::My Future Me, Myself, and I – Back Where We Started::

Mysterion had to admit, this was not how he expected to get out. The majority of his plans ended with him either escaping the lab and hitch-hiking back to South Park, or finding a fairly quick and painless way to take himself out so he could return with everything he'd learned in a timely manner... though, finding out that this was all predestination made him thankful he didn't attempt that; killing himself would have been a fast way to fuck with the loop, seeing as he most certainly had not known a single thing about this shit on Sunday... and he honestly didn't know how his effective immortality would jive with being temporally displaced. If there was more than one of him, would it be like when Buttlord died and the memories from the other version got folded in through dreams and echos?

He had no idea, but thankfully that was off the table; replaced with a new plan that went quite well. A plan that began with setting a fire using the bottle, rag, and flashlight he'd picked up, as well as the tools he'd nabbed to pull the flashlight apart enough so the wires and battery within it could produce a controlled spark. The bottle was opened, the rag stuffed inside as a wick, and the makeshift lighter used to ignite it before tossing it into a pile of files they'd pulled out of the cabinets in the storage room, closing the door behind them as they hid.

Things moved quickly when the lights went out. Eric arrived with a bright flashlight, but it could only illuminate one area at a time. Mysterion had remained on one side while Buttlord circled, picking up the fire extinguisher and using it to bean the guy in the head. Mysterion got hold of him as he staggered, forcing a hand over the man's mouth before he could cry out in pain, hoping to muffle him enough that Marie didn't immediately know something was wrong.

He felt Buttlord grasp him by the forearm, reaching across Eric's back to do so. The next he knew, the three of them had been displaced.

All at once, they were back where they started- the basement room at Alyssa's house, sometime near midday. In a single instant, they'd gone from a dark hallway filling with choking black smoke to a well-lit and familiar hangout... although the air wasn't exactly clear.

Mysterion ducked his nose down into the fabric that pooled around his neck as part of his cape and hood, trying to protect himself from the reek- the drawback to Buttlord's abilities was always the truly vile smell it produced. Sometimes he worried about her guts, and whether chronically maintaining that kind of gas was doing some kind of internal harm.

A quick look around the basement revealed it to be near exactly the way they left it... save for a key difference.

There were people down here, now. Two adults, in fact. One was Alyssa's dad, who wore a wide-eyed expression of shock while frozen on the very last step of the stairs down to the basement. Just ahead of him was a woman that Mysterion had met on a previous occasion... although this was probably his first time seeing her in full light.

Kartwright.

Getting a clear look at her, he wondered how he never realized it before.

When Buttlord had informed him that it was not only Marie, but Kartwright as well, with whom she shared an identity with? He'd been too deep in his own revelations to really react. It was just another shock, another surprise, and one that had been playing a distant second to finding out just how many people that machine had killed in whatever experiments that lab had been running- a lab that was apparently led by one Marie Verankert for at least the past fifteen years- maybe more. He'd been skimming, so he didn't have a solid date on when her name first appeared as the department head. Marie hadn't just landed a couple weeks ago to start messing with Alyssa's life. She'd landed more than a decade ago, playing some kind of long game that they still didn't fully understand. He'd still been digesting that when Buttlord informed him that there was not just two of her, but three, and Marie had attempted to kill Kartwright.

There hadn't been time to chase after that shit, not when they'd been in an enemy lair.

Now they were out, back into a fairly safe zone... and there was Kartwright, who seemed much less surprised than Alyssa's father to see them suddenly appear in a noxious cloud with a rotund extra.

Fuck, the resemblance was unmistakable. The green eyes, the roundness of her chin and nose, and the strength of her jaw. Even that faint little upturn at the end of her nose; which he found fucking adorable, and the rounded shape of her eyebrows- now that he was looking for similarities, he was amazed that he'd failed to see it before. All the key features were identical, altered only by the differences of age, weight, and puberty.

… damn, Lyssie's gonna have a pretty good rack when she's all grown up. That's a natural D cup, at least.

The resemblance only got stronger within the next few seconds. Kartwright's face had been composed; calm and restrained, and very possibly the image in the dictionary for resting bitch face. He suspected she had been brokering objections from Alyssa's father on her even being here, or maybe just ignoring the man as she came down here with him only a few steps behind. Upon registering that there was an additional person with the pair of junior heroes that had just ripped their way through time and space to appear before them, however, Kartwright's face twisted into an enraged snarl; eyebrows crashing down and gritted teeth appearing as her upper lip drew up in disgust accented by rage.

She'd locked onto Eric's mildly flopping form. The man was awake, but disoriented, kicking his legs and trying to shake Mysterion's hand off of his face. His heels got traction against the concrete, and he managed to twist away from Mysterion a moment after they'd landed, getting his hands up like he meant to fight back and looking around with wild eyes.

"What the FUCK are you fuckers playing at?!" He barked at once, panic turning his face red as one hand groped for his tool belt, no doubt trying to find a blunt object that could be treated as a weapon. "Where the hell am I? What's goin' on nhar?!"

The man they'd abducted was Cartman alright- finally seeing him banished any doubt that this Eric could be any other sufficiently fat man named Eric with some interesting verbal tics.

It was interesting, though; the man's blue eyes focused on both him and Buttlord, and showed no sign of recognition. If this was a grown-up Cartman, wouldn't he at least dimly remember the Mysterion costume? … unless he was some alt universe version of Eric, from a version of reality where Kenny had never picked up the whole masked hero thing.

There was neither time for a reaction or even continued supposition. The hand that Eric had reached back to fumble along his tool belt was seized at the wrist, and then twisted up behind his back, making the man cry out in pain as he was restrained from the rear. Kartwright had stepped up behind him, her other arm appearing from beneath his shoulder. From the look on Eric's face, having an arm twisted up behind his back was painful, and the other arm was forced upwards and out by the grasp Kartwright secured around his shoulder. Her next motion was a mixture of violence and grace, pressing his torso forward and pulling his extended arm back while she thrust a knee against the back of his leg to make his stance buckle, yanking the fat man down and around in a smooth motion that forced him face-first to the floor. Before his mass had fully landed, she'd pitched herself over his back, still keeping force on his twisted up arm and kneeling down; one knee down on the ground to keep herself steady, her other shin firmly across the backs of his knees to further restrict his ability to wriggle, and the arm that she'd secured around his shoulder releasing to instead seize the extended arm at the elbow and pin it to the floor.

All of it took less than ten seconds, and she had complete control over him.

… well, that's the weirdest boner I've ever had so far.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Alyssa's father shouted, still on the last step of the stairs, his jaw hanging somewhat loose. "What... what are you doing out of school?!"

The question was directed at Buttlord. Mysterion had to hold back a laugh. Everything that was going on in front of him, and that was the question he asked?

"We needed to investigate the missing pills." Mysterion spoke for his partner, as he often did, adhering tightly to his character and keeping his amusement out of his voice. Alyssa's parents still didn't know who he was behind the mask; this was the wrong time to break character. "It couldn't wait. I'm sure you understand, sir."

"I... I..." The man stammered, looking between Buttlord, Mysterion, Eric, and Kartwright. It seemed he was having a rough day. "... did you find out anything?" He finally asked.

"We know who took them." Mysterion confirmed, thankful he still had some authority. Alyssa's parents were at least mildly aware that Mysterion protected their daughter from government agents on the regular; something that gave him credibility. "But the why and what to do about it still need to be figured out."

"I told you." Kartwright chimed in. "I was invited to come here today, at this time, because it was when they'd be getting back with information. The police were directed to drop me off. I'm here to help."

Beneath her, Eric was attempting to kick his legs and get free, but being pinned at the knees meant it was only his shins and feet that could even attempt to flop around. Much as he was trying to rise up from the floor, he had to settle for screaming colorful words into it.

"... Sport?" Alyssa's father stared at her, lost and confused, asking for confirmation... or maybe reassurance. Possibly both.

Buttlord gave a short nod. Mysterion got the feeling that Buttlord shared a very specific relationship with her father that allowed something small, like that nod, to convey that yes, everything is okay. We did this because it's necessary. Please trust us.

"Well... uh... can I get anyone anything? Snacks, drinks... a rope?"

Mysterion had to grit his teeth not to chuckle aloud, nestling his chin back down into his muffler to hide the smirk that spread across his face. It was mildly amazing to watch Alyssa's dad go from panicked to outraged to awkwardly supportive in the span of a minute.

"YOU CAN CALL THE FUCKIN' POLICE!" Eric screamed from the floor. "THIS IS ASSAULT! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED! FUCKIN' HELP ME!"

"... maybe a ball gag, if you have one." Kartwright commented dryly.

"... I'll see what I can do...?"

Mysterion watched as the man backed, somewhat helplessly, up the stairs until he could no longer see down into the basement, at which point his feet turned and he continued the rest of the way up at a faster pace. Until such time as the door shut behind him, the only sound in the basement was that of Eric's belligerence.

"I'm gonna beat all you fuckers to death with a fuckin' wrench, what the fuck is this shit even-?!"

"Calm down, Eric." Kartwright directed. "I can't speak for them, but I'm not going to hurt you unless I have to."

Mysterion watched as Eric's struggles engaged in a sudden pause. Kartwright's voice held no specific power over him as far as he could tell, but the arrest rather came from a moment of recognition. The fat man on the floor was quiet and still for a second before resuming with even greater fervor, trying desperately to roll himself over.

"WHO WAS THAT?" He roared out, a touch of hysteria entering into his tone. "WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Mysterion saw Buttlord pulling out the burner phone he'd borrowed to her, approaching where Eric was held secure to the ground by Kartwright and bending down just in front of the man's head. He wasn't sure what she was up to at first, until she looked back to him and signaled to him that he needed to cover his ears.

Oh shit, she downloaded a priming noise... shit got pretty crazy on your side, huh? Maybe I need to invest in a set of good earplugs... just to be ready for future operations that might involve more of this stuff.

Mysterion complied as he considered future equipment to keep in his pockets, gloved hands pressing his hood in against his ears for multiple layers of muffling. Even then, he could still faintly catch the aggravating edge of the priming noise as she played it. Kartwright, directly next to her and unable to cover her ears, didn't flinch.

He could see Buttlord's lips moving, but she was speaking softly enough that he didn't hear whatever directive she gave Eric. The big man stopped wriggling like a fish out of water, and after a second of hesitation Kartwright released him before helping him to a sitting position on the floor. At that point, his partner looked back to him and gave him a nod; a signal that he was safe from getting caught up in a command.

"Nicely done." Kartwright praised as she rose up from the floor; Eric appeared to be soothed enough that he didn't require any hands on him to keep him from lashing out or running. The woman who had been holding him down now looked around the basement, sighted the rolling office chair that Alyssa kept by the long work table beneath the window, and drug it over so she could take a seat directly in front of Eric without sitting on the floor. Alyssa, meanwhile, had no such compunction with the concrete and remained down low and shifted from kneeling to sitting on her butt.

Mysterion stayed standing, slightly behind the duplicated pair and peering at Eric curiously.

"What... what the hell do you guys want from me?" Eric quested, in a much less angry tone now. He was still scared and confused, but it sounded like Buttlord had brought him down out of fight or flight. "Where am I? How did I get here? I... I was at the lab, I was working, and then..." One of his hands went up, groping at his head, presumably where Buttlord had whacked him with a fire extinguisher. No doubt the scene was disorienting and frightening from his point of view... but, again, shouldn't he have remembered some part of this? The duplicates of Alyssa showed she wasn't unique to this version of time or reality. Certainly this Eric remembered some version of her? The smell should have been enough for him to recall.

"It's okay, Eric." Kartwright's voice was low and even, getting his attention at once and causing him to focus on her. "I know you have a lot of questions, but I need you to answer one for me, first- do you remember me?"

"You?" Eric blinked, his face screwing up slightly. It seemed as if he were about to explode into vitriol again, but something stayed that reaction as his eyes narrowed, blinking multiple times before widening to the size of teacups. "... you-! You were- we- you abandoned me!"

"Abandoned you?"

Kartwright's very professional and calm tone showed a crack of discordant offense. Her voice didn't raise, but it grew hard.

"We were supposed to come back together, but when I landed, I was alone! It was just me, on some fuckin' street, all by myself, people lookin' at me like I was fuckin' crazy when I asked where I was! You said if we came back, you could fix it, that I could stop having both lives in my head, but they're both still here! The dreams haven't stopped, they've gotten worse! IT'S BEEN YEARS, ALYSSA, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

The man who sat before them on the floor didn't flail or lash out, but his voice raised as his face reddened and his eyes went glassy. He was on the verge of tears as he roared out his accusations to Kartwright, calling her by a name Mysterion knew was only shared with a select few persons. It jolted him to hear it come out of Eric's mouth, and he watched as it jolted Buttlord as well. It seemed none of them, not even Kartwright, were prepared for what he had to say.

Kartwright leaned forward, a hand coming out to grasp Eric by the front of his overalls. Her right hand, which Mysterion noticed had a nasty scar on the back of it, and scuffed knuckles that had been bleeding a day or so ago by the look of the scabbing. Despite being smaller than Eric, it appeared his had enough strength in that arm to lever the heavy man up off of his ass as she herself stood upright, dragging his back upwards along the wall until she could step up and glower at him from beneath curly brown bangs.

"You sold me out- I was on my way to come find you after we got separated, and I ran into a government blockade. They knew how to restrain me, they knew to gag me, they stuck a fucking spiked ball up my ass to make sure I couldn't warp out of there—they knew everything they needed to know to make sure I was helpless- it's because of you all my powers are gone! THEY TOOK EVERYTHING!"

Kartwright had begun in seething manner. Quiet, deliberate, detailing her capture in a way that made Mysterion sympathetically cringe. By the end, however, her voice had dropped an octave and became a booming thing, shouting out the last three words as if they could be used as blunt objects with which to beat Eric's head in.

Eric shrunk, leaning his bulk hard against the wooden wall that came down from beneath the stairs as their support structure, forming the cupboard where Buttlord kept her uniform when she wasn't wearing it. His heels dug in as if he might crash through that wall and escape as he gaped at Kartwright.

"What... what are you talking about? How could I have sold you out? I didn't know where I was, I didn't have money, or a phone- even if I wanted to, how could I have...? Why would I have...?"

Buttlord stepped up next to the pair of adults, putting a hand on either shoulder. They both looked at her, and she shook her head from side to side. All at once, Kartwright seemed to realize that she was about to do something terribly brash, and released Eric. The man sunk back down to the floor, and the woman fell back into the office chair.

All at once, Kartwright seemed to realize something. Her slouched posture stiffened, and she sat up again. The sudden movement made Eric flinch, fearful he was about to be grabbed once more, but that isn't what happened.

"... you're right." She muttered aloud. "You didn't know where the company drop point was- I just... I assumed it was you-"

"Oh, that's nice and freakin' fair!" Eric groused. "You were gonna beat my head in on an assumption?! No wonder Kyle dumped your ass."

Mysterion blinked. Kyle? He focused in on his partner, but she was rather pointedly not looking at him at the moment. All he got was the back of her hood.

"Don't you dare bring him into this!" Kartwright shouted back. "The only reason I was involved with the company to begin with was because he begged me to join up to get dirt on them- the only reason I had access to their tech, the tech we used to get back here in the first place, was because I was working with him!"

… well, this is a flavor of weird I wasn't expecting today. Despite his curiosity about... all of that, Mysterion stepped in to lightly tap Kartwright on the shoulder, getting her attention. "Could I get a recap?"

The woman looked up at him, blinked, and then nodded slightly. "Oh- I supposed Dee hasn't had the time to tell you... it's alright, I've got a little more context now, makes it easier to lay it out straight. You both should hear this, from the beginning."

"Who the fuck are these kids?" Eric demanded.

"... you don't remember your friends?" Kartwright quested, legitimately curious. It wasn't deadpan or sarcastic. She seemed surprised that Eric wouldn't recall them, even in costume.

The question seemed to strike the man. He looked between Mysterion and Buttlord, blinking a few times. Then a few times more. "... shit, no way... but that means... aaaugh... no..."

There was a moment of recognition, but shortly after Eric turned his head downwards while his hands clutched into his thinning chestnut colored hair. His feet kicked out as some kind of involuntary motion while his body did its best to curl up into the tightest ball he was physically capable of.

"It's all mixed up- no, no, no, NO, NO, NO-!"

"Dee, calm him down!" Kartwright barked.

Buttlord dove forward on the floor, grasping Eric by his shoulders and shaking him until he looked at her. Softly, Mysterion heard her say; "Take deep breaths, let them out slow. The memories can't hurt you. Don't try to hold onto them, don't try to push them away. Just let them be."

"... echos. He's caught up in echos." Kartwright observed with wonder as Eric complied; his shouting stopping for his breathing to slow... although he still seemed intensely disturbed.

"Echos?" Mysterion quested. "Like memory echos after we've changed something in the timeline? Those are usually short, and come in like... dreams, or déjà vu."

"Sometimes." Kartwright agreed. "The experience of echos depend on a lot of things- what changed, how much, how the changed was resolved, if the change was resolved, and who is perceiving it. The human mind wasn't designed to hold onto multiple versions of reality at the same time, and not everyone can handle memory echos without losing their shit. Eric came to me in the first place because he was having vivid dreams about a different life he hadn't lived, and an intense sense that he'd fucked something, bad, and needed to go to that moment- we assumed to fix it. I had been catching echos, too- a different version of reality from the one I was living in. Not... better, per say, but different. It was enough that I felt the need to investigate... and Eric was losing his mind. I could see that whatever was happening, if we didn't do something, the fight between two possible timelines in his skull was going to rip him apart."

"What... causes something like that?" Mysterion asked, still looking on as Eric seemed to be whimpering details of his current visions to Buttlord, still holding his head but no longer pulling his hair out.

"In short? A possible collapse, but time hasn't decided which timeline is going to fall apart yet." Kartwright sighed heavily. "A collapse will cause a single chain of echos, something that touch other timelines and fade; like ripples on water... but instability in a timeline is more like something vibrating on the surface of the water; the ripples are continuous. For people who are sensitive to that sort of thing, it can drive them out of their own head... and if you're caught between two unstable timelines, where things could go either way?"

Her own gaze returned to Eric. There was maybe an ounce of sympathy on her face.

"Both of his futures still have a possibility of existing. As long as that's true, this version of him is going to suffer."

"Why hasn't it just split into two versions of reality? Alternate universe style?"

"... cause he came back with an anchor. Someone who's traveled through enough time that shifts and collapses don't change their past or their future- only direct interference." She paused. "He came back with me."

Kartwright was quiet. It sounded like she was still putting things together- Mysterion had to assume an older time duplicate attempting to murder her was triggering a lot of revelations, and he still didn't have the full story on what had gone down on Buttlord's side of things.

"... It was Marie, wasn't it?" He posited. He may not have had all the details, but catching even a snapshot of Kartwright's story? That someone sold her out, and she eventually ended up at that lab and de-powered? When Marie was the one who had been running that place for more than a decade? It made sense. Marie, an older version of both Kartwright and Alyssa, would probably have some means of knowing where Kartwright was, when she was going to arrive, and exactly whom she needed to call to have Kartwright captured. He wouldn't be surprised if Marie had also manipulated Kartwright's memory to use or control her, much as she'd attempted to do with Alyssa. "She's the one who got you captured by the government, oversaw you getting de-powered. She knew you were going to come back."

Kartwright blinked at him, and then let out a faint laugh. "Heh... Pick shit up quick, huh? Yeah... got a theory as to why, too."

The door into the basement opened, and Alyssa's father came half-way down the stairs; enough that he could stick his head over the railing and look down into the basement. Mysterion quickly picked up on the man's comportment; he was confused again.

"Uh... Champ?" He called down, using masculine pet names for his kid. "There's... uh... someone at the door for you."

Glances were exchanged between himself and Buttlord. He could tell they were thinking the same thing- Wendy. The girl must have recovered enough to join the party; she and Stan were both sick today, and wouldn't be stuck under school supervision while police investigated a false bomb threat on the middle school. She'd also been aware of these temporal shenanigans and keeping her mouth shut since Saturday night, like the fucking pro she was. Mysterion would not at all be surprise if their third member had shown up in full Call Girl gear. Buttlord got to her feet, hurrying up the stairs with an enthusiasm that was excited to be getting their team back to full strength.

Mysterion glanced to Kartwright, who waved him off. "Go on, I'll keep an eye on this guy." She assured, moving from the rolling chair to having a seat with Eric on the floor, leaning on the same wooden partition.

Mysterion did not need to be told twice. He was right on Buttlord's heels at the pair of them hurried up the stairs, past her father and through the door to the living room. Hitting the top of the stairs, they both made the sharp left turn to look to the door...

And stopped dead.

It was not Wendy who stood just inside the door, having shut it behind himself. It wasn't Stan, either, who was another possibility. It wasn't a kid. It was an adult man, casually taking off his shoes and shrugging off his coat, hanging up his hat like he was perfectly at home. His actions were calm, languid, in a way that almost projected tranquility despite the shock of seeing him.

The surprise was enough that Alyssa spoke aloud. She didn't try to drop her voice to sound masculine, an effective break in character.

"You- What are you doing here?!"

Shouted, more like.

The man just inside the door let out a soft, grandfatherly chuckle as the dark skin of his face crinkled into a smile. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, New Kid? Though, I suppose they don't call you that anymore..."

That voice; authoritative and smooth; buttery velvet on the ears with a ponderous cadence. There was no mistaking him.

Morgan Freeman had arrived.

To Be Continued...

::The Author's Corner::

AND THAT'S IT FOR THIS STORY!

Yes, I very much intended this installment of NKS to be structured like a two-part special. If every story is an 'episode' then 07 and 08 are two parts of a season finale... which means ULTRA CLIFFHANGER.

ALSO WE CLOCKED IN UNDER TWENTY CHAPTERS AND I HIT ALL THE PLOT POINTS I WANTED TO HIT! WOO!

As I always remind y'all, make sure you catch the next story by adding me to your author alert, and keep an eye out for the next story: New Kid Stories 08: End Of The Line.

ONWARDS!

-Buttlord