The Interferers

Twenty Years After William Bell Time Traveled - Prime Universe

Feuxlivia, or Olivia the Freelancer, looked down at her wrist tech. As she had feared, the Beacon was active and masking Walter's location.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Link asked, anger on his face. "The President wanted both the boy and the Beacon. We lost them both."

"About that Peter character..." Charlie said, trying not to stare at the corpse lying to his right on the floor. The one belonging to Agent Charlie Francis, his Temporal Twin from the Prime Universe. "I sniffed him and-"

"I never get tired of you saying that." Link said laughing.

"-and he smells like us. He's from our dimension," Charlie said.

"That's weird..." Feuxlivia said, folding her arms across her chest. "How would he have gotten here? And why is he helping the people from this place?"

Feuxlivia began thinking about how evil she had been taught the Prime Universe was. She had been told from a very young age how William Bell had crossed over from his universe into theirs and began attacks on them, with the sole intent of ruling them all. She knew not these were all lies told to her to get her to do the Will of President Walter Bishop, known to William Bell as Walternate. She knew not that she was a puppet in the grand schemes of the being known as the Supreme.

The Freelancers, in fact, were all created from the research William Bell and Walter Bishop had done to try and replicate the theories from Robert Bishop. Robert believed people were hindered from realizing their cerebral potential due to the experiences they received in life and the environments they encountered. He believed that if a person were put in the right environment that their physiology and psychology would be able to blossom into something... new. He believed it would unlock the hidden powers in the Human Genome.

Not believing it was possible to create such an environment, Walter and Bell had created a drug they believed was able to mimic the results Robert was looking for, calling it 'Cortexiphan'. The reason for this venture was due to some altercations that had occurred between William, Walter, and Walternate two decades earlier...

. . .

165 Million BC - Nathadian Universe

Laguna breathed in deeply as September broke the connection. "Wow, that was intense! But... What's going on? Why did you stop?"

September had his eyes closed as he responded. "Because I skipped some events. My apologies, Dr. Loire. I was so concerned about showing you Walter and how he met Olivia Dunham that I did not show you the part of the story that explains how Olivia gained her powers."

"She was a Cortexiphan kid then, right?" Laguna asked, sitting back in his swivel chair and folding his arms.

"Yes. This part of their history should show you why Walter and William had to use Cortexiphan in the first place." Stated September as he opened his eyes and looked to Laguna. "Are you ready?"

Laguna smiled. "You better believe it!"

As soon as September's hands touched his head, Laguna found himself once again in a vision, standing beside September in Walter's lab on the night William Bell found out that Peter-Utopia (who William would later call simply "Peter") had been taken from the Utopian Dimension (Alternate Universe) over to the Dystopian Dimension (Prime Universe).

. . .

One Year After William Bell Time Travelled - Prime Universe

"What have you done!?" Bell demanded, grabbing Walter by the arm and pulling him away.

"Oh, William..." Walter said, the light in his face dropping. "I... I found something. A device. I used it, Belly. I was able to see another dimension. Another universe! There I saw your double, and mine, Belly.I saw my double working on a cure for Peter. He was doing it wrong. The alpha cells were bonding to the wrong molecules..."

William swallowed hard. Right as Walter said it, he realized he had given Walternate bad information. He realized it was because of him that Peter's recovery was stagnate. Once again, he would've been the reason for Peter's death.

A sort of... Universal Equilibrium. I killed him once, and perhaps the universe caused me to have a blip in my thoughts, so I could once again be the cause of his death...William Bell thought darkly.

"Okay... so you created a sort of Dimensional Window. But how did you cross over?" William asked, feigning ignorance while still getting straight to the point.

"When I saw the error my twin had done, I modified the window so I could use it to cross over. I impersonated my twin and brought Peter over here. I was planning on just administering the cure, but Elizabeth walked in on us," Walter said.

"Oh, no..." William Bell said, deducing the rest.

"Oh, yes, Belly. I explained everything to her and she began crying. Begging not to let him return. I... I can't take him away from her. Not again," Walter said, almost asking Bell for permission to keep Peter with his eyes.

"But that's not fair for the other Walter."

"I know... I know..."

William looked at the boy. The boy destined to grow into the man who could cure the world with his genius. The boy who could create a utopia.

Maybe... maybe this is what is best for my universe. Maybe this boy can cure my world. Ensure my dystopia doesn't happen. Bell thought, knowing he was being selfish. Then I can help ensure the Utopian Dimension maintains their status quo... I will just move there and do most of my work from there. Yes, I can make this work!

"Walter...? I will help you but first... I must tell you the truth." William Bell said, sitting down.

"The truth?" Walter asked, confused. "About what?"

"About who I really am. Walter, I go by the name of William Bell to atone for my sins. A new start," Bell began.

Walter furrowed his brow as he sat down. "What are you saying, Belly? What is your real name?"

"My name is Peter Bishop, and I'm from sixty years in the future..."

. . .

Four Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe

William Bell sat at his desk in the building he had purchased in the Alternate Universe (formerly known to him as the Utopian Dimension). He had become a renowned scientist in that realm, wanting to do all he could to ensure the Utopia he saw in the future he had dissolved would still come to pass. The guilt of allowing Walter to keep Peter led him to living almost full time in the Alternate Universe, only visiting his home universe from time to time (though he did have a business in that realm which he had started with his father, Walter Bishop).

While he sat at his desk, he went through his daily routine of going over the notes of Peter-Utopia, the man he had killed when he had first used the machine he coined as the Dimension Jumper. The man, in his opinion, was brilliant. The many academic exercises and inventions the man had in his book was mind boggling and impressive. William had been able to improve upon some of Peter-Utopia's ideas, but for the most part it was Peter-Utopia speaking to William from the grave, molding William into a smarter and better man.

On that particular day, William found some research from the Utopian version of Robert Bishop, which had been documented in Peter-Utopia's journal for reference. It was interesting to read for William, because he had been able to see that for all intents and purposes that the Robert Bishop, his grandfather, from the Utopian/Alternate Universe was the exact same person as his own grandfather from the Dystopian/Prime Universe. Through his research from Peter-Utopia's journal, William Bell had been able to see that everything in both universes were identical to each other until the birth of Peter Bishop. His and his Temporal Twin's births were when their timelines split and became distinctively different one from the other.

Reading over the research summaries from Peter-Utopia, William Bell was very curious. It was about Robert's belief that people were limited due to their life experiences, starting from the moment they were born. He believed that if he were able to create an environment conducive to the brain's development that he could create a "perfect" person. A person with the capacity to use their mind and body in ways unimaginable by the Human species.

Reading on, William Bell found himself reading what Robert had done for his experiments from Peter-Utopia's point of view, since it was abridged by him. Being the near perfect man he was, the account of Robert Bishop's experiments were written with a tone of absolute horror and disgust. Robert chronicled how he had created something called a Wall Machine, able to not only teleport him to an underground research lab he had, but also able to allow people to open up holes in otherwise solid objects, like walls. He had developed it for one main goal: to deposit an infant directly from its mother during labor into an enclosed space, created specifically for the purpose of ensuring the brain and body would become its "perfect self".

This led to William's astonishment: he discovered the name of the test subject. The name belonged to the child his father had told him was a stillborn: his twin brother Sinclair Bishop. Robert had done experiments with his wife's consent to ensure their pregnancy would have twins: one who would be raised in the real world (Walter), and the other who would serve as a control to see how limiting the real world could be (Sinclair). William felt his soul darken as he read that Robert had his wife give birth in the underground lab. Right as Sinclair (the first born) left the comfort of his mother's body, he was thrust through the Wall Machine where cold, unfeeling mechanical arms had placed the infant in a world of controlled environments and uncaring experiments. Meanwhile, Walter was born and documented as the only surviving child of the birth. Both parents were proud of themselves. The only thing Peter-Utopia added about that account was one word (circled with a red pen): Abominable.

Reading on, William saw how concerned Peter-Utopia had become over the Wall Machine experiment, and what it meant to the man who was supposed to be his uncle. William read about how Peter-Utopia had tried to find Sinclair and the secret underground base Robert Bishop had confined him to. William found out that Peter-Utopia had attempted to find the lost boy for two years, but had given up due to lack of resources to find such a location.

That's because he was ill equipped... William thought. [i]He came from a world where they didn't have a need to track people down. No need or thought for war and security or covert and anti-covert operations. William, however, was as close to being a master at the art of war tech as it one could get. He vowed that he would take up where Peter-Utopia failed and find where Sinclair had been hidden.

. . .

Four and a Half Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe

Walternate had been spying on William Bell for quite some time. One thing he had been having trouble with was figuring out how to get into Bell's office. Ever since he had first seen William vanish in front of his house through what he knew not was a Dimension Jumper, he had been cautious of his help. William had won Walternate over, though, with his vast knowledge of Peter's illness and how to medicate it. He had always kept in the back of his mind, though, that William was a man he did not know and he could not completely trust him.

Over the past few months, William had grown more secretive and distant. It had been three and a half years since his son, Peter, had gone missing and Walternate had grown very paranoid due to that fact. With William having appeared in Walternate's life in an odd way, and his odd behavior as of late, Walternate had begun to investigate William. He felt the best way to get to know William would be to find a way into his office. After some time, Walternate had found an algorithm to crack even William Bell's security system. Once he had been certain William was out of the office, Walternate had let himself in.

It wouldn't take Walternate long to learn everything: right on William's desk was his personal journal, alongside the journal of Peter-Utopia on the page for Sinclair Bishop and what his father had done to his twin brother. Confused, Walternate sat down and turned the pages of William's journal to the beginning of it. That journal in particular was written chronicling the exploits William had gone through since his first journey to the Utopian Dimension. What it meant was that the first thing Walternate read about was the unfortunate event of Peter-Dystopia (William Bell) killing Peter-Utopia. It wouldn't be long after that for Walternate to find out that Peter-Utopia was the future version of Alternate Peter. The boy who was his son. Not too long after that Walternate would learn that his temporal twin from the Prime Universe, Walter Bishop, had stolen his son from him and was at that time raising him as his own. In a matter of moments, Walternate would learn the truth about everything, and the consequences of that knowledge were soon to follow.

. . .

The reason for Walternate being able to enter William's office at the time he had was due to an excursion William had begun: He believed through his detective work that he had found a way to get to Sinclair Bishop. After having located his grandfather's journal in Walter's old library, he had found hidden instructions for something called a Wall Machine. After having deciphered the puzzle (a second piece of paper hidden within a page of the journal), William had teleported himself and the Wall Machine to Robert Bishop's secret underground lab. The next step was easy: activate the Wall Machine and point it to the wall where the documents said Sinclair was being held.

Putting in the code Robert's notes had left behind, William watched the machine hum to life and direct a beam at the wall. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the wall. Walking toward it, William saw that he could not see anything due to how dark it was. Looking around, William found a flashlight. It took a moment for it to come to life but, when it did, William was able to perceive an area with some odd machines and what looked like obstacle courses strewn about. He jumped when a boy was suddenly seen in the midst of the room.

"Sin... Sinclair!?" William found himself asking in surprise. It had to be his uncle, but the fact he was but a boy after sixty plus years in the area baffled him.

The boy walked toward him, curious. He had never seen another person, or heard language. William extended a hand, and Sinclair did likewise. William tugged on the hand a bit, causing Sinclair to inch forward. Realizing William was trying to help him out of the only world he had known, the curious boy accepted the subtle invitation and for the first time in his life touched foot outside of his controlled environment.

"My name is William."

Sinclair looked at him, not able to understand the concept of language. Wishing to defend himself, he simply pushed William away without any warning or change in his blank expression. William was shocked by the force Sinclair exerted on him, feeling himself be picked up off his feet and hurled across the room. He shook his rattled head as he slid down the wall to the ground.

Pointing at the boy, he said, "Sinclair." He then pointed to himself and announced his name.

"William," Sinclair stated, understanding suddenly the concept of "names" just by watching Bell's actions. He pointed at William Bell as he said this, indicating that he understood that he was pointing at a being who identified himself as "William". He then pointed to himself and said, "Sinclair."

"How is this possible!?" William asked himself as he stood up. "How are you still a boy? Did grandfather really do it? Create an environment that allowed you to become a Metahuman?"

Sinclair gave William a blank stare.

William smiled. "Come here, my dear uncle. There is much you need to learn from me, as there is much I can learn from you."

. . .

Walternate slammed his fist into the table. "He killed my boy! He then came back, fiddling with Time and everything else and causing that... other me to take him! I want my boy back! And I will cause my twin to suffer for it! And his horror of a son, my 'friend', William Bell!"

Walternate made sure to leave everything as he had found it, so Bell would not know he had been there. After leaving the desk, he went to the lab to find what he had learned William kept there: the Dimension Jumper. Tuning it the way he had learned from the journal, he found himself looking at the same building Bell owned, but in the Prime Universe. Walternate took a wrist tech strapped to the Dimension Jumper and placed it on his arm, to keep himself connected remotely to the Dimension Jumper. After pushing a button on the wrist tech, Walternate felt a slight buzz before being zipped from his universe (which he was angry to read Bell had coined to be the "Alternate Universe") over to the Prime Universe.

Leaving the building he jumped onto a bus with some change he had in his jacket. He watched in awe during the trip at the familiar sights. It was mind boggling to him how similar everything was, even with the differences which had begun in each timeline after what he read had been the turning point for each universe: the birth of Peter Bishop.

After about a half hour, Walternate snuck into his twin's lab from a back entrance. It did not take him long to find Walter and what used to be his son in the lab, laughing and playing together.

It's true... Walter was able to cure my boy... Walternate thought. And look at my boy now. He's happy. And... Walter is making him happy. He truly is a different man than me... Perhaps the way I would have raised Peter would have made him into the good man he was meant to be, but... I would have never let him play in my lab like this. If I were to take him back now... Would he be disappointed in me? Realize something is amiss? I don't want to have to compete with my doppelganger for the rest of my life! But I can remedy that. Maybe... create a concoction to poison Walter's mind. Perhaps something to help the amyloid-beta accumulate in his mind? Something that will temper the cerebral spinal fluid from washing it out from the brain...? Yes, then he will lose his mind. I will begin to ruin Walter's life and his relationship with Peter. In doing so, that thief will hold no place in Peter's heart. Then, when the time is right... Then will I return and reclaim my son.

He left his secret watch place and looked at the wrist tech on his arm. He knew he could not piggyback off of William's tech for too much longer, else he would risk getting caught. He was already making plans in his mind on, upon returning home, he would reverse engineer the wrist tech to create his own Dimension Jumper. Once he did, he would continually return to the Prime Universe and poison Walter with the formula that would cause him to lose his mind. With that in mind, he pushed a button on the wrist tech and found himself once again in William Bell's "Alternate Universe" lab. Turning off the Dimension Jumper, he left the building with the stolen piece of equipment which would help him get his revenge.

. . .

Eight Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe

William Bell shook his head as he appeared in his office. He had just crossed over from the Prime Universe and found himself very distraught. The man who he knew as his real father was deteriorating quickly with some disease neither he nor the doctors of either universe (for he had been investigating in the Alternate Universe) could understand, let alone stop. Walter's mind had been slowly degrading for the past three years, and it mattered not what treatment he received for his brain continued to deteriorate. If William hadn't known any better, he would have believed Sinclair's hypothesis that some exogenous means were to blame for his father's degradation.

Sighing, he left his office and had his driver take him to Walternate's lab. Although he wasn't his father per se, seeing a version of his father being fully lucid helped curb his ill feelings. After his driver had pulled into the parking lot, William Bell let himself into the lab. He found himself alone.

"Walter!?" Bell shouted into the empty room. "Walter!?"

He shrugged and began to look through some recent notes, to see what Walternate was busying himself with. He had grown rather distant over the past few years, but still maintained some contact (although it seemed forced, and Bell could not understand why).

As he continued to look around, he heard a humming sound. Oh, dear... Walternate must have left a machine on. Hunh... That's not like him, though. Oh, no... What if Walternate is also getting the mental deterioration!? In my Time neither of the Walters suffered from this, but first my father, now Walternate...? Is all of this because of my Time traveling!? Is it some odd form of Universal Equilibrium Sinclair and I have not postulated...?

Following the sound, William Bell found a locked door. Pulling out his credit card, he was able to easily get past it. As the door opened, his heart sank into the bottom of his stomach. He was staring at a Dimensional Window. He could see an attachment on it helping it to serve as a Jumper, as well. Running over, he turned the monitor on and saw where it was saying Walternate was: in Walter's lab in the Prime Universe.

Rushing over with the Window, William peered through it at the location the machine told him to point it: at Walter's office. Where William was, he was pointing the Window at a closed door. Through the Window, peering into the Prime Universe, William saw an open door with a man who looked like Walter, but did not compose himself like a man on the edge of dementia. The readings from the Window told William that his suspicion was correct: he was looking at Walternate. He watched in horror as he saw some odd chemical being poured into Walter's thermos and mixed in. It took only moments for William to figure out what was happening: Walternate was poisoning Walter. Somehow, Walternate knew Walter had taken Peter from him and he was getting some sort of elaborate revenge for it.

Guilt swept through Bell's body. He couldn't think straight. He tried to figure out why Walternate did not simply take Peter back, but his mind was buzzing with so many thoughts he could hardly focus on that concept. Swallowing hard, he hit the manual override and forced Walternate back to the Alternate Universe. As Walternate appeared in his own lab office, confused, he heard a crash outside. Running out of the office, anger boiled to his brain's surface as he watched William Bell destroying his Dimension Jumper.

"You murdering fool!" Walternate screamed. "Don't take my revenge from me! I want my boy back!"

William paused. He thought about the hypocrisy of his meddling with the universes, but not allowing others to. He had caused as much damage, if not more, than Walternate. He looked at the man who lost his son, the man who was dealing with his grief (in the wrong way, but still hurting), and empathized with him.

"I'm so very sorry, Walter... I've made an awful mess of things..." William Bell said as he pushed a button on his wrist tech, travelling back to his home universe.

Walternate sneered. "Yes you have... But now, I have what I need."

He turned and looked at the various cameras in his lab. Not only taking video, but also registering power output. He knew one day he would have the evidence he needed to go to the government to report Bell. He just needed patience. Seeing as he had such evidence, the next step in his plan was simple: he was going to the government to show them that not only did he come across tech to cross over from world to world, but he also had evidence that the "Others" had already begun invading. That they had taken his son. They wouldn't need to know Walternate had been going there for years getting his vengeance. All they needed to know was that their whole universe was under attack. With the right government funding and resources (coupled with his genius), Walternate's next plan would come to pass: tech strong enough to be able to invade and destroy the Prime Universe. Walternate smiled to himself at the thought.

Walter and Bell took my son from me... they took my whole world from me. Now? Now I return the favor...

. . .

Prime Universe

Walter shed a tear as William finished explaining what he had found out to him. Standing behind William was a young man in a polo shirt and slacks: Sinclair. He had become known in the public eye solely as Bell's nephew from another country (and with Sinclair's genius, a forged identity was fairly simple for them to create, hacking into a European country to recreate himself). He was becoming an instrumental piece of Bell's scientific breakthroughs. At that time, though, the only thing he was being was a supportive brother for his twin brother's Temporal Twin (for Sinclair was Walternate's twin brother).

Stepping forward and placing a hand on Walter's shoulder, he smiled. "Do not worry, Walter I'm sure we can fix this."

"Not in any way Walternate will care for..." William said. "If he solely wanted Peter back, he would've nabbed him years ago. It is quite obvious he's the reason why you've been failing the past few years, Walter."

Walter nodded. "And it is all my fault, Belly. Oh, my son... What have I done!? But... I don't want to give up Peter. He, too, is my son now!"

"Being forgiven of your sins is a tough road at times..." Sinclair said, looking into Walter's eyes. "You must be ready for the consequences. Perhaps now is your day of atonement."

"But we are not putting into account what Walternate's end goal is!" William demanded. "He wants Walter to suffer."

Sinclair frowned. "Although I have been with you all for the past three and a half years, I can only understand what this need for revenge is on paper. I... I fail to comprehend why anyone would want revenge! It's... illogical!"

"It's human, my dear boy. Human and carnal and evil..." Walter said, suddenly lucid. "And you are more than Human. You are a Metahuman. You are beyond us. Better. You should be glad you don't understand our vile and despicable ways. Sinclair... Although William and I have done some great things, we are the villains right now. Although it is quite obvious Walternate wants something else from us, that's with him. You are right: it is time I paid the piper."

"And I will-" Sinclair began. Before he could finish his sentence, Bell's wrist tech began going off.

"Something is trying to rip us back to the Alternate Universe without our permission..." William Bell said, furrowing his brow. "But only Sinclair and I should have access to the Dimension Jumper. This can only mean Walternate..."

Sinclair nodded. "Computer? Show us an image of the Secret Lab in the Alt Universe."

A hologram appeared from Sinclair's wrist tech. He, William, and Walter watched as hordes of government agents ransacked Bell Industries. Walternate led the way into the Secret Lab while scientists attempted to override the security measures Sinclair had put in, on the off chance someone tried to forcibly recall either of them to other dimensions.

A slightly glazed look appeared on Walter's face. "Oh, my. Look, Belly. It's me! But what are those soldiers doing? And why do I look so angry...?"

William gave his senile father a sad smile. "Because they are attempting to make us pay for what we've done, Walter. Sinclair? Our business in the Alternate Universe seems to be done for."

Walter frowned. "Oh, dear. They must have found out about that time I snuck money out of Papa's bag for ice cream... We are in big trouble..."

"That we are..." Bell replied. "Are we disconnected now, Sinclair?"

"Affirmative," Sinclair reported.

William Bell nodded. "Okay, then. Let's get back to our offices here and see what we can learn about how far into the government Walternate has embedded himself."

. . .

Ten Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Prime Universe

Two years had gone by since Walternate had allied himself with the government of the Alternate Universe, and Walter's lab was bustling with activity. Walter (despite his mind being on a downward spiral), Bell, and Sinclair had discovered through multiple bouts of spy work using both their Dimensional Window as well as through dangerous recon missions to the Alternate Universe that Walternate had begun in depth research into war machines to attack the Prime Universe.

To counter such a thing, they knew they had to up their game. To be prepared for the war which was coming. To defend themselves from the threat of the Alternate Universe, Sinclair postulated they would need more people like him. Due to his time in Robert Bishop's isolated environment, his abilities were amazing: he had enhanced speed, enhanced strength, enhanced sight, enhanced cognitive skills (which included telekinesis and telepathy), enhanced reflexes, and a difference in physiology that made it so he did not grow hair and only needed to eat raw meat. The physiological difference also caused him to age much slower than a normal Human.

To have gotten to the point he had, though, Sinclair had stayed in his environment for over sixty years. Although they could have deposited a baby sixty years in the past and taken it out when it was matured to be like Sinclair, they had a few reasons not to. The first was that they did not want to force another living being to be isolated their whole lives like Sinclair had. He felt sad at times knowing he would never have a "normal" life, even knowing what the trade off was. The next reason they did not travel back was for the sake of the parents and family of the infant: they knew that the family would lose raising and loving that child like they should have been able to. Yet another reason was a pact William had made with himself and the rest of his "team": they would never Time travel again. He was afraid of the consequences, especially with the unknown reality of Universal Equilibrium. To ensure they were safe from those consequences, the notes to create a Time machine were destroyed and so was the machinery (though it was child's play for Sinclair if he wanted to recreate what he already knew).

Instead of going the route of Robert Bishop, the trio had decided to dive into pharmacology. Using Bell's research into his uncle, they had developed a drug and treatment which they believed could mimic what Robert had done to his son, but in a more "humane" way. They dubbed the drug Cortexiphan and had begun underground testing on a group of children.

These pre-teens were from a local adoption agency. William had adopted all of them with little effort due to his high standing in society and significant wealth. The use of young children was necessary since Cortexiphan was able to prevent the brain from being limited, but it could not reverse what living in society had already done. The younger the children, the better off the trials would go.

The children were always treated with the utmost care and love. William and Walter acted as the parents to the children, and the best parents they could be, while Sinclair did all he could to be an outstanding big brother (due to his appearance causing him to look similar in age). The children were never hurt, though Walter would forget at times who the children actually were due to his deteriorating brain and at times push the tests further than they should have been pushed. The worst side effects any child got from the experiments was a bloody nose.

There were a few children in the trials, and they all seemed to have very interesting abilities which interacted with or even surpassed the known laws of physics. There were a few with the ability to manipulate and cause fires (the pyros). They were Nancy, Susan, Sally, and Lincoln. Two were capable of "energy exchange" between themselves and other objects or individuals, and their names were James and Miranda. Lloyd, Julie, and Nick had the ability to transfer their emotions to others. Cameron, Alan, and Timothy were able to perform both magnokinesis (manipulating magnetic fields) and electrokinesis (manipulating electric fields). Simon and Julie were able to read minds.

Two of the children had a very interesting area which came with their gifts: manipulating and interacting with the matrix of space/time. A boy by the name of Charlie could smell when there was a change in the fabric of space or time (he was able to smell that William was an older but "different" Peter Bishop, that Peter was from another timeline, and that Sinclair had Peter's same "smell"). The group also tested and saw that Charlie was able to sense when the Dimension Jumper was used. They knew he was going to essentially be their bloodhound in the war Walternate was wishing to conduct on the Prime Universe.

The other child with space/time abilities was a girl named Olivia, though she went by the name Olive. She could create natural vortexes that were undetectable by machinery (except for Sinclair and Charlie) to cross to other dimensions. She had done so a few times, but it caused great strain on her mind. Simply knowing that shecould do it was enough. She was going to be their secret weapon in a counter attack to Walternate and the Alternate Universe.

One day as the kids sat at the dinner table, ripping into a box of pizza (Walter had forgotten to pull the casserole out of the oven and ruined it), William had stood up somberly and looked at the kids. "I'd like to thank each of you for being so diligent in this."

Lincoln pushed up the glasses on his face and smiled. "Of course, Dad! We know that if we don't do this, the world will be destroyed..."

A tear came to William's eyes. "I caused a great mess, but Walternate's wishes to attack the entire world because of us is wrong. I know you all sacrifice social lives to help us."

"That means nothing compared to saving the world," Julie said, trying to comfort Bell.

Sinclair smiled. "But it's still a sacrifice nonetheless. We thank you all. Really."

As they spoke, Olive noticed Walter was staring at his plate sadly. "What's wrong, Dad?"

"I was just thinking of my wife, Elizabeth. I'm... in no condition to help her right now. My son is helping her, but... We aren't on the best of terms at the moment..." Walter explained to Olive.

"Peter is a nice boy. I've met him a few times," Olive replied. "If you talk to him and actually tell him the truth-"

"He'd be crushed!" The senile Walter screamed at the top of his lungs at Olive, picking up his plate and throwing it at a wall.

Sinclair focused and stopped the plate from crashing with his mind. As he did, Olive gave the hurting Walter a smile. "Just... give him a chance..."

"I have sacrificed my time with him and my wife to ensure this project goes over as it should," Walter said, gaining control and calming down. "If we don't save the world, then none of the love I could give him would mean anything. This first. This first..."

As he said that, Charlie bolted up. "No... Um... Behind you! Walter! It's him!"

Tuning into what Charlie had felt (Sinclair had all of the abilities of the "Cortexiphan Kids", but since he had to focus on so many abilities and he hadn't yet perfected them due to Robert Bishop's environment going unused for many years and certain exercises not being given to Sinclair, he wasn't as fine tuned in each area as his "siblings" were), he charged fireballs in his hands as the other pyros followed suit. From out of a time vortex stepped Walternate, smiling. He held a small device in his hand. He pushed a red button as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Ahhhh!" Olive screamed, blood streaming down her nose.

"My, my... she is sensitive to space and time, isn't she?" Walternate mused. "Tut, tut. Put those fireballs away. I'm not here to fight."

"What do you want!?" William Bell demanded. He could see his kids were all tense and scared. Although they had trained for almost two years, being in Walternate's actual presence was terrifying.

"That... that machine... there's something..." Olive started.

Sinclair sniffed. "It's very bad..."

Nodding, Charlie turned to William. "It is giving off some weird time distortions..."

"You trained them all so well!" Walternate said tauntingly. "Shame it was for nothing. Yes, you see while I had my world's government work on machines and armies to take you out, it was all a part of my illusion. My magic show! You were all so focused on what was happening in my left hand that you missed what the right hand was doing."

"What is that device!?" Walter demanded.

Walternate's face changed from one of amusement to one of hate. "You. You don'tever address me! You are the scum of the multiverse! You will burn for what you've done!"

"Answer the question!" Sinclair demanded.

Walternate narrowed his eyes and stared at Sinclair. "You... you are quite the anomaly. I hoped to have you figured out by now, but... oh, well! It won't matter! You see, I have brought Doomsday to you all."

"What!?" Was the word many kids yelled as they panicked.

"Yes, yes... You see, this device will deteriorate the... how can I describe it for you all to understand? Hmm... Let's say 'atmosphere' or even 'membrane' which surrounds your entire universe. You see, I've been studying the multiverse as well with my upgraded Dimension Jumper. The multiverse is a giant sea of universes that float in an expanse I have named the 'Nothingness'. The membrane around the universes protect equilibrium from causing the order of the universe to be engulfed by the Nothingness' pure chaos. Think of someone opening a window in an airplane or a hatch of a space station if you want a more... vivid explanation. This device in my hand? It's named Doomsday. It is the window to your airplane, and I just opened it."

"You monster!" Alan screamed, electricity shooting at Walternate. A force field appeared around Walternate, protecting him.

Little Simon turned to William, tears streaming down his face. "I just read his mind... I've seen all of his research. He's... he's telling the truth, Dad! It's all true!"

Julie, the other mind reader, had looked into Walternate's mind but with a different goal. "You are hurting so much... I am so sorry. This, though? This won't make Peter love you..."

Walternate sneered. "He won't have a choice after this! You all will lose everything, just like I did! And even if he won't love me, at least I will bring him back to his true home!"

"You have made a mistake..." Sinclair said, shaking his head.

"What, you fool boy!?" Walternate spat.

"Due to William here, and also you, crossing back and forth between our worlds constantly, using second rate traveling gear... You have deteriorated the wall separating the two universes. The Prime and Alternate Universes are linked. Whatever is going to bleed into this universe from the Nothingness will eventually bleed into yours. You've brought doom to your world as well."

"We have to stop it!" Olive screamed.

Angry for not having foreseen that bit of information, Walternate vanished back to his universe. As he did, William Bell dropped to his seat, shaking. "Can... Can we stop it...?"

Sinclair began thinking. Thinking as hard as he could. He had never used his brain as he was at that moment. He then stopped. "I can't reverse it, but... Right there. The 'window' was opened where Walternate stood. He... The energy is lingering from there. If I focus, I can reverse it and cause it to deteriorate the Alternate Universe first. Eventually it will creep into here, but it won't be for many centuries..."

"I've destroyed four timelines now..." William Bell lamented outloud. "Dystopia, Utopia... now Prime and Alternate..."

"What you did was an accident!" Lincoln proclaimed. "What Walternate has done is purposeful!"

Sinclair walked over to the area. He suddenly began glowing as he tapped into every field of power he could, trying to act as a sort of conduit for the energy Walternate had used to open the Prime Universe up to the Nothingness.

"No!" Julie screamed, reading Sinclair's mind. "He's doing it!"

"Sinclair! Stop!" Walter screamed, rushing to him.

"I'll be back! Don't worry!" Sinclair yelled as he vanished into a Time Vortex he created, sending him to the Alternate Universe.

"Olive!" William shouted. "Pinpoint the Alternate Universe and take me to Sinclair. I'm bringing him back. He may be too weak on his own!"

Tears formed in Olive's eyes. "I... I can't! I... I can't feel the Alternate Universe at all!"

Charlie panicked. "I can't feel it, either!"

William bolted out of his chair and ran downstairs to his Dimension Jumper, which he kept in a room he called his "bunker". He turned it on as the kids and Walter rushed in after him. All he could see was static.

"No..." William cried out. "It's not there. No frequency at all... They're gone."

"Sinclair's sacrifice must have channeled enough energy to instantly destroy the Alternate Universe..." Walter concluded.

"All of those innocent people," Timothy said sadly.

"And Sinclair. He sacrificed himself for us," Walter remarked with remorse as well.

William Bell nodded. "Yes. He saved our universe."

. . .

Alternate Universe

Walternate watched with satisfaction through his upgraded Dimension Jumper the assumptions those in the Prime Universe had been making. His machinery had picked up Sinclair's entrance to his timeline and had registered that he had brought with him the effects of the Doomsday Device. One of those effects was massive amounts of interference, making the Alternate Universe basically invisible to the antiquated devices William Bell and Walter Bishop used. Knowing he was not known and had suddenly gained the element of surprise, Walternate turned and looked down at the unconscious body of Sinclair at his feet.

"You are extremely powerful," Walternate said to himself about Sinclair. "I must study you while you are in that coma... while I do that? Well, I suppose continuing my revenge is appropriate..."

. . .

165 Million BC (1 BLC [Before Lothor's Collapse]) - Nathadian Universe

Laguna sat back as the vision ended. "Why did you end it? Why not jump back to the Freelancers rushing to find Walter if that story just ends there?"

"Because it gets long and drawn out," September stated. "It is easier for me to simply explain it to you than expend more of my energies recreating the events with my powers. Sinclair is taken into Walternate's labs and monitored. Meanwhile, Walternate sneaks into Prime Universe and informs the government of the Cortexiphan project, to make sure the Prime Universe has no organized force to fight him. Thinking the need for war is over, William and Walter see they can let the kids go on to have normal lives and switch their last dose of Cortexiphan with a drug that puts them all to sleep. As they sleep, Walter and William go through and basically erase their minds of the time they spent together. They felt it best to not have their minds scarred with atrocities of training for war before they were in high school."

Laguna shook his head. "That's pretty sad. Especially since they played right into Walternate's plans."

"Yes," September said. "A massive court case began, and Bell fought back because he needed his resources to try and fight the impending Doomsday Walternate had caused to eventually destroy the Prime Universe. During that time, Walternate returned to drugging Walter and caused his mind to get worse than it had been. Walter was found to be too senile for trial and sent to a home. Walternate then impersonated Walter and created a clause that stated the only way for him to be released from the home would be if Peter was the one to bring him home."

"Devious man he is..." Laguna commented.

"During that time, Walternate had made too much of a blip and got caught on one of William's devices while he was studying the effects of Doomsday, after getting out of jail on bail. He found Walternate's signal coming from Walter's home and figured out what Walternate had done, though he knew not why his instruments were not finding traces of the Alternate Universe.

"He took all of his evidence to the leader of the FBI, a man named Phillip Broyles. After showing it was possible to crossover, going on faith that he would land in the Alternate Universe since he had not known if it was possible, the FBI believed him and made up an excuse for why Bell and Bishop would have all charges dropped, lying about a technicality in reading their Miranda Rights and not having a search warrant.

"Bell became a secret agent for the FBI, but was found out one day by Walternate. Walternate had by that point greatly surpassed William's tech and created a firewall, stopping him from travelling back and forth any longer. Bell had been trapped in the Alternate Universe."

Laguna snapped his fingers. "Ah! And that's why Bell could only speak to Olivia through hologram when I was first introduced to her. Got it!"

"Yes," September replied.

"And what about Sinclair? I don't understand how he ended up... how he did," Laguna asked.

"That is something best shown." September said, placing his hands once again on Laguna's head.

. . .

Fourteen Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe

Sinclair's eyes fluttered open. "Hello?"

Walternate smiled. His computer predicted the Metahuman would awaken soon, and he was waiting. "Hello, Sinclair. Brother."

"So... You found out." Sinclair stated calmly as he sat up. He looked around and felt his body. Within a few moments he was able to calculate that he had been in a coma for roughly four years.

"Yes. The name plus some blood tests told me what I needed to know. I then found father's journal and used the Wall Machine to go to the Underground Lab," Walternate explained.

"I can feel this universe dying," Sinclair stated. "We still won..."

"We?" Walternate asked. "You still siding with them, even after they left you here to die?"

Reading Walternate's mind, Sinclair scoffed. "They think I died along with this universe."

"Not William. He knows this universe is still alive," Walternate replied.

"Yes, but..." Sinclair started. He stopped himself, lost in thought.

"Yet, he hasn't moved a finger to find you. If he truly cared about you, wouldn't he have attempted to find you? If you meant something to him, wouldn't you think he would have thought, 'If the Alternate Universe is still there, then I must find out if Sinclair lives!?'"

"He was busy with the trial you caused him to go through," Sinclair retorted.

"So?" Walternate asked simply. "Me, however? I'm here. Your real brother. Help me right the wrong done to me."

Sinclair suddenly felt hurt. Anger bubbled inside him. He could not comprehend how someone who had professed such love for him wouldn't have exhausted himself to find the one for who he expressed love. He could see from Walternate's mind that William Bell had truly not lifted one finger to ensure whether or not Sinclair had perished.

"You are a selfish, selfish man Walter," Sinclair stated. "But... You are loyal to your word and to your family. We were both hurt and wronged. And the people of this universe are relatively innocent compared to the... other universe."

Walternate smiled, knowing his tactics had worked in changing Sinclair's mind. In getting him to corrupt his own mindset to fit into Walternate's machinations.

"If any universe should have a guaranteed fall it should be theirs, not ours." Sinclair said as he stood up. "I will tell you how we created Cortexiphan. We will create our own army of Cortexiphan users. They will be the same people who I used in the Prime Universe, because I know them and trust them. They are family to me. We will train them up and when they are ready, then is the time we will attack Walter Bishop and get our revenge."

"How long?" Walternate asked, sensing the timeline for such a task would be long.

"Very long. Many, many years. The Cortexiphan will ensure our army will not age, though. Also, we can create others like me from petri dish children," Sinclair stated.

"That's brilliant," Walternate exclaimed in awe. "But I am old... I want my revenge, brother."

"As for that, I suppose we can create some bionics to extend your life..." Sinclair said.

Walternate smiled. "Perfect. Supremely perfect!"

"Yes. Everything I do from here on out will be supreme."

. . .

Twenty Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Prime Universe

Feuxlivia, the Olivia Dunham from the future of the Alternate Universe, looked to Link. "We can't let that maniac twin of the President get away with the Beacon. These people in this universe are insane and violent."

"Yeah, yeah..." Link said nodding. "I know the drill: the Freelancers help the Watchers ensure a pure future, untainted by people like William Bell. All for the Pattern!"

"Except for when Watchers go bad..." Charlie said darkly as they walked out of Walter's lab, Charlie sniffing to see if he could pick up on any trace of the Beacon or the Rogue Watcher, Prime.

"That's really creepy, by the way..." Link said as he followed behind Feuxlivia and Charlie. "I mean, at random Watchers that are created may get a malfunctioning DNA sequence that gives them freedom of choice..."

Feuxlivia nodded. "Yeah... just our luck the spirit guiding this Rogue is an evil one. Any luck, Chuck?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not yet. But don't worry... I'll get it."

"And when we do..." Link said. "They'll wish they never met us."

. . .

Walter, Olivia, and Peter rushed the Prime Universe's version of Sinclair from the area Robert Bishop had left him. The boy, tapping into his instincts, grabbed Peter by the throat and threw him to the side.

"Wait!" Olivia cried out, dropping to her knees and putting arms in the air.

"He has no understanding of language, dear Olive." Walter said, smiling. "Um... Sinclair... You, Sinclair. Me, Walter."

Being slightly more intelligent as a baseline than his Alternate counterpart (due to staying in the room for an extra sixteen years), Sinclair caught on quickly. He then pointed to Olivia and waited.

"Olivia," She replied, Walter waving for her to speak.

"Puh... Peter..." Peter coughed as he limped over. "Peter."

Walter put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Family!" He then ran over to Sinclair and did the same.

"What are we doing!?" Olivia demanded. "That's great that we were able to get this boy out of a horrible science experiment, but... What does this have to do with saving the world!?"

Sinclair stepped forward and furrowed his brow. He placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder, just as Walter had done to him. As he did, electricity began coursing between the two of them.

"What's happening!?" Olivia demanded.

"Get away from him!" Peter screamed as he dived to tackle Sinclair.

Diving himself to stop Peter, Walter yelled: "No! He's activating her powers! They're interacting!"

As all four of them were touching, they disappeared from the Underground Lab in a flash. Suddenly, they were standing outside her car in front of Walter's home. The portal leading from the Alternate Universe's future was still open overhead and ships zoomed through the sky.

"How did I do that!?" Olivia demanded.

"Do what?" Walter asked, confused as he stared at the portal. "And what is that doing up there? Did someone turn on a Beacon!?"

"Agent Dunham!" Someone screamed. Turning, Olivia saw a man she barely knew from her department at the FBI.

"Agent Lee?" Olivia asked, confused.

Breathing hard and rushing over to her, Agent Lincoln Lee nodded. "Yeah. I rushed over her as fast as I could... Broyles assigned me to find you and Agent Francis. Where is he!? And what are these ships in the sky!? What has William Bell gotten us into!?"

Olivia shook her head. "Agent Francis didn't make it..."

"What!?" Lincoln cried out. "That's... Oh, no..."

"And these dudes in the ships are from another dimension," Peter said. "They're here to kill us all because of that doo-dad Walter over there turned on."

"I did that...?" Walter asked, confused as he picked up the Beacon that happened to follow them from the Underground Lab.

"Well, these things haven't done anything but fly around up until now. So let's get out of here!" Lincoln yelled.

Sinclair stepped forward. He pointed at Lincoln and then looked at Walter. "Family?"

"He asked a question!" Walter cried out happily. "Oh, he's figuring out how language works. He is brilliant!"

"What's his name?" Lincoln asked as he and the four rushed into an alley nearby.

"Sinclair," The child answered.

"So bright!" Walter exclaimed.

"Shut it, Walter." Peter said as they hid behind a dumpster. "Where in the world are we going? And are we not going to address you teleporting us around?"

"Is this from the drugs you talked about, Walter!?" Olivia demanded.

"Oh, yes... You and Lincoln here were great during the trials," Walter replied. "I sure miss those days..."

Lincoln's eyes widened. "Wait... what?"

Suddenly, a Time Vortex opened up. From out of it stepped Feuxlivia, Link, and Charlie.

"Agent Francis!?" Lincoln gasped in relief. "It's so great to see you! Agent Dunham said... Oh, boy..." He turned pale as he saw Feuxlivia's face and also the face of his Temporal Twin.

Link smirked at his Temporal Twin. "'Oh, boy' is right. Geez, he still wears glasses. He must have stopped taking the drug."

"You look nice as a nerd. Kinda cute." Feuxlivia said, pointing her gun at the lot of them. "Now hand over the Beacon. Now."

"We're dead either way..." Peter said, weighing his options.

"Wait... Look!" Charlie said, pointing at Sinclair. "They stole a developing Watcher!"

"They must have used the Beacon to travel to HQ..." Feuxlivia deduced. "You guys should be executed right now. You're a bunch of animals."

"No!" Walter demanded. "He is my brother! He is not an abomination like those you know! Walternate told me about your 'Watchers' when he would torture me! This boy here is not manufactured!"

"Now that's one tall tale." Charlie replied, pointing a gun at Walter. "Step away from the Watcher and hand him over. We want the man named Peter and the Beacon, too."

Sinclair looked at those around him. Suddenly, as he focused on them he began hearing and seeing their thoughts. Their language became clear to him and he realized they were both groups of people trying to do what they thought was right. He closed his eyes and shot a blast of electricity at the Freelancers.

"Whoa!" Peter cried out.

Sinclair grabbed the Beacon and handed it to Walter. "Run. I can stop them."

"No!" Olivia cried out, bending over and looking Sinclair in the eyes. "We won't just leave you here!"

Sinclair shook his head. "You aren't powerful enough. They will kill you. They think you are bad."

"Come with us!" Olivia demanded.

"No." Sinclair said, sensing the Freelancers readjusting themselves and beginning to stand again. "I just want to help."

He then turned and began shooting balls of electric energy at the three Freelancers.

"He can handle himself!" Peter cried out. "Now let's go!"

Walter ran after Lincoln, Olivia, and Peter as he held the Beacon. Before they got very far, they found themselves facing the Rogue Watcher, Prime.

"Give me the Beacon," Prime demanded. "I need it to conquer the multiverse."

"Oh, that's all?" Peter said, smirking. "Why didn't you say so!?"

"Give it to me... Now!" Prime demanded.

"Run back!" Olivia said, sprinting back to where Sinclair was fighting the Freelancers.

"What are you doing back?" Sinclair asked as he shot a fireball at Charlie, confused.

Olivia bent over and smiled. "I just want to help."

Sinclair stared at her for a moment, processing the phrase Olivia had just uttered. Hearing what he had said moments earlier repeated back to him struck a chord within him. He then watched as she pulled out her gun and began shooting at her Temporal Twin.

"Get with the teleporting!" Peter demanded.

"What teleporting!?" Lincoln cried out, shooting at Prime and growing very scared as the Rogue Watcher caught each bullet.

Sinclair sighed. He knew the moment he relaxed that he wouldn't be able to defend himself from the excellent aim Feuxlivia had, but he had felt some sort of kinship to those who had saved him from a world of monotony. The people who came back and began helping him.

Seeing Prime (and finding that he could sense an odd connection to him), Sinclair shot a blast of power at him and turned and grabbed both Walter and Olivia by the shoulder. "Think of the safest place you can..."

"Huh?" Olivia asked.

"Well, I suppose my own pocket universe in the Nothingness would do," Walter said happily.

Olivia suddenly began to glow. As she did, so did Sinclair and the Beacon. As Sinclair channeled energy into Olivia, he was shot in the back with a stun beam by Feuxlivia. Within an instant after that, they were all gone as Sinclair fell to the ground, unconscious.

"No!" Prime yelled. He tapped into the Speed Force and bolted out of the alley.

"Drat!" Charlie yelled as he threw his gun. "They all got away!"

"Don't worry..." Link said. "At least they didn't get the Watcher."

"What happened to this one!?" Feuxlivia demanded. "I've never seen one use ourpowers. He seemed to have them all!"

"Yeah. They must have done something to him," Link replied. "Let's take him back and have him Recycled."

"Um... we gotta go now!" Charlie yelled.

"Huh?" Link asked.

"Olivia! Nooooow!" Charlie screamed. He felt something very wrong happening with the Prime Universe. Very, very wrong.

. . .

Alternate Universe

The man known as the Supreme (Future Alternate Sinclair, who helped William Bell and Walter Bishop create the Cortexiphan drug) sat on his command chair. As he did, the President (Future Walternate) walked in.

"Walter and my boy escaped with two former Cortexiphan Kids: Olivia Dunham and Lincoln Lee," The President reported.

The Supreme smiled a bit. He was fond of those with who he had lived with eons earlier, and a part of him was glad they were giving a good fight. It was a good bit of nostalgia seeing them back the way they were around the same time he had once known them. "Where are they now?"

"They had the Beacon with them and Walter figured out how to use it to create a pocket dimension in the Nothingness. They're untraceable," The President said.

Supreme looked at the hollow shell the President was. After all of the bionics had been implanted to keep him alive he had become nothing more than a puppet for the Supreme, living with only the shadows of the anger he used to feel for Walter Bishop. His emotions were nothing more than him doing what he remembered he should do, but with no real emotion. The Supreme was getting quite bored with him.

"Well, I suppose we just move ahead with our plans of merging the Prime and Alternate Universes of the past then. It will be a good base for us until we find a permanent home," The Supreme stated.

"No, my brother," The President replied. "We cannot. The surge of power from the Beacon interacted with our portal from our Time to the past of the Prime Universe. It completely wiped the Prime Universe from the Space-Time continuum. Past, present, and future are gone. The Prime Universe was destroyed."

The Supreme frowned. "That was not a part of the plans... Incompetence! I demand that you bring me right now William Bell, my past self, and your past self... unless your bumbling destroyed the past of our universe, too!"

"They will be here shortly." The President said as he teleported out. Within a matter of moments, a confused Walternate and Alternate Sinclair stood in the Supreme's throne room. After another moment, the President appeared with William Bell.

"Bell," Alternate Sinclair sneered. His nephew's carelessness was still fresh in his mind.

Bell stared at him in awe. He looked only slightly different than the last time he had seen him. He looked like a teenager. "Sinclair... It's true..."

"Hello, William." The Supreme said, stepping down from his chair and down some steps. "It has been too long."

"You're the future Sinclair, aren't you?" William said, face dimming. "You call yourself... what again?"

"The Supreme, correct?" Alternate Sinclair asked.

"Correct, past me," Supreme said. "Now, I have brought you lot here to tell you something... the Prime Universe is no more."

"What?" Walternate choked, first thought being his revenge gone (followed closely behind by mourning Peter).

"Do not worry," Supreme said. "Peter and Walter escaped. We are trying to find them as we speak."

"I don't believe you!" William screamed.

Supreme stepped forward and placed a hand on William's head. An image flashed in William's mind from the Supreme, confirming what he had said.

"No... It's true..." William gasped, falling to his knees.

"Unfortunately, the past of my timeline will suffer the same fate. If my calculations are correct, it will only be a matter of days before the past of my timeline is also erased," Supreme explained to the crew of Temporal Twins in his command room.

"Then we're all doomed!" Walternate cried out.

"No," The President stated. "We have developed tech that protects our timeline. We call it Time Barrier Tech. We can change the past all we want and it will not affect our future. It exists independent of our past now."

"Let me demonstrate," Supreme said. He stepped forward and tapped into the Speed Force. He vibrated his hand extremely quickly and placed it into Alternate Sinclair's head, scrambling his brain and instantly killing him.

"No! Sinclair! You monster!" William cried out.

Supreme sneered. "If you truly cared about him, me, you would have come looking for me!"

"I thought you died when you sacrificed yourself and we lost contact with the Alternate Universe!" William argued.

"But once you found out the Alternate Universe was still around, you should have come looking for me!" Supreme yelled, walking over to William and slapping him.

Blood trickled down William's lip. "The thought never crossed my mind. I had just assumed you had died... I'm sorry..."

"If you loved me, you would have given me more thought!" Supreme yelled.

"All of this is my fault..." William proclaimed as he dropped to his knees. "If I had just been more thoughtful I could have prevented this. You only exist... my universe is gone... because I didn't think you may have survived...? That's... that's insane. I... I can't live on in such a universe where one small thing can balloon into something bigger than me. Please... kill me. I don't want to live anymore."

"You will die when you are able to see the culmination of your thoughtlessness," Supreme said. He then smiled as he looked to Walternate. "And you must be terrified that I'm going to end you as well. I mean, I don't need two of you."

"That's right," The President said. "We need only one of us."

Supreme walked over to the President and, vibrating his arm with his super speed, phased his hand through his robotic heart. A red light appeared in the President's eyes before the President fell to the floor dead.

"Wait... what?" Walternate gasped.

"Congratulations. You are now the President of our timeline," Supreme said. "You'll be more fun than that Cyborg was. You have real emotions. Now, get into your room. I will send you the relevant information to your computer so you can know what you need to know to be 'the President'. Now get to working before I end you."

Walternate swallowed hard and rushed out of the room. As he did, the Supreme chuckled as he heard Walternate ask someone to direct him to his room.

"Now what?" Bell asked, distraught.

"Well, we are still experiencing the effects of the Doomsday Virus in 'the future' from when I'm from," Supreme stated. "My plan right now is simple: dominate other universes. I see now how important power is, and I want more."

"That's it?" Bell asked.

"Yes. That's all. I have evolved a lot over the years, and although I have a lot of pleasure seeing you in pain after you abandoned me, in the end it's really more about gaining more power," Supreme explained. "If we don't try to get powerful, life is pointless, really."

William Bell smiled. "I once met a wise man who told me that there's nothing wrong with a little religion."

Supreme returned the smile. "Yes, the man you named Peter-Utopia. The man you promptly stabbed in the throat. This is all your doing, 'William Bell'. I'm going to make sure I keep you alive for a very, very long time. I have some research you'll be excited to see. I call it my 'Crisis Crunch'. I will compress all of the multiverse into a singularity so I can mold reality into my perfect future. In the end, I'll be finishing your goal: to create Utopia. You should be grateful you'll finally get to see it."

"No! Not like this!" William shouted. "This is wrong! So many will die!"

"Sacrifices I'm willing to make," Supreme stated. "And it will all start by me making one change at the dawn of each universe, overwriting the course the universe would have taken to fit my Pattern. Each universe will travel through the course I have prepared for it until it reaches what I have termed as its perfect future... it's Omega Future. According to the Pattern, each universe will hit this point at the same time (Time according to my perspective) and then... boom! Crisis Crunch. Billions upon billions of universes converging into the Utopia you wanted ever so badly, Bell."

Waves of guilt swept over Bell's body. "This is awful... I know I have sinned but this... this punishment is more than I can bear..."

"Too bad." Supreme said, smiling. "Now, I do want to keep things interesting. While my Watchers and Freelancers go about ensuring my Pattern is upheld, because I don't need other people like you, Bell, going about the timelines and messing with my plans, I'll occupy myself with a little game of chess."

"I'm not smart enough to play you, so don't waste your time," Bell said, feeling deflated.

Supreme laughed. "Oh, no! Not with you! You're a measly mortal. I'm a god. No, I need some excitement. A worthy adversary. What I need... is a wife."

. . .

Future Alternate Universe aka The Watcher's Universe

Captain Windmark stared at the unconscious boy he knew not was the Temporal Twin to the Supreme. "Interesting specimen. Obviously he did not finish growing before that fiend Walter took him from the laboratory."

August nodded. "Yes. His tests show that he is one of the special ones, though."

"Good, August. He will be inducted into the program to watch over the Pattern," Windmark replied. "We will Recycle him and give him his new codename. You will no longer be the newest recruit into this program. Title the protocol for this new Watcher to be: September."

Thus, William Bell's plan, one that the Supreme had not calculated since he was unable to see things about his powerful counterpart, began (unbeknownst to William Bell): the one being who could stop the Supreme was set into play, and he was going to prove to be much more of a rival than even the woman who was to be the Supreme's wife. Sinclair became September.

. . .

Walter's Pocket Dimension

"Huh?" Peter demanded. "Where the heck are we?"

"It looks like we're back in Walter's lab..." Olivia said, looking around.

Walter nodded. "Oh, yes. But it's not. I suppose that my brother helped use your powers, Olivia, with the Beacon and my mind to create this pocket universe in the Nothingness."

"Wait, what!?" Lincoln cried out. "We're in a what!?"

"This is stupid. I've had enough of this." Peter said as he went to the door. "I'll try my luck with our new overlords."

Opening the door, Peter saw nothing but a brick wall. He rushed to all of the windows to find the same thing in each of them.

"No use, my boy." Walter said as he happily began to rearrange his books. "You won't find a way out, because there is nowhere to go."

"Ugh! Are you serious!?" Peter cried out. "Now what!?"

"Now... now we find a way out of here," Olivia said. "And we find out from Walter what's really happening."

Walter picked up the Beacon and placed it on a table. "I will do the best I can to tell you what I know, but... I don't know. I think my brain is broken."

Lincoln sighed as he plopped onto a chair. "I really can't believe this. I must have done some very bad things in my life..."

"Hello?" A female voice said from a back room. "Hello?"

"Who's there!?" Olivia shouted, pulling out her gun.

A woman walked out of the back. She seemed very frightened. "My name is Astrid... I'm a nurse and I somehow appeared... here. I'm very scared and confused."

Walter clapped happily. "Oh, good! Fantastic! I wondered if Sinclair would have been able to squeeze in that favor..."

"Walter!?" Astrid gasped.

"Everyone? This is my favorite nurse from my home. She has a brilliant mind, but she keeps limiting herself. Her name is Astrid," Walter declared.

"Welcome to the looney bin." Peter said as he bowed.

"What am I doing here?" Astrid asked.

"Hi. I'm Agent Olivia Dunham from the FBI. I don't have all of the answers, but I hope to get them soon."

"She's going to try and interrogate me," Walter said happily.

"Well... Maybe it's good I'm here then," Astrid said. "I guess I can help you talk to him. I know him fairly well and I can try to keep him more lucid than normal..."

Olivia smiled and thanked her. Turning to Walter, she said, "Okay, Walter. Start from the beginning."

Walter nodded and sat down. "Okay, well... it started a long time ago in a different world. From what I remember, a future version of you, Peter, was feeling depressed one day when he found a machine..."

Peter cocked an eyebrow. "You best start getting him lucid, Astrid."

Astrid shook her head. "I... I think he is lucid..."

Lincoln spun around and looked at Peter in his swivel chair. "Just go with it. We're obviously not going anywhere..."

Olivia nodded. "Please. Continue."

"Well, Peter lived in a place he called a Dystopia. One day he found a device, though, that would change his life forever. A device that led him to a Utopia... And that eventually led him to me."