Dear Diary,

It's been a while, but there's a lot to catch up on. I guess I'll start at the beginning.

It started about two years ago. Seems like yesterday. Me, Quinn, Remmy, and a new girl, Maggie (I'll tell you about her later) were tracking down this guy, Rickman. He had a timer that could get us home.

The Professor had died a few months earlier, and I couldn't stand it. Everyone seemed to forget about him.

Combine that with Quinn's new pet bimbo, and my life was going down hill fast.

Anyway, we tracked Rickman to one Earth, and cornered him. I won't go into detail, but me and Remmy were pushed into his vortex by Quinn. We were on our way home. But Quinn couldn't leave Maggie behind. He was supposed to track us to Earth Prime, but he never showed.

I've spent the past two years hating him for not sliding with us.

Me and Remmy got to Earth Prime… or, at least, what we thought was Earth Prime. But, I'll get to that in a minute.

We slid to Los Angeles. Just a few blocks from the Chandler. We waited for weeks, but Quinn and Maggie never came. I guess they lost our signal or something. Maggie probably did it on purpose.

We got jobs at the hotel while we waited. We didn't call home. We thought we'd wait for Quinn to break the news to our families. We talked about a huge party. Remmy would sing, and I'd try to pretend that I knew how sliding worked around all of the scientists. But I guess that'll have to wait.

After a few weeks, I saw a vortex open. It looked funny, but I though that Quinn might have done something to the timer. Boy, was I wrong. Instead of Quinn and Maggie, I watched as about a hundred Kromagg soldiers cam out. A few more vortexes opened in the sky, and their ships came out. I yelled to Remmy, and we tried to fight them off. We did pretty good for a while. We had a while squad at the Chandler. Then things changed. Big time.

The two of us were caught by Kromaggs. We were taken to a prison. I spent about a week in one of their mind penetration chambers. Remmy got it worse. They made him think that Quinn had come to save the day. But it was all a trick. They did it over and over. Day after day. Every time, Remmy thought that it was really happening. That Quinn had come to save us. I couldn't stand it.

Then a few days alter, a group of 'Maggs came for me. They told me that I was being taken to a Kromagg breeding camp. I thought I was going to be sick. I mean, it's hard enough just looking at them.

Remmy tried to fight for me. He ended up with the butt of a rifle smacking against his head. I yelled for him as they pulled me out of there. But he didn't answer.

I was taken onto one of their ships, and put in a cell with a few other girls. We were set to leave for the camp in four hours. About three hours later, there was a loud crash. The ship started to lean to one side. I thought we were crashing. Then one of the guards was hit by a bolt of light, and went down.

Then I saw a face I never thought I'd see again.

"Professor?" I said. (Okay, I put that one in for dramatic reading. But, don't be a whiny diary)

The Professor opened the cell, and let us out. The rest of the girls hijacked the ship, but me and the Professor just got the hell out of there. We managed to ste… barrow one of the Kromagg timers, before we left.

When we got down to the ground, we hid in an old abandoned house. After the Professor explained to me how, that time we were on an Earth that was almost exactly just like ours, his double slid instead of ours.

I never could understand why his double never acted evil when we were sliding with him, or why he took a bullet for Quinn, but I was happy to hear that our Professor was alive. He told me how he learned of me and Remmy being on this Earth, and saved me. He also said that he's been trying to find a way to meet back up with us for over a year.

After we talked, we tried to find Remmy. But, I regret to say that we failed. We never gave up hope. But we had to try to find Quinn, and yes, even Maggie.

So we used the Kromagg timer to slide out of there. We spent the past couple years trying to find the others. We even went back to "Azure World" as I call it. (named after the color of their Golden Gate Bridge) But we couldn't find them, and Marta, one of my new friends was dead. Things weren't looking good. I wanted to stay. To help out. But the Professor told me that we needed to go. So we did.

But now we have a plan… Gotta go. Professor's calling me. More later,

--- Wade (May 3, 1999)

Wade had locked herself in the bathroom to make an entry in her diary. There wasn't much privacy at the Motel 12.

"Coming!" Wade yelled from the bathroom.

The door opened, and she came out. She put on her yellow coat, and walked to the Professor. He was holding the alien timer. The timer that they'd been using for the past two years.

"Three… two… one…" The Professor counted with the timer.

He pointed the timer at the other side of the room. A beautiful red light filled the room as the vortex opened.

"Shall we?" The Professor said with a smile over the loud vortex.

She gave him a nod, as he jumped into the vortex. No matter how many times she saw him, she couldn't help but smile. The Professor was alive!

She brushed a strand of her shoulder-length, black hair behind her ear, and jumped into the vortex.

The tunnel was different than the ones she used before. It was darker, and colored a bloody red. She didn't enjoy this one as much as the others. It scared her.

As she flew out of the vortex, and onto Arturo, the air around her turned cold. Wherever they were, it was winter.

"Every time! Every single time!" Arturo shouted, referring to her landing on him.

"Sorry, Professor. Those tunnels don't come with steering wheels." she replied.

"Yes, well, could you at least wear softer clothes?"

Wade smiled at that.

"Where do you think we are?" she asked.

Arturo stood up, and looked at the timer.

"I'm not sure, but wherever it is, we're here for three days." he told her.

"Let's just hope that they have what we need." Wade said indicating to a backpack that the Professor was carrying.

Their plan.

Quinn got up and brushed himself off, "I set the vortex to stay within three feet of the timer."

"Can you do that?" Colin asked, helping Maggie up.

"Looks that way." Quinn replied with a smile.

"So what does this world hold in store?" Remmy said, sarcastically.

"Whatever it is, it will involve the Chandler. Look." Maggie said, pointing with her head.

Quinn looked behind Colin, and saw the hotel.

"How convenient." Remmy joked.

"I thought this thing was supposed to be able to go someplace else." Quinn joked.

They started walking toward the hotel.

"I don't care what got us here, I'm just happy we're here. I didn't eat on that last world." Rembrandt commented.

"Fourteen hours, seventeen seconds." Quinn replied to the unasked question.

"How long till the slide?" Maggie asked, "Oh. Never mind then." she smiled.

"How'd you know she was gonna ask that?" Colin asked.

"Hey, I lived with her for fifty years. I know everything." Quinn joked.

"Yea, in other words, it's the first question asked on every world we slide to." Remmy told Colin.

They walked into the Chandler, and went to the front desk.

"Excuse me." Maggie said to the man behind the counter.

The man had his back to them. He had brown, curly hair tied behind his head. He turned around.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Quinn smiled, "Conrad Bennish Jr." he said.

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" Bennish replied.

"We haven't seen you for years." said Remmy with a grin on his face.

"What's going on?" Colin asked Maggie.

"Don't look at me. I'm new too, remember?" she replied, keeping her eyes on Bennish.

"No. I'm sorry. We thought you were someone else." Quinn said, still smiling.

Bennish squinted his eyes.

"Wait a minute." Bennish said, "Quinn? Quinn Mallory?" he smiled.

"Yea. You know me?"

"Duh. We went to school together. Where've you been?" Conrad asked.

Quinn looked at Remmy.

"We've been in Europe. Backpacking." Remmy said, making it up as he said it.

"Who are you?" Bennish asked him.

"Quinn, what's going on?" Maggie asked.

"We need a room." Quinn told him.

"Man. Do your parents know you're home? They went Peck when you disappeared." Bennish said.

"Peck?" Maggie asked.

"Psycho. Named after a television producer who ruined every show on TV. He was best known for adding Klingons to 'I Love Lucy' and 'Gilligan's Iceland'." Bennish filled in.

"Man, for a second there, I thought we might be home." Remmy said.

"I thought you found your home." Colin said.

"Well, I never give up hope." Remmy told him, throwing his jacket onto one of the beds.

Quinn jumped onto one of the other beds, and closed his eyes.

"So, what do we do now?" Maggie asked.

"Let's see. No Kromaggs in site. No evil doubles. No mad scientists. I'd say we're right back where we were a week ago." Remmy replied.

Quinn laughed. Not at what Remmy said, but at something else.

"What?" Colin asked, pulling up a chair.

"I was just thinking of the time we were stuck on nudist world for a week." Quinn said.

Remmy laughed.

"What happened?" Maggie asked, also smiling.

"I just got back from a visit to the astral plane. We slid to a world where cloths were illegal." Quinn told her.

"You should have seen the Professor. He bolted for city limits faster than anything I've ever seen." Remmy chuckled.

They sat in silence for a moment.

"Where'd you keep you money?" Colin finally asked.

"Slow down, would you?" Arturo yelled to Wade, who was walking very quickly.

"Sorry, Professor." Wade replied, "It's just… something about this place seems familiar."

"How would you know? Almost every world we've ever been to looks like this." Arturo said, finally catching up.

"It's just a feeling, I guess. Something about the smell, or something."

Arturo took a deep breath, "Smells as smoggy as any other world."

"Look." Wade said, pointing to a nearby building.

An the side of the building, there was a machine.

"It looks like an ATM." Arturo told her.

"No. Look closer." she replied.

Arturo took a closer look.

"Look familiar?" Wade asked, stopping in the road.

"It can't be." Arturo said.

They walked closer to the machine, slowly. As they got closer, Wade saw a sign that confirmed her thoughts.

A man walked up behind them and approached the machine.

"Dod McRoal. Sixteen forty-one, Hickory Lane. Three thousand dollars." the man said into the machine.

The machine dealt out an assorted mix of bills, and the man picked them up. He looked at Wade and Arturo, "I like to roll big. The chances of winning are better." he said to them.

"Oh, God." Arturo said.

The man with the money walked away.

"If this is the same world… do you think they're still looking for me?" Wade asked.

Arturo composed himself, "Let's hope not."

"We gotta get out of here." Wade told him.

"Calm down, Ms. Welles. The chances of you being recognized are minimal to say the least." Arturo assured her, "And that's only if this is the same world."

"You're right. I mean, there could be lots of worlds with a lottery like this. Worlds where I didn't win, and almost get killed." Wade said.

"I don't need a recap. I was there." Arturo told her.

They walked away from the lottery machine, and down the road.

"Don't need to yell at me." Wade said as they walked.

Toy stores, tool stores, kitchen supply stores, and most importantly, stores that supplied computer accessories. That's where Arturo needed to be. He needed micro chips. Under ideal circumstances, he'd design the chips himself. But he'd need more time, and lots more money to get them made. So he decided to try using computer supplies. He'd seen several new kinds of memory chips on other worlds. He could use one of them. Of course it wouldn't be a day in the life of Maximillion Arturo if there wasn't some sort of breaking and entering involved, and as luck would have it, he needed prototype chips from the college lab nearby.

"Wow. Computers sure have changes since I worked around them. Super Slims, and DVD, and…holo-imaging devices? That one's new." Wade said to Arturo as they walked through the store.

"Ms. Welles, I'm terribly sorry, but I don't have time for chit chat. I'm in a hurry here." Arturo responded.

Wade stopped walking. Arturo took a couple more steps before noticing it, but as soon as he did, he turned around.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm getting sick of this." Wade started.

"I mean, I know you're under pressure and everything, but do you have to yell at me so much?" she continued.

"Must we do this now?" Arturo asked.

"Yes. Look. I know I'm not Quinn. I can't help you with the sliding stuff, and I understand that it might be too much for you to do alone, but I'm sick of this." Wade said.

Only a few people turned in their direction. On Earth Prime it would have been a lot more. Suddenly, the Professor was glad that they weren't home.

"Do you think that I can't do this? That I've been working for three years on this device only to have it fail? Is that how much you trust me?" Arturo asked.

They'd both been overworked the past few days. Both were tired. They both knew that the other didn't mean it.

"You know that's not true." Wade replied.

"Well, then what is it?"

"I just want things to go back to normal." Wade said, almost crying.

"Maybe not even normal. I don't mind the sliding. I don't mind the Kromagg dynasty. I just want my friends back, and I'm tired of feeling so useless when it comes to getting them here." she finished.

Arturo walked to her, and hugged her.

"I know how you feel. I felt the same way for a while. But we will get them back. Or we'll die trying." he told her.

Wade wiped a tear from her face, and they continued walking down the isle. After a moment, a store clerk approached them.

"Can I help you find something?" the clerk asked.

This clerk looked very familiar to Wade. Something about her voice.

"Yes, I'm looking for the newest version of the Mycrostiff memory chips. I believe it's the 051 model." Arturo said.

Wade just looked at the clerk. Then she noticed the name tag.

"Mary." Wade said to herself.

Mary looked at her, "Do I know you?"

"No. I just went to high school with a girl named Mary. Your name tag gave me a flashback." Wade replied with a smile.

A flashback to her first Kromagg encounter.

"I'll go check the storage room." Mary said, and walked through a nearby door.

Wade leaned toward the Professor.

"We have to get out of here. Now." she said.

"Why?" Arturo asked.

"That woman, the clerk. That's the same woman who we met when we first encountered the Kromaggs. She's a Kromagg worker." Wade told him.

Although Mary seemed to help the sliders out before, Wade later learned something quite different. Mary had been the one who'd beaten Wade in the Kromagg prison.

"Ms. Welles… Wade, I assure you that this cannot be the same woman. She is only a double of the woman you know." Arturo said in a comforting voice.

"I know. But, I can't look at her. She gives me goose bumps." Wade said swallowing deeply.

Arturo looked into her eyes, "Look. Why don't you go to the Dominion and get a room. I'll be there shortly."

Wade nodded. She walked out of the store, and down the street. As Arturo watched her, he felt a knot in his stomach forming.

Wade walked through the lobby of the Dominion Hotel. She didn't have anything to do now but wait… as usual. Behind the counter, a thin blond woman who Wade had never seen before gave her a smile as Wade approached her.

"Need a room?" the woman asked.

"Yea. Two beds, please. My father's on his way." Wade said returning the smile.

"Okay, that'll be twenty-one eighty per night." the blond lady told her, reaching for the room key.

Wade thought that the room was cheap. This was a nice hotel. But then again, if anyone could just walk up to a machine and get as much money as they wanted, maybe money didn't mean that much here.

Wade took the key from the woman, and finished signing in. Then she went to the room.

After she left, the woman behind the desk grabbed a binder from one of the drawers. She opened it quickly, and flipped through hundreds of papers. Then she spotted it.

"Wanted: Wade Welles." She said quietly to herself.

She reached for the phone.

They needed new cloths, food, money, and other supplies. Colin involuntarily volunteered for the job.

As he walked down the street toward the local shopping center, he watched the people. You can tell a lot about a world by the way the people act, and walk. This world seemed normal. Well, as normal as anything else Colin had seen in the past few months.

He walked into the first store on his list. A clothing store. He hated this part. If he got the wrong style, Remmy wouldn't let him hear the end of it. If he got Maggie a shirt that was too baggy, she'd have a stroke, and if Quinn had to wear another on of those tight t-shirts, he said he would… what was the word? Oh yea, hurl.

Colin didn't know what "hurl" meant exactly, but Maggie said it had something to do with throwing up.

As he walked through the store looking at the cloths, he noticed a woman looking at him. He didn't stare, he just kept browsing. He was used to people staring at him. It was as much a part of sliding as the timer.

Then she started walking toward him. He didn't know if he'd broken a law, or accidentally knocked something over, so he just tried to look natural.

"Can I help you?" she asked with what sounded like a British accent.

"No thank you, I'm just looking." He said, trying to act normal.

"Let me know if you change your mind. My name is Mary." She said, then walked off.

Colin watched her go. She looked so familiar.

"Sorry guys, I have this bed to myself." Quinn said stretching out on one of the beds.

"No fare. Two beds, four people." Maggie said, picking up a pillow.

"Sorry. You'll just have to live with it. I'm the leader of this gang, and what I say goes." Quinn said jokingly.

"Leader?" Maggie asked bringing up the pillow.

"Let him have it, girl." Remmy said from the other bed.

There was a knock at the door. Maggie looked at Quinn and Remmy, and decided that they weren't getting up to answer it, so she did. She walked to the door and opened it only a little.

"Yes?" she said to the person outside.

Bennish pushed open the door, and walked in. Two other people followed him.

Quinn, Remmy, and Maggie all stopped dead as they saw the two other people.

"These are your roommates." Bennish said to them, "This is Mr. Rickman, and his wife…"

"Wade." Remmy said startled.

"Oh… my… God." Maggie blurted without realizing it.

"Excuse me?" asked the alternate Wade.

"I'm sorry. For a second, you looked familiar." Maggie covered up.

Wade smiled. Quinn couldn't move. He hadn't seen that smile in so long, and now when he did, it was attached to a woman married to one of their worst enemies.

"I hope we didn't interrupt. We just came to drop off out bags, and then we'll be gone until later tonight." Rickman said, smiling.

"No problem." Remmy told him.

Bennish left, and the new arrivals left their bags, and followed him. Quinn sat up in his bed. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't see anything. Just her face. Then a hand on his shoulder.

"Quinn?" came Maggie's voice.

Quinn looked up at her. His face totally emotionless. He couldn't answer her. All he could manage to do was walk to the bathroom and close the door. As soon as he was alone, he reached under his shirt and pulled out a necklace. The necklace that Wade had left him. He hadn't taken it off since he got it. And now all he could do was look at it, and promise himself that he wouldn't forget.

Wade hadn't left the room all day. She sat in front of the television, but didn't see what was on it. All she could think about was Mary. The face she'd seen in her nightmares. The face that haunted her for two years.

A noise from outside. Then more noises from the hall.

Wade knew these sounds. They'd happened on other Earths. The police were here.

"Oh no." she said to herself.

A knock at the door.

"Wade Welles?" asked the voice of a man.

Wad put on her best Spanish accent and yelled back, "Sorry, no Wade here. Only Anna."

She knew it wouldn't work, but she had to try. There was no use in trying to jump out the window. It was the kind that didn't open. And keeping quiet would only have made them angrier.

The door broke open. A group of men in uniforms rushed into the room.

"Freeze!" one of them yelled.

Another one grabbed her by the arm, and threw her to the bed. She thought her arm was broken it hurt so bad. And the old mattress had more than it's share on bulging springs.

"Wade Wells, you are hereby under arrest under the charges of fraud, and conspiracy to rob the state. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" asked the main cop.

"Would it help if I told you that I'm not from around here?" Wade started.

"No." the cop said.

"Really. I'm from another dimension. Me and… myself found a way to travel, to… to slide between dimensions." Wade told him.

She was hoping for an insanity case.

"Tell it to the Judger." The cop said, cuffing her.

After they had her secured, they yanked her off the bed, and pushed her out the door.

"I'm from another Earth!" she yelled insanely, as they dragged her outside.

She had been arrested so many timed by now that she just decided to have fun with this one. After all, it couldn't hurt. Quinn would have her out of here in no time.

A tear formed in her eye. She just remembered that Quinn wasn't here.

As they pulled her out of the building, and put her into the van, Wade saw the Professor walk up to the hotel. He watched her as the doors closed.

The only message she could sent was mouthing the words "Save Them".

The van doors closed, and soon she was gone.

Arturo had lived this moment at least a dozen times. Watching his friend get hauled away by some people who he was never intended to know. Still, it never got easier. As he watched Wade fade in the distance, he knew that this was not going to be easy. He had to get what he needed to save Quinn and Mr. Brown, and now, he had to save Wade too.

He decided not to go into the hotel. He wasn't sure if he was a wanted man on this world. After all, he did aid an in the escape of not one, but two lottery winners. He decided that he should probably find another place to stay. He turned around slowly, so he wouldn't be noticed by anyone in the crowd, and started back down the road. He had arrangements to make.

"Hey, Q-Ball! You okay in there?" the Cryin' man yelled through the bathroom door.

"I'm fine. I just need some time alone." Quinn yelled back.

"Hey, I understand, man." Remmy started, "But listen. We slide in twelve hours. Me and Maggie are gonna meet Colin in the lobby and get some food. You wanna come?"

"I'll stay here." Quinn said through the door in a voice that was barely loud enough to hear.

"We'll be back in about an hour or two then." Remmy told him.

Rembrandt backed away from the door. He'd never seen Quinn act like this. He was worried.

"Should we leave him here?" Maggie asked.

"I don't think we have a choice. He needs to work through this alone." Said Remmy, putting his hand on her shoulder.

They walked out of the room, and down to the lobby. After a while, Colin came through the front doors. He was carrying two bags full of cloths.

"I guess my card works on this world." Remmy said to Maggie with a smile.

Colin saw them, and walked over.

"Where's Quinn?" he asked.

Maggie looked at her feet, then back at Colin, "Quinn's in the room. He needs some time alone."

"Why? What happened?" Colin asked starting to worry.

Maggie didn't answer. Remmy had to step in.

"Remember that girl, Wade, we told you about?"

"Yea. She used to slide with you." Colin answered.

"That's right. Well, we saw a double of hers here, and Quinn didn't take it too well." Remmy finished.

"Is he okay?" Colin asked.

"Yea. He's fine. Just workin' through some emotions, that's all." Remmy said.

Maggie lifted her head again, "I'm worried more about who Wade was with."

Colin just got a look on his face that asked the question on his mind.

"Good ol' Rickman himself." Maggie told him.

"The man who you had an affair with, and who killed Professor Arturo, and who used brain fluid to stay alive?" Colin asked.

"Yea. Something like that." Maggie answered.

"Why are you worried about him? I thought you killed that scum a year ago?" Remmy asked.

"We did." Maggie said, "I just never saw the body."

"But I thought he fell off as cliff." Remmy said, starting to worry.

"He did. And I'm sure he's dead. I guess I'm just worried. What if this Rickman is as bad as the last one?" Maggie asked.

"No. Wade wouldn't marry a fool like that." Remmy said.

"Not our Wade, anyway." Maggie said.

Although, Maggie did get a quick thought of Wade doing it just to piss her off. But Maggie knew that she would never really do it.

"Let's go get some food." Maggie said.

It had been a half hour since Maggie and Rembrandt left the hotel room. Quinn had stayed in the bathroom. It was the only place that he felt totally alone.

He heard the hotel door open and close. He figured that they must have gotten take-out. But he was wrong.

The door knob rattled. Someone was trying to get in.

"Sorry." Said the person, "I thought you guys were out."

Quinn looked up.

"I'll just come back later." Wade said from behind the door.

Quinn stood up, "No. Wait."

He opened the door, and walked out. He kept the necklace hidden.

"I was just washing my face." Quinn told her.

Wade smiled.

"So," Quinn started, "where's your husband?"

"Oh, he's at a meeting. Big ad campaign." Wade said, "Why?"

Quinn looked at her face, and noticed an almost worried expression.

"Oh. Don't worry. I'm not a killer or anything." Quinn said.

"Oh, I never…" Wade started.

"It's okay. I know. I mean, a strange man asking a pretty lady where her husband is. Sounds kinda freaky."

Wade looked at the ground, blushing. Quinn just realized what he said.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't hitting on you or anything." Quinn said.

"No. I know." Wade said, "You just remind me of someone."

Quinn couldn't help but wonder if the person who he reminded her of was, in fact, his double. Maybe on this world, Wade and Quinn knew each other.

"An old boyfriend." Wade said.

Maybe they loved each other.

"But, he's dead." she finished.

Wade brushed her hair back behind her ear. Quinn smiled. He remembered his Wade doing the same thing.

"So." Quinn said.

"So." Wade replied.

"What does your husband do?" Quinn asked.

"Oh. He works for an ad agency." Wade said.

Quinn noticed that when Rickman was mentioned, Wade's face emptied of all emotion. Everything that made her Wade, a happy, loving, woman, was gone.

As they were walking down the street, Maggie remembered something. She stopped walking. Remmy and Colin did the same thing. They looked at her.

"I forgot my purse." Maggie said.

"Do you even carry a purse?" Remmy asked.

"I do with this outfit." Maggie said, handing Remmy her half eaten burger.

"I'll be right back. Wait up." she said rushing back toward the hotel.

It took her about five minutes to get back to the hotel. She just needed to run in, and run out.

She ran through the hotel, and down the hall near her room. She grabbed a key from her pocket, and put it in the hole. But the door was already unlocked.

"Guess Quinn went out." she said to herself.

She pushed the door open, and stepped inside. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh, my… sorry!" she said backing away.

Quinn had Wade broke away from their kiss and jumped back.

"Maggie." Quinn said.

Maggie just grabbed her purse and ran out.

Wade sat on her bunk, looking down at the floor. She had nothing better to do, so she decided to count the dead roaches at her feet.

She was up to ninety-three when she heard a heavy door slam shut. The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. As Wade listened, they got louder and louder. Someone was coming. Wade wasn't in the mood for visitors, so she quickly fell back onto her pillow and closed her eyes.

The footsteps stopped right in front of her cell. Then the sound of the person turning on the cement floor.

"Wade Welles?" came a man's voice.

Wade didn't move. For all this guy knew, she was a heavy sleeper.

"Wade." the man whispered in a tone that suggested that he knew her.

She turned around and faced the man, opening her eyes just enough to let him know she was awake.

When she saw him her eyes flew open, and before she knew it, she was on her feet.

When she stood up, she didn't expect to see the man facing the other woman.

"Wade, get up." the man said.

The woman across the hall woke up, and turned around.

"Quinn?" she said with a smile on her face.

Wade jumped back onto her bunk, and pulled the covers over her head.

"It's me, baby." the alternate Quinn said to her.

The other Wade jumped up, and got as close to her Quinn as possible. They tried to hug through the bars, but didn't get far.

It was then that Wade noticed the other Quinn wearing a police uniform.

"I'm getting you out of here." he told the other Wade.

"How? You'll be killed?" the other Wade asked him.

"I don't care. You said that you never won the lottery, and I believe you. I'm not going to let you die for another woman's greed." he told his wife.

Wade would have taken offense to being called greedy, but instead she rolled over, and cried. She could hear the sound of Quinn unlocking the other Wade's cell, and opening it. Then she heard them hug. And then they ran down the hall. The heavy door slammed again.

Wade sat back up, and watched the direction of the heavy door. A few moments later, an alarm sounded. They knew that the other Wade had escaped. Through t distant window, Wade could see emergency lights flashing. Then the sound of guns firing.

"Quinn!" the other Wade screamed.

Wade could hear the horror in the other woman's voice.

"Run!" Quinn yelled back at her.

Then another gun going off. In her cell, Wade jumped. She knew that this wasn't her Quinn, but she also knew that this whole thing was her fault.

"She's gone!" came the voice of one of the guards.

"Don't worry. We'll just decide that the other one's the real Wade Welles." came the snide voice of another.

A chill ran down Wade's back. The Quinn of this Earth was probably dead, and it was her fault.

Quinn and Wade each sat on different beds. Both were nervous. Both very uncomfortable.

"I'll explain to Maggie that…" Quinn started.

"That what? That we were making out in a hotel room where me and my husband are staying?" Wade asked.

"Maggie will understand. She knew the person who you remind me of. She knows how I felt about her." Quinn told her.

Wade just looked at the floor, "So the only reason you kissed me is because I remind you of your ex-girlfriend?"

"No." Quinn said, then he realized what that answer meant "I mean, yes."

Wade stood up and went to the window.

"Look. I do like you. But you're married. And besides that, I'm set to leave town in eleven hours. It was a mistake." Quinn said.

"No. It wasn't." Wade started, "He beats me, you know. Whenever he gets drunk, or high on sugar. He blames be for his mistakes. I can't take any more of this."

Wade started to cry. Quinn walked to her, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I won't let him do it again." he told her.

"Can you promise that?" Wade asked.

She turned around, and looked deep into his eyes. Quinn's heart fell again. Here he was, talking to Wade. Only it wasn't Wade. But she felt like Wade.

Before he could do anything, he realized that he was kissing her again. She pulled away, and ran out of the room.

She ran into the lobby. There, Rickman was waiting for her.

"Did you do it?" he asked her.

"He's putty in my hands." Wade said, "How long do I heave to keep this up?"

"Just long enough for us to retrieve our property. After that, you'll be free to live out your life on this Earth. Free from Kromagg rulers… for now." Rickman smiled.

Arturo had to set his priorities. The news said that Wade was set for death tomorrow morning. That was his first priority. He could break her out of this prison, and then go straight to the college lab.

He'd noticed that the prisons on this world weren't that modern. He supposed that with the ease at which people were killed on this world, jails might not as required as on most worlds.

He hadn't found a hotel to stay at. He just kept walking. His backpack was filled with the supplies that were needed to build the device. He did feel foolish wearing a backpack. He would have preferred a brief case, but they were simply too small.

He made his way to a park bench and sat down. He opened the backpack, and pulled out the device. Or, at least, what he had of it. It wasn't too big. It's outer structure was made from an old camcorder. He'd modified it to that the eye piece acted like a targeting device for the lens which would eventually emit the signal required to lock onto Quinn and Rembrandt, and, I they were lucky, this Maggie woman would be close enough to them to get sucked in as well. The Professor had seen this type of device on another world. On that world, he met a man who could lock onto the signals of a specific dimension, and pull anything that belonged to that dimension from any other Earths. Arturo was intrigued by the device, but had to slide before he could examine it closely. It had taken him nearly two years to build this one. And he hoped that, once he found his missing friends, he could modify it so that it could track down their home Earth.

The devise had flashing lights, and looked very high-tech. Arturo wanted it to look very complicated for when Mr. Mallory saw it.

The Professor chuckled at that thought, "When he sees this, he's going to go positively mad."

But now it was time to save his other friend. The one who he had managed to save once before.

"I'm telling you, they were kissing." Maggie said to Remmy and Colin.

"Are you sure?" Colin asked.

"What do you need, a video?" Maggie shot back.

"This can't be good. It's not healthy." Remmy said in a concerned tone.

"When I saw my husband again after all this time, I wanted so bad to believe that it was him. I would have given anything." Maggie said, getting very doctor-like.

Remmy looked at his watch, then back to Maggie.

"Well. We're not here much longer. Maybe he'll be okay once we slide." Remmy told her.

"Yea, I hope so." Maggie said, taking a sip of her drink.

His head was covered by what looked to be a dead rat, but was apparently supposed to be hair.

"Now, since your little twin disappeared over that there fence, we have no choice but to kill you. See, we never told the fans about you two lookin' so much alike. Couldn't disappoint them now." he said in a tone that was supposed to scare Wade.

The fact was, she never knew about the other Wade. She just assumed that when they told her that her execution was scheduled, they meant it. She had no idea that they were trying to figure out which one of her to kill.

"You'll have to tell my that whole fingerprint trick before we give you your punch." he said in a southern tone.

"Does this conversation count as cruel and unusual punishment?" Wade asked in that sarcastic voice that she picked up in the Kromagg prison.

The commissioner unlocked the door, and opened it. As he walked toward Wade, he got the most sickening look on his face that Wade had ever seen. He sat next to her on the bunk. Wade tried to stand up, but he held her down.

"You know, you're real pretty when your scared." he said to her.

He put his hand on hers. She made a fist and hit him so hard she felt his nose break. He covered his face, trying to stop the blood.

"You know, you look a lot better with your face covered." she told him.

"You're gonna pay for this." He said, standing up.

"What are you gonna do, kill me?" Wade asked.

He raised his hand, and tried to slap her, but something stopped him.

"That's quite enough of that." came the voice of the Professor.

"Professor!" Wade yelled, smiling.

Arturo brought his fist down on the commissioners face. In seconds, the commissioner slumped onto the floor.

"Professor, what are you doing here?" Wade asked.

"Well I couldn't just let you die, could I?" he replied.

Wade smiled. She got up, and noticed that Arturo was wearing a white uniform.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's my disguise. I'm a laundry man." he said.

Wade smiled, "Looks more like a waiter's uniform."

"Have you always been this sarcastic?" Arturo asked.

Wade stepped past him, still smiling. When she got out of the cell, she noticed a cart full of sheets.

"What's that?" she asked.

"That, my dear, is your escape plan." Arturo replied.

"But this never works in the movies." she replied.

"Well they don't know that, do they?"

Wade took another look, "But they're dirty sheets."

"Ms. Welles, I'm sorry that I couldn't arrange for more suitable transportation, but our time is short. So, if you would," he said indicating for her to get in.

Wade reluctantly climbed into the cart. As she did, she tried to avoid the dirtiest sheets.

Arturo pushed the laundry cart through the police station. He tried not to make eye contact with anyone as he went. But something caught his eye. There was a gurney in one of the corners near the door. As he got near it, he noticed that the body on it was covered by a white sheet. He tried not to look suspicious as he got close enough to lift the sheet. He looked under it, and saw the body. Quinn's body.

"Good God." he said silently, hoping that Wade wasn't trying to peek.

"Hey." came a voice next to him, as a hand pushed the sheet back down.

Arturo looked at the police officer who had spoken, praying that he didn't see Wade.

"That sheet stays here." said the cop.

Arturo looked back at the sheet, and back to the cop, "I'm sorry, I didn't notice the… body."

"Whatever." said the cop, "You can get lost now, you foreign freak."

Arturo's blood nearly boiled. He couldn't believe that a world could have so many bad police officers. He nearly punched the man, but instead took the insult quietly, and walked out of the police station. The fact that he rolled over the cop's foot was totally accidental.

He rolled the cart down the street a little before stopping. He pulled the sheets out, and helped Wade climb out. Then he grabbed the backpack that was next to her, and they ran down the street.

"What happened?" Wade asked.

"What do you mean?" Arturo said as they rounded the corner.

"You said 'Good God'." Wade told him.

Alarms sounded from the police station. The two started running faster. They could see flashing lights reflecting off of nearby windows, and could hear search dogs barking.

"Down there!" Arturo yelled.

They ran down some stairs into a subway tunnel. The train soon came, and they got in. No tokens required.

"Is it just me, or did we not notice how messed up this world was the last time we were here?" Wade asked.

"I don't think we had time before." Arturo replied.

"So what do we do now?" Wade asked, catching her breath.

"We go to the college lab, and get the required parts. Then we lay low until we're ready to leave." Arturo said checking his bag.

"Ten hours left." Colin said putting the timer back into Maggie's purse.

They didn't want the Wade or Rickman doubles trying to turn the TV on with it, so they decided to hide it.

"Look, Q-Ball, I know you're feelings are messed up right now. It's hard seeing Wade for me too. But we can't project our Wade onto this woman." Remmy told Quinn

"It's not going to happen again." Quinn said for the hundredth time.

"How can you be sure?" Maggie asked.

"Look. I doubt they'll even come back. And if they do, I won't stay in the same room with her alone."

As soon as Quinn finished, the door opened. Rickman came in smiling. He was carrying a paper bag.

"I hope you like Chinese." Rickman said.

"Love it." Maggie said, trying to act normal.

The Wade double came in. She looked at Quinn, then to the floor. Her left eye wad red, and it looked like she tried covering up a black eye. None of the sliders could do anything. Quinn wanted to, but he promised his friends that he wouldn't. Rickman pulled out a few burritos and some tacos and put them on the table.

Maggie almost asked where the Chinese food was, but decided not to. Rickman looked at her, and smiled.

"I don't feed anyone who doesn't like Chinese. But I can't stand their food." he said in a tone that belonged in a nineteen fifties sitcom.

Maggie smiles, "Clever."

Colin sat in a chair near the window. He watched as the people below moved about their lives. He saw a man on rollerblades pass under the window, and watched him speed down the street. He was amazed by the rollerblades. An invention that seemed so simple, yet wasn't invented on his Earth.

Then he saw her. The woman from the clothing store. The one he'd been thinking about all day.

"That's her." Colin said out loud.

"Who?" Quinn asked, walking to the window.

"Mary. The girl from the store. The one I was telling you about." Colin explained.

Remmy, Quinn and Maggie walked to the window and looked at her. They couldn't see her face, just the top of her head.

"I have to see her." Colin said as he grabbed his coat and ran out of the room.

The others watched for a few moments, then saw Colin run out of the hotel.

"There he goes." Remmy said to the others.

They watched Colin Talk to her for a few seconds, then Quinn and Remmy decided to go back to eating. Maggie watched for a few more seconds. Then she saw Colin point up to the window, then Mary looked up. Maggie only caught a glimpse of her face as her instincts forced her to jump away from the window.

"I saw you from the window in my hotel room." Colin explained to Mary, pointing at the window.

Mary looked up at the window and saw a woman jump from view.

"Your wife doesn't look too happy to see you down here." Mary said with a slight grin.

Colin looked back at the hotel, but saw nobody in the window. Then he saw another woman in the room above his.

"Oh, she's not my wife." Colin said, not knowing that Mary was talking about Maggie.

"Really?" said Mary as she grabbed Colin's arm and wrapped hers around it.

She smiled at him, and they walked down the street.

"So, uh…" she started, but didn't have a name to finish the sentence.

"Oh. Colin." he said catching on.

"Colin. I like that. What do you do, Colin?" Mary asked.

"Me and my friends travel between dimensions. We're looking for my home Earth." he told her.

He didn't know why he told her. He just felt comfortable telling her everything.

As they walked, Mary looked back at the window where she saw Maggie. Maggie was there again. This time the two women just stared at each other. It was like a duel with the eyes. Maggie won. Mary didn't like that.

Wade and Arturo ran across the dark college campus. It was late, and the guards on this Earth didn't seem to worry about possible robberies.

As they ran, Wade and the Professor bent over slightly, trying not to be seen. They wore black from head to toe.

"Where is this place." Wade whispered as the knelt behind a bush.

"Over there." Arturo indicated with his head.

Wade nodded. The two ran across several flower beds, and walkways before finally arriving at the lab.

"Think there's an alarm?" Wade asked.

"Doubtful. This world doesn't seem too preoccupied with security." Arturo answered.

Wade tried opening the door, but it was locked.

"So how do we get in?" she asked, staring at the glass door.

"Ms. Welles, after all these years of sliding, one would think that you would know how to unlock a door." Arturo said as he picked up a rock, and showed it to her.

Wade smiled. The Professor threw the rock through the door, shattering the glass.

"I can't say that I condone this." Wade said, cleaning up several sharp pieces of glass from the broken door.

"I don't enjoy breaking into building either, but it's necessary. I'm sure they have backups." Arturo said as he led the way into the building.

It wasn't what Wade expected. There were vials of different colored liquids on shelves, computers that had been taken apart on desks, and all kinds of flashing lights. It seemed like a chem-lab and a computer lab mixed into one room.

"Where would it be?" Wade asked.

Arturo reached into his backpack and pulled out a flashlight. He looked around the room for a moment.

"I'm sure they would have it locked away. A safe perhaps, or maybe a… ah ha." he said, finally stopping his flashlight on a file cabinet.

They walked over to the cabinet, and tried opening it, but it was locked.

"It's locked." Wade said.

Arturo looked around the room.

"And I don't think a rock'll cut it this time." Wade finished.

Arturo walked to the shelves of liquids. He read the labels on a few of them, then picked up one of the containers. He walked back to the cabinet and poured some of the liquid onto the lock. The liquid ate through the lock in a matter of seconds.

"Good work. Now let's get this and get out of here." Wade told him.

Arturo opened the cabinet and looked around at several computer chips. Then he stopped.

"X-1277." he read out loud.

He grabbed the chip, and placed it carefully into his bag.

"Let's get the hell out of here." he said.

They ran to the door and slowly went through the broken glass door. They got outside, and started running.

Hey!" came a voice from behind them.

"Run!" Arturo yelled.

Several guards ran after them. The guards weren't in very good shape, and had trouble catching up.

"Stop, or I'll shoot!" yelled one of the guards as he pulled out some sort of weapon that Arturo couldn't make out as he looked back.

The guard stopped running and aimed at Wade. He hulled the trigger, and two bolts of blue light shot from the weapon.

"Look out!" Arturo yelled as he dove on Wade.

The blue lights stopped dead in the air, and sprung back at the guard. They wrapped themselves around him, and delivered jolts of electricity to him.

"Guess his Taser didn't have long enough cords." Wade said standing up.

The two ran out of the school yard, and back to their hideaway.

"Colin?" Quinn said quietly toward the bathroom.

No answer.

"Maggie, Remmy, wake up." Quinn said louder.

Maggie and Remmy woke up. It took a moment for them to sit up, and when they did, Quinn had to stop himself from laughing at Maggie's hair. There were more important things to do.

"What's wrong, Q-Ball?" Remmy asked as he got out of bed.

"Colin's not here. Did anyone see him come in last night?" Quinn asked.

"No." Maggie answered, "But Colin's a big boy. I'm sure he's fine."

"We slide in three hours." Quinn said, trying to get Maggie and Remmy worried.

There was a noise from the lock. Someone was coming.

"See. He's fine." Maggie said.

A second later, Colin and Mary walked through the door.

"Colin, where were you?" Quinn asked.

Colin smiled, and took Mary's hand. Quinn suddenly got the wind knocked out of him when he saw Mary's face. He looked at Remmy who's mouth was opened wide.

"That's what I needed to tell you." Colin said, smiling at Mary.

"Go ahead." Mary whispered to him, then looked at Quinn with a grin.

"Well." Colin started, "See, me and Mary… we sort of… we got married last night." Colin finished.

Quinn's heart stopped.

"I'm staying here with her." Colin told him.

Maggie jumped to her feet. She didn't know Mary, but was shocked by the other news.

"What?" Maggie asked.

Colin raised Mary's hand and showed her the ring.

"What the hell's going on here, Mary?" Remmy said in a convicting tone.

Mary looked at Remmy, and grinned, "Do I know you?"

"You can't be serious." Quinn said to Colin, "You've known her for nine hours."

"But we love each other." Colin said in an almost threatening voice.

"You don't know who she is." Remmy said.

Colin looked confused.

"What's going on here, guys?" Maggie asked.

Remmy looked at Maggie, "That's Mary. The Kromagg's little helper that we told you about."

"I thought she was good?" Maggie said getting confused, "I thought she was dead."

"So did we." Quinn said.

Mary looked at Quinn and Remmy, "I'm sorry, but I don't know you. Maybe this other Mary was my double." she said in a not too convincing tone.

"You told her." Quinn said.

None of Colin's friends could believe what they were hearing. And Mary just grinned.

"Colin, you can't be serious." Maggie said to him, "Look at her. She's enjoying this!"

Colin couldn't stand hearing this. All of his friends were turning against him. The only one he could trust was Mary.

"What, a little farmer like me can't understand your complicated words?" Colin asked painfully.

"That's not what we mean. You don't know what you're dealing with." Remmy told him.

"Maybe for once in my life, I understand perfectly." Colin said.

Colin walked back out of the room. Mary grinned again, and waved to the sliders as she left too.

"Colin!" Quinn yelled.

"We've gotta stop him." Quinn said as they stood on the street corner.

"We slide in two hours. What do we do if we can't find him?" Maggie asked them.

Quinn and Remmy looked at each other.

"I'll stay here. You two go. You can come back on your next slide." Quinn told them.

"Are you kidding?" Remmy asked, "You can't handle her alone."

"We all go. We can all come back later." Maggie ordered.

Quinn looked at her, "He's my brother. I'm not leaving. What if they take him off this world?"

"Then we'll track them." Maggie said.

They looked at each other for a moment, and then went back to looking for Colin.

"I'm almost done." Arturo said.

Wade was sitting on the bed writing in her diary. She turned around and faced the Professor.

"You think it'll work?" she asked him.

"I can't be sure of anything. But I believe that this device is similar to the one that I saw before." Arturo replied.

He picked up his timer, and attached it to the device. Wade walked up next to him.

"Here goes nothing." he said.

He pressed the power button and the lights on the device lit up. Wade smiled.

"You did it." she said.

Arturo stared at the device, "It would seem that the extra power has caused our visit here to shorten considerably." he said.

Wade looked at the timer. It was counting down from two hours.

They had been searching for Colin for the past two hours. There were no results. Colin had disappeared.

"Should never have gotten him into this." Quinn said.

"It's not your fault. It's your parents'. They left the micro-dot things." Maggie told him.

Remmy watched down the street for any sign of Colin. Then he saw him. He was walking around the corner with Mary.

"Over there!" Remmy called out.

They ran toward the corner that Colin had just turned. They quickly turned the corner. They saw Colin being taken down an alley. They ran faster.

"Colin!" Quinn called out.

Suddenly Quinn's path was blocked. He hit something. Or someone. He fell. He tried to regain his bearings and looked back to where he last saw Colin.

Quinn stood up, and looked at the person he hit. It wade Wade. Or, at least, hr double. She was bloody and beaten.

"Wade?" Quinn said to her.

Maggie and Remmy caught up.

"He beat me again." Wade said crying.

"Who?" Maggie asked.

"My husband." Wade answered.

"Rickman." Maggie said.

"Remmy, go after Colin." Quinn yelled in a tone that was probably too harsh.

Remmy ran.

"I wanted to leave, and he wouldn't let me." Wade continued.

Quinn couldn't decide what to do. Help Wade, or help Colin.

"Where is he?" Quinn asked.

"Right here." came Rickman's voice from behind them.

Maggie looked up at him.

"Oh, don't be so surprised, my dear. You never even bothered to look for my body." he smiled at her, "Sloppy for a military officer."

"Oh, my God." Maggie said.

"Then that is Mary." Quinn said.

"Well, one of her. We Kromaggs love the Marys. Always so helpful." Rickman said.

"You're a Kromagg?" Maggie asked, "How?"

"You don't think a human could change his face simply by injecting himself with that stuff, do you? I needed that to hold this human form. It's hard work manipulating minds to make them see me as a human, you know." Rickman explained.

Maggie was going to comment on his bad explanation of the whole thing. She didn't know that the Kromagg shape shifting was just a mind game. But she opted to go with the tougher words.

"What were you doing on my world?" Maggie asked in a soldier's tone.

Rickman just smiled, "You can go, Wade. Your job is done."

Wade stood up. She couldn't look Quinn in the eyes. She just kept crying, and ran away.

Remmy came back, "I couldn't find him."

Rickman looked at Remmy. Remmy caught on quickly.

"I really have to go now." Rickman said, "Don't try to catch us."

He ran off toward the alley that Colin was taken down. The sliders tried running after him, but Rickman dropped a metal container that started to smoke. The smoke burned their eyes. They couldn't move. They were going to lose Colin.

"They don't understand." Colin told Mary as she pulled him down another alley.

She ignored him.

"We wait here." she said to him coldly.

Colin was getting worried, "What's going on?"

Rickman came around the corner, and quickly pulled a Kromagg timer from his pocket. He opened the red vortex, and jumped in without looking at Mary or Colin.

Mary looked at Colin. She decided to fill him in. She pulled a small metal pen-like object and held it up to Colin's neck. She pressed the back, and the object released a fluid into Colin. His eyes opened wide.

"I remember." he said quietly.

He looked at Mary, "They were right. You do work for the Kromaggs."

Mary smiled, "Old news, sweety." she said.

"I'm not going with you." Colin said in a strong voice.

His mind filled with more new information.

"I'm not his brother, am I? I'm some kind of clone. A trick to get him to open the slide cage."

"That was last year's plan. We've moved on. You're no longer needed here." Mary said.

Colin backed away from her, "I'm not going to help you. No amount of new information will change that."

"Yea, we'll see." Mary said, "You know, this vortex doesn't stay opened forever."

Colin's mind was pulled away from him. For a moment it belonged to the Kromaggs. To Mary. And in that moment, Colin entered the vortex.

"Colin!" Quinn yelled as he fell to the ground.

He hadn't known his brother for a long time, but it hadn't taken long for him to trust him, and to let Colin into his family.

A tear rolled down Maggie's cheek., "We'll track him."

Quinn pulled the timer from his pocket, grasping to hope. He looked at it, and his face dropped.

"It's not tracking." Quinn said.

"Rickman." Maggie concluded.

Remmy put his hand on Quinn's shoulder, "We'll find him."

"One way or another." Maggie finished.

"We'll find him." Quinn repeated.

Quinn's mind was filled with pain. His only connection to blood since he started sliding was gone. His brother. His friend.

Rickman entered the chamber of the lead Kromagg. He approached the ruler. The huge room filled with the echoes of his footsteps. The room was dark, and filled with different types of gargoyles, and statues of suffering humans. On large buffet tables, bowls were filled with different colored eyes. This was the room that every human feared. The room that crept into every nightmare.

"What news have you brought me?" asked the large Kromagg on the throne.

His face was covered in the covers of darkness.

"Mary 319 and I have retrieved the Colin. He is being dealt with now. The prisoner was released, but we implanted a tracking device into her… just in case." Rickman reported.

"And that Mallory?" the Kromagg asked.

Rickman smiled, "He's going to search for his lost home, and his lost brother. He still believes that we have his other, female friend."

"Good. Keep tracking them. I want to know if they ever reach our Earth." the Kromagg leaned forward a little revealing the Kromagg double of Maximillion Arturo, "And get rid of that awful face. You're making me hungry."

Rickman smiled wider, and his face returned to it's natural, Kromagg, form, "It's so good do be home."

Rickman leaned over and picked up one of the eyes.

"Green's my favorite." he said, popping it into his mouth.

"Three minutes until the slide." Quinn said.

He didn't want to leave. Any chance of finding Colin was on this world. With that Wade. But they would return. He promised himself that he wouldn't give up. Never.

"Two minutes." Wade said.

Her heard pounded. In less than five minutes, she could be hugging Quinn. Her Quinn.

Quinn opened the vortex. Remmy looked around, and reluctantly jumped in. Maggie followed.

Quinn looked around, and finally jumped in.

Arturo pointed the device that was set to bring his friends back to him. He activated it, and the ugly red vortex opened. A bean emitted from the new device, and entered the vortex.

The vortex opened. Remmy flew out. He landed in a lab of some kind. There were all kinds of electric gadgets scattered around the room. Remmy tried not to touch anything. Then he saw two people in the room with him. One, a woman in a lab coat. The other looked familiar, but he couldn't get a good look before Maggie flew out of the vortex and landed on him. They stumbled back, knocking into one of the gadgets. Surges of electricity filled the room. Quinn flew out of the vortex, but was stopped mid-air. A surge of electricity hit the vortex, and Quinn. It leaped from him to the familiar looking man.

The man was pulled to Quinn. Their bodied blurred. The vortex turned red. Only one man fell from the vortex, and it wasn't our Quinn. But it wasn't necessarily the familiar looking man.

The strange woman flipped a switch and shut off the power. Remmy and Maggie were released from the charges of electricity. They weren't hurt for some reason, they just looked back at the man. The vortex closed.

"Quinn?" Maggie asked.

The man looked up, "I'm not sure."

Quinn didn't know what hit him. He was suddenly pulled from his vortex into a red, bloody looking one.

Something strange was happening.

The vortex opened in the middle of a field. The sun glistened off of the red fluid-like vortex. Quinn saw two familiar figures fly out of the vortex ahead of him.

When he was finally released from the longest slide of his life, he fell on top of a heavy set man.

"Quinn?" came Wade's voice… his Wade's voice.

Quinn stood up. He looked at her, "Wade?"

She ran to him and jumped on him. Then he saw the Professor.

"Professor?" he said, totally confused, "How?"

The Professor stood up, "I used my 'dimensional signal', if you will, to lock onto you and Mr. Brown. Then I pulled you through our vortex to us. It's really more complicated than that, but we'll discuss it later."

"You're alive?" Quinn said, now hugging both the Professor and Wade.

"That's a long one too." Wade said smiling.

Her smile faded, "Where's Remmy?"

They all looked back at the vortex. They watched for what seemed like an eternity. Then it closed.

Tears filled Wade's eyes.

"Good God" Arturo exclaimed.

Quinn had lost three of his friends in one day. He couldn't take it. But they could track the vortex back to that world. Now, he was happy to see his old, dead, friends. Then it hit him.

"You locked onto my dimensional signature? And it was the same as yours?" he asked.

"Yes." Arturo said, not so happy anymore.

"Then I am from your Earth." Quinn said, confused as ever.

"We can get Remmy here right. We can use the device, right?" Wade asked crying.

Arturo looked back at the ground where he landed. The device was crushed. Wade gasped. All of them were shocked.

"We'll track them. I'll modify the timer." Quinn said, telling himself as much as them, "We'll find them."

Wade, Arturo and Quinn all shared a hug. After Arturo broke away, Quinn just help Wade as she cried.

"Who are you?" came a voice.

Everyone looked over and saw a man in a medieval knight's suit on top of a horse looking at them. They looked to the other side, and saw another man, in a darker suit, heading toward them with his sword ready to kill.

"Run!" yelled Quinn.