles sat next to him with a plate of eggs that he was picking at, another one next to him. Ellie took the hint and sat next to him.

They said nothing. She plucked at the eggs, but the recent sense-memory of ink swirled her stomach with nausea. As if sensing her discomfort, Henry nudged over a second cup of coffee. She dipped her head gratefully.

Charles finished the eggs. He stood and headed to the counter, setting down the plate and silverware in the sink. To her puzzlement, he began washing the dishes.

“You alright?” Henry asked softly. 

Ellie shrugged. “Definitely could be worse. I guess hacking up a bunch of ink isn’t the worst thing in the world to happen after something like that.”

“Yeah, Charlie told me.” Henry sipped his coffee. “That’s… an interesting side effect.”

They were quiet for another moment. The air weighed heavy on her shoulders.

“I was lucky to come away from that one,” Ellie rasped.

Both Charles and Henry glanced at her uncomfortably. Charles scrubbed the pan, his movements were violent. 

“You were,” Henry said quietly. He hesitated. “You didn’t get any choices?”

“Your little buddy decided not to help out that time,” Ellie said wryly. She took a sip of the coffee Henry had handed her, but found that the texture was far too thick and the darkness of the liquid uncanny. She pushed it away. She would go uncaffeinated, then. “Why didn’t it?”

“I believe- I know - it would have intervened if you had died,” Henry said firmly. “If it interjects when my plans or teammates fail, it would have done that. Perhaps it could tell that your power would have a… strong reaction to another anomaly.”

“Yeah. New question. Uh, what the hell was that?” Charles dumped the sink water out and started drying the pan with frenetic energy. 

“I don’t know, dude. Anomaly-on-anomaly violence? I mean, Henry knows more about regular anomalies than me.”

“I’ve got theories based on experience,” Henry said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “If we want verifiable facts, we’d have to go to the CCC.”

“Well, then what’s a theory?” Ellie asked. “Because I don’t know what the hell happened any more than you guys do. My power just… expelled it. Not totally,” she added, raising her arm and pointing to the dark black line stitched together on her arm like some kind of odd tattoo. “It’s still there. And I spit up ink this morning.”

“It’s an anomaly. Unless we actually tried to study the thing itself, figure out how it worked, we’re not going to know many facts,” Henry said. “What I can tell you is that it seems like the reaction was pretty violent. It would have totally affected you if you didn’t have your powers. So that means one thing: your powers have some kind of defense mechanism or latent ability against other anomalies trying to infect you or kill you.”

“Internally,” Ellie added. “Hasn’t stopped me from getting blasted in the face with a laser gun, clearly. And that doesn’t tell us anything about Carol’s anomaly.”

“Like where she got it,” Charles said. “That’s the first thing I was thinking about. We didn’t give it to her. Yeah, there are some different things about this timeline, but how the hell does it all come together in- in- Carol Cross getting an anomaly?”

He shoved the dried pot into a cabinet and stood there, breathing heavily. Growling, he dragged a hand through his hair.

“Charlie,” Henry said quietly.

“I just don’t like it,” Charles said, turning. “If your guy didn’t show up, and Ellie’s power hadn’t done some freaky expelling thing, she’d be dead. Really dead. Maybe you would have gotten to reset, but I don’t know, man! That really easily could have been our final mission! In the timeline!”

Ellie stared down at the black line. It looked almost rotten, the black edging out like a bleeding tattoo. It wasn’t- the pain was there, but relatively small, and it showed no real sign of it- but it stood there, an ominous blemish on her flesh.

Charles sometimes tried to describe what exploding felt like. She thought she got it, now. Henry always said he understood, and of course he did. He had died and lived endlessly. She, though…

That first death at the Wall was something she hadn’t thought about since it happened. The confusion and the need to get out was more pressing at the time. If that had been it, though…

If the Narrator didn’t step in, if this had really been the equivalent of the rocket mission-

“It was nowhere as grand as the scale of a Toppat rocket or a moving train,” Henry argued. “As it were, I got hardly any choices. Ellie didn’t get any.”

“But what if?” Charles insisted. He threw his arms out wildly. “I- I can’t let someone die, guys. Not after everything. Not after this. I came back. With everything breaking- I don’t know if we’d get that lucky again.”

Ellie opened her mouth. She closed it, swallowing, and stared down at the newly forming scar.

For a moment, they were silent. She glanced at Henry, but he was staring hard down at his hands. Charles walked over and sat down next to Ellie. With a slightly wet sigh he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, resting his head against hers.

Finally, she murmured, “We can’t know, y’know?” She laughed a little. “I mean, we think we’ve gotten it all sorted out- all this timeline nonsense, at least- and then this happens. But I think we should’ve expected it. I mean, guys. Think about it. Really think about it. We assumed what would happen, but we didn’t know. We just trusted. Plus, c’mon. Nothing ever simple comes from making a deal with some kind of eldritch entity thing.”

Henry barked a laugh. “...You’re right,” he said, chuckling a little. He smiled seemingly at himself, shaking his head. “All arrogance. I’m sorry. I should’ve-”

“You couldn’t have known,” Charles broke in wearily. “Don’t blame yourself. I’m sorry for blowing up. It’s just… man. Man, it’s been a while. You could’ve died.”

“I wouldn’t have,” Ellie murmured. “I think I know what this thing thinks. It wouldn’t have killed me, because that would be the end. It thinks in years. It’s been- what, a few days? Barely.”

“Ellie’s right. It would have given her a choice,” Henry said. “I know that doesn’t make you feel any better, Charlie, but it’s true.”

Charles shrugged. “Best we’re gonna get, right?” He tried for a smile. 

“All we can do is try our best and enjoy it,” Ellie said, smiling back tiredly. “I mean, it’s kind of nice not knowing exactly what to expect. Terrifying, but… it feels less like we’re some kind of weirdo time traveler masterminds and more of just normal people trying their best.”

“If you say so,” Henry said. He looked away, face troubled. He laughed a little. “I agree, of course. About trying to enjoy it. I love you, no matter where or what’s happening. It’s just… a lot of moving parts. Usually we have more information, at least.”

“Then why don’t we try to get information?” Ellie asked. “It’s not like the answer’s gonna fall into our laps. Like Carol’s anomaly- we can always go looking for what information is out there about her and that thing.”

“Not a bad idea, Rose,” Charles said with a grin, nudging her. “I mean, we’re Triple Threat. We can find out some stuff if we want to!”

“Yeah. We should,” Henry said. “As long as we stay safe. I don’t want a repeat of this incident. We need to play it straight and narrow until the Toppat rocket- no drawing attention to ourselves that would get the CCC involved, no revealing anything to the government. Galeforce is someone we can’t avoid, and Dave and Rupert… well, we have to look after them. They’re like us now. But otherwise? We need to be government agents. We can look for information, we can plan, we can do anything we want. We just need to be careful in this new world.”

“And we need to have some freaking fun,” Ellie interrupted, dragging a hand through her hair. “God. I need to steal something.”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Henry said a little wistfully. 

Charles rolled his eyes, and she grinned as he let out a dramatic sigh. “Do you guys enjoy anything that’s not crime? I’m already putting my neck out for you idiots.”

“You,” Henry and Ellie said at the same time. Charles huffed and flushed. They both giggled as he dragged himself up.

“Whatever. Let’s just get going. We’ve gotta tell the general how it went in person.” The three of them stood and headed for the door. 

“Not mentioning any pens that eat people,” Ellie added.

“No pens that eat people,” Charles agreed. “That still bothers me. Where did she get it?”

“Rupert remembers. Dave does, too. And now Carol is… maybe that’s not a coincidence,” Henry offered. 

“We ready to go?” Ellie asked. 

“Ready as we’ll ever be. Regardless of how we go about this…” Henry glanced away. “Something strange is happening. We need to be on our guard. Carol, Rupert, and Dave are probably just the tip of the iceberg.” He pushed the door open and stepped outside, Charles following.

“...Yeah,” Ellie said quietly, tracing the line of stitches beneath her jacket. 

…

Ellie tugged down her sleeve. “We are not telling Galeforce about what happened,” she said. 

“And it’s gonna be so believable that you’re wearing long sleeves in this heat,” Charles said wryly. 

Ellie swung into a parking spot. She sighed, savoring the blasting air condition for a second longer. “I’m really attached to this leather jacket, I guess. Whatever. He won’t say anything.”

“He’s observant,” Henry said from the back. “But… considering the scope of what we’ve done, I doubt he’ll question anything. We did just capture the government’s two biggest enemies.”

“And nearly died doing it,” Charles muttered. 

“What Galeforce doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Ellie hesitated. “Uh, what Galeforce doesn’t know about me almost dying won’t hurt him. We should probably mention the Carol thing at some point.”

“Not yet,” Charles said. Ellie and Ellie both glanced back at him as she turned the car off. “Look, look, yeah. Can’t believe goody-two-shoes Charlie is saying this. But, look- El, didn’t you hear what she was saying?”

Ellie blinked. This is what traitors get. “...Yeah.” She glanced away, out toward the camp. “She called me a traitor. And a bunch of other stuff, but that sticks out.”

Charles started, “it sounds- well, I’m not gonna get into the fact that it sounds a whole hell of a lot like Carol remembers-”

“What?” Henry hissed. His eyes were wide.

“She did, didn’t she. Let’s walk and talk.” Ellie hopped out of the car before Henry could say anything else. 

Henry scrambled out behind her and grabbed her arm, face baffled and concerned. “She said she remembers?”

“She didn’t spell it out, but it’s kind of obvious,” Ellie said. She began to list on each of her fingers. “She targeted me specifically, called me a traitor, called me a liar when I told her I didn’t have any idea what she was talking about. But I’m pretty dang sure that she wouldn’t have said all of that if she didn’t recognize me.”

Henry released her, face pensive. “That is- hmmmm.” He hissed to himself, dragging his hands over his arms. 

Charles hurried around the car and raised a hand. “Look, what I’m trying to say is that Galeforce is already wary of us. We need to make sure there’s nothing that he can think is a curveball, or something going wrong. So we don’t mention Carol. She seems like her grudge is… personal.” Charles shrugged. “So maybe let’s just… let it be personal. I doubt she’ll be going after the government if she hates us specifically.”

“Not that I’m against keeping secrets-” Henry started. Both Ellie and Charles huffed a laugh. “-But I feel like she’s going to be a reoccurring problem. What happens when we can’t hide her? When she figures out what happened, because she’s frankly smart, and decides that her attacks need to be even more personal?”

“I think she’s already figured that out, Hen,” Ellie said. “Why else would she come after me so much? She walked in already trying to kill me, specifically. She didn’t hesitate to wonder why she recognized us, or anything like that. She just… went for it.”

Henry sighed. He squeezed his eyes shut for one long moment before opening them and shaking himself out. In a couple seconds his face smoothed over into his picture-perfect mask of confidence and ease.

“Let’s go get our pardons.”

…

The government camp had been… nice, the past few days.

Nice. Yes. That was the word he was going to settle upon. Not great, necessarily, considering most of his waking hours had been spent at night and a government camp wasn’t comfortable really, but it was so far better than anything else he had experienced up until this point that calling it anything but stellar felt insulting. 

And Dave was used to being a night owl. Most of his previous jobs had been, by necessity, night shifts. Dave had given up looking for any other type of job before his transformation anyway since it was familiar, and then after it… well, night shifts were required.

Really, what made this whole situation bearable was Rupert. Maybe it was unfair to put so much pressure on him, but Dave genuinely thought he might have gone insane without someone who understood him. At least, someone who knew what he was going through. 

Aaaaaand strike!

At this point, the thing that was actually going to drive him insane was his own mind. 

He hummed in displeasure and sat up, touching his head. The Announcer, as if to accentuate the newly pounding headache, saw fit to play a whole crowd of cheering and clapping voices in his mind. 

Charlie! 

Hold on, I’m coming-

I’m not a traitor. 

and then you were screaming, and then-

I find ways!

Snippets of voices danced through his mind, cut and blurring together like a badly edited video. Shouting, screaming, growling. Gunshots, metal slicing through air, shattered glass. Dave couldn’t bring himself to do anything but listen, the noise beating through his head like ringing bells captivating every iota of his attention. He wished he had some knob like a real radio where he could shut off his head and that stupid voice. 

“Dave?”

Dave jolted and snapped out of his mind. He jerked his head over. The hand on his shoulder stayed steady. 

Rupert was watching him, a concerned frown on his face. Dave relaxed as the sound of two punches rang through in quick, violent succession. He shifted back against the tree further, gazing up through the slight haze of gray to the cloudless sky. 

“Oh, yeah. Just-” Dave cut himself off as a window shattered inside his mind. What’s this? A new opponent? Distantly, he noticed Rupert just barely flinch. “Uh. Your friends? Triple Threat. I think they’re doing something. I’ve been hearing a lot for the past little while.”

“The hell are they doing now?” Rupert muttered. 

They sat together a little ways from camp. Rupert insisted that Dave get out of the main camp for ‘fresh air’ or something, and so for the past few days Dave had found himself on a seemingly self-conscripted field trip. With stubborn determination, day after day Rupert had figured out ways to sneak them both out of camp without Dave having to teleport. 

Honestly, Dave liked the bit of excitement. Was it a little nerve-wracking to sneak out every day? Yes. Could he teleport here now that he had seen it? Also yes. …Did he want to give up this little time of their heads bent together behind a building, whispering about the next patrol, getting a little thrill of nervous energy every time someone walked too near? Not really, no.

Did that say something about him? Surely not. 

“I’m not sure. Weren’t they kidnapping the chiefs of the Toppats?” Dave asked.

“Yes, well. God knows how that’s going.”

“I must be God,” Dave murmured. To his faint surprise, Rupert huffed a laugh. 

“Alright, then. How are they doing?” 

BANG!

“Uh… fine, I think,” Dave said worriedly. 

Their little clearing, a tiny haven in the dense, thick jungle, slowly grew dimmer. Rupert’s shoulder brushed his.

“They’re crazy, all of them,” Rupert muttered. 

“Even your friend?”

“Especially him.” Rupert shifted back against the tree, a tenseness entering his shoulders. “This is all insane. Timelines and anomalies and whole other lifetimes…”

“It feels weird when you’re not used to it,” Dave said.

“Are you?” Rupert asked. 

“…I guess I have to be,” he replied. “I’ve been like this since… at least a few years ago. This is wild, yeah, but it’s not really the most crazy thing that’s happened to me.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you, then?” Rupert asked, almost playfully.

“Watching my car run off the road because my hands kept falling through it,” Dave murmured. “Bracing for impact, and then feeling nothing, because I fell through the car and teleported away.”

That was one of the more vivid memories in his static-filled brain. It was the first time he had really realized what he was- and what he was becoming.

“…Oh,” Rupert said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s, uh… it’s been a while. Sorry. Should I be more worried about this?”

Rupert hesitated. “I guess not.” A beat. “I guess if everything goes right- what they say is right, apparently- we don’t really have to worry about anything.”

El? Ellie? Shit, what did that-

“I guess so. As long as they have everything under control.”

Rupert barked a laugh. “I’ve known Charlie for years. I… I don’t think they’ve got everything under control. I don’t think they think they do, either.”

“They’ve got someone who can control time in the mix,” Dave pointed out.

“I trust Henry about as far as I can throw him,” Rupert muttered, looking away.

Dave shrugged. “He’s been nice to me. Even when he didn’t have to be.”

“That’s a low bar.”

“Frankly, I have low standards.”

“That’s kind of sad, dude.”

Dave laughed. “It is, isn’t it? But I don’t really have any other choices. This is the first time I’ve really had a friend in a long time. Between my night shifts and all of this… Yeah, I don’t really, uh, have many prospects.”

Rupert looked faintly surprised, but he quickly hid it. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Dave shrugged. “I don’t bother feeling bad about it. It’s not like I can do anything about it. And this… happened to me, for some reason. It’s not like I can change it now.” He glanced down at his hand and watched the fingers fade.

They sat in silence for a moment.

“What happens after they capture the Toppat leaders?” Dave asked. “After they… complete this timeline?”

Rupert snorted. “They made it seem like life just goes on. Or something. God knows.”

“Yeah…” And he would still be like this. 

“But that’s a hot minute from now,” Rupert sighed, sitting back. He put his arm around Dave’s back. Dave went still, trying to stay solid, holding onto the sensation.

“We’ve got time,” Rupert murmured.

Hopefully.

Chapter Text

Nothing happened for four whole days after Galeforce gave them a pardon, and that alone probably should have set off alarm bells that their tentative peace was going to end soon. 

Not that the last three days had been peaceful- between moving into camp officially, writing and discussing reports with Galeforce about the mission itself, and the official creation of their team (“We’ve gotta stick with Triple Threat; it’s classic at this point!”), and about a million other little things to get settled into camp life, their days had been long and busy. But it was a start. More than that, it was a familiar start, one that often set off deja vu due to the minute differences. 

Ellie had begun to look forward to maybe having a less hectic day, one with possible free time to just hang out with the boys, when Charles sat down across from her and Henry one morning in their newly shared apartment and said: 

“We’re, uh, going out to lunch today.”

Ellie blinked at him. Henry raised an eyebrow. “Not that I’m opposed, darling, but today? We just got done with all of the paperwork again.”

“Driving a few hours doesn’t really sound fun,” Ellie continued. She glanced over at Henry hopefully.

“No, I’m not using some of my limited, precious resources to teleport us anywhere.” 

Ellie huffed.

“It wasn’t my decision.” Charles laughed nervously. He sipped his decaffeinated coffee. “Uhhhhh, so- Amelia and the twins kind of ambushed me, and dragged Rupert along. They told me that they, uh, quote, ‘wanted to get to know the people I’ve been dallying with’. Amelia told me that we were gonna all head out to one of the closer towns for, uh. Lunch!” He grinned lopsidedly. 

Ellie sighed. “Today?”

“Yeah. I tried to say something to Amelia, but she accused me of trying to weasel my way out of it- you know how she can get. I couldn’t argue! And then the twins started making fun of me for abandoning them…” Charles sighed. “It was a whole thing.”

“To be fair, you haven’t talked to them in, like, a week. Well, a week this time. Whenever the last time you talked to them before the airship mission,” Ellie said.

“I don’t know anymore. It was sixteen years ago,” Charles said wearily.

“And Rupert’s coming?” Henry questioned.

“Far as I know,” Charles replied.

Henry barked a wry laugh and drained his own coffee. “Then we’ll have so much fun, my dear,” he said brightly. He stood. “I’ll go get dressed, then. Don’t want your– our – friends thinking I don’t have a fashion sense.”

Ellie sighed and headed off for her closet. 

…

As the sun rose high in the sky, Charles led them out of camp toward the parking lot. It was a beautiful day, the sky clear, a soft breeze wafting through the jungle. The three were quiet as they walked. 

Truthfully, Ellie felt a little anticipation. The worst part about these government routes was ‘getting to know’ Charles’s friends all over again, an anxious routine of forgetting what she was supposed to know and what she wasn’t. So… maybe going ahead and hanging out wasn’t a bad thing. And perhaps shaking off the strangeness of the past week with some alcohol and friendly faces would be fun. 

“Oh, Charles, you forgot your keys,” Henry said mildly. “They’re still hanging up.”

“I can run back?” Ellie offered.

“Uh, I didn’t.” Charles looked away, fiddling with his hands.

“Oh, there they are,” Ellie said. Amelia, Calvin and Konrad, and Rupert stood next to a minivan with all the doors open. All of them had casual clothes on, T-shirts and shorts in the late July heat. Despite her previous friendship(?) with Rupert in the last Triple Threat, she swore this was the  first time she hadn’t seen him in some military-related garb. Neither of the twins wore formal uniforms or clothes when they could help it, and Amelia wore goggles and protective flame-proof gear so often that Ellie was sure this was one of the few times she had seen Amelia without a thick leather apron.

They chatted until Amelia’s eyes landed on them. She gave an enthusiastic wave, which alerted the twins and Rupert. They both waved, mainly at Charles. Rupert just looked pensive until Amelia nudged him sharply. A little rude, but the poor guy had gone through a worse shock than all of them in the last few days, so. She’d let it slide.

She glanced over at Charles. “A van.”

Charles smiled nervously. “I told them we’d take the back seat!”

“Wait,” Henry said warily. “We’re all riding together?”

“Gas money, remember? Everything’s like, an hour away from here. At least. You might be able to literally grow money, but not all of us can.” Charles patted Henry’s shoulder. “Your, uh, delicate sensibilities will survive, I promise.”

“Hope they’ve got air conditioning,” Ellie muttered, tugging at her sleeves. She was wearing a T-shirt over a long sleeved shirt, which she hoped would be a decent enough choice to hide her scar from the others. The heat, thankfully, wasn’t stifling enough to make her regret her decision, but in a cramped minivan that looked about as workable as Charles’s truck…

“All I’m saying is that they don’t know or trust us,” Henry hissed softly. “Even in the best of circumstances, me and Ellie both are-”

“Charlie! And, uh… Rose and Stickmin!” Amelia called. She pushed off of the van, putting her hands on her hips. “Glad to see you could make it!”

“Henry,” Henry said. “I insist. Especially if we’ll be working together.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes when Henry stuck his hand out to Amelia. Amelia shook it.

 “Sure. Well, uh, I hope Charles introduced us?” Amelia said with a pointed look at him.

“I did! I did,” Charles said quickly. “Geez, give me some slack.”

“Amelia Esteban, right?” Ellie said, giving her a little wave. “And… Calvin and Konrad,” she said, pointing at the respective twins.

“Man, respect. Nobody ever gets us right on the first try,” Calvin said, exchanging a glance with Konrad. 

Ellie wrinkled her nose. “Really? You two look nothing alike.” She hid a grin at their puzzled expressions.

“We’re- whatever,” Konrad muttered.

“Oh, and you’ve met Rupert?” Amelia asked. 

“We’ve met,” Rupert, Ellie, and Henry all said at the same time. There must have been something in their tones, because Ellie saw Amelia’s face flicker once with uncertainty before smoothing back over.

“Well, I’m sure Rupert was his regular pleasant self,” Calvin said with a laugh. He snickered at Rupert’s eye roll. 

“We had a perfectly pleasant time,” Henry said, giving Calvin a puzzled look. Calvin tilted his head, frowning, and Rupert’s dour expression softened a little in surprise, but before he could say anything, Charles clapped his hands together.

“Well, we’re not getting any older. C’mon!” Charles trotted forward and threw open the van door. “Hen, El?” he said, motioning inside. “I said we’d sit in the back since, we, uh-”

“Yeah, I know,” Ellie said, trotting over and patting his shoulder. She clambered in first to the back seat, thankful as a rush of cool air wafted over her. Henry was quick to follow, slipping in with the grace of a cat, and finally Charles, who squeezed in between them.

“You’re lucky I love you,” Ellie muttered, huffing in amusement as Charles tried to maneuver his arms around both her and Henry so that they wouldn’t be squashed to the side. “How do you manage to take up this much space?”

“This isn’t the biggest van,” Charles grumbled next to her head. 

“I certainly don’t mind snuggling up to a very muscular, refined pilot,” Henry said, leaning against Charles. 

“Are you trying to get us found out?” Charles said with a snort. 

Rupert climbed into one of the back seats and glanced back with an unimpressed stare. “You could at least try not to be obvious,” he said bemusedly.

Henry did sit up with a jolt when Amelia climbed into the back seat and the twins into the front seats. Amelia glanced back at them, snorting when she saw Charles.

“You know, I could have taken the backseat with you guys,” she said. “Charlie’s got an affliction called being tall.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault I’ve got great genes-” Charles started. 

“Oh, they’re fine,” Rupert interrupted emphatically. “Trust me.” 

Amelia smirked and raised an eyebrow. 

“Dude,” Ellie complained. 

“They’re not gonna complain about it, is all I’m saying,” Rupert added.

“I’m going to take back my earlier statement of you being pleasant,” Henry muttered.

“No, no, I get it,” Amelia said. “It’s just, uh… fast, is all.” All three of them began to protest at the same time, but Amelia just held up a hand. “No! No! You don’t have to explain anything to me; I promise. Your little thing is safe with me. Don’t need the general finding out about workplace relationships, amiright?”

“I’m getting out of the car!” Charles said loudly.

“We just got in,” Konrad said. “Amelia, what did you do?”

“Their secret’s safe with me,” Amelia said haughtily. 

“Just give it up,” Henry muttered over to her and Charles. Amelia stifled a giggle. 

Calvin started the car. After a little bit of shaking, which Ellie tried very hard not to think about, they were on the road, driving through the winding jungle roads. She resisted the urge to roll up her sleeves. Thankfully, though, at least the air conditioning seemed to be working, blasting frigid air out enough for her to be comfortable stuck to Charles-the-space-heater’s side. She was just lucky she didn’t get carsick from how winding the roads were.

“Anyways,” Calvin said, “since all of us are boring and ended up going to the military the regular way, how did you guys get in? Being wanted criminals and all that?”

“Oh my god, you can’t just ask someone like that,” Konrad chided.

“I mean, I am?” Ellie said. “Was. Like, I know that. Um-” Shoot, they hadn’t really discussed what she had done…

“The general had a mission that required some… specific skills,” Henry cut in smoothly. “Ellie and I happened to fit the job description.”

“Oh, cool,” said Amelia. “Like thieving?”

“Yes-”

“And arson,” Ellie blurted out. Why did I say that. In front of her, Rupert shifted to stare out of the window with a tiny sigh.

“Oh!” Amelia said, blinking back at her. She looked more interested. “Is that what you were in for?”

“That. Theft, too. Hence why Galeforce needed us.”

“What was it like?” Amelia asked.

“What, the arson?”

“Yeah.”

Ellie hesitated. Seventeen years ago, and yet it felt like yesterday. “...Satisfying. Powerful.” She rubbed her hands against each other, feeling the energy crackling beneath. “Really good.”

A beat of awkward silence.

“Uh, I’m not gonna do it any more, though,” Ellie continued with an awkward laugh. “I’d hate to get some more charges after these lovely pardons.”

“I was just the diamond thief,” Henry said, cutting in smoothly. 

“Fancy-shmancy,” Charles said, nudging him. “Only that?”

“It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught.” 

Every government agent in the car glanced back at him. Henry laughed. “I’m joking. I know my audience.” He glanced over at Ellie, and they exchanged a private laugh. The moment they could convince Charles to go on a weekend trip down to the City’s suburbs, it was happening.

“You are good, I guess,” Calvin murmured. “Weird talking to the guy who stole the Diamond and a verifiable arsonist.”

“Wait, did you ever…?” Amelia asked, trailing off.

“That’s for your heart to decide,” Henry said with a grin.

“Damn. Why’d he let Charles do all the cool stuff?” Konrad complained. “Field missions, new special ops team.”

“I’m a man of many talents. Like piloting,” Charles said with a grin.

“Man, that’s weird. You’re gonna be a field agent.” Amelia cooed mockingly. “Look at our little pilot, all grown up! It’s gonna be weird.”

“Ah, I’ll handle it,” Charles said. “‘Specially with these two to show me the ropes. Who knows; maybe I’ll be the next big thief!”

Ellie barked a laugh and shoved him. Charles shoved her back. Before they could devolve into a full on playfight, Henry hissed quietly, “Guys.” Charles made a noise of discontentment, but they stopped.

“I think me and Ellie are plenty for Galeforce,” Henry said, a bit louder. “We match each other well.”

The jungle faded. Ellie was always fascinated by the clean transition to warm, wet jungle to empty lands to desert, and this was no different. Only a few minutes had passed, and yet the whole landscape changed. 

“So, Henry, you and Ellie knew each other?” Calvin asked. 

Henry and Ellie glanced at each other. Charles broke in before they could fumble for an answer. “College, right? I think that’s what you told me.”

Ellie nudged Charles gratefully. “Uh, yeah. Two loners made for great conversation, I’ll say.”

“We’re both dropouts, but we met in an intro class and kind of kept in touch until you did your thing, right?” Henry continued. 

Ellie stared at him, hoping she was communicating “don’t make this really complicated idiot; we all have to remember this” well enough with her eyes. “Sounds right. There’s been a lot since then.”

“Didn’t know I’d met a future arsonist. Pretty cool if you ask me,” Henry said with a smile.

“And I didn’t know I’d be meeting the illustrious Diamond thief,” Ellie said, putting on a haughty accent on the last few words. 

Henry rolled his eyes. “Whatever, El.”

“And I met them like five days ago!” Charles chirped. He just grinned through the puzzled look Amelia sent him.

“Well, it’s just lucky you guys managed to join right before the Wall breakout,” Konrad commented from the front seat, thankfully ignoring Charles’s comment. He twisted around. “I know the government’s not gonna take many people kindly after that whole mess. Good god, that was some crazy stuff. Did you all hear about that?”

She, Henry, and Charles exchanged a look. “Yes, that was,” Henry said slowly. Ellie didn’t trust herself to say anything. “And not really. We’ve been busy.”

“Some convenient timing, huh?” Amelia said, laughing. Ellie laughed, too, but it came out a little stilted.

“Do you know who did it?” Ellie asked. 

Amelia’s eyes darted to her. Ellie tensed. “Not really,” Amelia continued. “I mean, everyone’s got theories, but nobody really knows.”

“Hey! Being, like, thieves and stuff, do you guys know?” Calvin called back.

Ellie snorted. “Just ‘cause we’re thieves doesn’t mean we all know each other. Me and Henry were a lucky match, if you can call knowing him lucky.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “Also, we’ve been here and doing that mission for the past few days. Physically, we couldn’t have known, or even seen anything about it before you all.”

Amelia tilted her head. She appeared to think for a moment. “But theories, though?” she asked.

“Any number of Toppats,” Ellie lied. “Someone the government hasn’t caught, since busting out of the Wall is damn hard.”

“They’d have to be pretty good,” Henry commented. He folded his arms, leaning back. “I mean, I bet I could do it.”

Ellie glanced over at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Come on, don’t be stupid,” she said pointedly. 

He met her eyes and raised a brow. She shook her head slightly: don’t.

Better me than you, Henry mouthed back. 

She fought the urge to frown back- Amelia was still leaning over, eyes on her. Instead she shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe if you guys find out I could tell you if that’s a surprise or not.”

“I’d put my bets on Ellie, personally. If we’re dealing hypothetically,” Calvin said. “I, uh- you were pretty high on our watchlists.”

“Aw, I’m honored,” Ellie said sarcastically.

“For real, though- I think it’s a Toppat,” Calvin continued.

“Really? A Toppat, you think?” Konrad asked. “They’re… hm.”

“Still thieves. Tricky when they want to be,” Amelia said. “They’ve got resources.”

“Come on, it’s not a Toppat,” Rupert abruptly piped up. The van fell silent for a second in surprise, and a little flash of nervousness darted through Ellie. Was Rupert-?

“They’re wayyyyy too incompetent,” Rupert continued. “I think it could be those Midnight Syndicate guys we had to track down a couple days ago. You remember?” Ellie relaxed.

“Ohhh, yeah!” Konrad said. “Maybe. I mean, I wouldn’t call the Toppats incompetent-”

All three members of Triple Threat barked a laugh at the same time. Amelia glanced back again.

“Come on,” Ellie scoffed. “Define ‘competence’.”

For the rest of the journey, they debated the likelihoods of various groups and wanted persons succeeding in the Wall breakout, a conversation that had apparently drawn Rupert in enough to break his silence. Each voice rose in playful argument over the shaking of the van, filled with laughter and shouts. 

Of course, she knew who had broken out. But even a few days later, the memory felt alien, a baffling snippet in a life that wasn’t hers but had been implanted into her mind. Besides, Henry had broken out way more often, sometimes with her help. This time, at least, she could pretend it wasn’t her, and that she wasn’t lying through her teeth.

Ellie hardly noticed as the landscape slowly transitioned into buildings and more cars started to fill the road. She was almost startled when Calvin swung the van into a parking lot and slid into a space, jolting to a halt.

She glanced out the window. What she saw was an unimpressive-looking diner sporting chipped paint and an old sign that was faded enough that she couldn’t read the name. Despite this, there were quite a few cars parked in front of the building.

Amelia groaned. “Oh my god, Calvin; I thought we were-”

“Well, we survived, kids,” Calvin interrupted. “Now, my new friends, let me introduce you to the best burgers in the world!”

“Or at least a hundred mile radius,” Konrad corrected. 

“Of all the places, we choose this one?” Amelia complained.

“Do you have a better suggestion? Plus, it’s a rite of passage for us to take people here! We did it to Rupert, then Charles, now these two!” Calvin protested.

“It’s certainly… outwardly expressive,” Henry said haltingly. Both he and Ellie glanced at Charles.

“It’s not bad at all,” Charles said with a shrug. “The burgers are pretty good.”

“Man, I’m hungry. Let’s actually go in and stop sitting around, wasting precious daylight,” Konrad said. With that, they all clambered out of the car.

The sun beamed down on her air-chilled skin. She trotted forward, following the twins and Amelia, and fell into step beside Henry. Rupert hesitated, falling behind her.

“You were quiet for a while there,” she heard Charles murmur to Rupert. “You alright?”

A hesitation. Then, Rupert sighed, sounding very tired. “It’s just a lot,” he murmured back. “I’m tired. I haven’t been sleeping.”

“I know,” Charles said. “It’ll get better.”

“You believe that?” Rupert scoffed. 

“Of course,” Charles said. “Don’t you?”

“...I don’t know.”

She and Henry glanced at each other, but couldn’t comment before Calvin was swinging the door open and asking a friendly uniformed waitress for a table. The inside was far more appealing than the outside, the spitting image of a retro 50’s diner. The black-and-white checkerboard flooring shone like marble, the seats and stools bright red. A jukebox stood in the corner. Pictures of old newspaper clippings, license plates, faded pictures, and other memorabilia covered the walls. The restaurant was relatively full of people all laughing and chatting.

They followed the waitress and Calvin to a long table made for eight. Ellie sat automatically next to Henry, Charles in front of her, and Amelia on her other side. The others filed in, Calvin already ordering waters for the table.

“I’ll have a Dr. Pepper, please,” Henry piped up.

As the waitress left, leaving them menus, Ellie snorted. “Just had to be special,” she remarked sarcastically.

“What? Restaurant Dr. Pepper tastes better; I don’t make the rules,” Henry said. As he talked, she watched him absently pick up a fork and slip it up one sleeve. 

Her eyes flicked back to his. Henry raised an eyebrow. 

Oh. They were playing this game now. The only thing that would make it more fun is if-

Charles sighed. He had noticed. Ellie resisted a smile and sat back. She took to glancing at the menu, full of deeply American food that she hadn’t had since- since…

Man. How long had it really been since she had been at a restaurant? She felt like the menu was alien, full of bright colors and pictures, and so utterly different than what she was used to. At least since Triple Threat. Probably longer. They had been busy that last year. The only time they had was right at the end, when everything was winding down. Even then, they hadn’t really gone anywhere.

Further back? What was before that last Triple Threat? Sometimes they all blurred together. Was it- 

“You good there?” 

Ellie startled, head darting up. Amelia tilted her head slightly.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Ellie said. She laughed. “I just realized I hadn’t been to a restaurant in… a hot minute.”

“Define ‘hot minute’.”

“A… few years?” Close enough to the truth, but perhaps the truth wasn’t smart, with Amelia looking at her with amazement. “I mean, I got pardoned. I was in prison. And before that I didn’t really… go places. I was kinda broke.”

“Ditto,” Henry said. 

“Well,” Amelia said, “I have to admit, their burgers are pretty good.”

“The grease doesn’t call to me,” Ellie said, making a face. “I’ve eaten enough cheap ones to know.” And the Wall’s ‘food’ had been coated in what could generously be called grease. Just the sight of that poisonous sheen could be enough to make her nauseous.

“Be adventurous!” Amelia said. “These are- slightly less cheap! Fresh er. ”

“Ehhhhhhhh,” Charles said, tilting a hand from side to side. 

Ellie wrinkled her nose. “Thanks, but no thanks. I think I’ll do chicken tenders.”

“Dude! C’mon,” Calvin complained, glaring at Charles. “You liked their burgers last time.”

“I, uh, don’t remember,” Charles said.

“It was only, like, a few months ago,” Konrad said. 

Charles chuckled. “Well, I’ve been busy.”

Rupert stared hard down at his menu. “What’re you getting?” Amelia asked, nudging him.

Rupert jolted. “I- uh- a salad.”

“A salad?” Konrad scoffed. “Man, I don’t wanna judge, but are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” Rupert snapped. He glared back down at his menu like it had personally offended him.

Konrad recoiled a little. “Alright, man. Chill.”

She, Henry, and Charles all exchanged a glance. Yeah, they were absolutely going to have to talk to Rupert some time soon about all of this.

Saving the table from the sudden tenseness, the waitress returned, and they ordered. The twins, unsurprisingly, got burgers, Amelia and Henry joining them. (“I don’t know how you eat those,” Ellie muttered to him, earning a chuckle.) Rupert ordered a salad as he had said, and Charles got chicken tenders with her in a show of solidarity. 

“Oh, actually,” Calvin said. “Can we get a few beers as well?” He exchanged a look with his twin and slightly twitched his head toward Rupert. 

“Of course,” the waitress said. “For the whole table?”

“Not me,” Ellie said quickly. Amelia sent her a slightly questioning look. As the waitress headed off, Ellie leaned over, saying quietly, “I kinda get weird when I’m drunk.”

“Oh. I mean, you didn’t have to tell me anything!” Amelia said. 

“Nah, it’s nothing bad,” Ellie said, taking a sip of water. I just use my powers for everything. Which I definitely cannot do here. And, apparently, her powers didn’t remain unscathed. Henry had remarked once that somehow Ellie got even more unsteady when using her powers while being drunk. She never remembered any of it. Perhaps that was a good thing.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have,” Henry murmured. He got weird, too; the last time she could remember Henry getting hammered, he had complained about something called a ‘hammerspace’ (which she knew about now, but not at the time) and started pulling rocket launchers out of his pockets.

“I mean, you’re not gonna get rip-roaring drunk,” Ellie said. 

“You never know where the mood will take you, my dear Ellie,” Henry said teasingly.

“Hey, you two!” Calvin called. “Let’s get the real question out of the way first: which of you is a better thief?”

“Me, obviously,” Ellie and Henry said at the same time. 

They whipped around to glare at each other.

“Oooooh,” Amelia said jokingly. 

“Well, I stole the Diamond,” Henry said indignantly. 

“You can’t win every heist argument with that,” Ellie snapped. “Where’s your creativity?”

“Do you know how creative I had to get to steal that thing?” Henry said heatedly. 

“Guyyyyyyyyys,” Charles said. He giggled. “Calvin, why did you ask them this?”

“You cannot tell me that you, bumbling through that circus of a heist, could be called creative,” Ellie retorted. “You get found out by like, five different guards, not to mention the clumsy entrance-”

Henry gasped in offense. “Oh, I’m sorry, who had a heist so famous that I was the number one wanted person for a while? Me! Plus, I don’t see thief being your top crime-”

“That’s because they have no idea the heists I pulled off, I’m that good!” Ellie slammed a hand on the table. Her hand twitched, and she resisted the furious urge to grab Henry with her power and fling him. Considering the strained half-smile on his face, he was beset by the same temptation.

“Girls, you’re both pretty,” Charles said. 

“Don’t,” both of them snapped at the same time, whirling on him. Charles held up his hands with a shit-eating grin.

“Besides,” Ellie said smugly, “I just stole- oh, you bastard.”

She held up the fork Henry slipped into his sleeve. Henry mirrored her, looking supremely disappointed, holding up her pocket knife.

Charles wheezed. The others laughed, too, even Rupert cracking and snorting. Both of them groaned, flopping back in their chairs.

“Fine. You might be pretty good, my dear Rose,” Henry said begrudgingly. 

“And I guess you aren't half-bad either, Stickmin,” Ellie said. Dimly, she felt movement next to her.

Quick as a flash she whipped a hand over and grabbed Amelia’s hand as it tried to stick into her pocket. Amelia gave her a rueful smile, which Ellie matched.

“Maybe leave the thieving to the tried-and-true thieves, dude,” Ellie said with a snort, releasing Amelia’s hand. “I’ll show you some tips later.”

“Maybe let’s do something a little less contentious,” Henry offered. “Maybe one of those icebreaker games?”

Rupert groaned. “Oh, god. Don’t subject me to something like that.”

“Aw, I think they’re fun,” Amelia said. “It’s a great opportunity to find out just how bad your friends’ memories are!”

“Two truths and a lie?” Konrad suggested. He glanced over at Rupert. 

“...That’s acceptable, I guess,” Rupert muttered. “Not the worst. I was afraid we’d go around trading ‘fun facts’ or something.”

“You’re just no fun, Rupert,” Amelia said. “Live a little! Say something wild! Nobody’s stopping you!”

“You’d say that,” Rupert retorted. 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s see.” Rupert made a show of counting on his fingers. “Bomb expert. Has nearly blown herself up… seven times. Once drank the most unholy concoction of alcohol, soda, and tea I’ve ever seen. Multiple times had races with cop cars. Just tried to steal from a literal master thief in front of her-”

“I almost had it!” Amelia protested. “Tell him, Rose; I almost had it!”

“It was certainly an attempt,” Ellie said amusedly.

“Anyways, you’re giving away all of my answers!” Amelia said. “I’m going first. Don’t listen to whatever Rupert said.”

Rupert snorted. “Good luck. Me, the twins, and Charlie have known you for how long, now?”

“Then I’ll get the thieves to answer first!”

“Is calling us ‘the thieves’ a microaggression?” Ellie whispered to Henry. He stifled a laugh.

“Okay, listen up,” Amelia commanded. “One, I’ve always been called ‘Turtle’ as a nickname. Two, I’ve never been on a field mission. Three, I had to have a skin graft because I actually blew myself up.” She looked over at Ellie expectantly. 

“Uh…” Wait, had Amelia gotten surgery in a timeline loop? Or was Ellie remembering it wrong? She thought Charles told her the codename was the first instance of Turtle… “Your nickname wasn’t always Turtle?”

“I agree,” Henry said confidently. Oh, good. Henry’s memory was actually good for these things.

Amelia’s face fell, and Ellie grinned triumphantly. 

“Turtle’s your codename,” Rupert deadpanned. “Duh.” 

“Yup!”

“Be more creative, Turtle.”

“We allllll knew that one, even Rose and Stickmin!”

“Oh, come on,” Amelia complained. “How did you guys know? That’s no fair!”

“Lucky guess,” Ellie said with a shrug. 

“Whatever,” Amelia muttered. “You’re up next, Rosie.”

Ellie blinked, a little startled at the nickname. She stared at Amelia for a moment until Henry nudged her foot with his. She shook her head abruptly. 

“Uh, right. Um. I-” Wait, she couldn’t say something she stole. “Actually-” Nope, that was definitely illegal too. “Hm. It’s freaking hard playing with a bunch of government agents.”

That earned a laugh from the table. “Just do fun facts, dude,” Calvin snickered.

“They’re all about arson!” Ellie protested. “Fine. Uh. Winter is my favorite season, I play classical violin, and Henry taught me ballroom dancing. There.”

Henry and Charles remained silent as the soldiers poured over the facts. She snickered as Rupert stared at her through narrowed eyes. “You good there, bud?”

“I’m trying to figure you out,” Rupert responded very seriously. Ellie rolled her eyes mockingly. 

“It’s not that serious, dude. I’m not a hard person to read.”

Amelia snorted loudly, but covered it with a cough. Before Ellie had time to feel confused about that, she said, “I’m gonna guess it’s the winter thing. If you can wear sleeves in a hundred degree heat, you feel like a warm person.”

“Nah, I’m calling violin. Who plays violin?” Calvin said. 

“Ditto,” Konrad agreed. 

“I’ll say that you don’t know how to ballroom dance. That’s pretty damn specific,” Rupert said. She smiled a little, heartened to see that he seemed to be getting back some of that fire.

“Winter,” Charles and Henry said at the same time. 

The twins and Rupert began protesting as Ellie held up her hands. “Guilty as charged. I can’t stand the cold.”

“Come on,” Calvin muttered. “Charles, you’ve got an advantage since you know us and you’re getting to know them.”

“Get gooder, Calvin!” Charles teased.

“Alright, Charlie. Don’t flame him too badly. Mine will be simple,” Henry said, cracking his knuckles. Ellie groaned. 

“God, you’re such a drama queen,” she mocked. Henry rolled his eyes, but even so, she swore everyone at the table leaned in a little as Henry spoke.

“I know where the Norwegian Emerald, Romanian Ruby, and Tunisian Diamond are,” Henry said. 

There was a beat of shocked silence. “No way,” Calvin said, beginning to laugh. “No way!”

“You stole one of the other jewels?” Konrad said incredulously.

“No, he only said he knew where they were, ” Amelia broke in. “Isn’t that right, Stickmin?”

“You’ve got an eye for details,” Henry said with a smile. 

Ellie squinted at Henry, similarly to Charles. Not the Emerald? she mouthed, tilting her head.

“Hey! No cheating!” Amelia protested, smacking her arm. 

“He didn’t tell me anything, chillax,” Ellie protested. “Anyways, the Emerald.”

“Uhhhhhhhh Emerald too, I guess. I have no idea, though,” Charles admitted.

“I’m picking Diamond because it’s funny,” Rupert said.

“You? Make a joke?” Calvin said, dramatically throwing a hand over his heart. “Really?”

“I just think he’d look stupid if he literally lost the thing he stole, and that makes me laugh,” Rupert said with a smirk.

“Oh, thanks,” Henry said. 

“You know what? I’ll go against the grain here. I’ll pick Ruby,” Amelia said. 

“Good job losing,” Calvin said. “Emerald.”

“It’s the Emerald,” Henry said with a sigh. “I think the Toppats have it. I lost track of it a while back.”

“What, you weren’t going for a triple kill eventually?” Konrad asked. His eyes widened as Henry glanced away a little abashedly. “No way, dude.”

“I stole the Diamond! What did you expect?” Henry protested.

“Leeeeet’s move on,” Charles said. “I could completely dismantle and reassemble a helicopter, I’ve had these headphones since high school, or I can totally drink caffeine-”

“Caffeine,” all of them said at the same time. Charles pouted.

“C’mon,” Charles muttered, puffing out his cheeks petulantly. “Nobody guessed wrong?”

“You’re far too obvious, my dear,” Henry said. “Really? Caffeine? The general specifically instructed us to not let you keep any in the apartment.”

“I’m not a toddler!” Charles protested.

“Oh, come on,” Rupert said wryly. “You have far less self-control than you think you do, pilot.”

“Whatever, Rupert. What do you have?”

“Do you even do anything for fun?” Calvin quipped. 

“I have fun!” Rupert protested. “Fine. If you’re so insistent, here. Clue is my favorite board game, I kill at Monopoly, and I was in a D&D club in college.”

Oh! In the Triple Threat timeline, there had been that one night- “I don’t think you like Clue,” Ellie said immediately. Rupert narrowed his eyes at her questioningly. Ellie blinked innocently back.

“D&D club,” Henry said. “I don’t think you’d have a club. Just a group.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Charles said. 

“You suck ass at Monopoly,” Calvin said. “You don’t have the patience!”

“Seconded,” Amelia said.

“I’ve gotta go with Rose.” Konrad nodded at her. 

“Well, Rose is right,” Rupert grumbled. “Freaking psychic.”

“You seem like more of a Catan person,” Ellie said triumphantly. 

Rupert glared at her. “Maybe so,” he said slowly. 

“Me next!” Calvin said, cutting through the tension.

Both Calvin and Konrad had very similar facts, which led to a small verbal altercation right before food was served. The rest of lunch passed in absent conversation. Shockingly, it wasn’t the worst Ellie had- really, it was rather good. The tenders were crispy and hot, the fries well-seasoned. With everyone drinking, Ellie even dared grab the salt shaker and slide it over with her power, which nobody saw. She wasn’t drinking, but she felt more relaxed all the same.

Soon, all that was sitting in front of her was an empty basket and the cool, refreshing ice water she slowly sipped on for the rest of their time there. Slowly, one by one, the other patrons filtered out, leaving a small crowd that murmured against the blaze outside. The sun stretched from directly ahead to low over the ground, casting long shadows. 

“I think we should get heading back, gang,” Calvin said leisurely. 

“You’ll be good?” Ellie said. “I haven’t drank anything.”

“Nah, I’m good. I stopped drinking at least an hour ago,” Calvin said. “Thanks, though. Hey, uh, can we get the checks?”

Within a few minutes they were out and heading home in the orange afternoon light. Ellie leaned against Charles’s arm, pleasantly full and warm. Charles put a hand on her knee. The entire van seemed too drowsy to do much other than make idle chatter. Even Rupert’s eyes drooped. Still, a friendly, calm aura hung over the van.

The sun was just setting as Calvin pulled into a parking spot. “Alright, kids; move out,” he called. “I’ve got a bed with my name on it!”

“And I’ve got a Switch with mine,” Konrad said. “Amelia, wanna do Forgotten Land?”

“I call Kirby,” she said. “Rupert?”

“I think… I think I need to sleep,” Rupert said slowly as he clambered out, Triple Threat behind him. 

“I agree,” Henry said. “The last few days have been crazy, huh?”

Rupert startled a little. He glanced down at Henry. “Uh, yeah. I guess so,” he muttered.

“It was nice hanging out today,” Henry said earnestly. Ellie tried not to wince at the deeply suspicious look Rupert threw him. 

Rupert opened his mouth, then closed it. He glanced at Charles. “You too, I guess,” he said eventually, before turning and practically running after the twins. 

They watched him leave. Charles sidled up to Henry and muttered in his ear, “Think you were laying it on a bit too thick.” 

Henry sighed. “I’m trying to nip problems in the bud, darling. Not that Rupert’s a problem. He’s just- you know.”

“I do,” Charles murmured. “Just give him time.”

“Did I do too much with the Catan thing?” Ellie asked. 

Charles made a small uncertain noise, tilting his hand from side to side. “Eh, you’d get that with him anyway,” he said, shrugging helplessly. “Either you’re playing too dumb or being too overfamiliar. He’s just a little paranoid.”

Henry shrugged in turn. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll break him down with my charm soon enough. Anyway, when we get back-”

“Hey, Ellie.”

Ellie turned. Amelia stood next to the van, waiting. Charles and Henry hesitated as well, but Amelia waved at them. “It’ll just be a minute. Go on ahead.”

Ellie felt a flash of puzzlement. Out of habit her powers crackled to her fingertips, but she pushed it back.

Both automatically looked at Ellie. Ellie gave a faint shrug and inclined her head toward the camp, at which the pair exchanged a glance. “See you later, then,” Charles said. “Meet you back at the apartment.”

“Yeah,” Ellie called. She watched them, waiting until the boys were out of earshot, and then she looked to Amelia. She tilted her head. “Not planning to drive me out into the desert and shoot me, hm?”

Amelia laughed. “No, no, dude. Just the opposite, actually. I actually really enjoyed talking tonight. You’re a really interesting person, you know.”

“Uh-” A little stab of pleasant confusion darted through her, and she stumbled over her next words. “Thanks? Sorry, I don’t really… get that a lot.”

Amelia snorted. “Well, you should. An arsonist thief on a special operatives team right out of prison? That’s pretty neat.”

“I think a bomb specialist is moreso.” 

Amelia paused, then smiled. “You flatter me. Anyways, what I was really asking is if you wanted to come to a little get-together me and some of the other girls are having in a couple of weeks.”

Ellie blinked in surprise. “Uh- really?”

Amelia’s eyes were nothing but earnest. “Yeah, of course! Like I said, you’re pretty cool, Rose. Plus us government gals gotta stick together in a male-dominated field, hm?”

Ellie paused. Slowly, she let herself smile, both nerves and a bit of alien excitement swirling together in her stomach. 

“I’d like that,” she said slowly, surprising herself.

Amelia grinned. “Great! If I can get your number, I’ll send you the details.”

Ellie found herself walking back to the apartment alone after parting with Amelia. The camp was deserted. The stars glittered above; it was a bright, clear night. She took a deep breath of cool air and watched the dew form on her hands and shoes.

A night just like the one where it all ended. And maybe, just maybe, this was a night where it all began again. 

A girl’s night. She scoffed, then smiled, a little.

“Let’s see where this goes,” she murmured to herself. 

Then, she headed home amidst the silent camp, her feet crunching softly on the dirt and grass.

Chapter Text

“Hey, do you have a minute?”

Dave sat up on the couch, setting down his book. Rupert stood in the doorway of their shared apartment, leaning against the doorframe. He wore his usual tense expression, but somehow it was a little tighter than Dave had come to recognize. 

Like Triple Threat, Rupert had gotten his own apartment on base after the airship mission. However, this was mainly because Dave couldn’t exactly have his own space if he, technically, didn’t exist in the government’s book. Technically, Rupert and Charles were supposed to share an apartment, with Henry and Ellie having their own. Another lie. Charles had moved into Henry and Ellie’s apartment on day one, and Dave into Rupert’s. But everyone else still thought they shared an apartment. Dave felt a little bad, but seeing Rupert’s expression was entertaining at least.

“Oh! Hey!” Dave scrambled up, frowning a little at his expression. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah,” Rupert brushed off, doing a very unconvincing job of sounding relaxed. “I’ve just got something I wanna talk to you about.”

“Sure?”

They stared at each other. 

“Not… here,” Rupert said slowly.

“Uh… okay.” Dave frowned, a little more worried, but breathed in and willed the slowly building static out of his voice. “Really, Rupert; is everything okay? You’re acting weird.”

Rupert raised his hands up. “I promise it’s nothing bad,” he enunciated slowly. “Relax.”

“...If you say so,” Dave muttered. 

He hadn’t seen too much of Rupert the past few days. Rupert had enough going on to not worry about Dave- Dave told him as much several times- but Rupert, bless him, seemed determined. He always made time to talk to Dave. He sometimes even accompanied Dave on his nightly walks if he could muster up the energy, passing the night in quiet conversation and, just as often, comfortable silence. It had become a sort of welcome routine in the chaos that was Dave’s life.

Dave’s schedule and living in the camp… hadn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. Food was one thing- he could just pop in and pop out of the cafeteria in the dead hours, then cook in the apartment- but Dave couldn’t have the same schedule as everybody else lest someone discover him. His current solution was to resort to his usual night shift schedules, which worked relatively, but the camp was still active at night. Dave’s nightly walks sometimes turned into horror shows. Multiple times Dave had accidentally run into some poor soldiers before teleporting away. Combined with the static and the embarrassing screech of surprise he had let out, he was fairly certain the poor things would immediately think the camp was haunted. If they hadn’t died of fright. 

Even his home wasn’t safe. Once Dave had to teleport out in a panic when the redheaded twins (Calvin and Konrad, he thought?) burst in unannounced looking for Rupert. Rupert had given them a good reaming for that, but Dave was certain it would eventually happen again. He offered to talk to Galeforce, ask for something different, but Rupert had insisted that they stay together.

Like he was insisting now. Suspicious.

He stood, racking his brain for something to say. “You’re not with your other friends?” he asked finally.

Rupert shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. “They’re all busy, anyway. Amelia’s got her eye on some kind of explosive project thing, and the twins said they were having a video game night with each other. Triple Threat ran off in Charles’s awful truck doing god-knows-what earlier.”

Dave giggled at the palpable disdain bleeding through in Rupert’s wrinkled nose. “They seem nice!”

“Well-” Rupert sputtered. “Charles definitely. Ellie’s fine, I guess. I trust her more than Henry. Henry’s suspicious.” Rupert frowned. “He’s too… buddy-buddy.”

“Have you considered he’s trying to be nice?”

“Yeah! But why would he? He was a Toppat! You remember the last year- timeline thing. All of that sneaking around, stringing Charles along, making everything so damn complicated. If he really wanted Charles back, he should’ve come to the government. I don’t like it. He’s… sneaky!” Rupert huffed. “I don’t trust him.”

“...He was kind to me,” Dave murmured. “More than he had to be. He tried to help me. Even a couple weeks ago when this all began… he was patient.”

Rupert fell silent. “...I guess so,” he muttered. “It just rubs me the wrong way.”

“They have been doing this a lot longer than we have,” Dave offered. “I’m not saying that Henry’s always good or something, just that we should probably consider that, too. Have you ever asked him what it’s like?”

“I’d just ask Charlie. He’s been at it just as long.”

Dave shrugged. “Still. Honestly it’d probably be pretty interesting to see what stuff they got up to in… however long they’ve been in this time loop.”

“Yeah, probably.” Rupert kicked off the doorframe. “Anyways, I keep getting distracted. I wanna try something.”

“Oh?” Dave teleported over in front of Rupert. He jumped, nearly careening into the door.

“Jesus-!” Rupert shook his head. “I swear to God you do that on purpose.”

Dave laughed. “Sorry. I’m not used to, uh, scaring people, I guess. Usually they don’t know I exist. Anyway, what’s up?”

Rupert opened his mouth, then closed it. He glanced away. “How about we get to the place first?”

Dave tilted his head. “...Okay. Can I ask why?”

Rupert looked suddenly troubled. “I’ll explain when we get there. It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

Dave raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s not better when you say it the second time.”

Rupert rolled his eyes. “Whatever, man. Can you teleport us outside?”

“You’re sure you can stomach it? I feel bad about last time…”

“Yeah. You took me by surprise the first time. Just let me…” Rupert sucked in a couple deep breaths, then shook himself out. Dave giggled. “I’m good now. I’m good.”

“You sure? You can still back out.”

“I’m sure-”

Dave reached out and grabbed his arm. In a flash of black and white and a light tug, they were standing just outside and behind the apartment building in the darkness. To Rupert’s credit, he took a few deep breaths and gagged a little before straightening up.

“Good job!” Dave said, clapping his hands together. “I’m surprised, honestly.”

“When prepared for it, I’m fine,” Rupert muttered. 

Dave glanced up. He blinked at the shining stars, faintly surprised. “It’s nighttime already?”  

He looked around. With so few streetlamps or other light sources, the stars shone gloriously, essentially eliminating the need for light. The moon glittered ahead. Nobody else populated the dark dirt streets.

“You’ve got a weird sleep schedule,” Rupert said. He patted Dave’s shoulder, phasing through the first time. “By necessity, I guess. C’mon.”

Dave followed Rupert as he led them past the bounds of camp. He pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on. He roamed at the edge of the jungle for a moment, muttering to himself, before the flashlight landed on something. He huffed in satisfaction. 

“Got it,” he said. “Follow me.” He headed into the jungle, almost instantly having to shove aside branches and push through bushes. Dave phased through them. 

“You’re not taking me out here to kill me, are you?” Dave joked, slipping up beside Rupert. Rupert sent him an envious look as he stomped down another fern.

“I don’t know how anyone would kill you, Dave. You’d phase right through anything.” He shouldered a sapling out of the way. Dave stepped through it, amused.

“Not if I didn’t do it in time. Sometimes it’s not compulsory. Those CCC agents still knocked me out.”

“Well, I’ll keep that in mind if I ever need to kill you. I’ll take you by surprise. Damn do I wish I had your power right now.”

“It’s got more downsides than upsides. Trust me.”

Rupert gave him a strange look over his shoulder. “I’m sure.”

Dave frowned, but followed without comment. 

Soon they arrived in a clearing. Dave followed Rupert to the top of a hill, where he gazed up and resisted a gasp. 

The stars flooded the sky. Dave had never seen so many. The city’s light pollution disguised it to an insulting degree. He stared, mesmerized, focus slipping. Slowly, his mind began to fade and splinter, fracturing into channels and noise and nothingness, and the static filled his eyes and head and chest and-

Dave shook his head with a short gasp. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed in deeply, willing with all of his might for his fingers to reform before the rest of his body. His heartbeat fluttered with the pulse of a clicking remote. The roaring static slowed to a trickle.

“-ve? Dave, are you okay?”

Dave opened his eyes to see Rupert’s habitual frown deepening, eyes alight with concern. He gave Rupert a weak smile. “Sorry. Yeah, I’m fine. I just can’t lose concentration for long.”

“...Oh,” Rupert said, brows tightening.

Dave hurried to speak, uncomfortable with Rupert’s unfamiliar, worried scrutiny. “So, uh, where are we?”

Rupert relaxed minutely. He motioned to the bare land around them, speckled with training dummies and gravel. “The government uses this place for training. I did so many army crawls out here…” He shuddered. “But it’s private, and it’s got a good view, so I figured we could talk here.”

“Okay.” A beat. Distantly, cicadas chirped. “What do you want to talk about?”

Rupert sucked in a breath. His gaze hardened as he stared off into the pitch-black forest. He opened his mouth and closed it, as if struggling to form words.

Concern bubbled through his chest. “Rupert?”

Then, all at once, he seemed to steel his resolve. He turned to Dave. “I’ve been hearing the Announcer without you nearby.”

Dave’s blood ran cold. 

“What?” he whispered. 

But that meant-

Rupert marched on. “It started last timeline. After you teleported with me, I… heard it. And after this reset, or whatever the hell, I began to hear it on my own."

He stared at Rupert, each word filling him with more terror. The color at the edge of his vision leeched out like runny watercolors, flickering and glitching into gray. Rupert had heard the Announcer- they had discussed as much previously- but at the time Dave had assumed that it was some kind of interference. He had just teleported with Rupert; why wouldn’t Rupert hear something, especially since he seemed to be physically affected by Dave’s power?

But hearing it on his own, completely separate from Dave…

“You said it was nothing bad- how is this not awful?!” Dave shouted, voice pitched up into a painful electronic screech at the end. Rupert flinched. “I gave you this! I-”

He trailed off, a realization dawning. Horror swirled up in his chest. 

“Oh, no,” he whispered.

He lost control and teleported with Rupert. He subjected Rupert to his abilities.

He inflicted his curse onto Rupert.

He had done this. 

Rupert avoided Dave’s gaze. “I didn’t know how to tell you,” he said quietly. “I thought I told you, but… everything was so blurry at the end.”

Dave’s eyes widened. Right! Before the meeting with the CCC agent, their leader! It flooded back- Rupert, admitting to hearing both the Announcer and static without Dave having teleported with him, and Dave, mind so fuzzy and fractured that he had ignored it. He had forgotten.

Oh, what an awful person he was. 

The static crescendoed. His breaths came in short gasps. Guilt and panic swam through his fractured mind in equal measures. He couldn’t concentrate, and his body reacted accordingly, shifting in turn through physicality and incorporealness, a nauseating symphony of symptoms. Black and white filled his vision as hysteria marched through his blood.

Dave could be content with himself suffering. But Rupert? After all he had done for Dave? The last couple of years had been awful. He couldn’t subject Rupert to that!

“Dave!” Rupert’s voice was distant, fleeting. 

But he had. He had, and Rupert began to become like Dave.

What was next? Rupert’s body dissolving into static? The dying of color? The failure of the physical world, a hand in the immaterial and corporeal, unable to interact with reality in any meaningful way?

Alienation from everything he held dear?

“Dave! Come on-”

Dave couldn’t respond. He could hardly breathe. His vision spun like a top. 

He would have to become like Dave- a man on the move, apart from the rest of the world. Away from everyone he cared about: his job, his friends, his life.

Vaguely he felt Rupert grasping at him, unable to get a hold against the phasing. His fingers felt like cold droplets sinking through his skin and into his bones.

“Come on, let this work-”

It was all his-

And suddenly, with the odd feeling of static rushing to his fingers and out, everything went silent.

Dave froze. 

He was… different.

For a moment he stood there, too bewildered to do anything else. His own breaths sounded loud in his ears. His heartbeat thrummed like a drumbeat in his head. He shifted and nearly jumped at how the fabric of his clothing rustled. 

Wait a second.

He could hear everything.

“What?” he whispered. He clapped a hand over his mouth, startled at the regularity of the word. No static or interference. He laughed softly, mesmerized at his regular voice. He hadn't heard it in years. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he ripped his hand away, staring at it.

It looked… normal. He turned his hand over, eyes widening at how regular it looked. 

No phasing. No shifting. Nothing. Just a normal hand. 

He whipped his head up, frantically looking around. He gasped in delight. The trees glittered with a thousand different shades of emerald. His eyes trailed around, surprise and giddiness filling him as the dirt beneath them glowed brown, the flowers each a starburst of color and vibrancy. Everything was so much brighter. It was like a film had been lifted off of his eyes.

He stared down at himself. He let out a shocked laugh, dizzy with confusion and relief. 

He wasn’t phasing. He wasn’t hearing static or the muted mutters of radio chatter. He didn’t have to concentrate on anything besides how real he felt. 

“How am I…?” he began, then trailed off as his eyes flitted upwards. They widened in shock.

Rupert stood in front of him, swaying slightly. His eyes were full of a different static- a multicolored assortment of lines like the ‘no signal’ screen on an old television. A low hum emitted from him, though he seemed unaware of it. While Dave’s uniform had only grayed out further, Rupert’s seemed to be the opposite, a low opacity of the bright, ‘no signal’ colors hung over his clothes like a filter. The little military pins flickered and glitched into different ones.

He gazed at Dave, expression a little confused and a little dazed.

“Dave?” he asked slowly.

“Holy shit, Rupert!” Dave shouted, hands going to his mouth. He winced at how loud and harsh his voice sounded without the static softening it into a blur. “How- How- What did you-”

“It worked?” Rupert’s voice was overlaid with a low beeping, harshening the tone. Dave was reminded of his old childhood TV whenever the signal died. He slowly lifted a hand and gazed at it uncomprehendingly. He flexed his fingers one-by-one, studying the movement intently. “Huh. Man, this does feel… weird.”

“How did you do that! What even-” Dave hesitantly reached forward, putting a hand on Rupert’s arm. His hand phased through the first time, but Rupert appeared to concentrate, and then he succeeded. 

As he laid his hand on Rupert’s arm, Dave frowned. He could feel his power buzzing underneath Rupert’s skin, just as malleable as if Dave contained it. While the buzzing stayed with Rupert, it hummed just past the skin of his fingertips, as if he could reach out and pluck it from Rupert, drawing it back into himself. 

“The last timeline… before it all went insane- ” Rupert hesitated and shook his head. “It’s a little hard to concentrate. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I know,” Dave said softly, still mesmerized. “Go on?”

“When I heard the Announcer on my own and we met up, I felt like I could just- take this from you,” Rupert continued, squinting in concentration. “We didn’t have time then, clearly, but I wanted to see if I could do it. And, well… it worked.”

“That’s… that’s insane,” Dave whispered. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Rupert, bewildered and a little fearful. “It’s like we share this power.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t developing any of yours. Just the Announcer’s annoying stupid voice.” Rupert rubbed his eyes, sighing. “Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t notice before this. I kept saying stuff, but it was always at a bad time.”

“Yeah, I kind of get tunnel vision, haha. But, ah- This is all well and good, but you’ve still been hearing the Announcer. How can we know you’re not developing my powers?” Dave wrung his hands.

“Well, I feel like I would be feeling this. But I’m not, and it’s been at least… a couple weeks, close to a month. How quickly did you get your powers?”

“Instantly. I guess it’s possible.”

“I think we share the power. Or, well, we can pass it.”

“I guess so. That would make sense, considering.” Dave was surprised at how level his voice was. When Rupert took the power, it was like the leagues of nervous energy had fled him. Now, his mind wasn’t a flurry of panic and static, but just a lake of calm.

They stood in silence for a moment. Dave closed his eyes and took a deep breath, relishing the quiet in his mind. He sighed and flexed his fingers in and out. 

How wonderful to be real.

Eventually, though, he opened his eyes and turned to Rupert. He tried to keep his voice chipper, but he couldn’t disguise the note of regret in it. “Well, it was a successful experiment.” He reached for Rupert. “But I don’t want you to be like this any longer than you have to.”

Dave jumped as Rupert vanished, appearing a couple feet away. Rupert jumped as well, grabbing his chest. He blinked, shaking his head again.

“I did not do that on purpose,” he said, bewildered, and Dave laughed. “But… let’s stay here a little longer. I can handle it.”

Dave hesitated, even as his heart did a little leap at the chance to stay absolutely static free for a little longer. “You’re sure? I know it’s uncomfortable…”

“You’ve been living with this for what, at least a year? Probably more?” Rupert teleported back over next to Dave and sat down, the beeping fading into a low hum as he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. “I can handle it.”

“Oh.” Dave sat down and smiled. “Thank you.”

“There is something I wanted to ask you,” Rupert said. “About something you said.”

“Alright.” Dave was just glad to be free for a little while. “Whatever you need. Frankly, for doing this for me, I’ll do anything.”

Rupert rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to be- what do you call it- nice. Don’t act like it’s some grand gesture of humility or something.”

Dave giggled. “Alright, alright. So what is it?”

“Remember in the last timeline, a few days ago?” Rupert wrinkled his nose. “That’s… really weird to think about.”

“I mean, yeah, it was only a few days ago,” Dave said with a little laugh.

“When that CCC agent- Fairview- mentioned a timeline. Which was it…”

Dave’s mind flicked instantly to the answer. “Civil War.” He repressed a shudder and curled into himself slightly. 

Rupert watched him. His head tilted. “You said something about me. That I… stopped you from doing something. What-”

“Assassination,” Dave said. “I had everything fully loaded: knives, guns, my powers. I was-” He frowned, shaking his head. The memory was in isolation, a bone-deep certainty of its existence without any of the surrounding context. It was like he had been plucked from his current life and dropped into a completely new one for a brief moment, full of emotion and memory and life that he couldn’t quite grasp.

He jumped, startled out of his thoughts as Rupert barked a laugh not unlike the painful screech of dial-up internet. “You? An assassin? I don’t buy it.”

“I don’t know either!” Dave exclaimed. “But it’s true. It’s weird, Rupert. I was feeling all of these things- numbness, depression, this awful, awful rage- but I don’t remember a thing about what was going on around it.” He glanced down at his hands. “The muscle memory’s still there, though. I remember exactly how I loaded that clip.” He mimed the motion, and Rupert’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

Rupert’s mirth faded. “I think what we should be asking is ‘how the hell did you end up as an assassin in one of these things?’”

“I don’t know. Again, there’s nothing around it. Just a snapshot. All I really recall is you talking to me.” Dave smiled faintly. “You asked me if I was okay. I… was confused. Nobody had really talked to me like that before, besides… whoever was employing me. I remember saying that I was fine, and you said that the bags under my eyes begged to differ in the most condescending tone.”

Dave laughed again as Rupert made an electronic noise of embarrassment. “God,” he grumbled, dragging a hand down his face. “I can’t believe I would say that to you.”

“I can.” Dave poked Rupert’s shoulder, managing to hit it on the third try. “It was actually what made me realize that was you.”

“Oh. Lovely,” Rupert deadpanned, and Dave snorted.

“Anyway, I was a lot more done with the world at that point- I guess that’s why I was so okay with being an actual assassin- and so I started arguing with you. I see it now: you were genuinely concerned, but then I began arguing with you and you got too angry to do anything but double down. We kept arguing, but I’m a bit of a pushover anyway, so eventually you convinced me to, in your words, ‘go get a drink to loosen up some of that blatant neuroticism’.” 

Rupert made another pained noise, and Dave didn’t laugh this time, but smiled fondly.

“And then… we did. I don’t know why you came with me. I just remember that I missed my window, and I couldn’t care less.”

“...Huh.” Rupert shifted, a low beeping hum emitting from him almost thoughtfully. “It’s really weird to hear something that I don’t remember coming from someone else’s mouth.”

“Yes, well, that’s probably why Charles doesn’t tell you things.”

Rupert snorted. “Touche.”

“It’s true!” Dave protested. “I know that would be weird for me, too. I mean, it’s weird telling you about it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rupert was quiet for a moment. “Is… there a possibility I’ll remember stuff, too?” he said finally.

Dave hesitated. “I guess, if you can take my powers. But I’ve had them a lot longer, and that’s one of the only times it happened.” A beat. “But I hope you don’t.”

He felt Rupert’s color-laden eyes dart over to him. “Why? I want to know! You don’t want me to remember the last sixteen years of my life?”

Dave winced. “I… I just don’t think it’d be good for you. We’re already struggling with the very concept we don’t remember anything. And, well, you’ve got some… resentment toward Triple Threat already.”

“I don’t resent them-” Rupert let out a beeping sigh as Dave’s eyebrows shot up. “Alright, well, look. I just don’t trust them. And Charlie didn’t say anything to us, for years!”

Dave glanced away. “Considering what you think of Henry and Ellie, maybe he thought it was for the best. You don’t have to worry, and he doesn’t see your distrust of his friends.”

Rupert paused. Blue began to fill his eyes, but he shook his head. “...I guess,” he muttered. “But I’m worrying now.”  

Dave shrugged. “At least you wouldn’t forget all over again,” he said softly.

Rupert fell into an uneasy silence. Dave glanced over at him, at his pensive face and flickering colors.

“But we don’t have to talk about this right now,” Dave said. He scooted over until he and Rupert’s buzzing arms were nearly touching, their shoulders bumping when they weren’t phasing. “I’m just grateful to be alright for a little while.”

A small smile passed over Rupert’s face. “Me too,” he murmured.

For the rest of the evening, they watched the stars.

Chapter Text

The moon was high ahead by the time Charles turned onto the well-paved side road and turned off the truck lights. He rumbled down the forest-lined lane as anticipation began to build in the truck. Ellie stared out of the passenger window, stomach churning with excitement every moment that they got closer to their destination.

“Now, what did we talk about?” Charles said, glancing over at Ellie in the passenger seat and Henry in the back.

“If you do anything, don’t get caught,” Ellie and Henry droned at the same time.

Charles grinned. “Glad we’ve got that covered.”

“At least we got here at a good time,” Henry said. “Though I suppose we owe it to Charles’s awful driving that it’s so late.”

“Hey, you told me we couldn’t leave until everyone was off the streets,” Charles protested. “That’s hardly my fault. Plus, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. You guys hardly let me drive, I don’t learn to drive with a healthy number of crashes, I stay bad at driving-”

“He’s just complaining. Everyone’s gonna be asleep in that house at this time, anyway,” Ellie said. “It’s the early hours.”

“If we’re lucky. We haven’t scoped the place out at all, much less made a game plan,” Henry said, frowning. “This’ll be an interesting heist, for sure.”

Ellie flexed her fingers, feeling the power build up beneath them. Soon, her power wouldn’t be the only thing played like a fiddle in her hands. 

“Well, I was thinking of a competition.” Ellie craned around and grinned at Henry. “You’re up for that, huh?”

Henry returned her smile. He leaned closer, a competitive purr to his voice. “What were you thinking, my dear?”

“Whoever gets the violin first wins,” she said. “ We can sabotage each other-”

“Within reason! No getting caught!” Charles interjected quickly. “I’d hate to tell the general the real way we were, uh, ‘getting you a new violin’.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Yes, mother. No making the other get caught. But,” she said, turning back to Henry, “if I were, say, to throw you out a window, that’d be your problem.”

Henry considered for a moment, eyes flicking upward as his mind raced. She almost regretted the lack of rules, if only for Henry’s uncanny ability to use them to his utmost advantage. But it was too late, as Henry smirked and leaned back. 

“Alright then, Rose. I agree to your terms. Anything else?”

Ellie hesitated. “We need to be out by…” She glanced at the radio clock. “4 in the morning. Any later and a day patrol’ll show up for the shift change, and that’ll be bad for all of us.”

“I thought you guys didn’t research this?” Charles questioned. 

“Much. We’re not stupid,” Henry said dryly. “We did need to know what kinds of guards this guy has, if any; the patrol times. He’s got a night patrol, alarm system, some dogs. Standard rich guy stuff.”

“But it’s not too extensive,” Ellie broke in. “Plus, it’s a good night for a heist. Clear night, full moon. A random weekday.” She leaned back, smiling slightly. 

It was just her, her friends, and the gentle rumble of the truck as it pitter-pattered ever-closer to their destination. For a moment, she could pretend that nothing had gone wrong, and this was another trouble-making excursion to entertain themselves between missions. 

With luck, this heist would be just that.

“It’s good to be back,” she said with a content sigh. 

“We’re out of practice,” Henry murmured. 

Charles rolled his eyes. “You thieves and your heists. Utterly ridiculous, I tell you. You’re dependent on ‘em.”

“We just have hobbies, Charlie,” Henry said, leaning forward into the space between seats. “Here, this looks like a good spot. Pull off here.”

Charles turned the wheel, easing off of the gravel path and into a shallow ditch. He pulled slightly into the forest and turned the truck off. Everything abruptly went silent. The only noise was their quiet breaths. Charles turned to Henry and Ellie. 

“Now, like I said, I told the general that we were ‘getting you a violin’. Don’t make me lie to him; he sniffs out my lies like a bloodhound. If anyone asks, we stayed the night at a hotel or something. Also…” He grinned at Ellie. “I look forward to seeing how, uh, just how out of practice you are.”

Ellie punched Charles’s arm, earning a squawk. “Oh, I’m not that bad, dude. It’s muscle memory.” She flexed her fingers again, itching to play. “It’ll just be a few minutes.”

“Alright, alright. Have fun!” He grinned as Henry leaned up, giving him a kiss on the temple. “You big softie.”

“Just grateful to have such a wonderful pilot for a partner,” Henry said.

“Oh, you.”

Ellie and Henry clambered out of the truck into the cool night. Cicadas chirped and sang. The forest was only visible for a couple feet due to the headlights before vanishing into pitch-blackness. The damp air settled on her skin, and she breathed the delicious air in, steadying her nerves and tempering her excitement before she turned to Henry. 

He was hardly visible, backlit by the moon and hidden by the dark clothes he had chosen for this heist. Still, she could see his eyes shining through the darkness, watching her much in the same way she watched him. 

“I say we get to the house itself before we start this little competition,” he murmured.

“It’d probably be smart,” she murmured back. “You ready?”

Henry’s white teeth bared in a smile. “Of course.”

As one, they slipped toward the house. They stuck to the shade the forest edge provided, ghosting alongside the road. Ellie fell back into a natural rhythm. Each step was placed quickly and yet carefully, analyzed for breakable twigs and branches, and only placed for a moment. She could feel her heartbeat in her ears. The anticipation was killing her, and she flexed her fingers, briefly longing for a vat of gasoline and a pack of matches. 

Arson wasn’t all that different from stealing. Stealing meant being stealthy longer, sure, but Ellie would argue arson forced one to be better at stealth. After all, she was sneaking up to a place, often scoping it out first, and then dousing the flammable bits in gasoline, a time-consuming and definitely un-stealthy task. Then, she would light the building on fire, which drew scrupulous attention quickly and urgently. Half the battle was getting away from the scene of the crime- and, of course, ensuring it couldn’t be traced back to her. Stealing was different. If she stole something right, nobody would notice it was gone. 

She shook her head. As lovely as a fire would be, warm and inviting, it would burn the thing she had come to steal. No fire tonight. 

The house came into view. She and Henry dropped into a crouch, creeping closer. Without needing to say anything, they both paused and surveyed their target. 

A large yard surrounded the house, painstakingly carved out of the forest. A tall wall and gate bordered the forest. In the center of the yard stood a mansion, grand and dark, at least three stories tall. Shadowy figures patrolled the perimeter. Complicating matters, she saw the lean forms of dogs darting to and fro.

Her eyes flicked over the mansion. The patrols seemed infrequent. The dogs would be an issue, but if she could get to a window, then she’d be golden. Now, she wasn’t exactly sure where the violin was, but she was certain it would be on display somewhere. One did not simply leave a Stradivarius violin laying around. The challenge would be finding it uninterrupted, unseen, and un-sabotaged.

Henry glanced over at her. He hadn’t fully stopped smiling since they left the truck. Almost giddily he leaned over and nudged her shoulder, smile widening. “I missed this,” he whispered. “Just me and you, doing a heist.”

“I’m sure you did plenty with the Toppats,” she whispered back wryly. 

“Yes, but this is with you.”

She stifled a giggle and nudged him back. “Charles is right; you’ve gotten sappy!” Her laugh faded, and she smiled at him. “But I missed this, too.”

Henry smiled softly. Ellie’s grin widened. Her eyes flicked to the patrol as they rounded the corner, facing away from her.

“Like you missed this,” she hissed, and grabbed his jacket. He stifled a yelp, flailing in surprise as she shoved him into the undergrowth. He disappeared into the brush. 

Straightening up, she turned and raced toward the wall. Behind her, she heard Henry struggling to get up. With a flick of her power to her legs she jumped, boosting herself with a rush of wind, and rolled as she landed on the other side. She gave a faint, giddy laugh as she took off toward the house.

Oh, Henry was so-

Her thought was cut off by a sudden, low growling. Ellie whipped her head to the side to see several dark, quick shapes racing toward her, their teeth flashing white in the moonlight.

Dogs. Shit, I forgot about those. A thrill darted through her. Gritting her teeth, she summoned energy to her hands, but unless she stopped outright and fought them, they would catch up. And if she didn’t, the barking and psychic energy would no doubt draw attention.

What to do?

The growling and barking crept ever-closer. 

And suddenly, time seemed to slow. 

Stick, Dog Treats, Electric Fence, Cat’s Feet.

What the hell? Ellie hesitated, pure confusion washing over her. Footsteps quickened behind her. Now, of all times, I-

Something heavy and vicious slammed into her back.

Who let the dogs out?

And suddenly, time seemed to slow.

Stick, Dog Treats, Electric Fence, Cat’s Feet.

What the- come on! At random, she grabbed the stick. Twisting around, she amplified her throw, flinging the stick as far as possible. 

The dogs watched the stick fly over their heads. Her heart leapt. Then their heads twisted back to Ellie, and she stumbled back, and she saw flashes of razor-sharp teeth inches from her-

Sneak softly and throw a big stick, as they say. Or was it ‘carry’...

Stick, Dog Treats, Electric Fence, Cat’s Feet.

What- ugh. She grasped the dog treats and skidded to the stop, twisting around and tossing the treats. They clattered onto the grass. For a heart-wrenching moment, the dogs didn’t stop their charge, but suddenly their heads jerked up. A couple nearly flew head-over-tails as they planted their paws and slid to a stop, sniffing the ground eagerly. 

“Good dogs,” Ellie muttered. She slowly backed away as the dogs wolfed down the treats, and then turned, darting for the nearest window. She jogged to a stop in front of it, taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart. She glanced back at where the dogs enjoyed their feast, tails wagging frantically.

She chuckled wryly. “Oh.” She looked down at her hands, shaking her head. “So this is something that warrants your powers. Not when I was getting killed by Carol.”

The Narrator, unsurprisingly, did not respond. The feeling of eyes on the back of her neck grew a little more intense.

Glass Cutter, Alarm Silencer, Lockpicks, Blowtorch.

“Great thing to have during a heist,” she muttered, and reached for the glass cutter.

It materialized in her hands. The sharp edge glittered in the moonlight, sparkling in an almost familiar way. She squinted at it more closely. Was that… diamond? Screw stealing jewels; I should just go sell this thing!

She carefully boosted herself onto the windowsill. Bracing herself against the side, she carefully pressed the diamond edge to the glass, ensuring it was lodged, and pushed. The glass squealed uncomfortably loudly as she slowly dragged the edge down, sliding cleanly through it. Ellie gritted her teeth at her slow progress. She hit the bottom of the window and began to slide it to the side. The back of her neck prickled uncomfortably, both with the Narrator’s eyes and the quiet anticipation that the patrol would, at any moment, round the corner. Pacing around a small distance away, the dogs whined at the nails-on-blackboard sound.

Finally, after a few long, arduous minutes of work, she had cut a large square hole in the window. She breathed a sigh of relief.

She gently pressed on the square pane. The glass made an almost-pleasant crunching sound as it broke away from the rest of the window and tipped forward. She sent out a wave of power and caught it, gently lowering to the floor. Then, she slipped through the hole and paused, warily looking around. 

She stood at a crossroad. To her right and left was a hallway, each with dark openings at the end, and in front of her was a larger hallway that far in front seemed to open into other rooms and foyers. She blinked, adjusting to the darkness of the house. Her shallow breaths felt too loud. 

She was in. She let herself relax a little. Now, to locate-

“Might wanna hide.”

Ellie jumped, instinctively summoning power to her hands, and whipped around. Crouched next to the wall in the right hallway, a figure gave a lazy wave. Henry crept out a little into the moonlight streaming through the windows, grinning at her.

“Don’t do that,” Ellie hissed. “I almost-”

Henry raised a finger to his mouth and pointed. Ellie turned just in time to see flashlights beaming from around a corner and hear voices quietly talking. 

She lunged to the left hallway, scrambling behind the wall. At that moment, flashlight beams pierced through the gloom. They swept leisurely from side to side, nearly illuminating the window she had cut through. Guards. Just her luck.

She gritted her teeth and glared over at Henry. Who the hell has inside guards? she mouthed. He gave a little shrug.

“I could’ve sworn I heard something down this way,” said one voice. “Like footsteps. Plus there was this weird squealing sound.”

“Eh, that could’ve been the dogs,” said a second voice.

Ellie held her breath. The beam stopped. 

“I really don’t think you’re hearing anything,” the second voice continued. “I mean, who’s gonna get past the wall, the dogs, and the outside patrol?”

“I guess you’re right,” the first voice said doubtfully. “Still.”

Suddenly, footsteps sounded right next to her. She froze, heart leaping into her throat. She whipped her head, staring frantically down her hallway, but there was nothing there. Nothing could possibly be making those sounds. What in the-

Henry. She whipped her head over. On the opposite side of the hallway, Henry had his mouth open, somehow throwing his voice to her side of the hallway in a pretty decent impression of darting footsteps. Ellie glared at him as he closed his mouth. He fluttered his fingers at her before vanishing into the darkness beyond. 

“There! I heard ‘em going down this way.” Ellie hissed to herself as she heard the guards’ voices getting closer, their footsteps quickening. She stuck her hands in her pockets and-

Rope Trap, Gun, Voice-throw, Brass Knuckles.

-the rope trap would only do one person; god knew a gun would never be a good idea; voice-throwing wouldn’t work a second time-

-grabbed the brass knuckles. They glittered dully in the moonlight. 

Blasted Henry. She couldn’t help but smile, breathing out a laugh. Clever. 

“Are we sure you’re not just hearing things? I mean, it’s a big house.”

A sigh. Footsteps, ever closer. “We’ve gotta check it out. If James finds out we didn’t check it out, he’d flip.” Ellie sidled over to the corner, the brass knuckles clenched tightly between her fingers. Her power crackled beneath her skin.

“I guess. But what’s the odds of-”

Ellie twisted around the corner. In a split second she slammed her energy-backed fist into one’s chin. He collapsed like an anchor. 

The other guard was a little quicker. He managed to twist out of the way of Ellie’s first swipe with a yelp, scrambling for the device on his belt. Ellie flung her other hand out and grabbed him with her power, yanking him toward her. He stumbled. His eyes widened in sudden terror as her fist darted forward, and then he fell next to his partner.

As they laid there, hardly moving, she quickly rummaged through their belts. First, she pulled out two strange little pins. They were small, round, and all-black, with little starry white dots around the outside, as if implying the lack of a moon in a night sky. Aren’t those familiar? 

I’ll figure it out later. Before she could get lost in thought, she shoved them into her pocket. She then grabbed the zipties hanging there and tied their hands and feet, then grabbed their duct tape and taped over their mouths. Just as they were starting to awaken, confusedly tugging at their bonds, Ellie backed away. 

Henry had taken the voice-throw. An option that she had also gotten. One that she could have chosen, had she been quicker. 

“Is this fun for you?” she whispered. “Are you doing this just to see what we would do? What we can do?”

Again, no answer. 

She fought down a flash of unease and shook her head. Whatever the Narrator’s deal was, it didn’t matter right now. What mattered was the heist, Henry, and enjoying herself. 

She raced down the hallway Henry had fled down. If he was so confident, then he had to know something.

For a moment she sprinted through the house as quietly as possible, forced to stop to check around corners and search for Henry’s trail. Henry, of course, was nearly impossible to track. But after a decade and a half of knowing him, there were a few specific clues she had picked up on.

One: when he was in a hurry, he left doors ever so slightly ajar. It was almost comically easy for Ellie to follow the trail of slightly-open doors that Henry hadn’t had time to close softly. Most led to another passageway or room to run through, the violin nowhere to be found and the clock ever-ticking. But finally, just as she was about to lose hope, she opened the door to a display room.

The room was large. It was filled with various display cases on wooden pedestals or hanging on walls, ranging from beautiful paintings to odd little statues to jewels that caught the light and her eye and nearly made her reconsider her mission. It reminded her of a museum after-hours- the display lights illuminated their centerpieces, but the main lights were off, creating an uncanny feeling of secrecy. 

This had to be where the violin was. Carefully she slipped in, looking around for guards or other obstacles, when her eyes landed on it.

Sitting in one of the glass display cases, illuminated by its own little lights, was the Stradivarius violin. 

She stood there for a moment, briefly dazzled by the lights and the gleaming wood. She could almost feel the smooth wood under her hands, the press of the strings beneath her fingers, the ache in her fingertips as the calluses regrew. She took a step forward.

Then, a flash of movement caught her eye. Slipping through the rows of cases and pedestals, Henry was like a darting shadow, nearly to the violin. Ellie narrowed her eyes.

Over my dead body.

Henry began to pull something out- a long piece of fabric, dotted with stars. His head suddenly shot up as he noticed her footsteps approaching quickly, and he twisted around, unable to dodge in time as she tackled him. 

They both went flying to the floor. Henry swept the dark fabric around himself, and Ellie’s eyes spun trying to follow the pattern. Her hands hit the floor, distinctly minus Henry. 

She scrambled up as Henry reappeared a few feet away. He smirked at her. A teleporting cloak, then. Two can play that game. She reached out, feeling that now-familiar tug, and-

Whip, Lasers, Magician’s Cape, Hammer.

She hesitated. Lasers sounded like it would backfire instantly, but what better choice was there for getting through thick glass?

I’ll just go back if it fails. She grabbed the laser, whipped it out, and pointed it toward Henry.

Henry yelped as Ellie burned a hole near his foot. He hopped to the side, gracefully flipping over cases and darting across the room as Ellie carved a path of destruction. She laughed a little to herself at his expressions before twisting back to the violin case. 

She’d have to be careful not to burn the violin. She delicately pointed the laser at the glass and watched it slowly cut through, leaving a blackened trail behind it. For a moment, she was so focused on the laser and its journey through the glass that she completely missed the slow footsteps behind her. 

A flash of movement. Ellie jerked up, but she was too late, the dark fabric sweeping across her vision and body. Her world spun.

She gasped, shooting up. She whipped her head around, shaking away the vertigo, and realized she was across the room. Henry gave her a little wave as she gaped, then tossed the cloak over the violin case. 

Shoot. There was no way she’d get there in time. Henry would win.

Unless…

Henry grinned, sweeping the cape away. The glass was gone, leaving only the violin. 

He dropped the cape. He reached for the violin.

And the moment before his fingertips brushed it, Ellie thrust out a hand, psychically yanking the violin toward her. The violin trembled and shot toward her.

Henry let out a strangled yelp as the violin flew past him. He lunged, grasping for it, but it landed safely in Ellie’s hands. 

She smiled at a dumbstruck Henry’s face. 

“I win,” she said. 

Henry stared at her for a moment. His eye twitched, but slowly a smile spread across his face. He sighed heavily and dropped his arms to his sides. 

“Fine. Good job, my dear Rose,” he said, clapping half-heartedly. His chest heaved. Despite his slightly miffed expression, she could see the real smile hiding underneath, the light of a heist well-played gleaming in his eyes.

Her grin widened. She pressed a hand to her mouth, almost unable to contain the overwhelming euphoria sweeping through her. Her heart raced joyously. She bounced up to Henry, twirling around him. 

“Just a little too slow, Hen,” she said gleefully, throwing an arm around him. 

Henry rolled his eyes. “I was not too slow, you cheated.”

“How is using my powers ‘cheating’? In that case, the cape was cheating!”

“It was cheating,” Henry insisted, but a smile poked through. 

“You’re just embarrassed you started gloating early,” Ellie said.

“Wha- No!” Henry sputtered. “I am not embarrassed. I conceded that it was a good heist, didn’t I? Didn’t I?”

Ellie barked a laugh. “Barely. I know it was painful for you not be number one in everything, dude.”

Henry tossed his head in mock offense. “I take offense to that, my dear. I am a most humble and gracious-”

He suddenly fell silent, twisting and staring at the door. Ellie opened her mouth, nearly asking him what was wrong, when he held up a hand. 

Footsteps. 

Henry reacted first, grabbing her hand and dragging her behind a display case of a spear. They both dropped into a crouch as the door creaked open. 

“Hello?” the guard said. Ellie and Henry locked eyes, holding their breath.

Will he notice the- Ellie mouthed. Henry shrugged, eyebrows pinching together.

“Hello?” the guard said, more insistently. “Is anybody in here, or is it the wind and these random weirdass artifacts again?”

Ellie and Henry remained completely still. For a moment she fought down the urge to start playing the violin, just to see what the guard would do.

The guard sighed. “Damn James, keeping a bunch of freaky artifacts all in the same room. I don’t get paid enough for this.”

The door clicked shut. After a long, agonizing moment, the guard’s footsteps faded. Ellie slowly looked over and locked eyes with Henry.

As soon as she caught his eye, they both doubled over, bursting into barely-contained giggles. Ellie clutched the violin to her chest like a lifeline. It smelled like the forest and victory.

“You were always better at being quick,” Henry whispered, squeezing her hand. 

“Yeah, but you’re better at leaving no trace,” Ellie whispered back. “I had to cut open a window, knock out two guards, give dogs treats, and then literally laser through the glass.”

“Oh, hey. You also got the choices?” Henry asked. Ellie nodded. He tilted his head, smiling slightly. “I guess we really do have different preferences. I had all of those options-”

“-but we chose differently,” Ellie finished. She dropped her head back against the wooden dais. “I will say, I may not like that thing, but it did get me out of a lot of stuff I shouldn’t have.” She pried open an eye and mock-glared at Henry. “Like that little voice-throwing trick.”

Henry shrugged. “Hey, you had the option, darling. You just didn’t take advantage of it.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “What’d you end up picking, then?”

“Cat’s feet for the dogs- ended up letting me run up the wall- lockpicks for the front door, an alarm silencer, and then the magician’s cape.”

“Not bad, thief.”

“Back at you, arsonist.”

For a moment they sat there, hearts slowing from their constant pounding.

“This was fun,” Henry murmured. 

“It was.” Ellie sighed, smiling. Her stomach, tight with apprehension, anxiety, and uncertainty, seemed to unclench. For the first time this entire timeline, she felt completely at ease. “I needed this, your freaky Narrator interfering or not.”

Henry leaned over, checking all around them in long, sweeping looks, before getting up. He pulled Ellie with him. “Let’s get back to Charlie before he thinks we’ve gotten caught.”

…

The journey out was easier than the journey in. They crept past the tied up guards and waited until the outside patrol had passed, idly chatting and yawning from the early morning. They slipped out of the window Ellie had cut a hole in and darted back through the yard, where the dogs didn’t bother them, wagging their tails at Ellie. A couple psychic boosts later, they were back over the pointed fence and slipping through the pre-dawn to the truck.

Ellie held the violin to her chest, warming it against the cool night air. She didn’t have a bow, or resin, and she’d probably have to change the strings… but it was here. Her fingers itched. 

“So,” Henry said as they ambled down the road toward the truck. “What are you planning on playing first?”

“Not sure. I’ll just be warming up, I suppose.” She paused. “It’s been a minute since I’ve played it. Hopefully most of my muscle memory holds.”

“It will. It always has. Besides, we’re a year closer to when you were practicing regularly, aren’t we?”

Ellie rubbed her fingers against each other, a little surprised to find dense calluses already there. “...Yeah, I guess so. That’s weird to think about.”

“No weirder than anything else,” Henry said lightly. 

The truck came into view. Henry slipped up and knocked on the window. Both of them laughed as Charles startled out of a half-asleep daze, his head snapping up almost painfully from where it was slumped against his chest. He shook his head rapidly and grinned as they climbed in.

“Hey, hey! I didn’t even hear any alarms! You guys really are good sometimes!” Charles chuffed a laugh as Ellie punched him in the shoulder. “Come on, it was a compliment.”

“Whatever, Charlie. Did you get a good nap in?” she asked.

“I did, actually,” Charles shot back. “Who won?”

“Me!” Ellie said brightly as Henry muttered, “I guess you could say it was Ellie.”

“Henry’s just jealous that he didn’t win,” Ellie stage-whispered. Henry groaned as Charles chuckled.

“It was successful, anyway,” Charles said. “Especially because nobody needs to know where the violin came from- right?” He jammed the key in the ignition and started the truck. 

“Right,” Henry and Ellie echoed as Charles pulled out, flicking on the lights and beginning the drive home.

A sudden thought occurred to Ellie. She reached over and nudged Charles’s shoulder.

“Hey, Charlie! You know what’s funny?”

“Hm?” Charles glanced over. 

“Remember Jewel Baron, when Henry stole all those jewels? The whole thing with my murder accusation and stuff?”

“Uh, yeah.” Charles chuckled. “That was an interesting timeline. What about it?”

“Well, we got into trouble with the Midnight Syndicate, and there was that guy who was obsessed with me; the one who thought we should be, like, thieving buddies or something. James.”

“Yeah. Geez, what an annoying little-” Charles’s eyes widened in realization. “Waiiiiiit. You guys didn’t-”

“This was his house,” Ellie giggled.

“Oh my god, no way!” Charles wheezed a laugh. “Dang, buddy. That’s great!”

“I know! Small world, right? And that would explain why his house had inside-and-out security. He’s literally the leader of the Midnight Syndicate; of course he’s gonna have good security.”

“How’d you know?” Charles asked. 

Ellie pulled out the two little pins and held them up. “I knocked out a couple of guards. They were carrying these- the Midnight Syndicate’s symbols. And they were talking about a ‘James’ person, so it has to be him.”

“That is amazing,” Charles said, grinning.

“What are you two even talking about?” Henry called from the back, sounding baffled.

“Don’t worry about it. It was from one of the timelines that you abandoned us for wealth,” Ellie said. She and Charles both laughed harder at Henry’s offended gasp.

Ellie sighed and flopped back, tracing her fingers along the violin’s smooth wood. “Anyway, we’ll have to stop at a music store tomorrow before we head back. I need a bow, resin, and probably some new strings. I’ll direct you to my usual place.”

“Gotcha.” Charles smiled over at her. “You two seem in good spirits.”

“It was a good night,” Henry said softly.

“Yeah.” Ellie stared out of the window toward the pre-dawn sky, just beginning to lighten. Her heart felt lighter than ever before. “It was.”

Chapter Text

“They are sure they’re not going to be bothered by this? I mean, I know it’s kind of sudden, and they just got back from the City a few hours ago-”

“Dave, you’re the one who’s bringing me along on this. You tell me.” Rupert sighed and pinched the bridge between his eyes. “But they did say at the beginning of this whole mess that you could come talk to them.”

Dave shook his head. “Yes, they did. They did. And I’m going to ask them.”

“...Right,” Rupert said slowly. “Their apartment’s here, by the way.” He stopped abruptly, abruptly enough that Dave ended up walking right through him before skidding to a stop. Rupert snorted. 

“Right,” Dave muttered. “Thanks.”

Dave had made his mind up. Surely the most powerful and significant anomaly would know something about what Dave was, or at least what kinds of powers he possessed. Henry had more experience, time, power… surely he knew something. Anything.  

Now came the most difficult part: actually asking Henry to help him.

Oh, joy. Social interaction with the world’s most terrifying anomaly, who was actually rather nice. That fact was somehow scarier.

Dave took a deep breath. No time better than now.

He raised a hand and knocked on the door. 

Or, rather, he might have knocked if his hand hadn’t phased through. Dave hissed anxiously. 

“Let me do it,” Rupert sighed. He raised a hand, but before he could knock, the door swung open.

They both jumped. Dave resisted the urge to teleport away in surprise. Ellie Rose stood there, amusement sweeping over her face.

“Oh, hey there,” she said with an easy smile. She was in a T-shirt and shorts against the night heat. Dave suddenly felt overdressed and that he had come far too late. “Thought it was you guys.”

“I- oh- um- yes?” Dave said cleverly. They stared at each other for a moment. 

Ellie slowly tilted her head. “So, uh, is there a reason you came knocking, or…?”

Rupert nudged Dave’s shoulder. He jolted. “Uh, yeah! Yeah, actually. I was going to ask Henry a question?” Rupert glanced over at Dave doubtfully. “Several questions. If that’s fine.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Of course!” Ellie said. “Here, let me get him.”

“How’d you know it was us?” Rupert asked.

Ellie snorted. “You kidding me? Unless you’re keeping secrets, I only know one person who can send a spectral hand through the door.”

“Oh.” Dave’s face burned. “Yeah.”

“Come on in, guys.” Ellie turned into the apartment, calling out, “Henry! Dave needs to ask you something! Several somethings!”

“Well, I guess you, too,” Dave said quickly as he slipped through the door and followed Ellie inside. “It’s about my powers. And, well, you’re an anomaly too.”

“Oh. Uh, Henry knows more of the technical stuff than I do? But I’ll help out best I can,” Ellie replied. 

“Thanks,” Dave said.

The inside of Triple Threat’s apartment was, perhaps unsurprisingly, similar to Dave and Rupert’s apartment in layout. The decor, however, was all Triple Threat. Scattered all about the apartment was a combination of practicality and leisure, with traps and toolkits tossed next to trinkets, maps of buildings next to posters, and combat gear sharing space with blankets and pillows. There was a poster of a rocket space station hotel… thing that Dave was certain didn’t exist. Leaning against a wall was a whole sword, which Ellie casually picked up and stuck into her jacket (and… it vanished?). Triple Threat’s jobs clearly bled over into their personal lives. Considering the vast amount of seemingly random, often strange items, their anomalous nature also influenced their living space. 

But still, there was a synergy, a well-lived-in feeling that permeated the area. The organized chaos radiated longevity. The lights were turned down low, the TV playing quietly. The couches were scattered with blankets. Charles’s head popped up from one of them, a bit bleary-eyed. It was as if they had lived there for years rather than a few days. 

“Oh, hey!” Charles said. He pushed himself up with a yawn and stood, stretching. “How are you guys?”

“Fine,” Rupert muttered.

“Um. As good as I can be, I guess,” Dave said. 

“That’s good, at least,” Charles said. 

Out of what appeared to be a bedroom, Henry appeared. Like the other two, he was also in casual clothes: a dark blue jacket and long pants. It was the most relaxed Dave had ever seen him. He sipped a bottle of water, hand casually in his pockets. Curiously, the strange figure Dave had seen hovering over him all that time ago was nowhere to be seen.

It couldn’t have been Dave’s imagination, right? Surely not. Maybe Dave just wasn’t distressed enough to see it. Now that was a terrifying thought. 

“Ellie, my dear, what-” He paused when he spotted Rupert and Dave, pinning Dave under his diamond-blue gaze. “Oh, hello there.”

Dave shifted uncomfortably. “Hi.”

“Dave was gonna ask you about his powers,” Ellie said. “I told him that you knew more of the technical stuff than me, so you might be able to help more.”

Henry breathed a laugh, eyes flicking back over to Dave. “Misplaced optimism, my friend, but I suppose I know a little more than most.”

“I mean, you are, like, the anomaly, so…” Dave stammered. “You’re better than nothing.”

Henry barked a laugh. “I guess I am! So what were your questions?” he asked, eyes glittering with curiosity.

Dave hesitated. There were about a million questions fluttering through his mind all at the same time, but there were so many no single question stuck out to him. They all felt much too important, clamouring for space with no hierarchy. “Um… everything?”

“Can you be more specific?” Ellie asked. 

“...No?”

“Nah, I get it,” said Charles, trotting over to Henry and putting a hand on his shoulder. “You two have had this stuff for so long you forget what it’s like for us normal people-”

“You literally can sense anomalies,” Ellie interrupted.

“-so you don’t remember what it was like to know nothing,” Charles barrelled on. “‘Everything’ makes perfect sense to me.”

“And I know literally nothing,” Rupert piped up. “All of you are freaks to me, so I don’t even know what you would consider ‘basic’. If there’s anything about this that can be considered simple,” he muttered.

“Alright, then.” Henry paused, eyes growing distant. Then, he suddenly snapped his fingers. “Actually, I have a better idea,” he said. “Let’s do some experimenting, shall we?”

“Um, what?” Dave said nervously. 

“Well, you want to know about your powers, right? And our powers?” Dave nodded tentatively. “There’s no better way to do that than actually demonstrating our abilities. Which, especially in the case of my friend here, will require a little more space than a military apartment.”

“I guess so?” Dave said as Henry trotted over to a wall. Out of his pocket he pulled a small, white pencil, not unlike a pencil tool on an animation program. He flipped it, then crouched, drawing a tall rectangle on the wall, with a little circle about stomach height. It flooded with white, and suddenly there was a white, sketchy door there, its lines waving back and forth. Henry grabbed the circle- the doorknob- and the door clicked open. On the other side stretched the same starry field that Rupert had taken Dave to the previous night. 

Perhaps it was an indication of Dave’s current, very broken existence that nobody in the room seemed particularly amazed nor surprised.

Henry gestured. “After you.”

Ellie and Charles were the first pair through. Henry motioned his head toward the door before following. Dave hesitated briefly, a little nervous all of a sudden. A hand landed on his shoulder.

“Nothing ever surprises me anymore,” Rupert muttered.

“Yeah, nothing does,” Dave said, huffing. He shook the static out of his head and walked through the door.

“How did you do that?” Ellie was asking Henry, heads bent close together as Dave appeared on the other side. He sighed to himself, a little relieved for it to be over. 

“I’ll teach you later,” Henry murmured. “Just a little magician’s trick to get the items, and then store them in my hammerspace. But I don’t know if you have one.”

The pair quickly broke apart as Rupert shut the door, which dissolved into a hundred little lines and squiggles. Dave frowned, tilting his head. Didn’t Ellie just have the psychic powers…? Or was there something else that he hadn’t sensed or seen about Ellie, somehow?

It was a beautiful night, just like the last one. The wind blew pleasantly cool. The stars glowed down on them, illuminating the hillside and washing it in silver. Henry took a deep breath.

“We used to go stargazing here,” Charles said, craning his head back. “Back before, um, Henry died.”

What a casual way of putting it. Dave found new things about Triple Threat that unnerved him every day.

“It’s a good spot to experiment in,” Henry continued, either not hearing or not interested in Charles’s comment. “I think we messed about with Ellie’s powers for days back here.” He turned to Dave, tone turning authoritative. “So, I guess the best place to start is this: What exactly are you asking me? And remember that we’ve got all night, so there’s no rush.”

Henry’s bright eyes glowed with nothing but genuine curiosity. The night was gentle, the wind was blowing, and somehow, Dave found it in himself to feel a little better about this than before. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax. “I guess… how am I an anomaly? And how did you all become anomalies?”

Henry paused. “Well, I became an anomaly while trying to break into a bank,” he said slowly. “I had choices. An infinite deck of cards, spinning out three or four at a time, that gave me options. In the case that my choice failed, I was resurrected. But that was me, and only me.”

“Why does he talk like that,” he heard Rupert mutter to Charles.

“Like what?” Charles asked.

“Like… that,” Rupert repeated.

He nodded over to Ellie. “I forget, my dear. How did you get yours?”

Ellie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve always had it. I mean, probably not always, but I don’t know what changed. I don’t know if anything changed.” She huffed a laugh at herself, looking apologetically at Dave. “I’m sorry. That’s not much help.”

“No, no, it’s fine. That’s why we’re here, I guess. Um, Charles?”

“Oh, man.” Charles chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. “I think it was when I met Henry on the airship mission. But then again, I hadn’t encountered any anomalies before that, so I don’t know if I’ve always had the ability to sense anomalies or not, y’know?”

Dave wilted a little. “So it’s all random, then…” But that blasted package hadn’t been random, had it? Someone had delivered it; it had been going to someone. What was up with that?

“How did you become an anomaly?” Henry asked. “That might give us some insight as to the nature of your abilities.”

“Maybe,” Ellie said. “I mean, look at me.” She made a little motion with her hand, and a collection of twigs and leaves rose up into the air, gently circling around her. “Utterly random.”

Henry huffed. “We’re thinking positively, my dear.” He turned his bright blue eyes back on Dave, piercing through to his very core. “Ignore my partner, Dave. Please continue.”

Dave hesitated. Static began to slowly march through his mind. “...A package,” Dave said slowly. “I was working as a prison guard. They dropped off a package. I didn’t even check inside, I just- picked it up. I took it to the prisoner…” Dave winced as a shot of noise rocketed through his head. He searched back, willing the memories past that moment to resurface, but they were layered with a heavy blanket of static and agony. “-and things get fuzzy from there.”  

“Woah- you good?” came Rupert’s voice. It was a little dim. 

The color drained from Dave’s surroundings. Henry’s eyes were ever bright, though. “Yes, yes- I just need to sit down. Let me sit down.” Dave squeezed his eyes shut and lowered himself to the ground, taking a few moments to will his hands to reform and still the panicked static darting through his entire body. Eventually, his breaths and mind slowed. He opened his eyes to see the others watching him worriedly. 

“That was weird,” Charles said, chuckling nervously.

“Are you okay?” Rupert asked. He was crouched in front of Dave, a hand on his shoulder. Dave glanced over at the hand, seeing it tinged with the same oddly vibrant colors that characterized Rupert’s body when he took Dave’s abilities.

Dave smiled weakly at him. “Yes. I just can’t think of it too hard. It’s pretty fuzzy.” He shook his head, clearing the noise away. “I’m okay, though. Thanks.”

He stood back up, letting Rupert hold onto him for as much his stability as Rupert’s comfort. Triple Threat looked at him awkwardly for a moment before Charles pressed on.

“So… a package?” Charles asked.

“Yes. Maybe it was an anomalous package, and I just got unlucky.”

“Unfortunately, that seems to be the closest answer we have,” Henry said, tapping his chin. “It’s not gifted, it’s not natural, it’s not… whatever Charles got.”

“Gifted?” Rupert muttered under his breath. Dave frowned, but didn’t push.

“I’m sorry that I don’t have better answers for you, Dave,” Henry said regretfully. “This isn’t like anything we’ve seen before.”

“And we’ve seen a hell of a lot,” Ellie said. 

“It’s okay. I wasn’t really expecting anything, anyway. Just curious.” There was still a frown on Henry’s face that Dave couldn’t quite puzzle out. Something like… pensiveness, or concern.

“I mean, anomalies come in all shapes and sizes,” Charles said. “You probably just got unlucky. I mean, if you can’t sense them like I do, then there’s no real warning.”

“That’s… terrifying,” Rupert said faintly. 

“Most people don’t encounter any in their lifetime, especially if the CCC is on the anomaly’s trail,” Ellie said. 

“They’re useful for one thing,” Henry muttered. “Alright, since we can’t answer that… next question, Dave?”

Dave hesitated again. “I- I’m not sure, really. There’s so much I don’t know that you guys probably do. Why can I remember through your reset this time?”

“No clue,” Henry said. “I hypothesize it’s because last timeline wasn’t ordinary, and something got glitched. Otherwise, I don’t know.”

“Very helpful,” Rupert muttered. 

Henry shrugged. “It’s the truth, Price.”

“Why can I remember, then?” Rupert asked. “I’m… I’m only-”

“Rupert, what happened to your hand?” Ellie interrupted. She was staring at him, head tilted.

“What?” Rupert said, giving her a puzzled look. 

“When you put a hand on Dave’s shoulder,” Ellie said. “Your hand looked… weird. Like Dave, almost.”

“I saw that too,” Henry said, frowning. “Could you do that again, actually?”

“Oh, he doesn’t have to,” Dave said, laughing. “Um, we actually figured one thing out about my powers the other night. Do you want to show them?”

Rupert bristled. He glanced over at Henry. “I didn’t think we were bringing that up,” he muttered. 

Oh, here they went again. “It’s my powers, isn’t it? That’s what we’re here to figure out?” Dave said pointedly. “And if they’re going to be yours, too, we need to lay all of our cards out. We’re the only five human anomalies in- in everywhere, and we should at least trust each other a little, right?”

Rupert blinked at him. Dave stared hard at him, breathing a little heavy. 

“Um, yeah,” Rupert said quickly. “Yeah. Let’s go ahead.”

Dave was aware of Triple Threat watching them like hawks, burning with curiosity as he put his hand on Rupert’s arm. Rupert closed his eyes, concentrating, and then the odd sensation of his power flowing out of his fingertips filled him. Dave heard a little gasp from all of them as Rupert opened his eyes to reveal his ‘no signal’, multicolored eyes.

“We figured out we could do that,” Dave said, his voice again shockingly loud without a backdrop of static.

“Woah,” Charles said. He chuckled nervously. “That’s even weirder.”

Ellie and Henry exchanged a look. Henry hesitantly took a step forward. “Did you two… trade your power?” he asked.

“What do you think?” Rupert said. He grinned a little at the way Henry jumped. 

“Your voice- oh, that’s so strange. I absolutely have never seen anything like this before.” Henry looked over at Dave. He tilted his head. “And you’re back to your old self?”

“Yup,” Dave said, smiling weakly. “At this point it’s just weird.”

Ellie had walked over. She waved a hand through Rupert’s arm. “That’s trippy. Charlie, come over here.”

“You two are children,” Rupert muttered as Charles hurried over and also waved a hand through his arm. Dave held back a snicker.

“We figured it out last night,” Dave said. 

“Where were you guys last night?” Rupert asked. 

“Off-topic,” Charles said hurriedly. “This is crazy. Man, wouldn’t it be nice if you guys could transfer your powers?”

“It wouldn’t,” Henry and Ellie said at the same time. Both of them had such pensive looks on their faces that Dave was startled. Maybe they simply had more experience with the anomalous, and so the novelty had worn off? 

“Regardless,” Henry continued, “this is… startling. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Not with my powers; not with Ellie’s.”

“Not necessarily,” Ellie murmured. 

Henry’s eyes flicked over to Ellie, but Charles interrupted with a loud clap of his hands.

“Now that that’s out of the way, why don’t we actually do the fun stuff?” Charles said emphatically.

“Uh, what?” Dave asked. What had Charles cut Ellie off from saying? What did she mean?

“You know! The experimenting we actually came out here to do! Psychic powers! Phasing! All of the cool stuff I can’t do!” Charles exclaimed. “We’ve gotten the chitchat out of the way. Let’s actually do some cool shit.”

Dave couldn’t help but laugh at Charles’s big, dorky, excited grin. Ellie snickered. “What, do you want me to pick you up and fly you around?” she asked.

“Well, I know what you can do,” Charles snarked. “But yeah, stuff like that. We’re complaining about not knowing anything- might as well figure out stuff about everyone’s powers, huh?” He looked over at Dave with his wide, bright eyes. “If you’re up for it, of course.”

“Uh- yeah! Yeah. That is what I originally came out here to do besides ask questions, so… sure.” He glanced over at Rupert. “You?”

“Why not,” Rupert sighed. “Might as well get used to this.”

“Alright, then,” Henry said authoritatively. He seemed to relax, growing more confident as he spoke. “Where do we want to begin?”

…

“Okay, so teleporting with Henry doesn’t do anything adverse,” Charles said as Dave reappeared with Henry. 

“Was that a possibility?” Rupert growled, a tinge of anxiety coloring his voice.

“You never know with Henry,” Charles said.

“Unfortunately, true,” Henry said. “There’s been times that teleportation doesn’t work as intended. Many times.” He shuddered. 

He nodded and stepped away from Dave, surprisingly unaffected by Dave’s teleportation. He wobbled slightly, throwing his arms out for balance, but after a moment, he straightened.

“That one was… more unpleasant than the other times, though,” Henry said, grimacing. “It was like I was dunked in a river of pure static, flailing, trying not to hit rocks. Very disorienting.”

Dave frowned. “Oh. Um. I’ve never felt that?” That was a bit worrying. Had Rupert felt that every time Dave teleported with him? Did he not tell Dave? “Rupert? Did you… feel that, too?”

Rupert shuffled his feet in the way he did when he didn’t want to admit something to Dave. 

“Rupert…”

“Yeah?” Rupert said finally. “What’s the big deal?”

“Rupert!” Dave gasped. “Why didn’t you say something? That’s- that sounds awful!”

Rupert scowled. “There was always something more important going on!”

“We’ve teleported, like, a hundred times since then!” Dave argued. 

Rupert hesitated. “I… got used to it. I just let the river… take me.”

A beat. “So it’s like you never resurfaced, but Henry and Ellie did?” Charles asked. “Ohhhhh. Just drowned in the static river. RIP, Rupert.”

“They never found the body,” Ellie said solemnly.

“Truly a tragedy,” Henry echoed. “He had so many years ahead of him.”

“You drowned?!” Dave cried, whirling on Rupert. “Why didn’t you say anything! You could’ve been able to share powers with me because I kept teleporting with you, when I could have just stopped-” 

“I did not drown,” Rupert snapped. “I- I just got used to the feeling! That’s normal! God, you three goddamn menaces, stop freaking him out-”

“You’re drowning in Dave,” Ellie said with a mischievous grin. Charles coughed and badly hid chuckles behind his hand. Rupert’s head snapped to her, glaring murderously. 

Oh boy. I probably need to get this under control before they start killing each other… “Well… this experiment was good anyway!” Dave said, smiling nervously. “If our powers don’t react to each other, that’ll be helpful in a pinch, right?”

“That would be nice,” Henry said, smoothly taking the bait and changing the subject. Dave breathed a sigh of relief. “But my powers tend to work… differently than Ellie and Charles’s. Hopefully everyone’s powers play just as nice.” Both he and Charles turned to Ellie, who was steadfastly not looking at them.

“Do… Ellie’s powers not play nice?” Dave said slowly. 

Charles shrugged. “I mean, unless you stab her with a magic pen, you should be fine.”

“What?” Rupert asked warily. 

“It’s a long story,” Henry said. “Bit of a delicate subject. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m worrying about it-”

Charles turned. “Ellie?”

“I’m not gonna puke,” Ellie said determinedly. 

Charles grinned. “Is that a promise or a hope?”

“I’m not going to,” Ellie said again, staring hard at the ground.

“Um, you don’t have to teleport if you don’t want to,” Dave offered. “Especially if you’re, I don’t know, gonna rip me apart telekinetically…”

“Nahhhhh, she’s just got a weak stomach for teleporting,” Charles said, slapping Ellie’s back. “She’s a psychic powerhouse, but don’t ask her to go from one place to another really fast.”

“It’s not that, Charlie; it’s the freaking-” Ellie huffed. She marched up to Dave and stuck her hand out. “I’m gonna do it.”

Rupert coughed somewhere behind Dave. It sounded suspiciously like a laugh. “Shut up!” he heard Charles whisper laughingly.

“You’re certain?” Dave asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yup. We need to know, right?” Ellie smiled tightly. “I mean, last time my powers came into contact with something else… it was kinda bad.”

“Uh.”

“It’ll be fine, though,” Ellie said, waving a hand. “She was trying to kill me. And you’re not trying to kill me, right?”

“Nope.” Dave hoped he sounded less terrified than he was. 

“Great! Let’s go. There and back.”

“I’ll do damage control,” Henry called. He flicked his hand, and a small, round shape appeared in his hand. “You know, just in case.”

“Thanks, Henry,” Dave said unconvincingly.

He swallowed, reached out, and took Ellie’s hand. 

In a flash, they were on the opposite side of the hill. Ellie’s hand went instantly to her mouth. She hunched over a little, and Dave’s anxiety spiked as the air around them electrified with energy.

Was that what she meant by ‘reacting badly’ to others’ powers? Some kind of involuntary defense mechanism? That was kind of nice, frankly. Dave could phase or teleport instinctively, but that often ended up being more annoying than helpful. Maybe it was the same for Ellie, though.

“You alright?” he asked. 

Ellie didn’t respond. She sucked in a couple deep breaths. “Uh,” she said. “I’m… I’m doing okay.” Still appearing a little queasy, she straightened. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m doing good.”

“Alright. Let’s head back.”

“Wait wait wait don’t teleport back ye-”

Dave suddenly registered what she had said, but he couldn’t stop himself. They vanished, they reappeared, and then Ellie was lunging away from him and dry heaving. Several small rocks and pieces of dirt zipped into the air, shaking with psychic power.

“Oops,” Dave said as Rupert began laughing. 

Ellie threw her hand out. Rupert squawked in terror as he began floating up into the air. “JESUS OKAY I’M SORRY-”

…

“So if you can sense anomalies, can you sense all of us? Like all the time?” Rupert asked.

They all turned to look at Charles, who hesitated. “Uhhhhhh, faintly? But I’ve been around these two so much that I’m kinda numb to them. I know they’re there, and that they’re, uh, anomalies. I guess I can sense vague positions for them? You two…” 

Charles squeezed his eyes shut. Slowly, he pointed at Dave. “I can definitely feel you,” he said.

Rupert reached over and grabbed Dave’s shoulder. Dave felt the power rush out of him. “Ru-” he began, but Rupert raised a finger to his mouth.

Charles frowned. Eyes still shut, he pointed at Rupert. “Uhhhh, Dave, did you move?”

“Yeah,” called Henry, grinning.

Dave grabbed Rupert’s arm and pulled the power back into him. 

Charles opened his mouth, then closed it. “Um.”

He finally opened his eyes once even Rupert couldn’t contain a snicker. He rolled his eyes.

“I hate you guys,” he said with a smile, shaking his head as they burst into laughter.

…

“If you guys can transfer each other’s power to each other, have you tried stopping midway?” Ellie asked. 

Dave and Rupert glanced at each other. “...No?” Rupert said.

“What does it feel like, anyway?” Charles asked. He waved a hand through Rupert’s arm, who growled and pulled away. “Woah. My hand went all tingly.”

“Imagine your whole body feeling like that all the time,” Dave said. “Especially your head. It’s a little hard to get thoughts out.”

Charles tilted his head. “That sounds like it really sucks,” he said sympathetically. “I’m sorry.”

Dave blinked. He shifted, a little uncomfortable, though he couldn’t place why. “It’s not like you did it to me,” he said.

“Well, I know that,” Charles said with a snort. 

“I mean, it’s worth a shot, right?” Ellie asked. Dave snapped his head back to her. “It might be nice in a pinch if you both could teleport or phase or whatever.”

“I don’t plan on getting in the sort of trouble you all do,” Rupert said.

“And I didn’t plan on the CCC hunting me down, but here we are,” Charles sniped. 

“We’ve learned to be prepared,” Ellie said darkly. “You never know.” She fell silent, staring off. Dave watched the pebbles on the ground tremble slightly. 

Dave glanced over at Rupert. “Uh,” he said quickly through the sudden tension, “Do you wanna-?”

Rupert shrugged. “It’s a good idea.”

“Aw, you like one of my ideas,” Ellie said with a smirk. “Rare.”

“Shut up, Rose,” Rupert snarked back. “C’mere, Dave.”

“Wait, you guys have to touch each other?” Charles asked. 

“Well, we haven’t actually tried to not touch each other while transferring power…” Dave said thoughtfully. 

The pair glanced at each other. Dave concentrated, but he felt no power flow into him. He shook his head.

“I guess that makes sense?” Charles offered.

“Nothing about any of this ‘makes sense’,” Rupert muttered. 

Dave reached over and grabbed Rupert’s offered hand. He concentrated, mirrored by Rupert’s narrowed-eyed expression, and began to pull.

Static flowed into his hand, darting up his arm. Dave paused uncomfortably as the gentle buzz began to fill his head again. He closed his eyes, mind beginning to flow into that static hum, before something alien and yet familiar tugged back. 

Dave tried not to jolt in surprise. The static suddenly flowed to a sluggish stop, halted at the point where their hands connected. Some of it rested in his head, filtering out into the rest of his body, but it was noticeably quieter. 

And, perhaps even more oddly, he could feel the rest of it. It just… wasn’t inside him. It was an extension, occupying a person-shaped shape next to him, fingers intertwined with his.

Hesitantly, he released Rupert’s hand. Rupert did so as well.

“Did it work?” Dave asked. He turned to Rupert, and resisted a gasp.

Rupert gazed back. Instead of two eyes filled with a no signal screen, only one pupil sported multiple colors throughout the sclera. His other eye was only marginally brighter than normal, the pupil flickering between bright green, red, blue, or black. His body was similarly duller, as if his overlay had been turned down. The military pins glitched occasionally. The low beeping flowing out of him was nearly imperceptible.

“Yeah,” Rupert said, blinking back at Dave with the same surprise. “That’s… really weird, actually.”

“What's different?” Dave asked. He rubbed his head. “I mean, I’m not as muddled up here.”

“Me neither.” Rupert studied Dave for a moment in the same way Dave had done so. “Uh, you’re less… staticky?”

“I can actually see your eyes,” Charles supplied helpfully. Dave realized with a jolt that Ellie was walking around them, eyeing them curiously. Charles patted Rupert’s arm. “You don’t phase as easily, either.”

“That's actually pretty nice,” Dave said. “The worst part about it, honestly, was how unreal I feel.”

“You both just look… half-yourself, half-TV-person,” Ellie said. 

“Can you still teleport?” Henry piped up, watching them with an intensely curious expression. “Or phase?”

“Uh-” Dave watched his hand, concentrating. His hand slowly phased into blurriness. Before, it had been effortless- more than effortless; a hindrance, a constant shifting of forms that was hardly controllable. Now? He still phased slightly involuntarily, but it was much less, and phasing itself took more effort.

He smiled slowly. “I… I can actua ly control it.”

He jumped as Rupert vanished from his side. Dave felt an odd twinge on his left half as if he had teleported himself. Rupert reappeared, accompanied by the same odd twinge. 

“I felt that,” Dave said. 

“What, me teleporting?” Rupert asked.

“Yeah. It’s… weird. I’m still connected to it, just not entirely.”

“Useful, though,” Ellie said. She leaned over, studying them. “I guess it’s better for both of you, debatably.” Her eyes darkened. “You never know when you’ll need to teleport out of a pinch.”

What, didn’t they make a truce with the CCC? Dave thought curiously. Is that who she’s afraid of? Or is there someone else she’s referring to- someone else to be afraid of?

The CCC was supposed to be neutralized as a threat. Was there someone else Triple Threat hadn’t told them about? Another secret enemy, garnered over sixteen years of love and hate and struggle?

He shivered a little at the thought. Suddenly Rupert’s mistrust didn’t seem so unbelievable. 

A lot could happen in sixteen years. If Charles, one of Rupert’s closest friends for years, could so easily keep secrets from him, what else was Triple Threat hiding?

Dave shook his head. Just because Triple Threat hadn’t told them everything didn’t mean they wouldn’t. Perhaps other enemies weren’t relevant. Or maybe Dave wasn’t close enough to them yet, or even more simply, Triple Threat hadn’t had the time to sit down and have a conversation with him and Rupert about the past sixteen years. Or maybe, understandably, there was a lot about the last sixteen years that Triple Threat wanted to keep within their little partnership.

“Yeah,” Rupert said, jolting him out of his thoughts. “It would be handy on missions and stuff. I don’t know how I’d explain this to the others, though."

“Just go on missions with us!” Charles said brightly.

Rupert made a face. “No thanks. I'm not sure I wanna be involved in whatever bullsh$% you- wait, what the hell was that?”

“Oh my god, it bleeps you!” Ellie exclaimed. “Say something else!”

Rupert’s face got worse. “I’m gonna f&%# you up-” he growled, lunging. 

Ellie cackled. She flicked her hand and Rupert was suddenly three feet in the air. Rupert yelped, afflicted with a computer’s beeping tones, and teleported away. Ellie’s face lit up with delight as she threw her hands out, chasing Rupert with the electric energy crackling through her fingertips. 

“What’s the matter, Rupert?” she shouted. She giggled. 

“You’re f&!#cking terrifying!” Rupert shouted back. 

Dave glanced over at Henry and Charles. Charles was grinning, egging Rupert and Ellie on, but Henry was watching Ellie with a slightly sour look.

“You good?” Dave asked.

“She’s so overpowered,” Henry muttered. “Look at her. Running around with infinite telekinesis at her fingertips. Utterly overpowered.”

“And you’re not overpowered?" Dave asked with a soft laugh. “You can conjure anything you want.”

“I have to follow rules,” Henry murmured, as if for only Dave to hear. Dave tilted his head. “Believe me, Ellie is far more powerful.”

“You’re being pedantic. The dude who can reset time isn’t as powerful as me?” Ellie said, turning on Henry.

“I second that,” Rupert said, teleporting back over. 

Henry sniffed. “I stand by what I said. It’s so unfair you have this powerful of abilities and I can just summon some things once in a while. Imagine what I could do.” 

Ellie’s eyes glittered. “Wanna test that, pretty boy?”

She thrust her hand out. Dave felt electric energy cracking to life next to him-

-and then Henry was on the other side of him. Henry grinned and vanished in a shower of sparks.

“Ohhhh, come on, dude. You’re such a loser,” Ellie said, eyes darting after him with a laugh. He reappeared further down the hill. 

“I’m not impressed yet!” Henry shouted up.

Ellie’s smile turned sharp. “C’mere, Stickmin!”

Hesitantly, Dave smiled. “Is he always this dramatic?” he asked Charles.

“Pfff, he’s just playing it up to make Ellie laugh now,” Charles said. Charles watched them, a fond smile playing across his face. When Dave looked back, Ellie was trying to grab Henry in her telekinesis, and he kept sneaking away with various tricks.

“Can’t believe these are the idiots you’ve been with for sixteen years,” Rupert said, but even his sarcasm was mild.

“They’re my idiots,” Charles said. Ellie shoved Henry to the ground and pounced. Henry made a louder-than-necessary shriek. 

“Still think they ’re devils now?” Dave murmured to Rupert.

Rupert huffed softly. “Whatever,” he said, and Dave smiled.

“Kill each other!” Charles called cheerfully. He put his hands on his hips. “Oh shit, he’s got a laser gun.”

Rupert buried his face in his hands as Ellie began tossing Henry up into the air with her power. Dave laughed.

…

“So what kind of reaction did you have to another anomalous person?” Dave asked. They were all splayed out on the grass, gazing up. “We’re the only anomalies, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ellie said. She rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, I’m not so sure about that.”

“What?” Rupert said. “Oh my god, we just had this conversation.”

“Relax, Rupert; we didn’t know either,” Charles said. “Plus, I’m not convinced it wasn’t just that weird pen of hers.”

“I don’t know,” Ellie said. She glanced away, looking uncertain. “The things she said…”

“Who are we talking about?” Dave asked. “Who was this? And is she going to, uh, be like us?”

“What, friends?” Henry said. He laughed lightly. “No, she hates us. It’s Carol Cross. She’s a Toppat elite. Me and Ellie were pretty close to her last timeline, but in this one she managed to get her hands on some sort of pen anomaly that sucks the color and life out of people.”

“A Toppat. Great,” Rupert muttered.

“To be fair, we’ve been pretty lucky so far with anomalies,” Henry said. “You and Charles are government agents. Ellie and I are Toppats conditionally. Dave’s a…”

“Former security guard,” Dave said. 

“Former security guard,” Henry finished. “A Toppat might as well be there, too.”

“Should’ve killed her,” Charles hissed. 

“What?” Dave sputtered. 

“I don’t like Toppats, okay?” Charles said. “And if she’s gonna be a problem, then maybe we should’ve killed her! Just blown the whole place up!”

“We tried that once, darling,” Henry said wryly.

“And it worked, didn’t it?” Charles said hotly, waving his hands in the air. 

Dave glanced over at Henry, who pursed his lips. “Not really,” Henry muttered.

“This doesn’t matter,” Ellie broke in. “I think she’s a full on anomaly. She told me that I was a traitor! She shouldn’t even know me, Henry. And she called me- and you- a traitor. She personally hates our guts for resetting.”

“She doesn’t know what the hell is going on,” Henry countered. “She doesn’t know what a reset is. If she’s guessed it, her theory’s bound to have holes. This is a very specific, odd power.”

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t remember,” Ellie emphasized.

“I agree with Ellie,” Dave piped up. “I mean, I didn’t know what was going on. But I figured out the world changed around me when I appeared back in that cell.”

“See,” Ellie said. “Thank you, Dave.”

“That is true,” Henry murmured. A beat. “She’s another anomaly.”

They stared up at the stars, twinkling far, far away. Dave listened to the thoughtful silence. 

“What are we gonna do about it?” Dave asked.

“Me and Ellie and Charles will deal with her when she becomes an issue,” Henry said. “You and Rupert shouldn’t have any of her ire. And I don’t want you to get dragged into a mess of ours again, anyway. You don’t deserve that.”

“Oh.” Dave felt a little flash of warmth. “Thanks, I guess.”

“I’ll kill her myself if she hurts Charles,” Rupert muttered. “‘Not getting involved’ be &#%^ed.”

Ellie laughed darkly. “Oh, she’ll go through me a second time before that happens.” Absently, she reached over and rubbed her arm. 

“...I hate to ask, but what exactly… happened?” Dave asked. He watched Ellie’s face grow pensive in the darkness. “Just to know what we might need to watch out for.”

“She stabbed me. My powers reacted badly. I basically exploded all of the ink trying to replace my blood, and it was super painful.” Ellie wrapped her arms around herself. “Now I’ve got a fun scar to hide.”

“Oh.” Dave hesitated awkwardly. “I’m sorry.”

“Not like you stabbed me,” Ellie muttered. “You’d probably have a better time, being able to phase through her. You’d probably be pretty dang good against anything.”

“Heh, maybe,” Dave said. 

“I still haven’t gotten the hang of all this yet,” Rupert said. Dave glanced over. Rupert raised his hand, studying the flickering colors that darted across his skin. It was hard to read the expression on his blurry, multicolored face.

“Same here, dude,” Ellie sighed. “Same here.”

“After sixteen years?” Rupert said doubtfully.

“It’s a study that never ends,” Henry murmured. He flexed his fingers.

Dave leaned over and nudged Rupert’s shoulder, or, rather, made an attempt to. “You’ve done pretty good, to be honest. You can teleport, phase-”

“It’s difficult to concentrate on doing it,” Rupert said. “It’s instinct.”

“Then you’ve done it,” Dave said. 

Again, they grew quiet.

“Thanks for doing this, guys,” Dave said softly. “It’s helped. Really.”

“Any time, buddy,” Charles said. “It’s nice to know that there are others like us.”

“What, you think we have better things to do?” Ellie said. She laughed lightly. 

Dave smiled. For a little while longer, they laid there, gazing up at the stars. 

Despite the chill, Dave felt warm. His head was quiet, the night was beautiful, and overall, he had finally gotten some success.

…

Eventually, though, they returned to Triple Threat’s apartment. They said their goodbyes, leaving Dave and Rupert to walk back to their apartment. Dave wordlessly reached over and absorbed his powers back into himself. He sighed at the familiar rush of static.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Rupert said, the fuzziness draining from his voice as it filled Dave’s head.

“No, it’s okay,” Dave said. “I know it can be overwhelming, so I don’t want you to have it for too long.”

They continued walking. Dave missed the silence and the colors. His vision grew grayer, his ears buzzing.

“Uh, Rupert?”

“Yeah?” Rupert’s eyes slid tiredly over to his.

“Sorry about snapping earlier. I just think it’s for the best if all of our cards are on the table, so to speak. At the very least, I trust Henry and his friends to help us.”

Rupert blinked at him. He snorted suddenly, loudly. “That was hardly ‘snapping’, Dave. I’m proud, honestly. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Dave blinked back. “Oh. Thank you?”

“‘Sides, they’re your powers. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean you can’t do what you think is best,” Rupert continued. “...And it was for the best. Otherwise we wouldn’t have known about Henry’s freaky head demon.”

“To be fair, we have a freaky head demon,” Dave said.

Rupert huffed a laugh. “That we do, don’t we.”

“Here,” Dave said, putting a hand on Rupert’s arm. “I’ll teleport us.”

They vanished in a flash of static.

Chapter Text

Two Weeks Ago

Carol woke up.

She was not where she was before. Before, she had been on the airship, anxiously watching the three figures standing in the desert. Wondering what they were doing. Staring at the pilot’s back, a terrible suspicion tearing through her at their united stance. 

Waiting. 

Seeing Henry raise his hand. 

Feeling everything dissolve around her-

And then-

She stumbled, some kind of latent momentum carrying her through whatever just happened, and staggered to a stop.

Her head spun. She blindly grasped for anything around her to catch herself on, and her hand landed on something smooth and hard. A wall? she wondered dimly. But she had been in the cockpit. She wasn’t standing anywhere near a wall. 

Unless something happened. 

What happened?

She pried her eyes open. The blurriness slowly faded, leaving her with only a mild headache and the sight of her own shoes. There was a long, decorated carpet covering the floor.

…That wasn’t right.

Slowly, as to not aggravate the sudden and strange headache, she looked around. She stood in a silent, narrow hallway. Like any other airship hallway, the walls were lined with paintings and the runway a long carpet, no doubt stolen from some unfortunate target back in the ruthless days. 

Nausea swooped through her stomach. She stumbled back and leaned against a wall, breaths coming short. 

“No,” she whispered to herself, just to hear herself, just to hear anything. “This isn’t right.”

The cockpit. She had been there, with the others. The other elites. She squeezed her eyes shut, dropping her head back against the wall. Just a second ago, they had been standing there, watching Henry and Ellie and their little pilot talk to… someone. The doctor. That doctor that Henry wouldn’t say anything about, the one that Ellie had promised to explain away later with an uncomfortable glance away. 

And then what happened? And then there was discussion, something Carol had kind of zoned out for. Henry’s always chatty, heheh, Sven had said, probably an attempt to alleviate some of the tension in the room. It didn’t work. All eyes were on their intrepid leaders and that pilot.

And then Henry had lifted his hand. And he had done- something-

Teleportation? How could he have teleported her? Sure, it was clear both Henry and Ellie had some kind of freaky powers, but teleporting her? That seemed… odd. 

Then again, so was the rest of this situation. Maybe it was Occam’s Razor. 

She forced herself to stand up straight. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear the now-fading headache. Deep breath in, deep breath out. 

“I’ll just head back to the cockpit,” she muttered to herself. If she had just teleported, then everyone would be there, or at least getting back there. 

She shook her head again and unsteadily headed for the cockpit. Teleportation could be disorienting, she knew; the sheer unsteadiness quaking her legs, however, was more than a little unnerving.

That left the same question: why would Henry snapping his fingers teleport her? It made no sense. Henry’s powers didn’t make much sense anyway, but they had to have some kind of internal consistency to them. Maybe it was a random effect? Maybe Henry’s powers happened to flare in some way? That made the most sense- but did it? Why would whatever Henry was doing all the way in the desert affect her? And why was she so disoriented?

Carol couldn’t rid herself of a sinking feeling as she walked. She forced her scattered thoughts to focus on her mission. On Henry.  

She needed answers. Her nails dug into her palms as a slow anger simmered up inside her. Too far Henry and Ellie had gone without giving her answers- without giving any of them answers. 

Generally, the Toppats loved Henry. Carol and the other elites, however, knew since the beginning that there was more to Henry than people saw. They recognized his secrecy despite his brilliance. Ellie, though?

The past year she had poured blood, sweat, and tears into anything and everything Ellie had asked of her. And Ellie had in return. She had never seen a more dangerous and competent leader, someone worthy of her respect. Henry was skilled, but secretive and flamboyant; Reginald was cowardly; Right Hand Man embodied his name to the letter and wouldn’t be a good leader. But Ellie?

Ellie was everything she could hope for in a leader. In a friend. She didn’t keep secrets. She seemed as frustrated by Henry’s odd maneuvers as everybody else. Ellie would clear things up, then.

And if Ellie didn’t know anything, either, she’d make Henry tell her everything.

A bit more cheered, she reached the cockpit with only a little vertigo. That was it. She would get inside, and everyone would be there, and she’d figure out what the hell was happening.

Surely Henry and Ellie would be back by this point. She had no idea what else Henry could have done after raising his hand and… snapping, of all things. Again, she had no idea why they were in the desert at all, but that was just more answers to wring out of Henry.

She stepped inside the cockpit. “Sven?-” she started to call before abruptly cutting herself off. The pilot glanced back, puzzled, but otherwise turned back to their work.

Nobody was here.

Not a single other elite was here. She stood almost alone in the cockpit, accompanied only by the pilot, whose headphones were up and eyes trained ahead. 

“Carol?”

Carol jumped. She whirled around, heart leaping into her throat. Gremlin blinked back at her.

Gremlin gave her a lopsided smile. “Jumpy, are we?” she said with a chuckle. “Surprisin’ for the unflappable Carol. What’s up?”

“Gremlin,” Carol said unsteadily. Her eyes flicked around, but Gremlin was alone. “I-” She cut herself off.

“...Hello?” Gremlin said slowly.

What the hell was going on?

“Where are the others?” Carol asked. 

“Uh, there’s a meetin’ later today?” Gremlin said, tilting her head. “...Not in the cockpit, though.”

“Oh.” A long, awkward pause. Gremlin squinted at her, puzzled, but Carol ignored the strange look. “Do you know where Henry is?” she continued.

Instead of the immediate reply she expected, Gremlin hesitated. “Uh, who?”

Carol resisted the urge to snap. “Henry. Where is he?”

“Is he like a new recruit, or…?” Gremlin asked slowly.

Carol stared at Gremlin. “No. Henry. How the hell do you not- you know who he is,” she said, too bewildered to feel anger. Gremlin squinted at her like she had two heads.

“Look, you know I’m not good with names,” Gremlin said, Carol’s confusion mounting the longer she spoke. “I know you’re like, ‘Grem, if you’re gonna get your own team, you’ve gotta at least remember their bloomin’ names, ’ but you know how bad I am at that!”

“No- no. He’s not-” Carol took a deep breath against her rising panic. Focus. Gremlin was just being particularly difficult. She never liked Henry, anyway. “Where’s Ellie, then?” Gremlin definitely knew Ellie, even if she-

“Sorry, Carol, I don’t remember that one, either.”

Carol’s world spun. She fought to keep it off her face, clenching her fists and focusing on the way her nails dug into her palms. “How?” she snapped, stepping forward. “How do you not know who Ellie is?”

Gremlin flinched. “Geez, Carol. You don’t haveta be so mean about it. I told you- I’m bad with names!”

“This isn’t a matter of names, Gremlin; this is- look, did you feel something just happen? Where is everyone else, anyway?”

“Carol, it’s not like people hang out in the cockpit for fun, ” Gremlin said, laughing incredulously. “I’m just here because I was takin’ a walk. Chill!”

“But-”

“And did something happen? Carol, what are you talkin’ about? Nothin’s happened! Nothin’ that I know of, anyways. Feel like they should’ve told me if somethin’ happened.”

“Gremlin, that’s not the point. You didn’t feel anything? Nothing at all?” Deep breaths, in, out, don’t panic. Gremlin didn’t know who Henry was. She didn’t know who Ellie was. And now- and now-

“Are you… feelin’ okay?” Gremlin asked. 

“I…” Carol trailed off, gazing outside. At the sight, her blood ran cold.

They were flying over an ocean.

“Seriously, Carol,” Gremlin continued. “This is a lil’ worrying. You’re not the kind to get things wrong like this- you sure you’re feelin’ alright?”

Carol wasn’t listening anymore. Her mouth was too dry to speak. She slowly wandered over to the massive windows.

The last time they had flown over an ocean was only a few weeks ago. It was in preparation for that one heist- what was it, the Diamond? Henry had wanted it. Something similar? It didn’t matter- and only for a few days. 

A few days… a few days that were, now, weeks ago.

“What’s the date, Gremlin?” Carol breathed.

“Carol-”

“Now,” Carol snapped. 

Gremlin huffed, but pulled out her phone, grumbling, “you’ve got one of these things too, y’know…” She hummed. “Uh, July 13th.”

Carol whirled on her. “That can’t be right,” she snapped.

“I know!” Gremlin snorted. “Can’t believe it’s the middle of summer, geez. Up near the Wall and stuff, it’s cold and messin’ me up!”

Carol was going to go insane. She whirled on her heel and all but raced out of the cockpit. Gremlin shouted something after her, but she could hardly hear it, her frantic heartbeat pounding in her ears. Eventually, somehow, she stumbled into her room and slammed the door shut, dizzy from confusion and a sudden, piercing fear. She grabbed her desk and leaned against it desperately.

Something happened. Carol grabbed the desk in a vice grip, squeezing her eyes shut. She gasped in, and out, in, and out, willing her breaths to slow, her mind to quit trudging through mud. 

“Obviously something happened,” she snarled to herself. “Think, goddammit, think. What happened?”

One step at a time. In, out, in, out. She pried her fingers out from around the desk and slumped into the seat.

One moment she was watching Henry raise his hand…

…and the next, she was months in the past, with nobody knowing who the hell Henry was.

Facts. What were the facts?

One: she remembered the past year crystal-clear. 

Two: nobody else remembered that past year- especially not Henry and Ellie.

Three: Henry had done something during that snap that had rewinded time.

Four… she had been focusing on Henry thus far, considering he was the one who did this to her, but what about the other two? Ellie and the pilot?

Ellie had never lied to her. She was sure of that. Her stomach swooped with nausea at the thought. Ellie couldn’t, no, wouldn’t betray her like that. 

Would she?

Henry had brought her into the Toppats. No matter how close she was to the elites, she was always by Henry’s side. Their heads were always bent together, their hands brushing one another’s. She had telekinesis to go along with his summoning ability. They were inseparable. 

So… so what if she knew? What if she knew about whatever this was, whatever Henry had done to her? Had done to the world?

And that meant-

The pilot knew.

Carol’s eyes widened. She pictured his face, that nervous smile, those shifty green eyes. Her mind whirled with his voice.

“How much did they tell you?”

Nothing. Which meant there was something to tell, something even beyond telekinesis and conjuration and whatever else those two had up their sleeves. Something the pilot knew.

It had to be about this time dilation thing, then. The telekinesis and conjuration was noteworthy, of course, but nothing compared to literally rewinding time. Henry was the one to do it, what with the raising of his hand and the finality of his movements. There was no way the pilot would be so cagey about the lesser powers, especially since Henry and Ellie had revealed them such a short time later. 

And why would they? Carol’s hands tightened around her arms, the knuckles whitening with rage. They had tossed it all away, ripping them back weeks in the past, without the glory Henry had brought them as leader.

“And, you know, they weren’t always Toppats.”

Of course. There was a time before the Toppats for them. But what if- what if that wasn’t what he meant? A few minutes ago, Henry and Ellie were the leaders of the Toppats. Today, nobody had ever heard of Stickmin, nor Ellie, nor their pet pilot.

What if they hadn’t been Toppats at some point, a time long enough to have met the pilot? Long enough for that kind of time to mean something more? Long enough that their stint as Toppats was hardly noteworthy?

Long enough that this betrayal tearing through her very soul wasn’t even a blip on the radar?

“I don’t want to betray Henry and Ellie’s trust, not after everything we’ve been through.”

They had known each other for a long time, then- long enough for even the leaders of the world’s greatest and most powerful organization to give it all up for the measly pilot. More than a year. More than a few years, even. What had the pilot stuttered out? Seven? Ten? More, before he had stopped himself?

Which could only mean, then, that this wasn’t the first time Henry had reshaped the world. If he could do it once, he could do it again, right? What was stopping him? He had shot through the ranks of the Toppats faster than a bullet, with the precision and skill of a lifetime Toppat. That took time to learn, time one so young and supposedly new to the Toppats as he wouldn’t have.

Ellie was with him. Her heart twinged with sheer fury at the thought. She wasn’t the Right Hand Lady for her obvious skill or love of the job, no- she was with Stickmin. She had given it up, too, without a thought.

She had given up Carol without a thought. 

Had the year of dedication meant nothing? When Rose was green and unsupported, Carol had supported her. When Rose was struggling earning trust, Carol had thrown her weight behind Rose’s back. When the nights were long, Carol was there. When Henry was moving behind her back, betraying his supposed partner, Carol was there.

“You said you were gonna figure it all out, right? Don’t wanna spoil the surprise.”

Well, well, well. Guess I figured it out, pilot.

Stickmin reset the world to a previous state. Rose and the grinning pilot knew, and were with him.

Carol was left behind.

They had betrayed the Toppats, their power, their friends and what might have been family- and for what? Had the Toppats not been good enough for them, far above on their high and mighty thrones?

Rage brighter than a forest fire burned through her. She glanced at her white-knuckled fingers and wrenched them out of her palm. Little crescents of blood blossomed out of her palm. Carol forced her jaw to relax, already feeling the beginning of another, more severe headache.

But why could she remember the past year? If Henry had rewound time before, then there were years of memories Carol didn’t have. This time, though, they had remained. 

Why?

Something had to have changed with her. Nobody else remembered. So what was different about herself? She didn’t have powers like Stickmin and Rose. Hell, the trait she shared with Stickmin and Rose was barely her own; it had come about using that-

Her eyes widened. She scrambled for the inside of her jacket, searching for something she knew couldn’t be there-

-and touched the smooth, cool body of her pen. 

She froze. Slowly, she drew it out, gazing at it.

It was jet black, devoid of all color except for the faintest gold rimming. The tip was sharp as a blade and blacker than night. It even seemed to shimmer.

As she held it between thumb and forefinger, tip facing outward, she watched blackness spread up the tip. It slipped over the stem until it touched her fingertips with feather-light gentleness. 

The ink crept up, up, until it stopped. 

Her fingertips on her right hand were completely blackened. 

Huh. My anomaly.

It was impossible for her to have this. The pen had been on her person before Stickmin had broken time, sure, but she certainly hadn’t had it a year in the past. Nothing else had carried over- her new watch, her hairstyle- this wasn’t even the same outfit! 

And yet, it was in the pocket exactly where she had left it. 

She drew it closer. The pen didn’t perform any other actions, settling inert in her hand.

Anomalies were anomalies for a reason, sporting some unnatural quality that set them apart from ordinary objects and the laws of nature. Furthermore, Stickmin, Rose, and the pilot had all been extremely cautious about touching anomalies, much less handling them for any length of time. After the destruction of the CCC base, Stickmin had lectured at length about avoiding anomalous effects by putting as much as possible between oneself and the anomaly in question. 

So, she reasoned, it wasn’t really a leap in logic to consider the idea that this quill’s anomalous effects and her gross mishandling of it might have had something to do with her suddenly sharp memory.

She held the quill closer to her chest. 

It affected me. It changed me.

“Am I an anomaly?” she whispered into the silent room. 

…

Apparently she had a meeting about a heist or something that she was supposed to be at. That was what her meticulously recorded calendar told her. She called Reginald, pacing frenetically around her quarters.

“I’m not gonna make it to the meetings the rest of the day,” she said impatiently as soon as he picked up.

“Woah, uh- hello there, too, Carol. Are you quite alright?” he asked. A beat. “Wait, did you say you couldn’t make it to the meeting? Are you sure? It’s the Emerald one, and I know you’ve been excited for-”

“I’m sick,” she said. 

A pause. Even through a receiver, she could sense Reginald’s confusion. “Um… I hope you get to feeling better, then?” he said slowly. “I saw you earlier, and I thought you were fine?”

“Just kicked in,” Carol said. “Thanks, Reg. Bye.”

She hung up before Reginald could ask any more questions. Then, schedule cleared, she turned to her wall. 

It was easy work to pull the painting down and set it aside, and easier still to shove aside the couch. She stepped back, admiring the clean, blank wall, and reached into her pocket, withdrawing her pen. 

“Okay,” she muttered to the pen. “Let’s see what else you can do.”

The pen didn’t respond.

Chapter Text

Ellie should have guessed that her luck would run out.

“They were… broken out?” she repeated hollowly. 

She and her partners stood in Galeforce’s office early one morning. Charles had said it was urgent, but… but this was far worse than she could have anticipated.

Galeforce sighed. He leaned back in his chair, gazing at the three of them. “Yep. In the early hours last night, there was another Wall breakout. The Wall already weakened-” Galeforce sent her a look, which she smiled sheepishly at. “-I’m sure they couldn’t possibly hold the Toppat leaders in.”

He raised an eyebrow at the three of them. “Do you have experience with this?”

“Nobody’s broken out before besides me and Ellie,” Henry said. The steadiness in his voice disguised the frustration she had grown to recognize so easily. His hands were white-knuckled on his arms. Charles reached over and pried Henry’s fingers away from his vice grip, and Henry sighed. 

“I mean, we knew something was different with this timeline,” Charles said. “And it’s not like this is, like, wildly different from other stuff we’ve dealt with before.”

“That is true,” Ellie said. She snorted. “I mean, heck, Henry. You opened a space resort once. How different is this?”

“I don’t want to know,” Galeforce sighed. “This is besides the point, anyway. I called you three here for obvious reasons- if anybody’s going to recapture them, I’ll throw my lot in with you all- but there’s something else.” Galeforce laughed darkly. “It’s a little sad, honestly. It’s a right ghost town up there.”

“Really?” Henry said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure El breaking out caused some waves, sure, but did it really do that much damage?”

“They were kinda in chaos… but it wasn’t that bad,” Ellie muttered. 

“Maybe you were too busy escaping to see,” Henry said.

She squinted, trying to think about what she had seen while escaping. Sure, the Wall had been in chaos, but nothing they couldn’t bounce back from, right? If she had mirrored Henry, then the Wall would definitely be fine.

But clearly they weren’t. 

Something had changed.

Galeforce’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “From what I’ve heard, many people quit after the first breakout. Apparently its reputation kept a lot of the employees there despite the hardships of its location, and few of them ever thought they would have to do more than the routine. Once prisoners breaking out became a reality…” Galeforce shrugged. “Weaker-willed ones left.”

“I’m sure that happened after me and El broke out in any timeline, though,” Henry argued.

“Maybe, son, but I wasn’t there, remember?” Galeforce said.

“Yes, but that doesn’t make sense for us,” Henry continued. He began to pace. 

“Maybe we just didn’t see it,” Ellie said. “Remember that time Dmitri sent tanks after us? At the time I assumed they were just strong enough to do that in addition to running the Wall, but maybe they weren’t. Maybe he was just so dead set on capturing-” me. “-us that he burned all of his resources coming after us.”

“The Wall is Dmitri’s pride and joy,” Henry argued. “Why would he come after the two prisoners who broke out when he had a bunch more to keep in?”

“You just said it,” Ellie said. She felt a flicker of her power rise to her skin, agitated, and she pushed it down with some effort. “We broke out. And he… he doesn’t take failure lightly. He’d hunt us down to the ends of the earth to prove that he could destroy us for breaking his Wall.” 

Henry blinked at her strangely. “Okay,” he said. She blinked back, a little surprised at how easily he had backed down.

“Can I continue?” Galeforce asked. He smiled slightly as Ellie and Henry whipped their heads to him.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry,” Ellie said awkwardly. “We, uh, just got used to kinda debating this stuff between ourselves.”

“Apology accepted. Anyway, the Wall was still strong enough that we decided to put the Toppat leaders in there, since, well- it is still the Wall. Or so my higher-ups thought. The loyal guards and employees stayed, but with this new breakout…” Galeforce trailed off, looking pensive.

“What about it? It’s a breakout, right? Surely someone saw something,” Charles said.

“Did Dmitri see you?” Henry asked Ellie quietly. 

“If the concussion I gave him wasn’t bad enough,” Ellie whispered back. Henry reared back, surprised. She flashed him a tight smile.

“Son, when I said it was a ghost town, I didn’t take that lightly. We lost all communication with the Wall on the night of the new breakout,” Galeforce said.

At that, Ellie and Henry glanced at each other, baffled. “How?” Ellie asked bewilderedly. “The Wall’s got some of the best tech… ever. Someone should’ve gotten something out.”

Galeforce raised a hand. Ellie fell silent, but unease wormed through her stomach.

“There was definitely indication of foul play,” Galeforce continued. “Outside help. And not just any kind- the kind that came to me classified, because the rest of the military doesn’t need to know what kinds of bizarre occurrences took place at the Wall.”

“Anomalies,” Henry said suddenly. 

“What?” Ellie said incredulously.

“Yes. Honestly, you three came in at the right time. I said I had some experience with anomalies. That got me put on the job of finding out what the hell happened. And now you are going to figure out what the hell happened.” He chuckled darkly and leaned back in his chair. “Charlie, you should’ve told me about you all earlier if it’s going to be this easy.”

“Technically, I did?” Charles said with a lopsided grin.

“Anomalies, though?” Henry interrupted, nudging Charles. “What kinds of anomalies?”

“An assortment of items. I heard rumors of a hole in the wall that sucked people in, burn marks on the walls, other such nastiness. But the military pulled out the moment they saw someone trip and fall through the stone for a reason.”

Ellie stared at him, then looked over at her partners, alarmed. “That sounds… pretty bad, guys.” She hesitated. “There’s only one group that really has that many anomalies in one place…” At Henry’s look, she amended, “one group that would even- well, even that doesn’t make sense. The CCC has no reason to care about the Toppat leaders.”

“Neither do the Archivists,” Henry muttered. “Or the Midnight Syndicate, but they don’t have anomalies, last I checked. Really, only the Toppats have an interest in breaking their own people out.”

“They could have anomalies,” Charles said. “Last timeline you guys handed a bunch over to the Toppats! And they’ve got anomalies already, anyway.”

“They do?” Galeforce asked warily.

“...Yeah. But that’s not our fault,” Ellie said. “They’ve had a few anomalies forever. They’re kinda slipping my mind-”

“Macbeth’s gun,” Charles said. He whistled. “That bad boy almost took me out on the airship last time!”

“Among others,” Henry said. “I suppose our conjecture doesn’t necessarily matter right now, does it? That’s the whole reason we’re going up there.” His eyes slid over to Galeforce. “That is our mission, correct?”

Henry’s eyes sharpened. Instinctively she felt herself straighten, becoming just a little bit more alert. When Henry got that look, it was go time. 

“Yes,” Galeforce said. “Head up there and figure out what happened. How they broke out, when they broke out, where everybody is- and who the hell helped them.” He sat back, face disquieted. “I’m not convinced this is the Toppats, folks. The Toppats are dramatic, sure, but they’re hardly this extreme. Besides, they would have done this before.”

“Usually they would have just picked up the Toppats they wanted from the Wall itself if they managed to escape, speaking from experience,” Henry said. “As far as I know, they’ve never staged an actual breakout. El?”

“Nope,” Ellie said. “Never heard of it.”

Galeforce gave them an odd look before sighing abruptly, realization dawning on his face. “All three of you are so damn weird. But I guess that’s why you’re the kids for the job, hm?”

“That’s about it, sir,” Ellie said with a small laugh.

Henry already seemed antsy. He began to pace. Ellie exchanged an amused look with Charles.

“Are we dismissed?” Charles asked. “‘Cause Henry’s gonna explode if we don’t go soon.”

“I’m sorry! I just like being on the move, okay?” Henry huffed. 

“Story of my life,” Ellie muttered, nudging Henry off-course with a well-timed shove. Henry glared at her. She smiled innocently back. 

“Yes, you’re dismissed,” Galeforce said. 

Henry beelined for the door. But before he could leave, and she and Charles could follow suit, Galeforce called out, “A moment.”

All three of them paused, looking back at him. He stared at them a moment, storms clouding his face, before he sighed.

“Just… be careful, okay?” he said. “There’s something not right about all of this. And I know you say you’re used to being the people who deal with the ‘not-right’ mess, but… something about this is setting me on edge.” He locked eyes with Charles. “Have I made myself clear?”

At that, Ellie felt a chill go up her arms as if she was already at the Wall.

Right. She was… going back to the Wall. Willingly.

She forced the thought back.

“Crystal,” Charles said. He glanced back at them.

“Affirmative,” Henry said.

“Yup,” Ellie said faintly. “We’ll be back.”

At that, Galeforce seemed to slump slightly back in his chair. “Good,” he sighed. “I’d hate to lose some agents with magic powers before I’ve even gotten to use ‘em.” He began to look back down at the papers strewn on his desk, grasping a pen. It was as much of a dismissal as they would get.

They slipped out of Galeforce’s office. As she did so, she could have sworn the general’s eyes lingered on her back.

Charles shut the door softly behind him. “He’s already a general, did you know?” he said as they followed Henry out of the offices.

“Really?” Ellie said, shocked. “Is it always that quick?”

“Usually,” Henry said. “It’s after the airship mission. But you’re not usually around for that.”

“...Right,” Ellie said.

“We’re taking a helicopter, right?” Henry said to Charles. “I don’t know what kind of wasteland we’re going to find up there, so it might be a bit difficult to land.”

“Ehhhh, they have a helicopter pad. As long as it’s intact, I’ll be good. Plus, you know me. I got it,” Charles said. 

“I didn’t do that much damage last time I was there-” Ellie began before cutting herself off.

It hit her all at once. 

Right.

We’re going back to the Wall.

She clenched her hands against the sudden, odd tremble of her fingers. It’s not like I’m a prisoner this time, she tried to tell herself. It’s the opposite. I can kill that bastard if I see him again.

So why am I so nervous?

“Uh, El?”

Ellie jumped. Charles and Henry were both looking back at her, puzzled and a little concerned- had she stopped?

She hurried forward to catch up. “Sorry.”

She must not have been able to keep the tenseness out of her voice. Henry leaned forward, tilting his head at her. “Are you alright, my dear?”

“Fine,” she said shortly.

“That sounds very fine indeed,” Henry said.

“I just- I’m not thrilled we’re going back to the Wall, is all,” she snapped. “I- I don’t like it. And I don’t wanna run into Dmitri.”

“He seems to be gone, though, right?” Charles said. “Galeforce said they went radio silent.”

Ellie’s eye twitched. It didn’t matter if he was gone, really. He’d just find her again. But Charles didn’t know that.

“Well, best case scenario, we don’t run into Dmitri at all, and he’s either run off into the wilderness or dead,” Henry said sourly. “I mean, it’s unlike him to not want government assistance, so maybe he is-”

“He’s not dead,” Ellie interrupted.

Charles glanced at her, puzzled. “Well, he could be! I mean, if everyone scattered, you’d think Dmitri would, y’know. Try to regroup, or something. Even ask the government for help. If he hasn’t talked to anyone-”

“He’s not,” Ellie insisted. 

“How do you know, darling?” Henry said exasperatedly. 

“I-” Ellie snapped her mouth shut. I know because I’m the only one who can kill him. That sounded insane, and it absolutely was, but she couldn’t dispel the bone-deep certainty that he was not dead.

“I just know,” she finished weakly. 

She ignored the puzzled and slightly worried look Charles and Henry exchanged. “If you say so,” Henry said. He stopped and grabbed her shoulder, turning her toward him. “Are you really okay, my dear Ellie?”

His voice was infinitely soft. Ellie glanced away, swallowing hard.

“After the mission,” she said with difficulty. “Please.”

“Okay,” Henry said quietly. His hand slid down her arm, grasping her hand in his and giving it a slight squeeze. “We’re here for you, remember?”

“Yeah,” Ellie said with a small, tense smile. She shook her head, trying to dispel the fog from her mind. “Let’s go do this, okay?”

“Um.”

All three of them jumped. Ellie whirled, power already flaring out of her hands, and Dave yelped a static-filled yelp. It shot through her head like a spike. She hissed, momentarily distracted by the static marching through her head, before it abruptly subsided. She straightened. Dave stood there, looking a little guilty.

“Holy smokes, Dave!” Charles shouted. “How long have you been there?”

Dave threw his hands up. “Not- not long, I promise I wasn’t listening- well, to most of it?”

“Geez. I almost killed you, dude,” Ellie muttered. She clenched her fists, forcing the burning power down back into her chest like a receding volcano. She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.” Charles glanced at her. His spine twitched in a shiver. “Sorry, Charlie,” she said. 

“Nah, it’s fine. Just startles me every time,” Charles said.

Dave deflated. “Sorry. I really am sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s fine,” Henry said. He shook his head, apparently also getting rid of the strange staticky sensation. “What on earth was that?”

“Something I just… do,” Dave said helplessly. “I don’t know. It just happens when I’m in danger.”

“Built in defense system, I guess,” Charles said. “What do you need, buddy?”

Dave hesitated. His previous confidence seemed to flee him. “Uh…” he said slowly. “I may have… eavesdropped on your conversation with, um, the general.” He held up his hands again. “Well, the Announcer told me you guys were talking, but by that point, you guys were kinda already talking, and it would have been weird and rude to walk in, so I just kind of… waited outside…”

Wow, Ellie thought. Someone even worse at this than me. That’s almost comforting.

Henry raised an eyebrow. “And…?”

“You guys are going to the Wall, yeah?” he said. He took a deep breath. “I want to come with you.”

Ellie blinked in surprise. She exchanged an uncertain glance with her partners. “Uh,” she said slowly. “You’re not exactly a field agent, dude. You’re a civilian. Also, I thought we were agreeing to leave you out of this, hm?”

“Well, yeah,” Dave floundered. “But if the Announcer said something, it has to be important. Besides, maybe you’ll find someone who can teleport you useful?”

Teleporting on command definitely could be useful. Even a deserted Wall was going to be a dangerous one, crawling with leftover guards, prisoners, and now, rampant anomalies. Plus, she thought privately, if Dmitri’s waiting for me up there… he might be a good escape. No matter how much I hate teleporting. 

From Henry’s expression, he was thinking the same thing. Charles watched both of their expressions, then turned his gaze on Dave.

“You realize it’s gonna be dangerous, right?” he said. “If you heard everything Galeforce said, that place is gonna be hard, even for us. Anomalies aren’t really things you wanna be messing with willy-nilly.”

“You can sense them, can’t you?” Dave asked.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can warn you in time, or help with any mundane dangers,” Charles said. “I mean, look. I’m all for you coming along. You’ve thought it through?”

Dave opened his mouth, then closed it. “Really?” he said, voice tinged with surprise.

“You didn’t think you were gonna get this far, huh?” Ellie asked.

“Um, not really,” Dave said sheepishly. “But I really do think I can be useful. And, uh… I want answers, too. If this timeline is gonna be different from the other ones you guys talked about… I want to do what I can to help. Especially if I’m one of the things that, uh, messed this timeline up.”

“Well, okay then,” Ellie said. “You’ve got me convinced. Henry?” she asked, eyes sliding over to him.

Henry was quiet for a moment, studying Dave. “...Alright, then,” he said. He gave Dave a small smile. “Welcome to the team, if only for a moment.”

“O-oh,” Dave said. He smiled nervously. “Thanks?”

“Let’s get going, then,” Henry said. “You ready, Dave?”

“Oh! Yes?” Dave jumped as Charles tried to slap him on the shoulder, but his hand went completely through.

Ellie snorted. “Yeah, whatever someone throws at you, at least you’re getting out of there unscathed.”

They began to walk to the airfield. Ellie felt a little lighter at Dave’s presence. He was new, and so someone new to focus on, which would in turn get her out of her head a little. Not that Henry and Charles weren’t good distractions, but she had been around them so long, especially on missions, that she knew them and they knew her like their own minds. Dave would be a welcome variable.

“What’s our team name?” Charles asked.

“Triple Threat,” Henry said.

“But Dave’s here,” Charles said. 

“Um, you don’t have to-” Dave started.

“No, no, it’s tradition,” Ellie said. She grinned at Henry’s back. He’d always taken that name far too seriously, and even now, she could see him prickling.

“We’re… Quadruple Threat,” Charles whispered with a flourish.

“That doesn’t even sound right,” Henry complained.

“The Fearsome Foursome,” Ellie said with a sly grin. She laughed as Henry punched her in the shoulder. 

“Please, Charles’s squad is just going to get more ideas than they already have about the three of us,” Henry remarked. 

Dave glanced between Ellie and Henry, confused. She raised an eyebrow suggestively, and Dave’s face was suddenly overtaken by a grayish static that must have been his version of a blush. “Oh my god,” Dave muttered, “That’s awful!”

Ellie barked a laugh. “It’s a right welcome to the team, Dave,” she said.

They continued bantering all the way to the helicopter. Joking and laughing, she could almost forget about their frozen destination.

Chapter Text

“Awwwwwright, kids, let’s keep our hands and feet securely inside the ride until we have come to a complete and full stop.”

“You’re insufferable, you know that?” Henry said wryly.

“Gotta entertain myself somehow,” Charles snickered. 

Ellie couldn’t muster up a laugh to the joke. As they had gotten closer and closer to the Wall, that familiar dread was slowly rising up inside of her, threatening to spill out from her chest and from her fingers into agitated telekinesis. Her mind screamed furiously at her, demanding to know why she would willingly walk back into this hellhole. It took all of her concentration to sit there tensely.

She was acutely aware of Dave watching her. He had been watching her for much of the trip down. He probably didn’t mean it, but… she really, really wanted to turn and punch him in the face for it. 

She grit her teeth as the helicopter settled down, whirred to a stop, and then Charles clambered out from the cockpit, a little grin on his face. 

They had come prepared for the frigid weather. Charles had a military jacket that was big and poofy, fur lining the hood, and big boots for wading through snow. Henry had opted for a sleeker design, with a tight-fitting jacket and specialized thin gloves in case they ran into any tricky locks. Ellie had opted for a variation on her leather jacket, lined with fur, a sweater underneath it, thick pants and boots, and the warmest gloves she could find.

Dave… hadn’t changed. He had claimed the state of his body meant he didn’t really feel strict temperatures anymore, which was weird as hell, but Ellie wasn’t going to argue with the teleporting TV man.

“Ready for this?” Charles asked chipperly.

“As I’ll ever be,” she muttered. 

“Same,” Henry sighed. “Might be gratifying to see the Wall like this, though. Come on, Dave.”

Dave hopped up, eyes wide. The logo on his hat, she noticed, shifted from the garbled SECURITY tag and to an apprehensive “...”. She squinted in confusion. 

“We’re just- going in?” he asked. “Is there really not anybody… here?”

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Henry said. “But since we didn’t get a welcoming party when Charlie landed, I’m pretty sure it’s deserted by any actual authority.”

He grabbed the helicopter doors and flung them open. Ellie flinched as a blast of frozen air slammed into the body of the helicopter, sucking out all of the warmth in an instant. Ellie gritted her teeth again. Dread marched down from her chest and into her fingertips, sparking them with telekinetic energy. 

She forced it down. You haven’t even gotten out of the helicopter yet, she hissed to herself. 

None of the boys seemed to hold her reservation. “After you, my dear,” Henry said, bowing mockingly to Charles.

“It is BRISK,” Charles commented as he hopped out. Henry did so after him, and after a moment of apprehension, Dave vanished and reappeared next to Charles. Charles jumped. 

Ellie slowly pushed herself up and headed to the doors. At the doors, however, she stopped. She stared out, frozen. She couldn’t will her feet to move, to step down from the helicopter and into the frigid snow. 

The Wall loomed before her. It was a frozen wasteland. Logically, there was nothing to be afraid of. She was a telekinetic, with Henry by her side and Dave to teleport them out if anything went horribly wrong.

So why couldn’t she move?

“Uh,” called Charles. “You good, bud?”

“I’m- fine,” she choked out. She, through a great effort, forced her foot to slowly raise and drop, planting in the freezing snow. An involuntary shudder went through her. She swallowed back nausea. 

Other foot up. Then down. She stood there, cold seeping into her bones, and felt almost numb. 

She stood there for a moment, breathing in the ice. She swallowed hard and turned her gaze to the others. Charles was already over next to the edge of the building, looking over. A wide-eyed Dave stood next to him.

“Ohhhhh man, El,” Charles said with a maniacal laugh. “You’ve gotta see this!”

Ellie padded over. She couldn’t stop her eyes from widening in shock.

The Wall was utterly deserted. The chainlink fence hung at odd angles, either completely torn apart or pathetically holding itself together. The tower in the corner was decimated, and just barely, Ellie could tell that all the windows were shattered. The weak sun shone down on distant figures, several of whom were slowly beginning to move toward them.

Who knew what awaited them down, down, down in the belly of the Wall?

“Wow,” she said. “It’s, uh… really not holding up too well.”

“If at all!” Charles said giddily. 

“Uh, guys? There’s- there’s people coming toward us,” Dave said.

“I noticed,” Henry said. “I’m sure they’re coming to investigate the helicopter- and us. Charlie, will the helicopter be fine if we leave it here?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Charles said. 

“Maybe we should go deal with them first and make sure they don’t mess with the helicopter,” Ellie said. 

“We could always road trip back,” Henry said mildly. 

“We are not spending any more time up here than we absolutely have to,” Ellie snapped. 

Henry held up his hands. “That was a joke, darling,” he said. 

Ellie blinked. “I- I know. Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Henry said smoothly. He lightly nudged Dave, who was staring at her again, and he jumped. “You think you can teleport us down to the yard?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah. Everyone come over here.”

Joy of joys. Teleporting while willingly heading deeper into the Wall. Maybe she was in hell. 

“I can just jump down,” Ellie volunteered. “I’ll catch myself.”

“Right, queasiness,” Henry said. “That’s inconvenient. Apologies, my dear.”

“It’s whatever,” Ellie muttered. She trotted over to the edge, and before her body could catch up to her mind and stop her, she hopped off the edge. 

The wind screamed past her. Her eyes felt frozen as the chilling gales buffeted straight  through her thick jacket and layers, freezing her to the bone. Her heart spiked with pure adrenaline at the falling sensation, the ground rushing up to meet her.

She waited, waited, and waited, holding her breath until that exact moment. She flung her hands out and slowed her fall with a rush of energy. She abruptly slowed with a dizzying sense of wrongness (no matter how much she used her powers, sometimes her brain simply refused to accept what was impossible) and landed lightly, feet crunching in the packed-down snow. 

Somehow, the adrenaline rush helped. As Dave, Henry, and Charles appeared in a flash of disorienting static, she felt a little more settled. Colder, though. 

“It’s a long way from ‘barely able to lift a person without almost killing them’,” Henry said with a wry grin at her. 

Ellie rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t gonna kill you, dude. You just were being dramatic.”

“Around the neck? Really?” Henry said. 

In the background, Dave glanced at Charles in confusion. “First time they met,” Charles said to him in explanation. 

“Oh…” Dave glanced back at Ellie, looking a little more wary. 

“I was trying to lift him over something,” Ellie said. “I wasn’t trying to kill him. Yet.”

“It was kinda fun hunting you down and getting hunted down in Civil Warfare,” Henry mused. “Very… thrilling.”

“...Oh.” Dave looked queasier.

Charles barked a laugh. “C’mon, guys. Don’t freak him out on his first day. ‘Sides, uh…” Charles motioned further into the prison yard, and Ellie followed his hand to see two figures. “I think we’ll have company.”