And the stars look very different today...

[zunesareawesome]

It was a way out. But it wasn't home.

Truthfully, after Norfinbury, anything would be better than that place, but the cold truth was--there was no way to find his own universe out of the endless multiverse, even if Norfinbury's busted technology had worked properly. He was stuck, here, with a megalomaniac Flynn--granted, a Flynn that managed to open up a portal out of there. Maybe that's what it took to get out of Norfinbury.

Or, Peter thought sometimes on bad days, Norfinbury only released you once you became the twisted version of yourself it wanted you to be. A specially-designed virus inflicted on countless worlds.

Besides, he ought to know something about that.

He didn't stay long on earth, he couldn't. Maybe it had something to do with the mystery of how they were revived in Norfinbury, their bodies recreated or cloned or healed, or maybe it was something that was gonna happen to him anyway, but he could feel the Light burning inside him, inside his head almost as soon as he landed. A desperate need to take to the stars. He'd managed to create a ship and took off.

Time passes, and scientists notice something odd about several exoplanets they're monitoring, especially ones marked as 'earth-like' or other planets in zones that could make them potentially habitable. Bright bursts of light and changes in the composition of the atmosphere or surface, it was inexplicable. Possible evidence of intelligent life? If they didn't know any better, especially with the rocky planets that now somehow boasted extreme changes, it was like something was terraforming them.

There was cause for alarm when Mars suddenly turned blue and green a few months later.

Meanwhile, a small blue-and-orange ship that looked suspiciously like a slightly more organic-looking Milano was racing towards the earth.

Comments

[luckythief]

[Oh God, don't break it. This is exactly why your UFO license got revoked!]

... Hey, you remember that game I was telling you about?

[bookbrawler]

[H e ' s n o t g o i n g t o b r e a k i t , J o n e s.]

...the game? The game you made, about the Light?

[luckythief]

Yeah.

[He pushes at Stone, walking backwards as the tendril fizzles back into existence, slowly reestablishing itself.]

Leeeeeeet's just say we're in it now.

[bookbrawler]

Jake looks behind to see the tendril re-forming, and his heart drops into his stomach. He immediately raises his gun, gripping it with both hands and firing wildly at the tendril as he starts running.

"Two-player game! It's me and you this time! Lead us outta here and I'll keep firin' at this thing!"

[luckythief]

"This way!"

Yeah, you really don't have to tell him twice. Despite the strange, unnatural sense of loss and pull towards the light the thought of getting staked again (or worse – of Jake getting staked and most likely killed) is enough to keep him on his feet and moving alongside his friend, navigating the hallways.

"Please tell me the UFO is functional!"

[bookbrawler]

"I didn't crash it again! Did y'think I crashed it?!"

Jake fires wildly at the tendril as he chases after Jones, keeping close to him and watching his back. But still, he manages to shoot him an incredulous look.

"Where's the confidence, man?!"

[luckythief]

"It crossed my mind! It's a legitimate question? We only get one shot at this!"

Just saying!

"And I'm letting you fire the gun, don't I? That's plenty of confidence!"

[bookbrawler]

"I can't believe you don't trust me to not crash the UFO!"

He fires again and again.

"Well, yeah, but clearly no confidence in me flying! Jeez!"

[luckythief]

"I'm not the one who had his license revoked!"

He's typing away on a gadget on his wrist, opening doors, navigating them back to the hangar.

"Don't fire too much in a row, it needs to recharge!"

[bookbrawler]

"That wasn't even real, that was you, and I'm a perfectly good UFO pilot!" He will go down with this argument, Jones.

He glances down at the gun and shakes it as he's been firing it quite a bit, and looks nervously up at the approaching tendril.

"Then you better pick up the speed, cause that thing isn't letting up!"

[luckythief]

"Well, it's really your fault you forced me to revoke it! And I'm going as fast as I can. In here!"

He's closing the doors behind them; not that it's going to stop the tendril but it might slow it down just a little.

"Where did you park?"

[bookbrawler]

Jake skids to a stop, taking a second to fire at the tendril a couple times before slipping through the door.

"It's not far! It's near one of the side doors, just down that way." He nods towards a corridor that leads to one of the openings. "Didn't want to be too far away."

There's a pause before he starts running again. "You don't have the authority to revoke anything!"

[luckythief]

More running. Ezekiel is still tired and winded from the light and his breath comes out ragged and exhausted. Maybe he should save it.

"You know, you're really not... helping your... case! Arguing just makes me... wonder about your... driving maturity!"

But this is clearly more important.

[bookbrawler]

A look of incredulity. Are they really having this argument now, in this life-or-death situation? Apparently yes.

"My driving maturity!?"

He leads on towards the side door, slowing down slightly to let Ezekiel catch up. He's not sure what that light did to him, but it probably wore him out, the way he's sounding.

"Do you want me to save you or not? Because we could wait around for a better UFO driver to come along?"

[luckythief]

"Oh really! Well, I guess we are so very fortunate that we already have the best UFO driver in the galaxy with us! Me! And I still have my license, in fact it's right..."

His voice trails off with a yelp when another tendril, instead of breaking through the door, shoots up from the ground right next to him. Ezekiel looks up, startled, his steps slowing to a stop. He can feel the sizzling energy so close by, so familiar and why is he running again? He can't run from this. He shouldn't run from this. It's wrong and selfish, the light needs him and those planets need him and it feels very empty in his head without the constant hum and connectedness and maybe he should just...

No, nonono, he can't, he can't, he can't.

"Stone!!"

[bookbrawler]

"Please don't tell me that you made your own UFO license..."

He pauses when he hears the yelp, whirling around and seeing a flash of light suddenly erupt from the ground, shooting up next to Ezekiel. He's just frozen there, what is he--what is he waiting for!?

"JONES!"

Jake fires rapidly at the tendril, his heart pounding in his chest. "Don't you dare touch him!"

[luckythief]

It comes at him quickly, striking, and Ezekiel brings up his arms to shield himself and no, nonono please -- and then Stone's well-aimed shots throw it back, it twitches and flickers, disintegrating inches before his face.

He stands, transfixed for another long second before he slowly puts down his hands, trying to keep them from shaking too much. "I really don't like these things."

[bookbrawler]

Jake is panting, his eyes wide with fear and the horrible thought of Ezekiel getting dragged away again flickers in his mind--and then the thing disintegrates and he can breathe a sigh of relief.

"I hate 'em too. We gotta get out of here, man, put you where those things can't get you." He nods over to the parked UFO close by. "Get in there and maybe it can't get to you!"

[luckythief]

That was close. Too close, and his heart is still hammering in his chest, the panic keeping him in place, making it hard to think. At Stone's suggestion Ezekiel takes a step towards the UFO but stops again.

"... I-I can't. What if they attack it?"

Ezekiel could maybe, probably survive a crash but... could Stone? What if the tendril went after him the next time?

"You gotta get out of here. I can distract them for you!"

[bookbrawler]

"What? No! I'm not leaving you!" Jacob's tone said that separating was out of the question for him. "Get in the UFO, we can get in the air, they can't get you there!"

...could they? He actually didn't know. But they had so little options right now, other than the ray gun that needed to recharge every so often. And they couldn't keep this up forever.

[luckythief]

Ezekiel doesn't know either but he wants to believe that. Jacob's steely resolve breaks through his scattered thoughts and panic, helps him keep the dangerous pull towards the light in check.

I'm not leaving you!

He came. He's here, to get him out. Ezekiel's feet slowly start moving again, breaking through the paralysis.

"O-okay. ... Remember to swerve."

[bookbrawler]

"Yeah. I will." There's something softer to his voice, as he hits a button on the outside of the UFO to open the door, the ramp extending to the ground. He motions his arm wildly, wanting him to get in first.

"Go! Go, I'll cover you!"

There's a crackle as another tendril reforms from the ground, but Jacob fires wildly at it, disintegrating it before it can get much higher.

[luckythief]

Allowing himself one last glance back at the tendrils and Jake Ezekiel turns around and hurries up the ramp inside. It feels weird being back in here. How long has it been? Probably not that long, or did he lose all track of time? It feels like a lifetime since he and Jake set out on that mission, taking a selfie, having a great time before everything went so utterly, irrevocably wrong. The Expansion. Getting captured by Peter for the first time. Returning, only to have Jake and Flynn gang up on him. Thinking that it can't get worse and then things just got so much worse.

He fires up the engines, running on autopilot now. They need to get out. They need to make things right again.

"Stone! Get in here!"

[bookbrawler]

There's sound of Jacob running desperately up the ramp, shooting out the back of the door like Han Solo, but he misses his last couple of shots as he's already too far inside.

"I'm in! I'm in, the tendril's back! Go!"

There's a flash of white light as a tendril tries to attack the back of the UFO--

[luckythief]

"It's gonna hit us!"

His voice is frantic, a little high-pitched, the panic breaking through again because there's no way they can make it out of here in time. The tendril moves in to strike--

In a sudden, desperate move Ezekiel grabs Stone to shield him. He doesn't know if it will do anything but he has to at least try – maybe if they both get hit by the tendril at the same time it will link his immortality to Jacob, give him some of his energy, help him survive, something, anything, please.

-- and then the tendril vanishes just inches before it can smash into the UFO. Everything around them goes dark.

Ezekiel blinks, slowly raising his head.

"W-what...?"