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LOGAN LAZE Arturo looked up. He hadn't been paying attention. This woke him up. ARTURO LAZE Quinn was getting restless. He wanted to know what Logan had in store with him. And who was this Laze? QUINN LAZE REMBRANDT ARTURO LAZE QUINN LOGAN Rembrandt interjected. REMBRANDT QUINN Logan smiled. She had her guinea pig. Laze walked to the lab, and Logan prepared her sliding device. Rembrandt approached Quinn. REMBRANDT QUINN REMBRANDT QUINN REMBRANDT QUINN Rembrandt didn't trust Logan at all. He knew that she was behind Maggie's death, but everyone else was sure that it was the seizures. How could he prove it? Quinn walked to the room where many slides had occurred. Logan met him there. She had a suspicious smile on her face. Laze placed the device on Quinn's neck. Logan placed in the coordinates and opened the vortex. LOGAN Logan's comment didn't make Quinn feel secure. QUINN Quinn leaped into the vortex. Immediately, Logan's assistants entered the room, surrounding the other sliders. LOGAN Logan had an evil smirk on her face. Arturo knew what had happened. ARTURO Even though Arturo's question was aimed at Laze, Logan answered it. LOGAN WADE REMBRANDT Logan was happy with what had happened. She smiled as she answered Wade. LOGAN REMBRANDT Logan interrupted Rembrandt. LOGAN Laze escorted the others to a large room. Arturo was angry with him. ARTURO Arturo punched Laze in the face. Getting up, he tried to calm Arturo. LAZE REMBRANDT LAZE Arturo understood what Laze was saying. ARTURO LAZE The sliders felt a sense of security. Quinn was all right! LAZE The security began to fade away. ARTURO LAZE WADE LAZE The others seemed satisfied, but Arturo had a complaint. ARTURO Laze thought quickly. He pulled out a timer from his pocket. LAZE REMBRANDT LAZE Laze put the timer in his pocket. LAZE Logan and her assistants entered the room. Logan brought the sliders and Laze to the large room. A red vortex opened and seven Kromaggs and three humans exited the vortex. Logan approached the Kromagg and pulled out a disk. LAZE LOGAN LAZE LOGAN Logan had another evil grin on her face, as a Kromagg gave her a Kromagg timer. This timer would give her safe passage to any Kromagg world. Laze punched a Kromagg, taking his gun and shot at Logan. Logan dropped the disk and Rembrandt grabbed it. Another Kromagg fired at Laze, hitting him. Logan opened her vortex and dove inside. Laze fell down, in obvious pain. The Kromaggs didn't see Rembrandt pick up the disk. They assumed that it had been destroyed. KROMAGG The Kromagg opened a vortex and pushed the sliders inside. The vortex closed, leaving Laze alone in the room, dying.  Quinn woke. He thought for a while. He hadn't exited the vortex, he thought. The device must not have worked. He was dead. He couldn't open his eyes. He was dead. VOICE Quinn struggled, and finally, he was able to open his eyes. He was inside a Kromagg laboratory. Three Kromaggs were standing over him. KROMAGG Quinn was worried but he felt confident that he would return. The vortex was supposed to take him back only five minutes after he left. But it had to have been longer than that. Worry began to settle in. Logan wasn't taking him back. This was her revenge. KROMAGG That's great, Quinn thought. KROMAGG QUINN The Kromagg had an evil smirk on his face that reminded Quinn of Logan. KROMAGG Arturo, Wade, and Rembrandt were inside a Kromagg cell. Rembrandt had just returned from an interrogation. This one seemed less painful. It was more of an observation. Rembrandt was taken immediately after he arrived, so this was the group's first chance to talk to each other. ARTURO REMBRANDT WADE REMBRANDT ARTURO REMBRANDT ARTURO There was a sense of fear in the sliders' faces. They were in the middle of a tough situation. Quinn was released from his confines. He moved his hand to his neck, remembering Laze's device. It was gone. KROMAGG Why was this Kromagg speaking to him so formally? No Kromagg talks this way. KROMAGG Another Kromagg approached Quinn and placed another device on Quinn's neck. Almost immediately, Quinn lost control of his body. It felt exactly as it did when he was merged with Mallory. He was just watching his body do things against his power. Quinn, like the Kromagg had said, was going to help the Kromaggs, whether he wanted to or not. Arturo was examining the situation. He was trying to find a way out. They had the means, but they required the opportunity. A Kromagg guard came for Wade, and he used the key for the door. While this happened, Arturo secretly glanced at the timer. Wade looked back at her friends. Rembrandt silently tried to impart her some strength. Arturo looked at Rembrandt with hope. ARTURO REMBRANDT ARTURO Rembrandt wasn't very sure of this plan, but it may be their last shot to get out of the jail. He gave his approval. He was thinking of Maggie, not of the current situation. He didn't know how she died, but he knew that Logan had tricked her somehow. He was going to miss his friend. He tried to think about the problem at hand. That's what Maggie would've wanted him to do... Quinn saw himself working on the device that had safely allowed his slide. He was working on a way for the Kromaggs to prevent this machine from working. This was completely against his will, but he continued nonetheless. He watched helplessly. KROMAGG QUINN Quinn watched himself say something against his will. He heard his own voice speak. This was worse than his experience inside Mallory. He continued to work harder. There was nothing Quinn could do but watch. He saw many humans working against their own people, undoubtedly against their will, as well. This was the new strategy of the Kromaggs: to have humans destroy themselves. Wade returned about half an hour after she had left. She was asked an array of strange questions. It was a strange experience, and Wade hoped that she would never have to go through it again. As soon as the Kromagg opened the door, Arturo opened the gateway, and Rembrandt attacked the guard. He was able to pull his gun out, but Rembrandt knocked it from his hand. The gun fired automatically, and hit a power conduit. The power fluctuated and all of the jail cells opened. Many prisoners escaped, causing chaos in the Kromagg prison. Wade dove inside the vortex, followed by Rembrandt. Arturo jumped inside shortly before the gateway closed. Quinn noticed a lot of Kromagg activity in the lab. Most of the guards were leaving, to help with the jailbreak. The Kromaggs had become paranoid. Any human military activity terrified them. So, they were willing to slide guards in from other worlds to stop a riot. Suddenly, a human struck the final Kromagg guard. The other people continued to work, as the human began taking the devices off. He came to Quinn, and Quinn collapsed. He was weary, but he was able to get up. A man in the corner called to the people. He had been working on a timer, and said that he would bring anyone along. Quinn asked the man how he escaped. MAN Quinn smiled and thanked the man. The humans jumped through the vortex, escaping from their prison. The sliders landed on the world they had left a couple hours before. They searched for Laze, but he was nowhere to be found. Rembrandt found a note from Laze. REMBRANDT Wade knew that he couldn't hear her, but she whispered a "good luck" to him as well. Arturo began searching the computer for Quinn. He used a search algorithm created by Laze based on the vortex in which Quinn left. Arturo noted that it was an ingenious process. Quinn emerged from the vortex, alone. The timer that had brought him and his fellow prisoners to this world had short circuited due to the number of sliders. He was stuck on this world until his friends could catch him, if they weren't dead already. And what were the chances of that? He and his fellow prisoners split up. With the exception of Quinn, all had agreed that this world was close enough to home. The fact that one of the prisoners was apparently cold-blooded showed Quinn how tough it had been for them. But he wasn't ready to give up. He walked around the city, looking for materials to make a timer. He had decided that it would be easier to find his friends if they were both sliding. Checking his pockets, Quinn noticed that he might have enough money for the basics of a timer. He'd worry about perfecting it when it came to that. With supplies in hand, Quinn walked to the only place that he could: a homeless shelter. It wasn't the cleanest place in the world, but it would give him time and room to work. But once his tired body hit the cot, his body significantly weakened. Seconds later, he was asleep, and all the components had fallen on the ground. Arturo found the coordinates, and decided to equip himself and his friends. They all placed one of Laze's devices on themselves, and each grabbed a rifle. ARTURO REMBRANDT WADE ARTURO Quinn woke up. It had been almost a day, and no one had come for him. He remembered his plan to rebuild a timer. Unfortunately, someone or a group of people had stolen all of his parts. With no other option, Quinn walked slowly to an unemployment office. On the way, Quinn walked by the original place where he entered the world. If they were coming, this is where they'd land. Maybe this was his lucky day. Realizing the futility in that, he continued his walk. Suddenly, a vortex opened. Quinn saw it, and had never been so happy to see the color of it. It was beautiful! The three sliders emerged from the vortex, surprised that there were no Kromaggs on this world. REMBRANDT Quinn ran and hugged his friends. QUINN ARTURO QUINN ARTURO Quinn was unnerved. They might encounter her again. The sliders handed over Laze's device to the members of the resistance on this world. Rembrandt also supplied the disk containing Laze's work. They would continue his work against the Kromaggs. Waiting for the slide, Rembrandt spoke to Arturo. Logan St. Clair was still on everyone's mind. REMBRANDT Arturo stared at Quinn, sleeping on the hotel bed. ARTURO  |