Peter Dixon stepped through the portal, pushed on by his friend Scott. Water flowed quickly at his feet, and it was all he could do to stay standing. After a few steps, he stopped trying and fell down.

The portal didn't let up when Scott stepped through, and Dixon floated as if pushed by a raging river. The only problem with that was, he was in the middle of a road way packed with cars.

This didn't really bother him. Dixon looked back idly at the purple hole in the sky. It was one of the first artificial portals he had seen materialize in the air. Usually they were constricted to walls, buildings or other objects that they needed to latch onto. The only portals that worked in the sky that Dixon ever saw was Talia's.

Oh Talia. He had failed her. Let her die at the bottom of a sinking ship. First his parents, and then his sister, and now this. He was no good to anyone. The only things he was good at was killing and letting people die.

At some point Scott pulled him by the collar off of the street. Clarity was sitting next to them, barely conscious.

"Dixon!" Scott shouted. "Snap out of it! We have to move!"

Dixon looked around at the busy intersection. The river of water was now a trickle, and the portal closed, but the damage had been done. Cars piled up, blocking both lanes of traffic. People were screaming in a language unfamiliar to him.

"Just leave me." Dixon mumbled. "You and Clarity go on. Miranda's out there somewhere. You find her. I can't... I couldn't... I can't face her."

The skies were covered with dark clouds, some of them clung to the buildings so thick, he couldn't tell if there were people inside.

Facing Miranda was a daunting thought, but more daunting was what he was about to do. Anger raged in him, threatening to break out. Weeks ago Kiandoli said he was conditioned to be this way, prone to violence. That she rewired his brain to use his pain to dish out pain to others in new and creative ways. This time is was too much.

"I'm not leaving you in some random part of an alien world," Scott said. "Let's get our bearings and then we can make a decision."

"Fine. Where are we?" Dixon looked around again, but it did him no good.

"Anybody know where we are?" Clarity said, presumably asking the sixteen other occupants in her head. She sat there for a minute as her face turned several different looks of confusion and bewilderment. When she spoke again, it was with a different cadence. "Hong Kong, China. That flag over there."

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"Is that in America, or Africa?" Scott asked. "And do you remember which place Miranda was in?"

"Neither. Looks like the little girl messed up the coordinates. Sent us to the wrong place."

"You shut up about her!" Dixon yelled and pushed himself off the ground and readied his leg for a kick. "Show some respect for the girl who saved your life!"

As his leg swung for her head, the screams of people intensified. Dixon grabbed his ears and pulled tightly, but it wasn't enough. Car horns went from small background annoyance to trumpeting war calls. Lights from the cars grew brighter, until they were each miniature suns.

Dixon fell to the ground, unable to bear the assault on his senses. But even here, the cold ground grew icy, and burned his skin. Bruises from his recent fights immobilized his arm and back. Then, just as suddenly, all of the noises and lights and pain drifted away.

"You're grieving, we get it. But taking it out on people who are trying to help will only make it worse." Clarity pointed to herself. "Every person in this body has seen loss, so don't think for a second we are being insensitive. Now, deal with the pain and let's get off the street."

"Kiandoli did this to him." Scott said as he helped Dixon up. "Messed with his mind to turn him into a fighter."

"We may be able to help him." Clarity said. "But for now, we need to find shelter. Regroup."

Dixon didn't want the help, but shelter sounded like the best plan for now. They needed to find a way to lay low, in case the Phantom Queen and her people came by.

"Do you know your way around on this world?" Scott asked.

"We've never been here. Very different from Cova. I think there are places to rent temporarily for money."

"Great, where do we get money?" Scott asked.

"Short term? No idea." Clarity admitted.

"Well, let's get moving then." Dixon looked in several directions, and picked one at random. "Hard to tell where the sun is, I'd hate to be out here at night. Earth has a sun, right?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pair of colored ghosts. One green, one red. A scribe and a soul jumper. The phantom queen had already come to play.