The initial encounter with the otherworldly had proved a brutal ordeal, but, our crew had managed to survive, perhaps escaping destiny.

Though I wonder, how long can one fight against the tides of Fate before they inevitably drown. I suppose that is their end, but perhaps they are special.

We'd look past such things though, as we'd find ourselves below a bridge with our strugglers, though half of them didn't want to be there.

A river raging before them as they post up, backs to the concrete construction and the broken railways above.

The once beautiful utopia they knew was now a charred wasteland with steps of gargantuan creatures shaking the ground all around.

It was a frightened existence, and 'everyone' of them that were trapped in that open prison was sad, except one.

He was naked, covered in slime and water, a black burning sludge hiding most his nakedness, why, all the nanobots had 'died', thus, all his clothes had fallen away.

I suppose that explains half of it. Yet, he did not cry, nor did he despair, in fact, he smiled. It, his disturbing happiness, plastered a smile on his face from ear to ear, and his eyes were wide open with intrigue.

They would have said something, but they knew what he was, and no amount of rehabilitation or brain surgery would 'fix' that.

He had been integrated into society even as a psychopath per the 'Every Man Rule', but, he was what he was, through and through.

It would prove an advantage in the dire circumstances they found themselves in though. As to have someone capable of making decisions no one should have to, and operate under copious amounts of stress, was priceless.

So, in their time of need, the five of them looked to the madman, waiting for his orders. In the time before he said anything though, he would act on his own.

His joy would fade completely, and he'd stand up, they'd have attempted to follow him, but just above, the remnants of cables and lights exploded from within.

The event would paralyze them for a bit, and with that opportunity, he would make his way to one of the maintenance ladders.

Then, to everyone's discomfort, he'd ascend to the surface. His footsteps would soon disappear into the distance, and everyone would find themselves looking at each other, unsure of what to do.

As they sat there in the dark, confused, their fear would rise, when form above, a sea of howls and screeches emerged.

They would all jump where they were before regaining some semblance of composure.

All the noise would then be followed by ungodly amounts of ear rupturing blasts one after another, and at some point, even the barrage of a mini gun.

The uncomfortable sounds would then persist for another few minutes, and too many at that, then, everything went quiet.

They had no idea what to think, and no one could blame them. It did get them thinking though, because what if he never returned, what if he never came back, what then.

Sure, Cali was fast, but there was only so many people she could carry at a time while maintaining high enough speeds to outrun the creatures.

Thus, even though she had faith in August, she'd hold the sleeping May tight, just in case. The other three would see this, and so their discomfort grew.

They hadn't spoken, despite knowing each other, because they had no idea how the things were hunting them down, but as they laid silent, they passed above, as such, they maintained their silence.

So, with the footsteps virtually gone, they'd find the courage to speak, all of them.

"W-what are you doing...?" Brody, a brute of a man, built for the repair of machines that he did, but pure none the less, even he was missing a few screws. He pulled at his straight blonde hair and scratched his scruffy beard. Not to mention the missing gleam in his green eyes and paleness in his skin. "You're not leaving us...? Are you...?" He'd almost begin to crawl towards her in his panic, but as he did, the river would erupt at the banks. "Ahhhh...!" He'd fly back to the wall, hunkered down, a shell of a man.

He wasn't the only one skeptical of the water though, as the other two also drew closer to the walls, hugging their legs. Then, even in their fear, they'd voice their opinions.

"Please d-don't go..." Tears would run down the pale girl's freckled cheeks, and dampen her curly brunette hair, it seemed Kim was just as afraid.

As for the last of them, Zack, he had his head buried in his hands, his long red hair sticking out like a sore thumb. Though, even with his face hidden, the tears seeped their way through the cracks in his fingers.

It wasn't a pleasant sight, or an easy situation to deal with, but Cali had already made up her mind and no amount of tears was going to change that. If things went south, for one reason or another, she'd take May, and she'd run.

In fact, she didn't have much concern for the rest of the crew. It was a cloud in her judgement seeing the situation they had been thrust in to, so she told herself, but she knew the truth.

It was all for naught though, because as they sat there with tensions rising, a shadow descended the bridge.

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They almost panicked, as for a moment, they didn't recognize him, but it was August, and he had found some clothes, or rather, a trench coat.

The bubblegum pink coat wasn't the only thing he brought back either, as in one of his hands, he had a whole person, if it could have been called that.

It would have been easy to mistake him for a child, but that as an aesthetic choice, even if a bad one.

He was but barely four feet tall and he wore glasses that took up the majority of his face, it certainly did him no favors, but he never cared. In truth, he cared for almost nothing, as he made his hair grow out so much that his afro covered most of his face, making his head look like a ball of hair and glasses.

He was an interesting ball of hair and glasses though, seeing as while his hair was brown, it had golden streaks all throughout.

He was good for something too, and that's exactly why August had saved him. If anyone knew Bob, they knew one thing about him. He never left his portable quantum computer behind, or PC for as he'd call it.

It was that small copper colored cube that the thing was banking on to save his sister and the rest of the survivors.

And so, knowing that his life hadn't been saved for free, the moment August put him down, he'd insert his metallic right index finger into a small hole in the side of the contraption and his glasses would light up, or rather, the eyes behind them did.

The cube would also light up at a few seams as everyone waited, guts rolling, waiting for him to speak, and removing his finger, he did.

"I-it won't be easy... b-but inside the 'old' military archives, i-it seems they found an- an anomaly below the city. A s-sp-spatial one that is. I-If we managed to get t-to the outskirts of the island w-we could dive deep enough to r-reach the old outpost... in the w-worst of cases… b-but hopefully that won't b-be necessary… " He'd adjust his glasses as he finished speaking.

"And why would we need to go there...?" August, even though he was the one that planned on Bob, wasn't quite on board.

"W-well—" The small lad would be cut off.

"Found!? Those things are dangerous! How the hell did they miss that!?" Cali seemed to forget the monsters, as she was basically screaming.

"O-of course... let me c-c-c-c... damn!... Ahem... Let me c-correct myself... they built right o-on top of it..." He'd almost laugh as he spoke, willfully ignoring the things dangers.

"And why would they do that?" August would stoop in his long coat, holding down the front as if he wasn't completely naked moments before, as if he was a fair untouched maiden.

"I know your f-families don't deal with e-engineering... b-but the least you could do is know how p-power is generated. Though I s-suppose I may be to blame for this mi... mi- mi..." He let out a breath, avoiding frustration. "I suppose I am also t-to be blamed for this misunderstanding... It is an old military b-base, but, it was r-r-repurposed as a power plant. As such—" He adjusted his glasses. "Most people don't look that far i-into it. Everything is i-in the public domain after all... though a b-bit obscure..."

"So you're saying most people don't know...?" August tilted his head, leaning it against his hand that was perched on his thighs.

"I-I guess…?" Bob would roll his eyes, knowing nobody would see.

"Ahhhhhhh…!" August would sink his face in his leather coat, but soon he'd stand up, ready to take action. "The maintenance structure is still intact right? Because God knows we aren't taking the open water elevator... haha…" His laugh was not one of joy.

"I-I thought you didn't know!?" Bob would look up, brows crumpled and teeth gnashing.

"You said, and I quote, 'the outskirts' and 'old military base'... how many of those do you think exist...? How was I supposed to know that we were thinking about the same one...?" August leaned forward, allowing his shadow to fall over the small man as he looked down.

"I g-guess you're right..." Bob would roll his eyes back as he 'agreed.'

"Good... now how do you plan on using that thing...? It generates a shit ton of energy, yes... but so what, that's all it does, anything that enters never leaves... so what's the plan?" August had already begun to move, despite his words.

"I-I think... a-and bear with me now... haha..." His chuckle didn't exactly inspire confidence. "If... if, we managed t-to gather enough of the energy that i-it outputs... and we were able to s-supercharge it... then—" Insanity.

"No..." They'd all look to August as he spoke, hearts on a razor's edge, his crimson eyes seeming to get brighter.

"W-w-w-what!?" Bob paced around, ruffling his hair as if to rip off his own scalp. "D-d-d-do you have a better idea!? H-huh!?" He looked up that the shell of a man with no fear in his small eyes.

It was then, before they could even blink, that August had Bob by his tank top, hanging.

"Lower. Your. Tone..." Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to save the young genius after all.

"O-or what!? Y-y-y-you're gonna kill me!? W-well go ahead... I-I'm a dead man anyway..." He'd almost cry.

August screamed with the voice of storm as he dropped the small man, and walking towards the side of the embankment, he crumpled his fist, the bridge above spawning more electrified eruptions.

"August!" He'd stop at the beckon of Cali. "He has a point... so let's hear him out—"

"No! No! No! No!" The man paced around, irritated, the fractured cables above shooting arcs of current into the river.

"Listen to me!" Cali didn't appreciate his childish behavior. "What's your plan! Huh!? Have something better!?" In fact, her blood was beginning to boil.

"He's asking me… to put my sister's life on the line for a gamble! A gamble dammit...!" The currents struck with the likeness of lightning that time, his shadow defined by his crimson eyes. "I'd rather wipe out every last one of those things before I put her in danger again...!" He let too much slip, he'd bite into his bottom lip and look away, the arcs ceasing.

He'd feel a tug from below.

"T-that wasn't your fault... but this time… if you make the wrong decision… she'll really die…" An injection of knowledge into August's infinite well.

August would look at his hands, as if longing for something, as if wanting, but soon he'd sigh, calming himself. "Tell me again…" He'd listen.

"I-it's not a gamble... all of this rests on your sh-sh-shoulders..." August could hear everybody's heart rate spike as Bob spoke.

"What...? What's that supposed to mean...? I know I'm the one that's supposed to get us there... but what purpose do I have after tha—…" His eyes widened in a tad bit of fear, but mainly confusion." I'd die..." He came to a realization.

"I-it's a possibility... but... i-it could save your s-sister's life... and h-how else did you think we w-were going to make the anomaly absorb its own e-energy..." The small genius regained his composure.

"And if it doesn't work...? What then...?" He was considering it.

"Would you rather h-have your sister live the rest of her l-life running and hiding...? Is t-that what you want...?" A proposition from the sniffling Bob.

"Of course not..." He'd look at the sleeping May, her eyes red and puffy from crying. "And what will happen if we succeed...?"

"I-in the files... it says that i-it's not that the things that enter the a-anomaly disappear, but instead... they move to a p-parallel universe overlapping our own… they also s-seem to break the laws of phy-phy… physics... we could reach the mainland i-in a couple a days… h-hours if we're lucky… s-so... if... if we could charge s-something with enough energy—"

"Me...?" August touched his empty chest.

"Yes... i-if we could make you store enough e-energy... then we could enter it and u-use the effects of releasing all that energy at once t-to meld back the universes for long enough to c-cross back over into our o-own... then, we could go to the main s-settlement, and we'll be safe with e-everyone else… including our families… we m-might even figure out what's going on…" It seemed full proof, seemed.

"Wait…! wait…! wait…! I'm making connections here... ones that I don't like...!" Cali was a genius in her own right.