Chapter Text
After a few minutes of bathtime, I decided to exit the small lake.
The water was warm. I climbed onto the grassy shore, water sluicing off my suit in perfect droplets. Not a single drop clung to the fabric.
I guess that's how E.G.O. gear works, flexing my fingers. The suit acted like a second skin. It was lighter than the old Tron suit, more responsive. I could feel the micro‑fibers adjusting to my posture, the internal systems running silent diagnostics.
Did I draw out its full power?
No.
I hadn't even tried. The Free Man E.G.O. was still new, still unfamiliar. I hadn't done it justice. And it wasn't just the suit. I thought about my other abilites...
I felt like if I had taken my time in each world, I would have had enough time to accumulate power. But my perks were gone. Burned by the Spark.
I felt like something was missing. The E.G.O. gear I was wearing was based on my alt‑form in this world. It was the replacement for the NEO KENKO armor I had worn before.
I decided to check the watch.
The Omnitrix interface flickered to life, projecting a holographic display above my wrist. I scrolled through the data. Thousands of samples.. The number had grown since the Tool Gun had assimilated the Pillpack.
I see. It has been divided into two categories.
Alien from Omnitrix User and everything else. SNPCs from The Pillpack had been the key, the catalyst that had let the watch sample across dimensional lines. In a few moment, the boundary will soon disappear.
I looked up at the sky of gm_construct. The sun was static. No time passed here. Just an eternal, artificial afternoon.
I could use Portaler or Clockwork to try and find the toolgun.
No.
I should try this new thing.
I guess I should focus on my newfound power.
I turned away from the lake and faced the edge of the map. A chain‑link fence separated the grassy area from the void beyond. It was standard GMod geometry, a barrier meant to keep players from falling into the nothing.
I decided to give it a go. Use my suit.
I bent my knees, tensed my legs, and jumped.
The fence sailed beneath me. I cleared it by several meters, my body weightless, my trajectory perfect. The suit had greatly enhanced my physique. I landed on the other side, seeing the empty buildings.
And then....danger.
A sudden, ice‑cold feeling washed over me, crawling up my spine, tightening around my chest.
The buildings around me folded.
olded, creased along invisible lines, their corners meeting. They unfolded again, then refolded, faster, faster.
BREAK TIME IS OVER.
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. The Tool Gun's voice.
I ran.
I jumped at one of the folding buildings, my boots hitting the vertical surface. I stuck. The suit's grip was phenomenal clinging to glass. I walked up the side without issue, danger sense, enhanced physique and now that. I only need webbing next.
The ground beneath me collapsed.
One moment I was running across a rooftop. The next, the entire structure disintegrated into pixels, and I was falling. Not down – sideways. The sky and earth swapped places. Clouds became the floor. The grass became the ceiling.
I landed hard on something solid. A floating island. Rocky, jagged, suspended in a sea of blue. The sky was gone. Above me, more islands drifted.
Is that the Xen dimension? It looked like the border world from Half‑Life. Buildings and pieces of concrete were floating in the air, some even crashed onto nearby islands. The sky was a bruised purple, streaked with veins of green lightning. Below, an endless void of swirling mist. The Tool Gun's voice echoed again, clinical and cold.
THE SPATIO‑TEMPORAL MIND CAN CONCEPTUALIZE REALITY ONLY IN BINARY.
BINDER OF THE CHAIN. AS YOUR MIND EXPANDS, YOUR VESSEL SHALL GAZE UPON 39 STATES OF EXISTENCE.
HAVE
F U N
I stood on the floating rock, the Free Man suit humming. The words hung in the air like a curse.
It's not going to stop, is it? I muttered.
I stopped for one moment to take a break only to go back in the grinder. The islands kept shifting, merging, splitting. And from the mist, they emerged.
A gigantic baby‑like alien floated in the air, its single eye half‑closed, its limbs withered and draped in chains. A Nihilanth. The last of its kind from the Half‑Life universe. It was flanked by Gargantuas – giant, blue, muscular beasts with red eyes and fists like wrecking balls. Grunts, the alien soldiers, crouched on floating debris, their pulse rifles crackling with energy. And behind them, drifting with an unsettling grace, were Combine Advisors – translucent, slug‑like creatures, their telekinetic power crackling in the air.
On the ground, scattered across the broken islands, were Overwatch soldiers. Their white armor gleamed against the alien sky. Pulse rifles raised. They did not speak.
I stood still for a moment. The wind carried the scent of ozone and blood. The Nihilanth's eye slowly turned toward me.
It's never going to stop, is it? This endless cycle of violence.
I can stop it.
I slammed the dial.
Deathsong.
My body shifted, became a quadrupedal blue magpie, feathers sleek and sharp, beak curved like a scythe. I opened my mouth and screached.
The sound was not loud. It was high‑pitched, almost inaudible. The Gargantuas froze mid‑step. The Grunts dropped their rifles, clutching their heads. The Overwatch soldiers crumpled, their helmets cracking. Paralysis.
Except for the Combine Advisors. They were immune, their psionic shield protecting them.
Another flash of light.
Horsepower.
Tachyon. Like NRG, I wore a containment suit, covering my limbs. My true body was made of tachyon particles. The suit was the only thing keeping me anchored to normal time.
In a burst of speed, faster than sound, I moved. A thunderclap followed my wake. I went through the Nihilanth, literally blew a hole through its giant skull. Green sprayed across the floating islands.
I headed toward the remaining aliens. Gargantuas, Grunts, Overwatch soldiers, all of them were reduced to red mist due to my overwhelming speed. I circled the battlefield, a blur of orange, and when I stopped, only the Combine Advisors remained.
They tried to flee. I galloped. One by one, they shattered.
A flash of light, and I was human again. The E.G.O suit was warm,. I stood on a broken island, surrounded by floating debris and the aftermath of my passage.
Man, I don't think anything can top what just happened.
"Skibidi dop dop dop yes yes, skibidi dabadu neep."
"Skibidi dop dop dop yes yes, skibidi dabadu neep."
"Skibidi dop dop dop yes yes, skibidi dabadu neep."
"Skibidi dop dop dop yes yes, skibidi dabadu neep."
I looked up. Floating toward me, emerging from the mist, were giant toilet heads. White porcelain, with human faces where the tank should be. Their eyes glowed with malevolent light. Their mouths....can humans even move them like that?
Giant toilet heads. Oh Lord Almighty! What am I seeing?!
I can deal with that, I thought, reaching for the Omnitrix.
"Skibidi dop dop dop yes yes, skibidi dabadu neep."
"Skibidi dop dop dop yes yes, skibidi dabadu neep."
"This is stupid." I said.
I'm getting a headache just listening to them. Like my brain was reduced to mush, each syllable scraping against the inside of my skull. The words looped, overlapping, drilling into my thoughts.
The Omnitrix automatically turned me into Clockwork. A flash of green light before any Skibidi could fire a laser, and I was getting teleported. Gears spun around me.
I was… back in the SCP building.
The familiar grey corridors. The flickering fluorescent lights.
...
...
I stayed silent for a moment. The quiet was deafening.
I've actually watched the Skibidi episodes. Those toilet heads can adapt to literally anything you throw at them. They just keep coming, keep evolving.
I would rather fight the Plague Doctor again than listen to those lyrics again.
I leaned against the wall, rubbing my temples.
At the end of corridor was an open elevator.
I kept walking and entered the booth. The door closed behind me.
Man, I guess there are degrees to this shit. Why am I overthinking it anyway?
The elevator dinged. The doors slid open.
I found myself standing in a rather large room. It looked like the entrance of some kind of hotel, red floors and walls. Just an empty lobby.
The only thing I could see were two statues. A jade lion, its mouth open in a silent roar, was devouring a white sphere, a red serpent coiled around a green orb.
Something appeared above me. A floating eye with wings, its iris a spiral of gold and black. It hovered near the ceiling, watching, waiting. A Providence? from ULTRAKILL?
The eye blinked. A beam of pure light shot downward, aimed at my chest.
A flash of light. Chromastone.
My body shifted, became magenta. I raised my arms, and the beam struck my chest.
The beam shot back at the angel. It struck the eye, and the creature shrieked Its wings folded, and it crashed to the marble floor.
The statues burst to life.
The lion roared. The serpents hissed.
It won't stop. At this rate, it will likely take me years before I even get to take a break.
Another flash of light.
"Sup," said Zacharie. His voice was casual, almost bored, as if he hadn't been absent for what felt like hours. He floated beside me in the starry sea.
"Took you long enough to use Alien X," responded Anwar. His green eyes were sharp, focused. He stood on my other side, arms crossed. "It's about time we end this. For real."
I stared at them. We floated in a starry sea of black and white. The void stretched in every direction, infinite and silent, dotted with galaxies.
"I'm getting tired of fighting random shit the gun throws at me." I said. The words came out heavy, exhausted. "Get rid of the enemies that it keeps sending us."
"Motion carried." said Zacharie, raising his hand.
"Motion carried." said Anwar, doing the same.
My alien body snapped its right fingers. All of them vanished.
"The system looks automated," said Anwar, scanning the void with his green eyes. "The Tool Gun is likely busy right now. It just set up a script and let it run. It's not actively directing the attacks anymore."
"I expected Alien X to be harder to use," I said. "Or to convince, given that last time my body was less stable."
"Well, I'm not a master debater, so there's no point in arguing." responded Zacharie, shrugging his shoulders. "We're all on the same page. No internal conflict. That's why it's easy."
He paused, tilting his head. His red eye seemed to pierce through the layers of the void.
"Well... would you look at that."
I saw through my higher dimensional body.. I saw past the white and black, past the distant galaxies, past the space between spaces.
A sea of flesh and limbs was fighting a floating gun.
The Tool Gun –was throwing hundreds of objects per second. Bullets, beams, infinity stones and even entities.
The sea of flesh retaliated. It was Lady, but not the Lady I remembered. She had grown. Her white hair spread across the void like a nebula. Her face, scribbled over with black marks, was twisted in concentration. Her arms, countless and connected, reached out from the mass. Tendrils and hands, eyes that wept black ichor, mouths that sang countless spells.
"Man, they are as strong as Alien X," noted Anwar, his voice hushed. There was no fear in his tone, only awe. "Worst case scenario, one gets strong enough and absorbs the other. Then we have a super powered enemy instead of two equally matched ones. That would be... problematic."
"Well, we could leave and let them fight for a few billion years or so," said Zacharie. "That's always an option. Find a nice quiet dimension and settle down."
"No." Anwar's voice was sharp, cutting through Zacharie's levity. "Not to be that guy, but they can track us. Lady already did. The Tool Gun could likely create something to find us. Running isn't safe anymore. We'd just be delaying the inevitable."
"Our only option is to get even stronger." said Anwar, pacing in the void. "If that were possible. We've hit a ceiling. Alien X is the peak. There's nothing above this."
He stopped, looking at me.
"No." I said, shaking my head. "I'm not turning my life into DBZ. I'm done with that."
"Well then I have another solution." said Zacharie, his red eyes glinting with something unreadable.
"Being?" I asked.
"We launch a Return to the Past."
"Huh." I started to think. The gears of Alien X's mind turned, processing countless variables. "I don't think either of them are bound by space and time. Lady is a hive mind that exists across dimensions. The Tool Gun is the Spark given form. A normal Return to the Past won't affect them."
"That's why we will do a special Return to the Past." said Zacharie. "Use up all of the Omnitrix's power. Plus what remains of our SOUL. We could go back far enough to prevent those things from being born. Prevent Lady from ever existing. Prevent the Tool Gun from being created."
Anwar nodded slowly, his green eyes thoughtful. "He's right. I've combined samples from intelligent aliens. I've analyzed both Lady and the Tool Gun as they are fighting. The theory is sound. We can go back."
He paused, then added: "Or we can detransform and keep going. Deal with the victor of this duel they're having. One super powered enemy instead of two. That's also an option."
I floated in silence. The starry sea spun slowly around us. The distant battle between Lady and the Tool Gun raged on, two titans locked in an embrace of violence, neither able to overcome the other.
"I don't like either choice." I said.
"You're playing with titans now." said Zacharie. The teasing was gone. He was serious. "Things will only get crazier and harder. There's no easy path left. We just find the safest path."
"I would be the guy to say we should go back," said Anwar, looking away. His green eyes were distant. "But if we do, everything we did would be undone. X.A.N.A. would still be alive. Twice H. Pieceman would still control the Moon Cell. Paris would still be under his thumb. The Dark World would still be eating itself."
He turned back to me.
"What about the both of you?" I asked. The question was directed at Anwar, given that he was born thanks to the Omnitrix power. If I reset, would he disappear?
Anwar smiled. It was a small, sad expression.
"I'm the part of you yearning for power," he said. "You'll see us sooner or later. No matter what you choose. We're not going anywhere. We're part of you. Always have been."
Zacharie nodded. "Even if you reset, even if you lose the watch, we'll still be there."
He stretched his arms, cracking his knuckles.
"Also, we should be quick before either notices our little maneuver. They're distracted now, but that won't last."
"No objections then," said Anwar.
"Nah." said Zacharie.
"Will they still exist?" I asked. "After the reset."
"The Tool Gun will be absolutely gone." Anwar said. "It's a construct. Created in the context of the chain. Reset the timeline, and it never gets created."
He paused, considering.
"As for Lady... while the possibility that she could still exist in the past is a possibility, since we won't know how much we will jump back..." He lifted his chin with his hand, thinking. "No. No, she will still be young. She won't have the eons of experience accumulated. She'll be a child. Manageable."
"Good news." said Zacharie. "There is a slight chance we could regain our power if..."
"If what?" I asked.
"It's a theory, but well..." He shrugged, trailing off. "Let's hope we go home safe and sound."
I stared at the two of them. My brothers. My selves.
"Motion carried." I said, raising my hand. ";et's close this chapter of my life."
"Motion carried," Zacharie lazily waved his hand. "Man, time to break those digital chains that bound us."
"Motion carried," said Anwar. "Take care. No matter what happens, remember, you're not alone. You never were."
The three of us spoke as one.
"""Return to the past NOW."""
A sphere of pure white appeared before us. It grew, expanding, swallowing the starry sea, swallowing everything outside Alien X.
I closed my eyes.