Amazing Expedition to Dimension ZX89Ω!

Reader’s Note: Character names native to the ZX89Ω Dimension are denoted with a “-Ω” after the name in an attempt to avoid confusion.

 
“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Well…”

After The Geist-Ω of Dimension ZX89Ω told the S.A.V.I.O.R. of Dimension P-52 about his Jake-Ω and Granny-Ω‘s meeting with the Atorians, he finished by letting them know neither of the two heroes had ever been seen again. But in case they ever returned, The Geist-Ω purchased Granny-Ω’s house in order to hold the property for her. He hadn’t been able to do anything with Jake’s house though because of the weirdness surrounding it.

A slowly expanding temporal dome had appeared around Jake-Ω’s house. Time was obviously slowed within, and it had expanded to about a half-mile radius around the house over these last months. Various teams had tried to travel through it and they could be seen visibly stuck, moving ever so slowly forward. The Centurions-Ω refused to have anything to do with this at this time – they said something about having had enough of temporal business. The Geist-Ω asked Jake if he would be able to take care of that before he moved on to his next destination with the rest of the team?

Once Jake disappointingly verified there was no Atorian invasion of Earth happening at the moment, he said he could do that before he took S.A.V.I.O.R. to go check out another place he had in mind. After doing some quick estimation of the dangers that could be in his home after six months left unsupervised, he asked S.A.V.I.O.R. to accompany him. Jake then began to build a device to keep the current portal back to their dimension open so there was no danger of becoming trapped in this dimension.

Based on the story The Geist-Ω told them about Jake and Granny, Thanatos thought it was possible the Atorian Empress was just here on vacation. He voiced to Granny his observation that the Granny-Ω of this dimension simply gave them up without even being told they had to surrender or anything. Gryphon agreed that what Thanatos said seemed possible.

Caedechron asked Geist-Ω about himself in this dimension and was crestfallen to learn that the same events involving his death happened to him here, too. After verifying with Jake that this visit wasn’t a time travel from the past sort of situation, The Geist-Ω told Caedechron cautiously that his body was still alive! It took Caedechron-Ω a while, but he eventually tracked it down and found it. Rather than answer where his body was found, The Geist-Ω tried to prepare Caedechron to realize that his body turned up very injured due to what his killers did with it. The body took some time to heal but permanent injuries were sustained. Finally The Geist-Ω told Caedechron to ask Mason Blodget for more details. If he was even still alive… It was implied heavily that the man wouldn’t remain alive long.

Thanatos revealed that he made sure to blame the release of the incriminating evidence against Blodget and Xander Financial on the Church of Reflections. The Geist-Ω admitted that the church became a big “to-do” in his dimension for a little while, then went back to obscurity. He suggested that once the church rears its head they should reach out to Covenant and get him involved. This surprised the others since their Covenant had just left the team not too long ago. The Geist-Ω relayed the current members of S.A.V.I.O.R. in his dimension: Himself, The Gryphon-Ω, Black Phantom-Ω, The Strange-Ω, Caedechron-Ω, Zeau-Ω, Cavalry-Ω, Hyperia-Ω, Covenant-Ω, Precision-Ω, Rebota-Ω, Hank-Ω, and Mar’rakesch-Ω.

Gryphon keyed in on the mention of Hyperia. The Geist-Ω mentioned that the Gryphon-Ω’s relationships weren’t going too well and that those two were not very friendly towards each other here. He took him outside to discuss more privately. Black Phantom, curious, read the Gryphon’s mind to try and discover what was meant by “relationships“, and got a mindful of his polyamorous dealings. Outside Geist-Ω revealed that Hyperia-Ω didn’t care for Stephania-Ω, Ramona-Ω, and Mavis Beacon-Ω, and that drove a wedge between the two. His seeming attempts to continue to try anyway with Hyperia-Ω drove a wedge between him and the others. Then the stress of what happened to Mallic in this dimension drove Gryphon-Ω into despair.

The Geist-Ω further revealed that Mallic got heavy competition from a company called C.F. Robotics and they drove Mallic out of business about two months ago. This company was started by Jake-Ω before he left. The revelation of this possible future for his friends crushed Gryphon. Both Granny2Good and Caedechron were able to hear that conversation with their enhances hearing. Granny2Good immediately called out Jake about it. Jake finished modifying one of Granny’s antique cameras to hold open the existing portal to their dimension. He flipped it on while facing the portal and it shimmered for a moment before returning to its normal look. Then Jake finally responded to Granny. He showed no remorse, only noted that he employed Amanda Surges to make Autumn jealous enough to want to work for him again, and that he always intended to fire Amanda once that happened. Granny resolved to fire Amanda once they returned. Jake moved on to trying to program his gun so a portal would resolve in Jake-Ω’s home.

Miss Amazing ran outside to comfort Gryphon once Granny relayed what she overheard. He looked hollow to her. Her words didn’t seem to comfort him. The Geist-Ω was surprised by their closeness – the Miss Amazing-Ω of his dimension went on the run once Sector 10 came back into both her and Black Phantom-Ω’s lives. His Gryphon-Ω and Miss Amazing-Ω had never been an item in his dimension. These differences between the his life and that of this duplicate in this dimension did little to lift up Gryphon.

This was when a three-foot tall being approached the house. The Geist-Ω knew this being but before he could make introductions Thanatos came out of the house. The small being went right up to him and called him Carl as if he knew that version of him. The Geist-Ω cleared up that confusion quickly and the small being introduced itself as Mar’rakesch Zim’ba’bwe Golgo13tha’sTerror-Ω, or Mar’rakesch for short. Mar’rakesch-Ω spoke through a universal translator which had trouble identifying if the speaker was male or female. Thanatos reached out and re-programmed it so it always had a male voice. Mar’rakesch-Ω barely seemed to notice.

Thanatos went over to Gryphon and quietly offered to go to C.F. Robotics and “liberate” all their ideas, then bring them back and give them to Garrick instead. Garrick told him yes, and that Thanatos should make sure they get caught up in bureaucratic nonsense regarding breaking copyright laws. He told Thanatos that basically, he wanted their to business suffer for what they did to Mallic. Garrick was very resolute at that moment in their destruction through this agent. Garrick then got up and walked inside in a haze and went to Jake in order to help him make the portal gun work. Jake was confused by this act of unexpected Teamwork but humored it.

Caedechron was busying himself with the mouse skeleton he found earlier when Thanatos came back into the house with the Geist-Ω. Thanatos quietly asked Caedechron if he wanted to go with him to C.F. Robotics. He assumed it would be a while before Jake was done getting his gun to work. At that moment, Jake announced that he was done! Gryphon stepped back, having been the one to successfully alter the dimensional math in a way which allowed a portal to materialize within a temporal instability. Jake created the portal and told everyone they should go and get this over with.

S.A.V.I.O.R. discussed leaving certain members behind to watch the camera-maintained portal. The mutually decide that only Jake, Thanatos, Caedechron, Gryphon, Miss Amazing, Mar’rakesch-Ω, and The Geist-Ω will go through the portal. Jake rummaged in Granny-Ω’s kitchen and found a full bag of the special tea leaves he had brought over that night of Granny’s dinner. He held it out to the others and suggested they all “have fun” while waiting. Black Phantom took them, saying he wanted to try them at home with Deathwish. After that conversation it was noticed that Thanatos was missing! The others deduced he went ahead through the portal alone, so the rest of expedition team went after him.

The portal had deposited Thanatos in the ruins of what looked like a den or study. The room was much larger than it had any right being. He had snuck through hoping to find some interesting technology – instead what he found was ancient trash and weird creatures. He tried to communicate with them but instead he drew their attention, and they seemed poised to attack at any second. He formed a rifle from his black box and took aim while one by one the others who came through after him arrived.

Mar’rakesch-Ω tried to reason with them, but all that was accomplished was making them momentarily confused. One by one S.A.V.I.O.R. began to cut these strange monstrosities down. They were tough, and Jake noted they were organisms which were technically possible for his own technology to produce. Jake slipped out of the room while the others were finishing the fight. He wanted to get to the bottom of this weirdness as fast as possible.

When everyone else followed, they entered an old dining room area. Again, very unusually large and with all it’s furniture ruined. More notably though was the misshapen lump of flesh slowly crawling across the floor which appeared to be a nightmarish conglomeration of four Shorties. The four heads moaned different complaints as the monstrosity kept inching forward. Mar’rakesch-Ω could feel its fear and pain and reached out to suppress its fear. All this did was make their pain so much worse, causing them to call out to kill them and end this. Mar’rakesch-Ω then began to meditate in order to try and offer some healing, but while meditating Caidechron walked over and mercy killed all four with bullets to the head. Mar’rakesch-Ω could feel them die, finally at peace.

While Mar’rakesch-Ω was still processing that and being comforted by The Geist-Ω and Caedechron, the robot’s sensors picked up latent heat which indicated which way Jake had gone. They follow through that door into what used to be a kitchen, but was now instead filled with thousands of genetically altered spiders. Jake had suited up into his mecha Jake suit and cleared a path, allowing the others to catch up to him. Together they all entered the garage.

A blast of dry heat blew past them as they entered the garage. The building gave way to a vast desert with a pyramid way off in the distance. Jake found the trap door to his lab buried in sand and opened it up for them to al climb down. Down at the bottom of the ladder the lab was in ruins. There were numerous cloning chambers and computer terminals lining the walls, all broken and aged to obsolescence. Littering the floor all around were the dead, cloned bodies of everyone Jake-Ω had ever taken DNA samples from. Each body was long-since deceased and deformed in subtle ways, as if they hadn’t been cloned perfectly.

Jake told everyone to wait there while he went to take care of what was causing the issue they were there for. Caedechron noticed that there was strong source of strange radiation coming from the room Jake was entering, and this radiation matched the signature of what he faintly sensed back in their dimension. Jake went through a door into the room beyond. He found the device he expected but discovered it contained an object which, while familiar, what not exactly like the one he acquired over a month ago. It was still an impossible object – no three dimensional shape could exist like this, yet here it was. Jake noted the system to take advantage of its unique nature had broken down, causing the formerly controlled impossible object to react in these bizarre ways, creating the temporal and dimensional instabilities in and around this house. Jake began to repair the containment unit and prep it for transport.

Back in the first part of the lab, while everyone else was waiting Thanatos extended his nanites over the least wrecked cloning pod he could find, and its attached computer terminal. Nearly half the nanites which made up his form design were pulled off his body for this. Once covered, he had the nanites consume it, allowing them to absorb its shape and function. When questioned about what he did he simply told the others that all living things must eat.

Jake succeeded, and the energy this impossible object had been radiating was now safely contained. This caused a sudden wave of pressure throughout the property as time and space snapped back to normal around them. This was jarring enough physically that it forced Thanatos to swap personalities, making Trip emerge. Trip began to panic because he had no idea how he got there. Gryphon explained to him that the black box had been the controlling personality up until now, a fact which greatly excited Trip as that implied his attempts to create some kind of A.I. had been successful.

Jake walked into the room carrying a sealed, two-foot square box with numerous tech attachments embed all along the outside of it. He kicked his own dead clone body on the ground and said “Let’s go” to everyone else, then began to climb up. Looking at the ladder, the centaur Trip asked Miss Amazing if she could reach into his mind and pull out either The Beast or Alice, since unlike him they would be able to climb out. She tried, but accidentally pushed out Thanatos instead.

As they exited the lab they noticed the garage was restored, though all the equipment and the Delorean were aged to uselessness. Jake looked for any usable tech to salvage but found very little that was useful. Mar’rakesch-Ω spoke about wanting to find parts to eventually make a light saber. While Thanatos showed off the one Jake had made for him, Jake casually assembled another one to give to the tiny alien. Though it wouldn’t last long, it could be useful as a model for future construction. Mar’rakesch-Ω was very taken aback and thankful.

Before handing it over, Jake used the light saber to burn away all the spider webs in the kitchen. They burned away fast, killing most of the spiders too. Once clear Jake gave Mar’rakesch-Ω the light saber then became very disappointed that there was no drinkable beer in the fridge. He ignored the loud thumps which the others heard as larger bodies formerly suspended in the webs fell to the ground. There were several small animals and what appeared to be three tiny, six-inch tall humans with insect-like wings. Gryphon noticed one of the tiny humans appeared to be alive, though in rough shape.

Mar’rakesch-Ω rushed over at this news and meditated in order to heal the tiny creature, after ensuring no-one was going to kill him before the meditation finished. No-one did. The healing appeared to be successful as the tiny human stabilized. He remained unconscious though and Mar’rakesch-Ω carried him safely and securely. Jake and the Geist-Ω had walked away by this time and returned through the portal. Thanatos and Caedechron plotted to take a road trip once they returned to Granny’s. Caedechron did note that the radiation he noticed before was not only significantly weaker since Jake fixed things, but it was traveling with him now. Their job here complete, everyone went back to the ruined den of the now normal-sized house and returned through the portal to Granny’s house.

The Geist-Ω remarked that he’d received work the people who were trapped in the temporal field had been freed and successfully rescued. Jake simply closed that portal and opened a new one to Grymdin. Granny, Gryphon, Miss Amazing, Zeau, and Mar’rakesch-Ω all went through the portal at Jake’s urging. He followed to find they had entered a massive one-sided battle playing out in this former alien cantina setting. The aliens here were fighting against invading Atorian soldiers. These soldiers though each displayed the strength, speed, and durability of Granny2Good. They were also arriving through portals similar to Jake’s. The defenders here stood no chance and were falling one by one. Even an old friend of Jake’s, Paunchy-Ω, was knocked out by a pair of the soldiers.

Nearby there was a human-looking alien screaming for help. Caedechron recognized this alien as Zator Napal-Ω, an arms merchant which Black Phantom had recently assassinated someone for in order to acquire a powerful alien weapon. Zator-Ω’s bodyguards were holding off two Atorian soldiers, but they wouldn’t last long. Mar’rakesch-Ω stepped forward to try and talk and disarm the conflict, but the translator’s words just couldn’t couldn’t seem to reach anyone in this battle. Granny ran to rescue Zator-Ω at Jake’s prompting, then they all retreated back through the portal. One of the Atorian soldiers noticed them – specifically Granny, and tried to come after them.

Gryphon had waited by the portal to allow everyone else to go through first. Instead of letting Mar’rakesch-Ω try to talk with her, he intercepted the soldier and deliberately let her hit him full strength. The power of her attack hurt him and forced him back through the air several feet. Seeing everyone else had made it through he ignored the power she displayed and taunted her while floating back through the portal. Jake closed it as soon as he was clear, before the soldier could follow.

Safe at Granny’s, Mar’rakesch-Ω was confused as to why Gryphon didn’t let the small alien try to diffuse the situation and confronted Gryphon about it. Gryphon said that none of it mattered – people would just do whatever they want. He began to lament that the future as he saw it here was inevetable upon his return. Granny2Good suggested to Jake that he create a barrier around this dimension so the Atorians couldn’t portal out. Jake pulls out his phone to make a call.

Meanwhile, Thanatos, Caedechron, and Black Phantom had taken Granny2Good-Ω’s aircar and flown over to C.F. Robotics. Once there, Thanatos very charismaticly convinced them that he was there on Jake’s orders and they needed to shut the place down. Megatron continued to operate as normal. They could see Starbucks guy and three Shorties had all stopped working to stare at them. The Shorties reacted with surprise and a little bit of fear at seeing Thanatos.

A woman in her late 20’s and a power suit, her long blond hair in a tight bun, came down from the offices on the floor above to meet with them. This was Amanda Surges-Ω. She received Thanatos and bought everything he said to her. He actually had the undivided attention of everyone in the place. This allowed Black Phantom and Caedechron to wander off and explore. Caedechron, in particular, started looking for robotic weapons he could relieve them of.

Amanda-Ω maintained that the factory was following the direction Jake had set it on to the best of her ability. She was confused by what Thanatos said were Jake’s orders. Thanatos casually leaned against a computer and downloaded all the data from the C.F. Robotics network. He noticed that all the data was originally Mallic’s, including their research projects. He then implanted a virus that would wipe out all the robotics schematics in the factory’s computers in 15 hours. Thanatos meanwhile told Amanda-Ω that she took the factory in the wrong direction.

He called Jake and Gryphon and asked if he should destroy everything. They had all returned from Grymdin by now with Zator in mute shock. Jake said no and to tell her he’ll have new schematics for them shortly. They’ll need to start doing something new. Thanatos continued to review the data he took off their computers while Jake explained to Gryphon that he built C.F. Robotics in their dimension with all of Mallic’s information in order to make the factory as high-tech as possible without drawing the attention of Alpha Prime. In his review Thanatos found most of the dates on the data aligned with what Jake had just explained, but some of the more recent and sensitive data had been taken after that. It was tagged with the name of Blake Masters-Ω, and when he told them the date Granny remembered that was the night she tailed Amanda in their dimension, and watched her have a secret meeting with someone she didn’t recognize who she now guessed was Blake.

Gryphon despondently asked Jake for one favor once they returned to their dimension – to name the company anything but “C.F.”, which were his father’s initials. Jake said “deal.” Thanatos then linked Amanda-Ω into the call so Jake could send her schematics to create tech which will prevent portals from being able to open into other dimensions. She reviewed them and said it would take about a week, or less with overtime, to get this going. Jake authorized the overtime. Then he turned to Granny and demanded she tell him her weaknesses. She thought about it and admitted that when she’s unconscious she seems to lose her powers. Jake began to mentally formulate a combination of gasses that could knock out the Atorian soldiers and give people a fighting chance against them.

The Geist-Ω talked with Mar’rakesch-Ω, and they decided to leave. The Geist-Ω said “It was great seeing some of you…” and left, allowing S.A.V.I.O.R. and Jake to finish their business, and maybe even question that alien Zator Napal-Ω with them. As they left Jake told The Geist-Ω that Jake-Ω and Granny2Good-Ω needed to be rescued, and gave him some coordinates in space to begin their search at. The Geist-Ω accepted and left.

While waiting for Caedechron, Black Phantom, and Thanatos to return, The rest of them began to question the trembling Zator-Ω. He was eager to talk, to please them, so long as they didn’t hurt him and would let him go. Once he was calmed down he informed them that the Atorians began to expand their territory about two months ago. But with their new super-soldiers and portal technology, they completely destroyed the united forces the Federation of Allied Races had pit against them. The Atorians, unopposed, began to quickly conquer the planets in that sector. They also expanded into the territory of the Thissera-Micean Cooperative, but by now it was known that no one could stand up to them in a straight-on confrontation. The TMC recalled all their operatives and have been fighting a guerrilla tactics war against the Atorians in their sector. They’re losing, but doing a better job than the FAR did.

Zator-Ω confessed that as an arms dealer, he welcomed the war at first. But loss after loss meant buyers became more and more scarce. Those who wanted to buy could no longer afford it, and there was no guarantee that any credit extended to prospective buyers could ever be collected upon. The situation in the galaxy was seemingly hopeless. The Toogarth Empire were gearing up to enter the fight but they aren’t joining it to win – they’re joining it to die their glorious deaths in battle.

Once the rest of S.A.V.I.O.R. returned, they let Zavor-Ω go. Then they walked back through the still-open portal to their own dimension. Once the last one was through the portal closed. None of them noticed the small stowaway that traveled back with them.

“…and that’s what happened.”

“But what happened next? Did Gryphon and Jake reconcile? Will Granny2Good still give herself and Jake up? Will they defeat the Atorians? Is Mar’rakesch a boy or girl? Why did The Geist seem to dislike Thanatos? Did Caedechron find anything interesting at the factory? Did they ever find the stowaway?”

“Slow down there young one. Story time is done for tonight. You have a lot of questions, but there will be time another night for those answers.”