"I suppose so," R.D. said, looking about. "I wonder when Hugo gets back."

"Should be soon." Matt sauntered toward the living room, only to have Roll step off the staircase. "What is it?"

"Elec Man's going to tell everyone what happened," Roll said, frowning.

"Ugh. Great."

"Let him. Even if he tells everyone, its still Hugo's choice in the matter," R.D. said, also frowning.

"I just wish he wouldn't get so emotional over these things," Roll said.

A heavy tap on the front door drew their attention. Roll opened it to reveal Hugo, who glanced up at Matt and R.D.. "Oh. There you are."

"Hey," Matt said. A little wave, don't look like you want an answer right away.

"Roll, get everyone together," Hugo said. "I've got an announcement to make."

"I think Elec Man's already doing that for you, Hugo," R.D. said, looking in the direction Elec Man went. "He found out about us talking to you this morning. He wasn't happy."

"What's got his panties in a bunch?" Hugo said.

Roll knelt in front of the Mettaur. "Elec Man doesn't want you to leave. He's afraid that you'll become even more different and drift away from us."

"What? Why would I do that?"

Roll glanced toward the floor. "Well, Hugo, you have to admit that you don't exactly expose your feelings to us."

"Just because I don't blab about my personal problems doesn't mean I don't care about you," Hugo said. "You know that."

"I know. Just try to make them see that, okay?"

R.D. could hear footsteps approaching; a lot of them, in fact.

"And here we go..."

So everyone got gathered in the living room. It was a spacious room-definitely a place Matt would want to hang out in. Nice comfy couches, decent-sized TV commanding the north wall...they definitely upgraded since he was here last, so either the robots decided to get serious or Dr. Light took a liking to big screen goodness.

The family was grouped on the big couches. Cut Man took the floor as soon as Dr. Light came into the room, abandoning the recliner.

"All right, Hugo," said the roboticist. "We're here. What do you want to speak to us about?"

Elec Man folded his arms as Hugo spoke. "You all probably know what I'm going to talk about, so I'll cut the chase."

"Are you leaving again, Hugo?" Ice Man asked, and the tender way he asked it made Matt feel even more guilty.

The Mettaur sighed. "Yeah."

"What?" Bomb Man said. "Don't tell me you're serious!"

"Dead serious, Bomb Man," Hugo said. "I'm going with Matt to help him out."

"What cockamanie quest're you going on now?" Bomb Man demanded.

Matt lifted his palms. "It's very important, Bomb Man. We need to finish a job that we thought we had done before."

"Didn't you return the Omega Core back to the Eternal Sanctuary?" Fire Man asked.

"...it wasn't that simple."

"Point is, I'm going to finish what I started," Hugo said.

"Sounds like a plan to me," R.D. said, leaning back on a leg. Ileyna had been turning her head back and forth, towards each person whenever they spoke. R.D. looked about the room.

"So, any objections?" he asked.

"I object," Elec Man said. "Look what happened to you the last time you went on this kind of journey. You withdrew from us. We barely see you around anymore because you're too busy keeping yourself busy."

"Elec Man's right!" Cut Man said with a rising gesture. "I was worried about you, Hugo, and you won't even tell us what happened!"

"It's none of your business," Hugo answered.

Cut Man pointed. "See? That's what I mean! How can we help you if you don't let us know what's going on?"

Matt could almost see Hugo gather his anger, the way he bristled. "I don't have to tell anything to YOU."

"You really are stubborn, do you know that?" Elec Man stood up. "I don't know what your deal is with us, but we're your FAMILY, Hugo. Like it or not, we don't want to see you like this!"

"Elec Man, calm down," Fire Man said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder, only to be shaken off.

"It's not my fault he's too hard-headed to get a clue!" Elec Man snapped.

Hugo jabbed with his pickaxe. "You're making an ass of yourself, Elec Man, calm down!"

"What do YOU know? You're just a stupid Mettaur anyway!"

Roll gasped, which was carried by Ice Man and spread to the other robots in the room.

R.D. frowned, and regretted ever bringing up the objections statement. Things were quickly going downhill, and soon, he tapped Ileyna on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow him. As she got up from her seat, he took her by the hand and led her out of the living room before the final words were spoken.

"Matt."

"Yeah?"

"Let's go." Hugo walked toward the door.

Dr. Light rose. "Now, Hugo-"

"Don't try and stop me, Dr. Light," the Mettaur said. "I've made up my mind. I'm not doing this for Matt. And I'm not doing this for any of you." He glanced back at them. "I'm doing this for me, to finish the job that I started. And if you don't like it, you can tell it to someone who gives a damn."

"Come on, Hugo!" Matt said. "Don't be like that!"

"Do you want to take me with you or not?" Hugo shouted, and the sudden question stunned any hopes of Matt's reply. "Then shut up and let's do this!" He was steaming toward the door before Ice Man leapt up from the couch.

R.D. listened from the kitchen, and noted Hugo's command to Matt for them to leave. He sighed. "C'mon, Ileyna," he said, motioning to the girl again. "Time to go."

"Um, okay."

The girl followed him out of the kitchen closely as he went back to the living room and headed for the front door. He clapped Matt on the shoulder as he passed and said, "Let's not keep him waiting."

Lance rolled his eyes in frustration, the rain now coming down harder. Dare he make an entrance for himself? He was sure she would let him in if she could actually hear his tapping... tapping at the window sill. Glancing from side to side as if to make sure no one was watching him in the darkness of the night, he slid a small disc through a crack he could create where the window touched the wall. The disc fell without a noise on the floor and expanded to the size of a manhole. Dropping another disc on the dampening ground outside. On his knees, Lance bent into the disc outside the window and put his arms on either side of the inside of the disc.

A moment later he was pulling himself out of the disc on the inside of her room. One more second and he closed the portal he had created, still staying low in her room. Leaning against the wall he said casually as if he'd been there the whole time and was just now restarting a conversation, "You're a deep sleeper, or you just feel like ignoring the world today."

Caught completely by surprise by the voice, Audrey shot up in bed, heart pounding and eyes wide and searching. Her eyes immediately found Lance, and she did the most logical thing to do when a stranger was found in a person's house:

She screamed, at the top of her lungs.

The sheets were flung off the bed at Lance, and the woman leapt out of the bed, athletic legs propelling her through the air to the door, where she hit the floor running. She turned a corner and ran into the kitchen, snatching a cordless phone off of the wall, where she frantically began to dial the police.

"Come back, Hugo!" Ice Man cried, only to be restrained by Dr. Light.

"We can't stop him, Ice Man," the roboticist said. "He's made up his mind."

Hugo strode down the steps as soon as the front door swung open, and Matt ushered R.D. and Ileyna out before closing the door behind him.

"Well, that went well," Matt muttered.

"All right, how are we going to do this?" Hugo asked. "Is there a portal we can jump through?"

Edited by The Helldragon on October 21, 2008 at 19:33:16.

"Yeah, that robed guy made sure we'd be able to travel without the Core tearing gaps in the Multiverse," R.D. said, striding out in front of the group while taking the Great Serpent's Scale out of the satchel. He looked about to make sure no one was coming, then held the scale out in front of him.

Within a second, the energy built up, and fired the beam, slamming into an invisible point and spiraling into a new portal. As the shimmering green vortex appeared, R.D. put the scale away and looked at the group. "Personally, I think the Chronomancer could've given us something a little less flashy."

Hugo approached the portal, glancing up, measuring it.

"You sure you want to do this?" Matt asked.

"Come on, let's get this thing rolling." The Mettaur stepped into the mass of energy and it quietly swallowed him.

Matt withheld a sigh. "Into the breach, huh?"

"Pretty much," R.D. said, then looked down at Ileyna. "Think you can handle it on your own now?"

She nodded, looking at the portal. After a moment, she walked right up to it and in it, disappearing from sight.

R.D. sighed, then looked at Matt. "Here's to hoping the rest of the adventure goes more smoothly than today," he said, walking forward and going through the portal as well.

They hurtled through a corridor of shifting power until they reached the light at the end, which split open to reveal a dark, dingy alleyway. Hugo landed first, then promptly stepped aside so that, as Matt came through, he landed face-first on the pavement.

"I've come to resent this," he muttered.

"Damn, you still do that?" R.D. said, while Ileyna looked at Matt with concern. R.D. stepped forward and grabbed Matt by the back of the jacket, hauling him back up to a standing position. "Might need to get a pillow for you at this rate."

"That might be a good idea," Matt said.

Hugo glanced toward the street, at the end of the thin alleyway lined with garbage dumpsters. No railing overhead, so they weren't between apartment buildings or anything of the sort. "Hmmm. Reminds me of the place where we dropped off Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling back then."

"I hope they're doing well," Matt said.

"Me too."

In the distance, Ileyna could feel the strong, consistent mix of energy that Omega Essence offered. It was far, but quite clear.

The moment Ileyna detected the energy signature of the Omega Essence, there was a chiming noise as her hair flared blue for a brief moment, causing her to gasp slightly, which caused everyone to look at her.

"What?" R.D. asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"There's Omega Essence somewhere," she said, looking up at him.

R.D. nodded. "Well, let's get started," he said, stepping out of the alleyway and looking about, noticing the tall, non-descript buildings. There were people milling about, going about on their daily lives--R.D. had never seen so many people in one place.

"Looks like we're on another Earth," he said, looking back at the group.

"You don't have any cash on you, do you, R.D.?" Matt asked, as a humped black car streaked by. "We need to hitch a ride."

"What, you don't have any cash?" Hugo asked. "Did you even think this out?"

Matt just smiled. "You know, it's good to have you back, Hugo."

The Mettaur just huffed in exasperation.

"I think I grabbed some last time I was at my place," R.D. said, shoving a hand into his pocket to retrieve his wallet. "Though are you sure you can't use your old car? I mean, yeah, you turned it into that cube, but maybe you put some button onto it to switch it back and forth, like our boat and my bike does."

Matt's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah! The Firebird!"

"Hold on, you still have that?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah!" He dug in his pocket, but paused. "Wait a minute, we can't just whip it out in public."

"That hasn't stopped you before," came Hugo's deadpanned reply.

"Man, I've REALLY missed that more than you think."

"That's because you're strange."

"There are innocent ears with us this time, you know," R.D. said, also in a deadpan, while surreptitiously pointing a thumb at Ileyna, who merely looked at them confused. "Just bring the Firebird out in the back of the alleyway."

"I wasn't implying THAT!" Matt shouted, but threw up his hands as Hugo moved back into the alleyway.

When they were sure no one was looking, Matt pulled out the folded Firebird, only a cube of black and silver. He egged it out of his hand and it took over, polygons unwinding itself until reforming into the sleek Firebird, which settled in the alleyway with a solid impact, its nose pointed toward the other end of the street.

"You can't do Radical Good Speed anymore, can you?" Hugo asked.

"No."

"Good." He pointed his pickaxe at Ileyna. "Ileyna, right? You get to carry me into the car. I'm not that heavy, so don't worry."

"Um, okay," Ileyna said, walking over and picking up the Mettaur with a bit of effort, and placing him inside the backseat when R.D. opened it up for her. After Hugo, she climbed in and strapped in, then pushed her beret back up when it slipped from her head.

R.D. climbed into the front passenger seat and strapped himself in. "Just be careful this time around," he said to Matt, remembering that there'd been no one else on the roads on his own world. "We have to obey the traffic laws this time around."

Matt adjusted the rearview window. "Pfft. I can drive just fine."

"You'd better, there's children in the car!" Hugo snapped.

They drove out onto the road and managed to enter the street without killing anyone. Following Ileyna's directions, they drove until the city gave way to suburbs-expensive suburbs with large, exquisite white mansions.