Time After Time: Back Home

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Forge created the machine, Angel and Shiro provide the boost. They can only hope it actually works.



"Okay, so the last time I was in here," Angel commented as she popped into the Danger Room, "Ben came falling from the ceiling. Hopefully, we can do it in reverse." She frowned at the man in question over her shoulder. "I've totally forgotten all the scientific talking you were doing at me like five minutes ago. Want to repeat for the class?"

"Right, yes," Ben intoned, checking his silver protective suit once more and holding the featureless helmet in his hands. "As my empirical research has shown, my presence in this universe represents something of a cosmological error, a 'bug in the system' as it were. It's quite a strange thing, these breaches between worlds. There should be no space in between, and yet the ensuing pull of the rifts would intimate such - but yes, on to the point." He placed his helmet on his head, fastening the collar with a hiss of pressurizing gas, then raising the visor to look out at the three mutants.

"By recreating the conditions of my arrival, Mister Forge-" Ben paused to give a quick wave to the control booth, "-will trigger one of these rifts. Somewhat like blood in shark-infested waters, the rifts will pull me through to another universe. My equipment is designed to hopefully direct this pull, but lacking the initial power source of an exploding sun, I will need another source of power to direct my travel."

Shiro nodded absently, his attention focused on adjusting the solar panels and catalytic converters of his X-Men uniform. "It sounds simpler if we just ask Sefton to magic you away," he muttered. "We ought to invited Martin Rees to attend."

"Who? Am I too young to know that name?" Angel asked, sounding slightly put out. It seemed she was always too young to recognize a name. "Okay, so in English and Angel terms, we're going to be used as a battery to power you home, right?" She couldn't help the slight shudder that ran through her at the thought but she was firm on being there. After all, she'd volunteered for this time.

"Yes, precisely," Ben said as he dropped his visor. His face was dimly visible through the translucent metal as he nodded up to Forge. "Mister Forge, it has been an honor. Please begin the procedure."

For a few seconds, nothing happened. All three individuals standing in the Danger Room glanced around for a bit before a strange smell of ozone filled the air, and a number of small straps and connectors on Ben's suit began to vibrate as if charged with static electricity. He quickly removed a small meter from his suit and glanced at it. "You will have perhaps fifteen seconds to charge the suit with enough energy. And though I have designed this well, I would be rather perturbed to come this far only to be incinerated on my way home."

He clutched the Neutralizer to his chest with his other arm and closed his eyes as the portal opened behind him.

"I can do it in thirteen," said Shiro from behind the veil of his fire form. "Safe journeys." Without more than a brief glance to Angel to indicate that he was ready, nuclear flame ignited. So quickly consumed with his own power, his vision shifted, and the heat signature of his own fire dulled everything else.

"I, uh, will hopefully be able to do it in fifteen," Angel said, biting her lip. "Say hi to me for me, okay, Ben? And if you don't make it home safe, I'm so kicking your butt." Any other kind of goodbye, she felt, would have teetered on the edge of creepy.

She copied Shiro's movements, though hers were more unsure. The fire shield flickered on and Angel's vision changed - that part she had no idea what to do with - and she concentrated hard, very very hard, on the next part. The last two times there had been some powerful emotions running through her.

Fear and anger were great motivations.

But so was hope.

At the last possible moment, she was completely enveloped by her powers, leaving behind a form of fire in the shape of a girl. Now it was up to Ben.

"Ten seconds!" Ben shouted, watching the numbers change on the meter. Behind him, the void yawned, and a sudden wave of pressure yanked him off his feet. Bracing the butt of the Neutralizer against the ground, he glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at Shiro and Angel. "Oh, that's interesting..." he said before the rift reached out to envelop him, pulsing in time with Shiro and Angel's synchronized energy.

Angel had one more good, solid push of energy before it crapped out on her, leaving her staggering backwards on the Danger Room floor. It had, luckily, been enough – hopefully. It pulsed wildly one more time before simply vanishing. "That was…anti-climatic," she said, blinking away the weird spots on her vision. She glanced up to where Forge was and asked, "Forge, everything a-okay on your end?"

"All signs stable," came the crackly voice over the speakers. "He's gone."

Shiro remained on his feet for just a few seconds longer than Angel before following her. He cursed and rubbed his bottom where he'd "gracefully" landed. "Good job," he said to the girl, his words just a little slurred. "That was a good days workout, ne?"

On the other side, Angel was now feeling the effects of the pull and was standing with her hands braced on her knees. "How much trouble will I be in if I boot up on the Danger Room floor?" she moaned.

"You chuck it, you clean it," came the response from the control booth.