Glitch IV: Chapter 2 Abduction

[Dark Silver]

"I don't know...' Page admitted, looking Albert over.

"Invasion is impossible, there's no way to bring in large scale forces to take over your planet. The only reason I was able to cross over, was thanks you you and yours..."

Page found a chair, and sank into it, crossing one knee over the other, looking at them all. His tone was very professional, very solem, as he spoke, "The only reason I am here, is because of you and yours...when you crossed over, my ship was caught in the energy wake of the device which sent you back here. A device, by the way, only on of your kind could use."

Page looked smug at that, as if that had all gone to plan, "What happened to Neo Orleans...is...we don't know. I have two divisions of REPLICA forces descending upon Neo Orleans, with food, water, temporary shelter, medicine, and NBC treatments for those who survived. And they have Ambrosia. There's no use in lying to you, I'm sure you've already learned what you could about me in your runabout's library computer. The Gray Death comes from my world, it is a self replicating nanovirus designed to destroy the human immune system, and allow other diseases to take affect. It was a stable virus in my Reality...."

He paused there, fixing his gaze on Albert, 'But in yours....the Gray Death has mutated. In it's original form, Ambrosia was a cure, it would neutralize the nanovirus, and bolster the bodies immune system to combat any secondary infections. Under it's new strain....I don't know what it will do."

[SirNitram]

"From the looks of it... Make people go crazy." Albert said calmly. "We know portals can be opened. The question is then how big they can be. And if I wanted to make sure I could move through troops through a small chokehold, I'd toss a nuke. But this is speculation."

Albert tried not to think about the fact he had let this man into his world. "You create the disease, you create the cure, you make a fortune. But you know you can't obtain your dream when the troops do get here.. And somehow they will." He breathed out. "So, you're here to deal and save the world. And Leah, I hope. You have a way across, I'm betting."

[Dark Silver]

"Answer me something," Page said coldly, "In my world, we are as we are because one of you humans have created us to be so. I am a genius who is bent upon world domination and would ruthlessly destroy millions in the process, as long as my goal is acheived."

"I am that man, I have done so on my world...and would gladly do so again on my world. I had the chance to become a God amoungst men, I was at the cusps, another few precious moments, and I would be been victorious...only to have it all taken from me at the last moment, to be tossed to the ground, all because of a...game."

Page sneered at that, locking eyes with first Albert, then moving to each of the others as he spoke, "So I engineered a disease which killed million, slaughtered thousands to obtain godhead...and I am this great evil thing. But tell me, who is more evil, the man who does what he was meant to do, or the man who makes him do those things?"

"So, you see...if you go by what you know of me, then you have it all wrong. Yes, I came to your world with a mission, subvert certain facilities, to assure that in my Reality, my side, particularly me, came out the victor in our little confrontations. I couldn't do that in the current time...so I went back in time. Twenty years."

Page's look of self-satisfaction was upon his face, "I took the knowledge I had of advance tech from my world, and started a small business, and from that, created a empire to rival my own Page Industries on my homeworld. I worked to assure that when the time came, my allies would be victorious in our world, and I would obtain power supreme. But things change in twenty years. I watched your world, and you humans, I watched the evolution and creation of new worlds in my own reality thanks to your "games", without being involved. I've even had the personal satisfaction to create several new worlds, though one of my subsidiaries. I've been in contact with my allies, and I've gone from leader, to lackey, as a new power has risen in my absence. I would know if they intended a invasion, no...there is no intended invasion. The only intention was for the upload of a custom A.I. named M.O.R.G.A.N.N.A. into your computer networks, which would alter things in our favor in my reality. The Gray Death was released on accident, and spread before we could contain it, it took six months before we could produce enough Ambrosia to treat those infected, and get it passed by the W.H.O., politics, you know. Even with my considerable clout here, it took six months before a life sving vaccine could be human tested..."

"I wasn't even going to make a dime with the vaccine, I lost billions in production, and undoubtedly billions more to make sure the nanovirus would be eliminated. I've grown comfortable with my life here, really, you people are far to insane for me to want to rule."

"Though you are right...I am here to deal to save the world. Or to be more specific, my world. The one who took my place, the Master, he has intentions for your Leah. I have the way across, but I do not have the power to defeat him. I'm betting you and yours do...I mean, after all I can sense the Null festering within you Albert...twenty years from my minions, and I can still sense them well enough."

Page leaned forward in his chair, "Help me defeat the Master, and we will get your beloved Leah back, and maybe save those who were infected by the Null back on your gameworld of Zion....."

[Agent Fisher]

Jack was thinking in his mind, What the hell can we do that this prick can't?

[SirNitram]

"Evil cannot be committed unknowingly." Albert murmured. "Evil requires knowledge of your actions.. And who could know we were birthing your worlds? Nothing in our science offers the possibility up. Yet, you are not what was programmed."

Albert tilted his head slowly. "You weren't programmed to leave your world, conquer other ones. You had a simple motivation.. One that none of this corresponds to. You've got free will, same as we do. That... Explains alot. Why a hero would try and fight us, for one."

"You benefit more from the destruction of this 'Master' than I do. So I think it's fair I lay out a demand: Change history. I know you can do it. It might take more juice than you have now, but I know you can. Prevent the Grey Death's release here. Destroy all of it. Live your comfortable life, on the condition that that nightmare is never released. And I'll walk away. You live a life free of your programming."

[Charon]

Matthew watched Page as he talked. But something did catch his attention. A name that hadn't been mentioned before in any of the texts he'd read on the subject.

"The Master..." Matthew mumbled to himself in thought. Who could so easily oust Page from his position? That was a very bad sign.

"And what about you Page? You just continue to live your life here? Pulling strings and running your corporation? You said yourself that you're a program, programmed for world domination. Why should we trust that you won't continue to try and live out that programming?" Matt's hand had meanwhile absent-mindedly slipped into his pocket and had grasped Yuffie's bandana and pulled it out as Matthew crossed his arms as he finished speaking.

[Devonie]

Angela had kept silent during the planning. In her real-world form she didn't have much in the way of fighting skills. But she could help in other ways - support personnel may not be the heros, but without knowledge, the fighters wouldn't become heros either.

Her hands flew over the keyboard, directing the computer to hidden nodes on the Internet; between her knowledge of the Page Industries network and the computer's advanced technology, she was able to get into files protected by the strongest firewalls. She feverishly searched for information as Page's words were relayed to the runabout by the commlink Albert carried.

She was faced with a delimma: she had signed a privacy rider when she was assigned the PI account. She turned this over and over in her mind, trying to find a loophole that wouldn't violate her sworn word. Angela knew that there were some who didn't hold their vows as important as she did, but she had too much self-respect...

As she listened to Page, she realized that the timeline had changed - in order to save the world and put things back the way they were she needed to share everything she knew about PI.

With a sigh she opened a word processor and started typing...

[Dark Silver]

"This is true," Page spoke, "I do gain to benefit a great deal from the Master's destruction. But changing timelines...is a difficult thing to do. Especially without a functional time vehicle."

Page steppled his fingers, watching Albert, Matthew, and the others. He seemed to mull it over for a moment, then nodded. All he needed really, to undo the Gray Death, was a ZPM...and someone stupid enough to go back intime in his stead..

"Very well, we reobtain access to my world...I help you rescue the young woman, destroy the Master, and upon return, we will stop the Gray Death...."

He grinned almost wolfishly at Matthew, at the suggestion he would not be trusted with the deal, "My dear human....what makes you think I don't already dominate this world? I am one of the most richest, influential men on this planet. My company has a Gross Product as great as most First World Countries. I could sell off bits and peices of Page Enterprises and never have to worry about money for the rest of my exsistence....where would be the sport in taking over your world? Don't worry, I just want to remain where I am, how I am...and enjoy the same life I have had for the past twenty years.."

Page rose to his feet, the soldier at the door stood at attention, the rifle coming up, crossing his chest, but not pointed anywhere.

"We have precious little time, We will meet back here in one hour....and one of you, do bring one of you HDD's back from your homes...we'll need one to open a portal.."

With that, a touch upon his wrist, and Page and his escorts, where gone as quickly as they appeared.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Justin spoke, prefering to let the ones with more...social skills do the talking

"It seems we dont have much of a choice. Well...there is always a choice. But we dont have a very good choice"

[Rukia]

"Ok so we're being used for cannon fodder. Great. Well, I always wated to be a martyr." Rory shrugged. "Look while we're down here can you get Crusher to beam me to my house so I can put a decent shirt on?"


Outside she was clam and collected..inside was chaos.

[SirNitram]

"We're about to step into a world populated by superhumans and monsters, I think we're a bit over our heads." Albert said simply, tapping the button on his watch to summon them back to the Runabout. "Everyone, you can beam down to your homes, whatever. Gather whatever you might think you need. I'll get the HDD."

[Charon]

Matthew picked up the blaster again as Al went about sending them back up. "Well, we're likely to still be the same characters we were as we left. So that will help some. Especially if we can bring some of this stuff with us."

[Agent Fisher]

Jack just shook his head. "I dont need anything. What we have got here is enough. I mean, really, what are you going to have back at your home that isnt here?"

[LadyTevar]

The light from the cathedral's stained glass windows bathed her, supported her, wrapped her in warmth and sunlight. It reflected off the statues of heros from the past: Cecil, Arc, Sid. It shone down the length of Bahumet, coating his scales with crimson and purples.

Leah was at peace. Her mind was clear, her heart calm.

On the dark side of the cathedral a statue fell over, sliced cleanly into three peices. Beside it another crumbled as if constricted by a great unseen force. A smaller statue, a wildly decorated pygmy from some long-lost game was thrown into the air, only to be stabbed twice by invisible blades that cut throught the stone as easily as a knife slices bread. The invisible blades seemed to flex, ripping out of the statue and letting it fall to the floor in pieces.

Behind her, Bahumet's gemstone eyes glimmered in the sunlight.

[Dark Silver]

He watched her, as he had been doing for the past half hour. To her it had been nearly a day, he watched as she was taken forcibly - her clothing ripped to shreds, her body manhandled. He watched her struggles, watched as "Darek" slapped her, beat her, forced his desire upon her.

Theyy were such a messy species, these humans. The ways they produced were messy, though he could not help but feel something deep within stir as he looked upon the woman's nude form, the undulating muscles, heard her cries as her body betrayed her.

He stepped aside as he felt the intrusion of It, as it reached out to her, his Darkness penetrated for a moment and It touched upon her. She took what It offered her, where she had denied him. For the past few hours, subjectively to her, she had been sitting within the Light, randomly, another peice of stonework would slice apart.

She had changed, he could feel it. She was idealized, her body had shifted slightly after the presence had left, she was different, power flowed from her. Just had it had from the human onboard the ship.

They were Becoming.

Skeith his voice intoned, echoing in the darkness surronding him, coming from nowhere, and everywhere.

A human appeared next to the cloaked Master, a male, looking relatively young. The man's eyes were blank, staring ahead, seeing nothing, yet focused. In his hands, a glowing red staff was gripped, and one got the impression there was more to the man, than first glance.

"You summoned me, Master?" he spoke in a flat voice.

Yes Skeith, prepare Adena. It is nearly time. MORGANNA must have a vessal...and the human woman will no longer be suitable.

Skeith bowed his head, his body glowing, before disappearing in a column of faint green light, datablocks dispersing within the darkness.

The Master continued watching the woman, another statue was sliced apart, the head sent flying across the cathedral. Perhaps he would send "Darek" back in there to play with her more......

--------- --------- ---------

Bob Page sat behind console, staring at the blank screen. Here, upon his personal vessal in orbit on the darkside of the moon, he was nearly impervious. Nothing in this universe could harm his ship, as long as he didn't try to use the more energy intensive systems, he was safe.

But no, he wasn't. Things had changed beyond what they should have. He changed things since his arrival, the number of Null infecting the human world were far less than there was in the previous Timeline, mostly thanks to his own activities.

But how many more had fallen with the Gray Death? How many more would...

If this was successful, the Null would lose a foothold into this world, he would have unadultered rule of this planet, he could even get ride of the humans and thier ship.....

All he needed to do, was upload MORGANNA.

Once MORGANNA was uploaded, the Glitch would be freed, and he could assure that the Glitch's and it's armies could not break through to this world...by giving them the Digital Realm.

It seemed so simple a plan, yet for it to work, he the humans. He needed to be ride of this, Master. Whoever it was, was following a different plan, a different agenda.

Yes, a change in timelines a change in the status quo.


He would set MORGANNA to upload to the servers and into the host the moment the portal opened....

Page touched open the case, and inserted the optical disc into the reader. A few seconds later, he was connected to the Destiny server........

[Charon]

Matthew shrugged as the teleporter locked in on him and he began to slowly disappear. "If you don't have anything to take care of or loved ones to say good-bye to." And then Matthew was gone, the teleporter having taken him home.

Matt appeared in his home and sighed, plopping down into a chair he gripped the one piece of Yuffie he had left tightly. Biting his lower lip Matthew looked around his house.

"One hour. I can at least get something to eat, but first..."

Matthew headed downstairs into his shop, grabbing a sheet of paper and a permanent marker he quickly wrote down.

"Sorry, there was a loss in the family and I have a funeral to attend to. Be back as soon as I can. Wish me luck.

-Matt"

Grabbing some tape Matthew stuck the note to the glass door and then headed back upstairs. Grabbing some hamburger pattys he cooked them while he considered what had happened.

Albert had been changed. But by what? Was it something good? Frankly, too many bad things had happened for him to be able to believe that.

Then there was Cloud, where was he? He could assume that since they were all still alive that someone had held him off, but who? Was it Derek who had held him off? Why couldn't Derek have saved Yuffie? Why couldn't I have saved Yuffie?

Matthew sighed. Then there was Leah, God only knew what they were doing to her in there. They had to save her. He could only hope it wasn't too late.

Finally, there was Page. He was using them, that much was obvious. But there was nothing they could do about him now. Once they'd saved Leah though, he'd be back for Page and make him suffer for what he'd done.

It was the smell of smoke that brought Matthew back to his senses. Cursing Matthew pulled the hamburgers off the stove and fanned them as the smoke detector started going off.

"Oh God damnit! Son of a bitch!"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"the only loved one I have is hidden at my field site and saying goodbye probably wouldnt, and I have nothing at home which will be of use. I dont even have chemicals in my lab that I could use as explosivesor poisons... No need for me to go back" He considered something for a moment

[Devonie]

Angela sighed as she finished her notes, and handed them to Al when he appeared on the runabout.

"Here. This is all I know about Page and PI, not that it will do us any good now. I will tell you this: from what I've been able to find on the 'net, and from listening to your conversation with Page, the man is evil. Everything he does is for him, no matter how it looks."

She turned to Crusher, "I feel a need for a really good cappucino, and not that stuff we get from the replicator. Want one?"

She didn't have anything to return to her apartment for. No weapons, noone she felt a need to say goodbye to. Nothing that would help her here.

[SirNitram]

"Thanks." Albert said earnestly as he went over the notes. "I have no doubts he's evil. His end goal will somehow involve absolute power for him. Which is why I'm really glad he was stupid enough to let slip he's got no high-yield power supply. We do."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I expect some kind of treachery. Computer, any unusual transmissions anywhere? Say, matter-transit beams across the surface?"

[Dark Silver]

"Scanning" the computer's feminine voice responded to Albert's request. A second later, the answer was a resounding negative.

"So....what now?" Crusher asked quietly, looking at Albert as she drank a cup of tea.

---------

"Uplink established, awaiting instructions" the monotone voice spoke to Page.

"Upload datatracks MORGANNA to primary buffer, and prepare to upload to target server cluster. Execute upload MORGANNA once transfer is complete, then sever uplink."

"Confirmed" the voice droned, as the contents of the optical disc were read, and the computer began it's task.

[SirNitram]

"We go through." Albert shrugged slowly. "I don't know any other thing to try. Oh, he's going to backstab us. I'm half-expecting him to slam the door behind us, or deploy something even worse. But now we know you can hop across, and I know several ways to time travel once on the other side."

The graduate student turned hero stretched slowly. "Doctor, if we don't meet again, it has been an honour. I entrust Earth to you. I'll do what I can for your reality. Computer, take us down. We're going back in."

[Devonie]

Angela sighed and gathered herself together; she'd already slipped into the costume she'd had the replicator make for her aboard the Enterprise. It felt as though that had been an eternity ago.

"Alright. Let's do this."

[Dark Silver]

The hour passed, and the group was gathered again in the office.

A brief flash of light, and Page appeared, alone. In his hand, he held a single data spike, "Well....if everyone is ready, where is the HDD...."

[SirNitram]

Albert hauled some junk out of the way, revealing his own HDD. "I'd feel so much better about this if I didn't know I was about to get backstabbed." He said simply. "But one can only fight so many enemies at once."

[Charon]

Matt stood with arms crossed, carrying only a single blaster rifle. He didn't trust himself with anything else. He was watching Page very closely however, quite intent on the man's actions to make certain that they would at least cross over before treachery occured.