Bella and the man were looking at the ruins of Brickton, they stood at the edge of what used to be a beautiful city, Bella started talking, “Getting everyone here at the same time was a lot easier than I had expected, we have some unknown factors, like that Lorraine woman.”

The man looked at Bella with a smug face, “They will clash soon, I told Alice where to find Steve when she opened that bunker, add the fact that it will upset her when she finds Steve murdering people, she is going to go mental.”

It was indeed not long before they saw Steve in the distance murder someone, Bella looked at the man, “Do you think he has that from you?”

“Of course not, when did I ever murder someone in cold blood, or performed a mercy kill?”

Bella scoffed and looked at him and shook her head, but she ignored his comment, “Look there is Alice, it was indeed not long before they started to fight.”

The man crossed his arms, “Why is she toying with him?”

Bella looked at the man, “She is unsure if she can kill him, there is something strange about Funk, an odd aura.”

The man looked at Bella, “We both know, Funk is one of the strongest beings in this reality.”

Bella sighed, “No, it is something else. It almost feels like, something cosmic is watching over him, remember that time, when he almost killed you before we messed with time?”

The man grumbled at her, “Don’t even remind me about that moment.”

They both kept looking at the fight, the man crossed his arms, “Well, just as we predicted, they can’t kill each other, It seems we are a go for integration, It is best to start with Alice.”

Bella nodded, “I will go visit her right now.”

Alice and Paul were following the road towards Goldia, she looked at Paul. “Are you okay?”

Paul nodded. “How could we lose like that?”

Alice sighed, “We did not lose, I could have killed all four of them with ease, perhaps, Funk would have been a problem.”

Paul stopped walking and looked at Alice, “Why did you not do that?”

She looked at him, “I could not bring myself to kill them.”

Paul nodded, “I can understand that, but what is our plan now?”

Alice smiled, “We are going to Goldia and rest in our tents when needed.”

Out of nowhere, the shadow man appeared before them. Paul looked at the shadow man, “Is it just me, or is that thing emitting an insane amount of power?”

The shadow man pointed at Alice, “What shall I take from you, Alice?”

Paul looked at Alice, “Do we stand a chance?”

She shook her head.

The shadow man grinned, “Good to know, this will be easy then!”

Before the shadow man could attack, he suddenly vanished as someone cleaved him into two even pieces, when the dust settled, Alice looked at a woman wearing a hooded cloak.

Paul tried to wave some smoke away, “Who is there?”

Before anyone could respond, Paul got punched in his gut as he flew away.

Alice had not even turned yet to look at Paul. The woman smiled as she toyed with her green energy sword, Paul tried to charge at the woman after getting up, but he got kicked to the side, the woman did not even turn to look at him.

Alice spawned a red sword, but she got punched and fell over and started moving backwards, The woman started to walk slowly towards her. “You've served your purpose, Alice, it is time, to dispose of you, the woman raised her sword, ready to cleave Alice in two.”

Alice closed her eyes as she realized, she was no match for this woman. The sword never hit her, but she heard a cling from two swords colliding. It was the man who had been guiding and protecting her, he had stopped the incoming sword, His sword looked like a special one. However, there was no time to inspect his sword, the man kicked the woman away. They started trading blows, it went too fast to even follow with the naked eye.

She felt Paul helping her up, the man used some kind of dark beam to hit the woman in her gut, she flew back, she stopped herself in midair while firing a green beam back. The man dodged it, but as Alice and Paul looked at where the beam went, they were shocked, it hit a mountain in the distance, it now had a gigantic hole in it. After a few minutes, the man had the upper hand and pushed the woman down.

She had been disarmed, and the man had his sword on her throat. “You will stop harassing Alice from this moment, she is under my protection!” The woman grabbed her sword and vanished through a portal, The man sheathed his sword and walked towards Alice.

When he stood before Alice, he looked at her, “Put down your tents, we are going to rest here.”

Neither Paul nor Alice dared to disobey a man that could defeat a woman in combat that could most likely vaporize a mountain. He removed his hood, Alice came closer to him. “You look familiar, she put her hand on his cheek. What is your name?”

He smiled, “My name is not necessary yet, for now, you can call me Rob.”

Alice moved her face closer, “Are you a friendly stalker?”

The man replied with a kiss, Alice reciprocated and swung her arms around Rob.

Paul looked at them, it was not what he had expected to happen.

Alice pulled back, “Well Rob, thank you for the timely rescue, now tell me, why do you save me when you wield the powers of darkness,” she pointed at his sword.

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He smiled, “Not everyone with darkness is evil, Alice, I am not like Steve.”

Paul looked at Alice, “What is going on here?” Paul walked towards Rob and Alice, “Show me your arm, Rob.”

Alice looked strangely at him, Rob obliged, he showed his robot arm.

Paul nodded, “I thought to have seen it while you were in combat.”

It was not long before a campfire had been lit, and the tents were set up, Alice sat next to Rob, she had put his head on her shoulder, she seemed oddly comfortable with him.

Rob sighed, “I am sorry, I should have helped in Brickton, I do not have my full power anymore. Otherwise, I would have killed the black slime before it destroyed Brickton.”

Paul looked at him, “Just who are you?”

“Just someone who has known Alice since she was a young lady.”

Alice looked at him, “You have not aged a day.”

He looked back at her with a smile, “I hope you do not mind that I am old.”

Alice kissed him again, making Paul very uncomfortable, “Is that answer enough?”

Rob looked at Paul, “Now it is time to get serious, look, Steve is indeed evil, it is your task to get him on the righteous path. You are going to need him and his companions.”

Alice looked at him, “Why do we need them?”

Rob sighed, “There is a bigger threat to this world, something that makes the shadow man look small in comparison, that woman, her name is Bella, she is a friend of mine.”

Both Alice and Paul looked shocked.

Rob sighed, “She believes it takes a different approach to stop this threat, I have been trying to convince her, that you guys, along with Steve, are the solution, not the problem. Let us hope, she understands it now.”

Alice put her hand on her chin, “You mean the void?”

Rob smiled, “I am tired, there are two tents, am I allowed to sleep in your tent, Alice?”

She nodded with a big smile on her face, Paul, disappeared into his tent.

Alice stood up together with Rob, she started kissing him, she stopped for a second, “I am uncertain if my heart belongs to someone else, Rob.”

“You mean Steve?”

She turned away while nodding, Rob turned her head back, “Your heart is free now, right?”

She looked at him, “Just who are you, Rob?”

“All will be revealed in due time,”

Alice nodded and took his hand while dragging him to her tent.

Alice and Rob were sitting in Alice’s tent, she removed his shirt, it was a quite plain shirt for such a strong person, she looked shocked for a moment, Rob turned away, “I am sorry if this does not please you.”

She took his right arm; However, it was covered in a purple dust—like substance. “What is this?”

Rob sighed, “It is a souvenir from the void that is coming to kill us all.”

“Does it hurt?”

Rob only nodded.

Alice felt drawn to the purple substance and touched it, then she felt enlightened, she could remember everything. She is not just some human, she is not even alone in her body, her age, it all came to her as if the dam broke. She feels a strong connection with the void, It is going to take some time to power up. Alice also started to remember just who Steve is.

Alice decided to play along, to gain more power, merge with her past and the other being inside of her, then she’ll make her move. Perhaps, she is not very different from Steve after all, her plan is to conquer this reality after all. She had made promises, but perhaps it is best to throw those out of the window. She needs some time to get her ducks in a row. Alice now looked at Rob’s chest, There is a metal rib cage, it is made from green material.

Alice regained her composure and spoke up, “Bella made this robot body for you?”

Rob nodded, “Yes, she saved my life, I am only at a small fraction of my power.”

Alice put her hand on the metal rib cage near his heart, “Are you even human?”

Rob shook his head. “No, I have never been human, neither have you been.”

Alice looked at him, “You are right,” Alice removed her shirt, “Nothing special here, just, mostly human,” she chuckled awkwardly.

Rob placed his hand on her chest, “You are wrong, you are the most special woman in all the realities.”

She looked at him while blushing. “Is everything, you know,” Rob knew what she wanted to ask, and he nodded.

That was all Alice needed to know as she kissed Rob, that kiss, eventually lead to more.

The next day, Alice came out of her tent, Paul waited, As he had cleaned up the camp site.

Rob also came out of the tent, His metal rib cage still revealed, along with his purple arm, Paul looked at him, “Seems Alice got naughty with the terminator.”

Alice blushed, “Stop it already.”

Paul laughed, Rob looked them over, he smiled. “Look, the three of us need to save Steve. When my true identity is revealed, he will call upon you, Bella, and I will make sure of that.”

Paul looked at Alice, “Bella is now on our side as well?”

Alice looked at Rob, “Yes, he ensured me that would be the case.”

Rob smiled, “When that time comes, you cannot tell Steve that you have already met me, it will stop us from bringing him to the light side.”

Everyone nodded in understanding.

Paul looked at him, “Will you travel with us?”

Rob shook his head. “No, but I will watch over you though, I need to help Steve, all I require is that you become stronger.”

Alice nodded and kissed him, Both Alice and Paul expected him to make a portal, instead, he sprouted wings, Pitch-black wings that were at least ten feet wide from the base of his back.

Alice smiled, “Holy crap, you can use those next time,” she had blurted it out before she could stop herself.

Rob laughed, “Next time, I will, Alice,” He bowed, and then he flew off.

Paul looked at Alice, “So you like terminators?”

Alice sighed and started packing up her tent.