******

I finish up and hop in the shower, washing away the dirt of the nights rest, and getting ready for the day. When done, I head downstairs and find Arthur sitting at the breakfast table, laptop in front of him, eating a muffin.

"Morning Arthur," I say. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, hi Tom. I'm trying to see if anyone knows about this Wedge guy you ran into." He pecks a few keys on the keyboard. "So far, no luck. It's like he doesn't even exist. But I'm still looking. The hero chat boards are peppered with the news of Omega's lack of power. Most of it's presented as rumor, kinda like a tabloid in the way it's perceived - which is good. If Omega's enemies knew he was a normal, he'd really be fucked!" He pauses and takes a bite out of his muffin. "The muffins are in the pantry, help yourself."

I walk to the pantry and grab a muffin - Blueberry, my favorite. I stuff one down to chase away the hunger I'm feeling and Arthur and I head out the door to the office.

We drop the top on his SC430 and in almost no time we're heading up and down the surreally steep hills of San Francisco, in about 30 minutes, we arrive at InVision. I run a hand through my hair undoing the wild look the convertible gave me as I step on the elevator to the 4th floor. I make my morning rounds saying all the obligatory "Hello's" and filling in the various co-workers on my extended weekend at my "parents". I use this cover story all the time. My parents live in San Jose - about 2 hours South of SF we're fairy close, so my visiting them is completely believable.

I settle in at my desk and fire up my computer to check my e-mail and start the day. I launch Outlook and scroll through my messages. Nothing special, staff meeting at 4:00, Dr. Magoyo finally sending me changes to the website I'm designing for him, comments about the interface I designed for another client.

"Hmmnnn... this is curious" I mutter to myself. I stare at a message with no header information, no subject and no sender information. I decide to check it out first, and my jaw hits the desk when I open it. Just six little words glowing at me from the electron excited phosphorus of my monitor. 6 little words that send a shock of fright down my spine.

"I know who you are. Wedge."

"Hey Tom, what's up?" Arthur speaks from the other end of the phone.

"Arthur, he's fucking with me." I manage to say calmly.

"Who is?" Arthur says

"That 12 foot Calamari," I say, my hand gripping the receiver tight enough to hear the plastic creak.

"We shouldn't talk about this on the phone Tom. Meet me at the coffee machine, and fill me in." I hang up the phone, print the e-mail and file the message under my "weird shit" folder and head over to the vending machines.

Arthur beats me to the machine and is standing there blowing steam from his Brazilian roast. I walk up to him and hand him the e-mail print out I made and drop two quarters into the machine and watch as the cup drops into the opening and fills with hot liquid. Since we're at the office, I try to maintain my composure, but inside I'm screaming, incidentally, so are the spirits - which makes it very difficult to think straight. Mostly they're pissed at me for being so careless. They're probably right. I reach down and grab my coffee from the "cup-o-joe" vending machine. Arthur breaks my uneasy silence.

"Is this still on the server?" He asks.

"Yeah." I reply looking around like a conspirator.

Arthur nods once "I'll get right on this, and incidentally, I'll erase this from the server to avoid any suspicion of you. This represents a security hole among other things." I sip on my coffee and ignore the burn my tongue is receiving, I'm too pissed to care. "Do you have any lunch meetings?" Arthur asks.

"No." I shoot back.

"OK, we'll get together then and I'll fill you in on anything I find. Head back to your desk and try to get some work done. I'll come get you at 11:30."

"Sure," I reply and wander back to my desk. I achieve very little in the way of work, I return a few phone calls and try to do my own digging on Wedge. I scan old newspaper archives for anything that might resemble the name Wedge, or any reference to octopuses or the like. Sadly, it's a waste of time. 11:30 rolls around and Arthur taps me on the shoulder.

"Come on." He says.

We walk to a small Chinese place for lunch, and I start in on Arthur.

"So?" I ask, "what were you able to dig up on my tentacled friend?"

"Not much I'm afraid Tom." Arthur sips his Coke "I mean it's really weird. I've checked every group I could think of, and no-one has any mention of 'Wedge' or anything fitting his description, Hell, I even hacked some FBI databases on metas, there's nothing. It's like he - it - doesn't exist."

"What about the e-mail?" I ask.

"Well, that's where it gets even weirder. I checked everything I could think of, and he was pretty thorough in covering his tracks, but I was ultimately able to determine where it came from."

I perk up at this news "Oh?" I ask, the first glimmer of hope jumping in my chest.

"Don't get so excited," Arthur says. "I told you this is the weirdest part. That email was generated from your computer Tom."

I slam my coke down on the table. "What?! So that bastard was on my frigging computer?! He was in my seat?!" A few restaurant patrons look uneasily at me.

"Calm down Tom, I didn't say he was in your seat, there are other ways he could have done this, but the message came from your machine and was sent through the server and back to it's source machine. When I get home tonight, I'll get on the meta chat rooms and see if anyone else has heard of him. Honestly that's looking like our best shot to find anything out anyway. Don't worry Tom, we'll find this bastard." Arthur finishes.

"And when we do, I'm gonna make sure he leaves me the fuck alone for good!"

We finish our lunches and head back to the office. The rest of my day is fairly uneventful, I manage to get some work done, and I settle down a lot. My initial anger is beginning to be replaced by curiosity. I have to hand it to him, Wedge is a fairly resourceful - whatever he is - Oh, planting a bug on me isn't that impressive, but tracking me to the office, and sending me e-mail from my own PC took some doing. Since he's not popping out and threatening me directly, I don't think he's out for blood. The question remains however, just what the hell is he out for? "Shit," I mutter, "maybe I've got a stalker." Suddenly I have a new perspective on how foolish my plan was to head to LA and fight Omega.

Around five o'clock Arthur stops by my desk and asks "You ready to go?" There's a concerned tone in his voice, and he places his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah," I reply. "Did you dig anything else up?"

"Nope he's something of an enigma really, I hope the chat boards turn up something on him"

"Me too." I say "I'm not as worried about him anymore Arthur, I was just really pissed this morning at the invasion of privacy. I'm curious why he's doing all of this, there has to be a reason."

"I know," says Arthur "That's what worries me."

With that, I power down my machine, and we head out. Traffic's pretty light for rush hour in SF, Arthur drops me off at my apartment and I thank him for everything and tell him to call me if he finds anything out. I head in and grab a beer, dropping myself onto my couch and stretching out. The spirits want me to practice, but I tell them to leave me alone, I've had too rough of a day and I just want to relax. Hell, I'm not even thinking about dinner.

I doze off during the news, and am roused from my sleep by the ringing of the phone, something doesn't feel right. I groggily pick up the phone - it's Arthur.

"Tom!!" He shouts into the receiver. "Something is very wrong here."

"Arthur? Are you ok?" I ask.

"No Tom, get over here fast!!" I hear a mechanical sound in the background, and Arthur gives out a little yelp, then the line goes dead. I snap fully awake and without even thinking about it, I'm on the roof and in the air. I race to Arthur's house and teleport into his kitchen ready to kick some serious ass if need be. The kitchen's empty, but I hear a crash from the living room. I head that direction, and when I round the corner, I see Arthur, he's standing on top of a chair, trying to reach his pixie costume with a broom, but it's just out of reach. I see his cell phone lying on the floor, it looks like it's been hit by a small electrical discharge, and surrounding it are about 8 of those mechanical spiders I saw in LA.

"Son of a bitch!" I say, the anger boiling up in me. Arthur looks my way, he seems alright, but very shaken.

"Tom! Help, those damn things just showed up out of nowhere and started frying things. That's when I called you, but they fried my phone!" He points a finger in the direction of his phone. "What the hell are they?"

The spider bots don't seem to have noticed me yet. I furrow my brow and unleash a bolt of Chi energy into one of the bots, it barely has time to register the hit before it explodes in half. The remaining spiderbots make a chirping noise, and I swear, I hear one of them say "Oh shit! They got Ralph!" almost in unison, the bots grab their fallen friend and begin walking away from Arthur. "Bullshit!" I say. I leap over to them and land squarely on one of them, crushing it. I pickup one of the others, and immediately wish I hadn't as it sends a charge of electricity into me. Not enough to really do any damage, but man does that sting! I respond by throwing it across the room and into the fireplace. It smashes upon the hearth and stops moving.

Arthur finds his courage and grabs a log from the wood basket on the hearth and begins bashing one of the retreating bots repeatedly muttering, "Stay out of my house!" the whole time.

I see one of the spider bots suddenly wink out of existence, another close on its heels.

"I don't think so!" I say running to where it's crawling. My hand wraps around its back, and I feel an odd, but familiar sensation. The room darkens, and suddenly I find myself standing on the beach again, spider bot in hand. I squeeze and the bot makes a popping noise as it crumples under my grip.

I spin around and see a familiar site. Wedge is standing there on the shore. He blinks what can only be described as an eye at me.

"That is quite enough, I think I have your attention," the calamari says in a normal human like voice. "I require your assistance." I notice that there are a dozen or so spiders on the sand around 'Wedge'. Two more are carrying pieces of one of the spiders I crushed.

"My assistance? Are you crazy you fucking giant squid?!" I drop the remains of the spider bot I have in my hand onto the sand. "Why the hell would I help you? First you invade my privacy by planting a bug on me, then you terrorize me at work, and now you've probably made poor Arthur wet himself. Fuck, at the very least you owe the man a new phone!" I clench and unclench my hands at my sides. I wonder how quickly he could react if I teleported onto his back and planted my foot up whatever he has that passes for an ass. The spirits are telling me I should listen to him, but my impetuous nature is telling me to clock this shithead and look for an island girl.

"Crazy...Yes. You will assist me when I need your help. You can be compensated, however any further damage to my xarrd's and I will seek someone better suited to assist me," Wedge says.

"What the hell is a xarrd?" I ask Wedge. I'm still not sure about this thing, but it seems to sincerely want my help for something. I decide to hear him out.

"Experimental Arachnid Repair and Recon Drone," Wedge replies.

"So you put that transmitter on me and followed me back to San Francisco because you need my help?" I ask. "You could have just asked me the first time we met, instead of pushing me out the door so quickly."

"Yes, I followed you, to determine how you found the entrance as well as to evaluate you. Just a moment, and we can resume our discussion." Wedge is silent for about ten seconds. "I have replaced your partners communications device, as you requested. Number one, continue the holo-matrix upgrades while Mr. Black and I discuss what I require his services for."

One of the spiders near Wedges tentacles beeps and a small voice is heard, "Ok troops, you heard Wedge, move out!" The spiders vanish into the foliage behind Wedge.

"That's just fucking creepy." I say as I watch the little spider bots wander off. "It's like that weird 80's movie that had Gene Simmons from KISS in it, you know, the one where he ends up with a grenade in his mouth at the end?" Wedge just looks at me and blinks of its eyes.

"Never mind," I say. "It was a dumb movie anyway." I look around, everything is exactly as I remembered it, beautiful white sand, even a light tropical breeze making the palm trees sway, I could get used to a place like this. I feel like I'm standing in a postcard, it's that perfect, the only thing missing are wild birdcalls.

"So, what do you need my help with? If you need a brochure to promote this place, I have a friend who can help you out," I joke. "For that matter, where exactly is here anyway?"

Wedge ignores my question and says "I require your assistance in case my creator contacts me. Three weeks ago he was taken. I was investigating if Omega would help me, however his current loss of power, nullifies that and requires that I seek an alternative. Since you are a meta and are giving off a strong energy signature, it is logical to assume that you would be able to assist me. If you agree, I can compensate you," Wedge makes several gestures with its tendrils. "In addition I can ensure that your identity remains concealed."

"Hmnnn... That sounds like a veiled threat, but since you have me at a disadvantage regarding my identity, I see no other option than to agree." I don't like the fact that this thing knows who I am, but there's very little I can do about it now. It seems like this is the smartest course of action...for now anyway.

Wedge blinks several times, "Threat. I have not threatened you. You do not wish to assist me? Would it make you more comfortable if a contract was created, humans tend to approach written contracts with more acceptance. I would be grateful for any assistance you can render to ensure my creator is no longer under the control of Mindshadow. Perhaps some information on this female would allow you to make a more informed decision?"

Talking to Wedge is a bit like talking to an ATM machine - a damned smart ATM, but an ATM nonetheless. It's very literal, and to the point, I could get used to that except my sense of humour seems lost on him somewhat. I glance over my shoulder and see Arthur standing in his living room. He's holding the log he was using to bash the spider bot and looking under his couch cushions very tentatively.

The spirits are intrigued by this situation. They're asking me to at least look into this scenario, and I have to admit, from what I've seen of Wedge, if nothing else, it might be nice to have him on my side should I ever need him.

"Ok Wedge," I say "I'm not sure I want to help you or not, but you do seem pretty sincere. Tell you what, fill me in on what exactly is going on and what you need from me and then I'll let you know if I'll help or not. Regardless of my decision though, I want your word that my little identity secret will stay a secret. If that's in question, then you and I can have it out right here on this lovely beach. If that's agreeable, then lead on squidboy and fill me in on this 'Mindshadow' and your creator." The spirits seem pleased by this decision.

Without saying a word Wedge shuffles off into the foliage, it seems to be following a small path. After a short stroll through the foliage, I come across a dome-like structure. It seems to be made out of some sort of crystalline substance, though I cant be sure what kind. "Damn, I should have paid more attention in ninth grade earth science," I mutter. As I approach, I notice Wedge waiting for me on the near side of the building. I notice a red light on him flash briefly, and a doorway appears and Wedge enters. Again I follow him.

The inside of the dome can only be described as a mad scientists workshop. I keep looking around for a Jacob's ladder with the signature arc of electricity buzzing up it's length. At any moment, I expect to see a hunchbacked freak named 'Igor' carrying a bubbling flask of some green liquid. It's eerily quiet in here, and I suppress the urge to shout 'It's alive!! alive!!'. In the center of the dome is some great spinning device with a railing around it, and curtain of energy surrounding it. Around the inner wall are several computers and miscellaneous electronics gear - Arthur would frigging love this place. In the back of the room is something that looks like a cross between a refrigerator and a microwave.

"Mr. Black, would you like any refreshments before we continue?" Wedge asks pushing a chair on wheels in my direction. I nod my head in a silent yes, still soaking in the atmosphere as I catch the careening chair.

Wedge ambles over to the refrigerator looking thing and punches at the buttons on the facade. It has a decidedly unnatural way of moving, very deliberate, and much faster than it should be able to; overall, it gives Wedge a very surreal aura. The machine Wedge is standing at makes a brief humming noise, and there is bright flash of light, and I smell a very familiar food suddenly. Yup, Arthur would love this place. He - I've become accustomed to thinking of Wedge as a male - returns to me with a tray balanced on one of his tentacles, and a glass of milk in the other. I'm somewhat surprised to find some incredibly good chocolate chip cookies piled high on the tray. I scarf down a few and drink the milk. Who would've guessed this thing was 'the happy homemaker'?

I take a seat and Wedge begins showing me various video feeds of - quite frankly - a pretty damn hot young woman. It takes about fifteen minutes to watch all the footage, but by the time I'm done watching, I'm wishing I had never laid eyes on this gorgeous hottie. I watch footage as she manipulates a group of metas and enters Purgatory Prime - a place I've never even seen, and hope to never be stuck in - as if she were directing a group of five year olds. After that, I see as she toys with the minds of several people who I recognize from the news as murderers of their own families, I realize the sick truth of their situations now. Finally, I get my first glimpse of Carl - Wedges creator, and his encounter with her. All around, she seems to equate to VERY bad news. I slug back the remains of my milk, and let out an audible "whew". I wonder how she'd react to the presence of so many minds in my head? I hope I never have to find out. I'm as cocky as they come, but how the hell do you defend against that kind of shit?

Wedge interrupts my pondering, "After reviewing the data, are you now ready to negotiate for your assistance?"

"If you want me to directly oppose her, toe to toe, you'd better be ready to offer me the world, and toss in an insane asylum to boot, cuz I'd have to be damn near nuts!" I offer for starters "However, you made no mention of her before, and so far you've been a pretty straight shooter with me, so I'm assuming you want my help with Carl? What can I do?"

"Initial encounter with you, indicates you are able to fight and have enhanced strength and speed. You also possess the ability to throw some type of energy that is unknown and not in my database. I need your assistance to ensure that Tween, my creator, if he contacts me is not under her control. However to do that I would need to examine him in detail. Since Tween helped design me and the facilities here, it would be unwise for me to attempt to incapacitate him, since he may have codes to disable me or damage the facility." Wedge says walking to the refrigerator thing again.

"Even if you do not wish to confront Tween on the possibility that she may show up, your advice would be appreciated. As for compensation, Tween created one of these several months ago and gave it to a meta, as a joke. Perhaps you might find it as amusing as he did." Wedge presses some buttons again on the top of the device. There is another flash and Wedge pulls something from the same place the cookies and milk came from. He then shuffles over and places what looks like a gold metal disk on the table.

I look at the gold disc nonimpressed and reach into my pocket and create a duplicate of the coin and place it on the table next to the one Wedge dropped. "You mean these?" I question with a grin "I can make these in my sleep, I'll tell you what," I say to the oversized squid, as strange as this scene seems, I'm really starting to like this metallic shroom. He's straightforward as hell, almost childlike in some ways, but certainly not to be taken lightly. "If you'll keep whatever it is that you use to speak with shut about who I am, I'll help you out for nothing," I continue. "I've never really considered myself a gun for hire, but if the guy who made you could be under the control of that bitch, I sure as hell want to make sure he's out of commission. That's all I need in my life - or anyone else's for that matter - is that little tart poppin' in and outta lives through your portals."

I look up at Wedge as he scoots back to where I'm standing and try to do my best Godfather imitation, complete with Marlon Brando's squinty eyes. "But one day, I may call upon you, and ask a favor." Wedge blinks down at me in non-comprehension, ok, so it's not the best impression in the world.

"As to what you should do," I say. "Well, if it were me - and it is, I'd say we need to incapacitate this Carl guy. He seems to be a pretty capable fighter, I didn't really get to see much of him from that recording you had though, does he have any weaknesses?"

Wedge is silent for a moment, as if weighing the situation. "You do not require compensation? I don't think I understand. You will help, but only if I do not talk about who you are?" Wedge blinks in curiousity. "Tween can be neutralized, but I do not think that you alone would be able to incapacitate him so that I may examine him. As to weaknesses, he is reliant on nanite technology."

"Nanites?" I say curiously. I remember reading about them while pretending to work one day. Pretty out there technology, I wasn't aware that anyone had actually created them though. "You mean like tiny little robots?"

Wedge nods in acknowledgement.

"I'm pretty sure I can take out Tween if you can find some way to knock out his nanite technology. Is there some way you can disable them? Maybe a low level EMP would put 'em out of commission? Otherwise, I may need some help, but I doubt it."

"I also do not have any way to defend against Mindshadow, what would you suggest be done if she is present and Tween contacts me?" Wedge says. This just keeps getting better.

A spider bot on a thin glistening line drops from the ceiling near Wedge. There is what sounds like a high-speed modem and it then climbs back up the line to the ceiling. Above, a number of bots are transversing lines, walking along the ceiling, and moving through small holes in the dome.

"Those things are creepy," I tell Wedge as I point to the mass of bots on the ceiling. "As to the girl, if she shows up, I just might ask her out!" I joke. "Seriously though, I'm not sure, She may be confused by the nature of my multiplicity, but I sure as hell don't want to rely on that. Frankly, I'd rather avoid her if at all possible, I sure as hell don't want her poking around in my head, it might scare her. In all honesty, I'm less worried about taking this Tween guy out, if it was just a tussle with him, I'd be fairly confident on my own, but if she's gonna be there, I wouldn't mind a little backup. who'd you have in mind?"

"A friend, but I have not yet asked him if he will help." Wedge says. "Your partner is looking for you."

"Ok," I say. "Talk to your friend and see if he'll help us out, in the meantime, I'll talk with Arthur and see if he has any bright ideas on this. By the way, when are you planning on tackling Tween? I do have a job to consider after all."

"When Tween contacts me is when I would need your assistance. Let me transport your wife here, and you can talk to her." Wedge shifts a tendril into the base of the device in the middle of the room. There is a blue shimmering and Arthur suddenly materializes, facing away from Wedge. He's also wearing his pixie costume, and it's all I can do to keep myself from laughing aloud.

"What the hell?" Arthur manages, "Spirit, where the hell am I!?" Arthur asks, seeing me.

Arthur's Purple Pixie costume has never been what I would call 'manly' It's basically a skin tight pale purple body suit, it's gotta be extra worldly in origin, because the material is extremely tough. If it were worn on a sexy babe, it would be pretty damn nice, but Arthur's semi-rounded middle just doesn't look right packed into it. To make it worse, it's topped off with 2 sets of paired gossamer wings that flap at a very high speed by some unknown means that give him the ability to fly. Arthur said he'd 'butched it up' but I seriously question his definition of 'butch' now. He's managed to paint a few stripes onto it, making him look like a retarded purple bumblebee. Whatever paint he used isn't adhering to the suit worth a damn either, and it seems to be smudging as he wears it.

"What the hell happened to you?" I ask as I walk over to him. En route, I happen to notice that there's something glittering on the shoulders of the suit. "What's this crap?" I ask as I grab a short 1" spike that he's apparently super glued to the costume, it snaps off at my touch.

I turn to Wedge puzzled "What do you mean you'll get my wife? I'm not married"

Arthur turns to see who I'm talking to and upon seeing Wedge, lets out a little shriek, it just adds to his girly appearance, and I further stifle my laughter. Arthur's wings begin to flap, almost on instinct alone, and he raises off the ground toward the ceiling. He quickly bumps his head against one of the xardds and it drops onto his shoulder causing further panic and he quickly knocks it off of him. It falls toward the ground, but before striking, it fires out a thin polymer web line to the ceiling and breaks its fall swinging effortlessly to the wall, where it begins crawling back toward the ceiling again.

"Stupid human," it sounds like it mumbles as it crawls back into the group above.

Arthur regains some of his composure, and returns to the ground, careful to land behind me with his hands on my shoulders as if somehow he could use me as a shield if Wedge decided to eat him.

"Wife?" Arthur asks, as puzzled as I am.

"Is she not your companion?" Wedge asks in a curious tone. "Isn't it the female who makes the money?"

A sharp laugh escapes as Wedge asks his question, and I turn over my shoulder to look at Arthur. His face has turned bright red and he looks really pissed off - or at least as pissed off as a guy in skintight pale purple can look.

"What the hell?" Arthur starts in on Wedge. I smirk at him saying, "Well Arthur, you do have fairly nice manbreasts you know"

"Go to hell Tom!" he replies. "Look Mr. Wedge, I don't know who taught you the birds and the bees, but they did a really shitty job!" Arthur says. I can't control my laughter any longer and decide to let these two hash it out amongst themselves. While they banter back and forth about the details of anatomy I decide to acquaint myself a little better with Wedge's 'Mad Scientist' hut. It's straight out of a sci-fi flick, there are all kinds of gizmos and widgets. The xaards scurry this way and that each carrying out their individual tasks for some greater good. They seem capable of speaking English when they want to, but when they communicate with each other, or wedge, they emit the same muffled modem noise I heard when one 'spoke' to Wedge.

After I've looked around for a few minutes, I return to Wedge and Arthur, Arthur's discussing the third trimester of pregnancy with a silent and enthralled Wedge now. They seem to have worked out the whole guy/girl issue at least.

"Ok gentlemen" I say. "I'm sure this is all fascinating, but we really do need to discuss the matter at hand."

"What matter?" Arthur asks.

Wedge and I fill him in on Tween and Mindshadow, and my agreement to help out, and his reaction is similar to mine upon seeing the footage. "Count me in!" He pipes up.

"No way Arthur." I say. "No offense, but this girl is far too dangerous, if there's any chance that she's still poking around in Tween's mind, I don't want you anywhere near this." He begins to object, but I intervene "I don't want to hear it Arthur. I've got multiple minds in here." I say as I tap my noggin "It may at least slow her down if she decides to drop by for a little visit into the dark and twisted mind of Tom Black. The last thing I need is you pounding on me if she's around, this is a solo op."

He silently agrees, and for a moment, none of us speak. Arthur breaks the silence. "I can see what I can dig up on her online. I'll see if there's any mention of this Tween guy too, any info we can get will only help out. Besides, maybe I'll find some information on how we can disable the nanites to give you an edge Tom."

I agree with him, and then turn to Wedge "Talk to your friends, see if they're willing to help out, and let me know."

"I will once he is available, I also would recommend not drawing attention to your self online. Several queries on Prometheus have been traced, unlike you, I can change my point of entry into the internet. Now I must return this sword and ruby to the museum before it is missed."

"Hey isn't that the Kiro-o katana?" Arthur asks "I read it was on loan to the MOMA, what the hell are you doing with it?" Arthur asks.

"I borrowed it to replicate the ruby in the pomel, however, I seem to have misplaced the original gemstone. What is in the museum is a replica. I will return it once I figure out where the original gemstone went." Wedge says while looking around the area.

I have to be honest, I'm not into that artsy crap, but this sword is pretty damn badass. It's the kind of Katana that has a blade made from steel that's been folded 200 times, the artistry is so great, that even I'm impressed. Arthur on the other hand is trying very unsuccessfully to not drool.

"Well, Arthur, we should be getting back, it's getting late," I say. "Wedge, which way is the door?" I ask.

"Door? What door?" Wedge asks.

"You know, the exit."

"Oh," Wedge says. He makes a motion and suddenly there's a soft blue glow in front of Arthur and I, and then I'm looking back into Arthur's great room.

"We're gonna have to talk about how you do that someday," Arthur says.

Arthur steps through the portal and back into the 'real' world, and I'm close behind him. Wedge calls out behind me, "What should I do if I can't find a way to disable the nanites? Or if the girl shows up?"

"I don't know, build a laser, that's your problem," I say with a wink. "Contact me when you need my help." With that, I step through the portal, and back into Arthur's home. I plop down onto his sofa and Arthur sits in the oversized chair facing me.

"We got our work cut out for us." He says with a sigh, and a bit of concern in his voice.

"Wrong Arty" I say "You got your work cut out for you, I'm just gonna beat the guy up. You two have to figure out how to make him stay down." I say smiling.

"Who do you think he'll get to help out?" Arthur says.

"Beats me, maybe Omega." I say. "Then I can tell him I'm sorry for crapping up his house."

Arthur throws a leftover xaard leg at me. "So, what's with the fucking spikes?" I ask in reference to Arthur's costume. He just scowls at me.

"Go to hell Tom, I think they're tough looking!" he says.

"Sure they are," I say with a grin. "But they're tearing up your furniture."

Arthur leaps to his feet and inspects the new hole his costume just punched into his chair "Son of a bitch!" he says. I just laugh, the stress of being stalked finally breaking away from me. I'm starting to feel like my old self again. I clap Arthur on the back, knocking a few more spikes to the ground in the process.

"You really should get those things off of there" I joke.

"You really should go home!" Arthur's replies with a smile

"Fine, Fine, I can take a hint. But see if I ever invite you to an extradimensional space again to meet with a giant squid about saving his mindfucked buddy from himself." I shoot back.

Arthur just laughs. "Ok Tom, I'm going to bed, see yourself out," he says.

I tell him goodbye and drop a few more jabs about his pixie costume and make my way to the door.

The cool evening air feels good on my face as I take to the skies and head home. It's been quite a couple of days, I'm a bit unsure of how the fight with Tween will go, but I'm confident nothing stupid will be done before we have a way to disable him. At least I hope not. When I get to my apartment, I land on my rooftop, and enter the building through a service door, creating the necessary key to unlock it and then returning to my street clothes as I enter the building. I walk to my apartment and head in. Things like this need to be done from time to time to preserve my anonymity, I didn't used to think about it, and would simply teleport in, but once, I had a nosey neighbor accuse me of being a shut-in, rather than deal with that stigma, I use the more traditional route from time to time.

I fall into bed and quickly drift into sleep thinking of the beautiful, but deadly, woman I saw on the video footage. "What a shame," I mumble as I roll over and fall asleep.
 

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