“Why, hello, Gavin. I hear you know a lot about me,” Jack said. “Or should I call you Mr. Denning? Your existence is quite troubling for the understanding, you see?” His face is old, really old. I can see the veins in his forehead poking out. His stature is really quite frightening. I back up slowly, my vision waning.

“Wh-What?!”

“You, I know a lot about you as well Mr. Daniels,” Jack folds his arms and takes a step towards me. His long blue overcoat flows behind him. “I’d really hoped that Mr. Jackson would’ve taken care of you, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Why, from you, of course. Well, to be more precise, from your consciousness from this time,” Jack said, smiling. Just then I see Micah step out from behind Jack, a wicked look on his face, my face.

“Ha! You should’ve totally seen the look on your face! I really had you going with that sob story!” He said, cackling.

His voice is back in the sarcastic tone I’d heard prior.

“You did well enough, looks like your bloodline isn't totally worthless,” Jack replies, turning his head to him.

“You…why would you side with him?! You know what he did! You saw what he did!” I yell.

“And I know what he can do, Gavin. Only a fool would deny it. What’s the other side, huh? Do the right thing so I can waste away here for all eternity? No!” Micah screams, a vein pulsating on his head. “I threw away my name because I threw away my weakness. I'm not you!”

“We were meant to stop him! By doing this you’re dooming the other timelines!” I said.

“Fuck the other timelines! Don’t you speak of them like you know anything! You know nothing!” he screams, his grin growing.

Jack holds up an arm and Micah backs off.

“Now, now. No need to get personal…oh, I’m sorry, slip of the tongue,” Jack grins slightly. “What my partner here is trying to said is that it is pointless to fight back. What you can do instead is join us, and there is no limit to what we can accomplish.” I take in these two, they’re like polar opposites, Micah is unstable and looks like he is about to go off the wire, meanwhile Jack is a collected case of pure evil.

“And what would you do if I refused, huh?” I ask.

Jack looks to the ground and then up at the ceiling, taking in a deep breath, “Gavin, we’re going to continue onward.”

“We’re going to what?”

“We’re moving forward. You’re going to go back into the next room and continue your journey. You need to learn everything,” he said.

“Why would you let me do that?” I ask.

“There is much to learn, Gavin and knowledge is the greatest thing we have,” Jack said.

“Well, I’m not doing it. I’m not going to do anything that helps you,” I bark.

“I don’t think you have a choice and I don’t think you’ll like the alternative,” Jack said.

“And what would that be?”

“I’ll let my partner here do his work on all of these survivors.”

Micah grins wildly.

“I’ll be sure to take it real slow on the poor subjects, hahah!”

“Andrew's in there, you're best friend,” I said.

Micah bends his head down and I want nothing more than to punch him in the face, “I'd have the most fun ending his life. Him and those godforsaken puns.”

I sigh, “Okay, I’ll do it,” I said, clenching my fist.

“Good. Now, head on into that room over there,” Jack said, pointing to a room behind me. I turn around, looking at the door, I slowly walk towards it.

If anything it'll give me some time to think of another plan.

“And Gavin? Please do try to hurry. I can’t promise that I can restrain your friend here while you’re gone and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on any memories because of it,” Jack calls out.

My pace continues unfaltering. I grip the handle of the door, silently cursing Jack and my future self.

Damn it! Why would he side with Jack?! You think you know someone…it turns out you can’t even trust yourself. How much of this has been real? How much have I really seen? How much has he wanted me to see? I can’t believe I’ve let myself fall for his trap. I can’t succumb to the questions, I need a beacon to hold onto. I need something to be real, something to believe in.

Meg, I’d said I’d believe in Meg, but she’d just been an automaton, created by my future self to aid Jack. I’d met the real Kate, something real to hold onto. These memories are my beacon. They’re what I can hold onto to get me through this mess.

He didn’t want me finding out that half of the story and now he has no choice but to show it all to me, but why? He could just as easily kill me and end it right there. Unless he wants to make me his heir, like Mason had thought about. I hadn’t really thought of it until now, but that’s probably why he needs me alive. I’m infected with Radical-9 to my core, and I possess a body that he could use. Oh God, it is all coming clear. Now he’s trying to get my power to fully awaken so he can add it to his arsenal. I open the door slowly and walk inside. I walk up to the treatment pod and I see that Thomas is inside. Sure enough, just below the small window I see “Thomas Hadley” is written down.

I hear the mechanical hum of ICARUS start up and I pass a gaze over the basin and immediately get sucked into its cold hard grasp. I open my eyes and I’m lying on an apartment floor. I stand up to see the sleeping body of Thomas on a nearby futon. I quickly run over to see if I’m invisible in this memory.

I am.

Just then, a nearby landline phone begins to ring. I see him bolt upright. He looks about as drowsy as I feel. He stands up slowly and yawns, walking over and places his hand on the landline phone. Just as he does I see that time seems to stop and everything but Tom and the phone fall into shadows. I see a figure appear to my left, they are cloaked in shadow and also holding a phone. I can see both sides to the call.

“Hello? Who is it?” Thomas asked.

The man-in-shadow walks forward and I can see him clearly.

“Thomas, I am in some deep shit,” the voice said.

“Mason?” Thomas asked.

I rub my eyes to make sure I’m not just seeing things, but he’s standing right here. Light returns to the world in selected sections. I can see Tom and about five feet around him, the same for Mason.

It’s like I’m in my own separate dimension peeking into both of theirs while they’re speaking. Maybe this is another part to my power?

“Tom, you need to get out of the city as fast as you can,” Mason said, hurriedly.

I can see his face is riddled with sweat and his eyes are almost bugging out of his head.

“Uncle Mason, what’s going on? Do you need me to drive up there?” Tom asked.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“N-No, just listen. You need to get yourself out of the city, find somewhere safe,” Mason replies.

“What does that mean? What happened?”

“Thomas, your theory on Radical-9, do you remember it?” Mason asked.

“Radical…what the hell happened? Did it get out?” Tom asked, his face creasing with concern.

“Sort of…yes. At least, it's going to. I have to talk about Jack, warn people. It'll be a matter of time before shit goes down, but I have to tell people,” Mason said.

“Where's Kate?”

“That's the part I'm getting to, you're going to need to take care of her, I'm positive I'm not going to make it out of this meeting with the President alive.”

“The President? Mason, please reconsider.”

“I can't, this has to stop now.”

“At least call Kate before you go.”

“Okay.”

“I’m trying to get control of the situation currently, but that’s why I called you. You need to get out of the city, because once people find out about this, shit is going to hit the fan,” Mason said.

“Are you sure you don’t want me driving up there to help you out?” Tom asked.

I see Mason’s side go completely dark and I’m left with a confused Tom slamming the phone down. He grabs his coat and walks into the shadows and I’m left staring at the two pocket dimensions. All of a sudden, I feel a certain…energy flow through me. I don’t know how, but I feel like I have the ability to scroll through these pocket dimensions. I raise my hands in front of me and see that my new feeling was correct. Am I unlocking my power by myself now? Scrolling through like small previews into other worlds, the next one that comes up is one I recognize immediately.

It shows ICARUS.

Inside of the pocket dimension I see Jack and Micah. I'm looking at it from the outside, a dark void in-between the dimensions. I bring that one dimension closer to me so I can hear what they’re talking about.

“How much are you going to let him know?” Micah asked, coming into focus.

Jack turns and cackles. “Enough. This has been a long time coming, and a specific amount of events need to happen for this to be exactly how I need it,” Jack said.

“Okay, but couldn't you do that without risking him learning too much?” Micah asked.

Jack’s stare turns hard, “Once I take over, it’ll give me potential. Potential for limitless power. Power without limitations like I have now,” Jack said.

“I’ve been kind of dodging the elephant in the room,” Micah said.

“And that would be?”

“You wouldn’t have gotten here if it wasn’t for me bringing you to this time, Jack. I want you to get me out of here,” Micah said.

“Aren’t you the one with the power to jump through time? I don’t see why you need me to do that,” Jack sneers.

“I could in theory with ICARUS here, but I would need someone to be at the controller for basically all eternity. I've done you the favor of not bringing that up. I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate you helping me build this thing in the first place, but I need further help to break this boundary of mine,” Micah said.

So it was Jack that was his partner, makes enough sense now in hindsight.

“And if I were to refuse? If I were to just deny you that power?” Jack asked.

“Well, I don’t think you’ll be doing that. I’m your ticket out of this time and unless you want to be stranded here, you’d do me this favor,” Micah said, grinning wildly.

“Or…I could just take over your mind and leave you to the rats.” Jack said, his voice growing irritated.

Micah isn’t ready to let go that easily.

“If you try I’ll be sure to shut this thing off. You wouldn’t want that, now, would you? Pipsqueak in there’d be lost in some random strand of time you’d have no way of finding,” He said, a jack-o-lantern like grin on his face.

“Hm, it seems you have me well met. I guess I had underestimated you, Mr. Daniels.”

“Please, not with that name. I no longer wish to have any association with that windbag,” he said.

“Micah, huh? Whatever brought about that name?”

“Change,” he said, serious.

I see Jack grin slightly, nodding his head.

“All right, then,” Jack continues to nod his head and then he holds up his hand. “Come here. I’ve got just the thing for you.”

Micah walks up, grinning, “Now you’re speaking my language!”

“Before I do this, I must ask that you keep in mind of our agreement,” Jack said.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll go back and round up Jay’s kid just in case you manage to fuck this up.”

“Good,” Jack said, nodding and placing his palm on Micah’s chest.

It begins glowing white and then I see it begin to glow brighter and brighter and I see smoke rising off of his chest. Micah begins laughing, louder and louder and Jack’s face is as hard as stone. In another few seconds Jack raises his palm and backs away. Micah’s chest is still burning white and his form begins shifting. His back hunches over and I can see his hands begin to shape into sharp claws. Hair grows rapidly across his body, my old body and his face shifts into something that looks like a mixture between a man and a wolf.

There are veins across his chest that pulsates with a glowing white light and he howls once. “I decided to give you a bit more…physical brute as well. Once you can control it, you’ll be able to shift at will, along with your enhanced jumping,” Jack said.

Micah’s voice roars out, heavily guttural, “I feel…I feel strong. Why is it…that you can’t do that to yourself?”

Jack shrugs his shoulders. “It isn’t something that works on me. The most logical reason is most likely because I’m already overloaded with the stuff,” he replies.

“Duly noted, Deputy Danger,” Micah said.

“Now, why don’t you go make yourself useful and start on that little plan of mine, why don't you?” Jack asked. “I'll wait here for him.”

“I’ll get onto that eventually. I want to go to the outside for a bit. You did said I need to get control over it,” Micah half-roars, but I can still see the sort of jack-o-lantern grin on his face.

“Fine, but just make sure it gets done, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, amigo” Micah grumbles, throwing his big claw-hand in a salute. He slashes his claws into the air, they seem to tear at the very fabric of time-space. In another moment I see him begin to phase in and out and distort. Within seconds he’s gone, body and all.

I’m left there staring into the pocket dimension with my jaw wide open. Jack expects a chance of failure, that's why he's sending Micah out there as a failsafe. He isn't fully confident he can get inside my head. I'm going to show him just how right he is for being unsure.

I now have a steadfast confidence growing within myself. I move to re-enter the dimension, but then my body stops cooperating and I crumple to the ground. My vision clots and it all goes dark. I’m not falling through the space between dimensions, but somewhere solid. I must have landed and the next thing I know I’m laying on the ground beside the basin and treatment pod. I reach up and grab the side of the pod with my right hand and my whole body is trembling.

I feel a powerful force hit my back and I slam into the treatment pod from behind. I turn my head around to see Jack standing over me. He must’ve kicked me or something.

“And what are we doing here? I’d thought you’d entered the room with Thomas, huh? How the hell did you get here?” Jack asked.

“W-What?” I ask, struggling to get to my feet.

It is then that I see the name on the treatment pod is Kate’s and not Tom’s. That means I must’ve moved my body when I came back. Is this a step forward? I sure hope so.

“Well?” Jack asked.

“What?” I ask.

“You’re power is strengthening, is it not?” Jack asked.

“And what would you do if it were?” I ask.

Jack’s face grows into a grimace.

“I’m not letting you visit these ridiculous memories so you can be a pain in my side,” Jack said.

“You expected me to be cooperative?” I ask.

“It seems I may need a stronger motivator,” Jack said.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

Jack replies with silence. I hear a loud cracking sound and look to my side. I see that the treatment pod is caving in like a crushed soda can. I then look back to Jack with a look of obvious worry on my face.

“What are you doing?! It’s going to kill her!”

“She died the moment you started being a pain,” Jack said. The treatment pod nearly collapses on itself, but it stops.

“Now, next time you disobey she’ll get the full effect of going through the trash compactor,” Jack said.

I’m breathing hard and I look from Jack to the treatment pod. I immediately turn towards Jack and lunge at him. In a matter of seconds Jack has me pinned to the wall behind me, but the weird part is he hasn’t moved a single muscle. “T-Telekinesis?” I call out.

“It’s quite helpful for situations quite like these, you’ll find,” Jack said, grinning. I begin sliding against the wall towards the door, a vice-like grip attached right around my neck. I can feel the force crushing my windpipe and Jack begins walking along side me, telekinetically dragging me alongside.

I’m beginning to lose consciousness, my body begs for air. Jack puts his hand on the back of my head and he shoves it down into the basin.

“You really shouldn’t be missing work like this, Mr. Daniels, it may cost you an arm and a leg some day,” Jack said, shoving my head in deeper.

My vision is filled to the brim with various colors and my body begins to feel lighter until it is all numb. I’m dying. This is different, he’s killing me right here and now.

My vision begins to fade and all I see is darkness.