"What happened?" the older voice from inside the large, pent-house office asked as Viper touched down on the open balcony.

"Static appeared," he growled. "So I guess I was wrong, and it's a good thing you don't know who I am."

"But we can still be of mutual help to each other," Edwin Alva the First turned around, his fingertips pressed together with the palms spaced apart and resting in front of his face, making him look the part of a villain.

"Well I…" Viper started, but stopped when something caught his eye; a movement further down the building. He recognized it almost immediately as Gear, flying away from the building. So where was this world's equivalent of Contortiana?

A cruel smile appeared on his face, although he knew Alva couldn't see it behind the bandana.

"What is it?" Mr. Alva walked over to him. "I don't see anything."

"I think we're going to get some company," he said with a menacing chuckle.

xoxoxox

Gear watched the form of a girl literally fade into the room, holding her hands out like she was grasping something he couldn't see for dear life.

"Backpack, I want all the readings you can take," he whispered to the robot. "I mean every piece of information about everything in this room, no matter how insignificant." Several extensions popped out of different compartments on the machine and started whirring softly. With a satisfied nod, Gear turned back to focus his attention on Stock.

After a few seconds, he took a hesitant step forward, and tried to touch her outstretched arm, but his hand fell through it as if she were a holograph.

"Woah," he said to himself. "It's like watching a ghost." He watched her for several more seconds as she became more and more solid, already trying to figure out some new equations in his mind.

Suddenly an alarm went off on Backpack, causing him to jump, and the occupant of the room to do the same.

"WHO'S THERE!" A man's voice called out.

"BACKPACK! Alarm off!" Richie hissed, and looked back at Stock, only to see her collapsed and unconscious on the floor.

"Um…we just got some strange readings from your room," Gear turned to the bed and tried to smile at the unfamiliar face of the older gentleman who watched him with wide eyes. "Just checking in to make sure everything's alright…but my friend here has a slight problem…" he quickly scooped Marci into his arms. "So, we'll be leaving you in peace. Everything's fine, and totally under control."

"But--" the man started. He never got to finish his thought though, because Gear was already gone.

xoxoxox

"Moms, I'm home," Virgil called as he walked through the door, trying to get upstairs before she came to check on him, and thus avoiding her freaking out over his hand. No such luck, he groaned to himself as she walked in from the kitchen, stepping directly in his path.

"Good, you can…" she looked at his hand, and the blood spots on his jeans and t-shirt. "Virgil! What happened!"

He sighed. "Marci. She…how did Richie put it?" he shook his head, "I don't know…transferred I guess, to my world. I don't know everything about what's going on, but I promised that I would leave her until she left. Let's just say her nails are really sharp, and she's stronger than she looks."

"Come in here immediately! We need to get something on that!" She grabbed his hand and literally shoved him into the downstairs bathroom before turning on the water in the sink.

"Mom," Virgil protested as she yanked his hand gently, but firmly under the warm, running liquid, "it's just a few cuts!"

"And what if they get infected?" she asked. The slight irritation he felt towards her vanished when he saw the look of worry and concern on her face. He'd come home with injuries much worse than this before, and Sharon got on his case all the time…but she left him alone to handle it most of the time. It felt good to have someone looking out for him like this.

"Thanks moms," he said quietly as she finished washing off the dried blood, and examined his hand. She only looked up for a second, and smiled, but in that second, he felt that he could take on the world with her backing him up.

She nodded and grabbed some bandages from the cabinet. "When we're done here, call Adam. He said something about tomorrow night."