I've Been Here The Entire Time [Open]

Trapped.

She had been trapped for several years now. Where was she? Hell if she knew. Everyone had disappeared, even Niala who she had always found in the office, had disappeared. She had poked around, prodded people, tried to figure out where everyone was. At first she had come up empty handed, but then she had heard rumors of some black hole sucking people from one dimension into another.

She had gone looking for this gateway between worlds, had even found it... but it hadn't worked as it should have. Instead of finding herself in another world, finding herself amongst those she knew, she was trapped. Spinning endlessly. Stuck in the dark. From time to time she could hear voices, catch the briefest of sentences, but she could never get close enough. Time had stopped mattering; she didn't age, she didn't grow, she didn't even know what day it was. Years had passed on the outside, but she had forever remained stuck in an endless void.

At first she had been amused by it all. Then, when it had gotten too much she had tried screaming and shouting for help. Eventually, with no help arriving, she had grown silent. But now she could hear those snatches of conversation again, voices that she thought she knew. Perhaps they were in her head, a mental breakdown occurring from the years of being by herself, but she wasn't going to risk staying quiet. So, she mustered up all of the air she could managed and screamed at the top of her lungs... would someone hear her? Would someone find her trapped in this endless void, stuck between dimensions? Or would this be her fate; stuck her for thousands of years to come because she was immortal and couldn't die a mortals death?

His father and Vigilante were in a city full of zombies. Jr had no idea how or why his father would end up in such a place. Powers and abilities were useless there, which meant that if his father got injured, he wouldn't be able to heal himself. Yet, from what he could see of the camera and satellite feeds, his father looked to be having fun. It made Jr frown and shake his head. Had traveling back and fourth between dimensions made his father begin to lose his mind?

Besides watching and trying to figure out his father, something else was going on that he found strange. Maybe, Jr thought, i'm losing my mind too. At times, Jr swore he could hear someone, a female, yelling for help. At first he thought maybe it was the wind; they were 1,000 stories above the ground after all. He even considered the fact that maybe the Tower was haunted. But even there was a strange reading on the computers, sort of like the time his brother-in-law Ghost was trapped in a pocket dimension over at Murder INC HQ.

Except now, it was here. Maybe someone was trapped. Jr stood up from the desk and stepped around in front of it, frowning, looking at something that wasn't there. He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to tune his own void dimension with that of the parallel dimension that whoever it was could be trapped in. When he could hear the girl screaming clearly as if he were right next to her is when he would bring time in the office to a complete stand still and open a “door” the same as he would as if reaching into one of his many “pockets” for a bag of chips.

Dimensional Storage:

Time Manipulation:

Jr reached into the door with both arms and pulled the girl out. He closed the door and allowed time to resume as usual. ”...The crazy girl?” Jr said, looking Cala over. ”What were you doing in there? How did you end up in there, furthermore?”

Cala was just beginning to think that screaming wasn't getting her anywhere when she felt something grab her and begin to tug her out of the hell hole she had ended up in; she didn't know exactly what was grabbing her nor did she care because she was moving and moving was always good after being stuck. When she was pulled fully out of where ever it exactly was she had been she found herself in a very familiar office; Alec's office. Only this time it wasn't Alec she was looking at but the younger version of him; meaning she was staring at Junior.

She blinked, feeling slightly confused about everything. She had gone searching for everyone, but they were back? That was... odd, unexpected really. She looked down at herself before she responded while trying to think of exactly what she was going to say; every limb was intact, so that was good. She looked back to Junior and scratched at her head like she sometimes did when thinking. "Everyone disappeared; no note or nothing. Even Niala was gone. So, a few days after everyone disappeared I started looking around for answers and everything kept pointing to some black hole that was sucking people away. I found it, and it snatched me up to... that's how I ended up there. Pretty sure I was actually supposed to go somewhere else but suddenly my powers stopped working. At first I was kind of amused, I'm not going to lie... but then I figured some amount of time had to be passing and I was really, really stuck so I started screaming. No one came, no one heard me. So I stopped. Then I started hearing everyone's voice again. Even though I figured it could have likely just been in my head, I thought that screaming again couldn't hurt... and here I am."

Cala looked around the office, curious as to how long she had been in there exactly. "Where'd everyone go? How long was everyone gone? Where's your dad?" She stopped at those three questions, figuring she didn't want to bombard Junior with too many at once. Hell, she wasn't even sure her mind was going to be able to handle processing the answers to more than just those three questions. As she fell silent and waited for her answers she began to pick up on how hungry she was, not that she was about to lose her mind because of it; and pick up on other subtle changes that indicted a decent bit of time had passed since she was trapped.

Jr had to look up at Cala because she was 4 inches taller than he was. She didn't look hurt or sick or anything; if anything she'd probably be starving. There was no telling how long she'd been in there. Jr snapped his fingers twice, causing one of the many service bots to come rolling into the room, and come to a stop next to Cala. Whatever she wanted to eat, the bot would fix it for her. As long as she'd been here, she'd know how that worked.

Jr went back to the leather recliner, sitting, pressing several buttons on the computerized desk. The comfortable memory alloy seat would rise from the floor for her to sit in. So she'd attempted to come after them when they all went to ninja land... perhaps it was a good things she didn't end up in that disappointing world of cowards and weaklings. He'd have to catch her up on things.

She first asked where they'd gone. ”You remember that dude Spook, who was another world's version of dad. Well, after all that Vigilante stuff that went down over at INC and things quieted down, dad got bored and went to Spook's world; a world of ninjas that has villages instead of cities, that doesn't have all of the technology we do. There used to be a village in that world called Hanagakure, Hana for short; more advanced than all the rest. It's where dad appeared. He learned and became a master “Weapons Technician;” where he can build special weapons and attach powers to them. For a while he tried living life as a normal ninja, but the village was ran by assholes. So dad decided to try them.

“He bombed the village, killed a bunch of people and left. When you leave a village in that world, you become a “Missing-Nin.” That means other ninjas in the village can and will come after you to either capture you and bring you back, or kill you so you don't spill that village's secrets out to the rest of the world. Nobody came after dad at first. He went to a snow village called Korikagure, Kori for short, where that world's version of Amaranth was the Kage, or Boss. After he made this really cool sword he went to a desert village called Yokuchikagure, Yokuchi for short. That's where he ran into Dez, and that's where the blind dude Holeman is from. I donno if you ever met him or not...

“Sometime after that, dad, who now had this humongous bounty on his head, got into it with this guy named Strafe in a bar, after some thugs tried to cash in on him. Strafe was the Boss of Yokuchi, some supposedly powerful ninja dude trained since birth to kill and fight. Dad cut his leg off. Some other dude tried to join in; a member of an elite clan of ninjas called Uchiha. These guys are like, the best, the cream of the crop over there. When they get really angry and stressed, or have a near death experience, these weird powers activate in their eyes. You can even steal their eyes and use them for yourself, and that's what dad did after he and Dez scared the piss out of this dude. The kid Holeman did the surgery for dad.

“Dad and Dez went to this other village next called... uggh. The village was in a big bunch of trees with this long weird name. It's Niwa for short. That's where they ran into Demi. They were trying to figure out what to do next when the leader of Hana called dad out to fight, and you should know by now dad backs down from no challenge. So he went back to Hana, bombed the place more, killed more people, got into a fight with the guy who ran the place, Iza-something who is also part of the Uchiha clan, and slit his throat. Before he died he got those same crazy eyes, and dad stole them both. Some chick appeared after that, I think her name was Natalie? Daughter of some dude Squall who used to work here in The Company...

“Dad gave her and her firing squad of goons the finger and left, and nobody tried to stop him even though he was outnumbered. He kidnapped this girl named Avery when he was leaving, and she didn't resist. I thought she was kinda nuts at first, and honestly I didn't much like her, but she grew on me. This is around the time that I went to this world and went looking for them...”

Jr went on to explain the rest of the tale, telling Cala how his father, sisters and Avery went to take over a village called Makkuragakure, Makkura for short, and made it their base of operations. How he went to the desert and sealed Hi No Seishin inside of him, even showing her the orange phoenix aura as proof. How his father created a criminal organization called “The Dark.” How his father was taught Holeman's special Chakra Radar since he'd replaced both of his eyes with those of the Uchiha's special Sharingan, and had to keep them covered when not using them.

How his father began kidnapping people: a girl named Amara, right after she'd exterminated the entire water village of Denryuugakure, Denryuu for short, simply by sneezing, to find out that she too had a beast sealed into her. A girl named Aella, who was here in the tower somewhere probably, the daughter of the Demi in that world, Aisling. How everything his father did in that world to provoke the other Kage in the other villages was met with nothing. No response.

How 5 years of peace and quiet passed with no one retaliating for all of the terrible things they'd done, no one trying to cash in on the outrageous bounty on his father's head. How a summit was formed and the bosses of all villages were invited; how Jr had been made the boss, or Kuraikage of Makkura, even though everyone considered Alec the true leader, and sent to the summit in Alec's place to prevent trouble. How Makkura planned on stopping it's evil ways and attempt to co-exist with the rest of the world. How Kenta the dog man talked big and tough, described himself as the “hero” and the “savior” of that world, called the Kane family a joke, said they were lucky to even still be in existence, not to feel proud that they built a dump village back up from the brink, and how they had 2 strikes, and a 3rd strike meant the guy tearing the foundation out from under Makkura.

How Jr clapped back, telling this mutt man how the Kanes had been born in war, how they weren't afraid of him or anyone, how his sister at just the age of 4 killed an entire organization of trained killers mostly by herself. How they were ready for anything the man could dish out and to bring it on. How he and his father went to the snow village Kori, abandoned by Amaranth, and blew it off the face of the earth to send a message to all of the rest of that world. How that Kenta mutt man went silent and was unheard of after this terrorist act. How some smiley man named Saito Gekai tried taking over Makkura, and ended up with his head cut from his shoulders right in front of him.

And finally, how his father got tired of shit talking weaklings and decided after 5 years that it was time to go home, especially seeing as he and Avery were the proud new parents of his little sister, Artemis. Alec didn't want to leave Makkura behind. When he first arrived in the village, he and Avery both had to beat up and even kill a few people to bend the village to their way, but eventually the village grew to love them. Makkura went from the weakest of all villages to the strongest, especially seeing as prodigy children from all over who'd been neglected and forgotten about began to converge upon the “village of criminals and villains.” So, Alec teleported the entire country, everyone and everything in it here, and Jr confirmed this by pointing out of the window to the dark eerie looking place on the horizon.

”...And that's our magnificent tale of what's been going on the last 5 years... That book is closed, and now another one is opening. I don't know if you've ever heard of Pacific City, but it's a place that's always been kind of a rival to Edge. Home to a bunch of human scientists that always tried to get 1up on my grandad Darkman and my dad. They started messing around with things that they shouldn't have messed around with, even with my dad and grand dad trying to warn them, but it turned out real bad.” Jr pressed several buttons on the desk, causing several screens to rise up in front of Cala, showing her the armies of undead that now roamed the streets of the once magnificent city.

Cala looked to the robot, her stomach roaring to life which caused her to grin that familiar unhinged grin of hers. She placed her order of a huge hamburger with all of the fixings, some fries with cheese on them, and a milkshake before sitting in the comfortable chair Junior made appear. It was still awkward trying to get used to everything; especially moving. But, she stayed silent and focused as Junior told of their long and rather epic sounding tale of where they went and everything that happened over there.

A lot had gone on and a lot of time had passed. Alec had learned a lot, gotten pissed off at the assholes who ran the village of Hangakure, and bombed the shit out of it. He had then gone on, found Dez, stolen some eyeballs after fight, and had them implanted into his own head. She listened about how they had found Demi, and how Alec had even gone back to Hanagakure to fight the leader of that village; and how he had defeated him and then given the current leader, Squall's daughter, the finger and left without being stopped even though he had kidnapped someone named Avery. She then listened as Junior explained how Alec and Avery had taken over a village named Makkuragakure, and ran a criminal empire called The Dark out of it.

She was amazed as Junior explained about Hi No Seishin and even showed her the aura, and even more so as she listened to how Alec had both of his eyes replaced with someone elses and then learned another method to see. She listened as Junior explained how Alec had kidnapped some powerful girl who had destroyed an entire village, and then went on to kidnap another girl who ended up related to him in a way. How five years of peace had passed and a Summit had been called that Junior attended as the newly appointed leader of Makkura. How even though Junior had been aiming for peace it had been thrown back into his face and so in retaliation him and his dad had gone to blow up the village of Kori that Amaranth was no longer leader of. She then listened about how Avery, who Junior hadn't really liked at first but who had grown on him, had given birth to a girl named Artemis; Juniors new little sister.

When Junior came to a close on his story she looked out of the window; already munching on the food that the robot had brought her while she was listening. She could see the darkness in the distance and could only shake her head and grin - feeling slightly bad that she had missed all of that fun.

As she ate she listened to Junior explain about Pacific City and the scientists that wanted to play God even though both Darkman and Alec had warned them that that was a bad idea. She looked to the monitor as she finished the last fry on her plate, taking notice of the mountainous hordes of zombies she could see. An eyebrow rose in curiosity. "Huh... so, I was trapped in that... whatever the hell it was... for 5 years? Damn I missed a lot." She nodded towards the screens. "Those zombies haven't made it here, have they? I haven't seen Devon in 5 years but I know she's around here somewhere; in the tower. I can feel her. Last thing I want is for my human little sister to end up turning into one of those mindless things." Yes, poor Devon... she would have to talk to her soon, to explain things; but something told her her sister was doing alright, probably more than alright, so she wasn't too worried - though she did feel bad about abandoning her like that.

”No, and they never will. Defenses around the city would see them long before they got here, and they'd get dealt with. There's zombies and things over in the factory district, but I think they're smarter than these things because they never come out of there...”

Jr typed for several more moments, looking through the camera feeds of the building he saw his father in. Most of the cameras in there were busted but there were several that still worked. ”By the way. My dad wants to stay in Makkura, so he sent me back here to run The Company. Your position is still yours if you want it...”

Jr came to a camera in what looked like a cafeteria, where it looked as if his father was trapped, until something smashed into the room and sent all of the zombies flying by pointing his arms at them. A closer look revealed that it was The Vigilante.

”For some reason, my dad ended up over there in PC. Those copy cat scientists made something like The Dead Zone over there, and dad can't use all of his supernatural stuff. So he's pretty much trapped, but it looks like he's having fun. Vigilante went over there to save him. Since everything he has is man made, their copy cat Dead Zone won't work on him.”

Jr zoomed in on his father's face and read his lips. What he said made him frown some. ”...What the hell is he thinking?... That shit over there isn't any of his business, why's he getting involved in that bad dream?.... Uhhhhh, I don't get him sometimes! He has a 2 year old daughter that barely knows him and he puts himself at risk of being the dinner of those things!?” Jr knew he was powerless to do anything, and just had to hope that Vigilante could talk some sense into him...

Cala nodded, glad to hear that those creatures couldn't reach Edge; so long as her sister was safe that was all that mattered to her. She herself had no problem facing off against a zombie, but she wanted to keep her sister's hands as clean as possible... if they still were that is. She focused back on Junior as she listened to him say that Alec wanted to stay in Makkura and so he had put Junior in charge; but her position was still hers if she wanted it. She nodded her head yes, without hesitation. "I do.", she responded verbally.

Cala then went on to listen about how Alec had ended up over in Pacific City for some reason, and how he couldn't use his supernatural powers over there due to some phenominon like the Dead Zone that someone over there had created. She then listend as Junior explained how it looked like his dad was having fun despite all of that, but how he had sent Vigilante over there to save him since all of Vigilante's stuff would still work given it was all man made instead of magical. She paused a moment to think about Vigilante; she had an odd feeling that he might not want much to do with her anymore, at least not in the sense of a relationship. She couldn't blame him of course, not with how long she had been gone. Mortals counted years a lot differently than immortals did because their lives were shorter, so five years was an exceptionally long time.

So, pushing that thought aside for now she tilted her head a bit. "He doesn't want saved? Buy why?", she asked with her brows furrowing. It made no sense to her why anyone would want to put themselves in the position of being eaten.

Devon was bent over her desk working on some studying she had been putting off; located in the suite she shared with her sister Cala, or did share before she had pulled a disappearing act over five years ago. Devon had spent months, years really, wondering what had happened to her sister and thinking the worst. But, eventually she had had to let that go. She had continued on with school; done well enough that she had graduated early and started classes on an online college. She went to one or two classes a week but otherwise all of her schooling was done online - it saved funny looks because of her size and age.

Right now she was studying for a test she had coming up by the end of the week. Many books were littered around on top of the desk, some stacked on a chair next to her, and even more stacked on the floor. Some of the books pertained to the topic she was reading, while others had nothing to do with her test and all to do with the private project she had been working on; robotics. Given the money Cala had left behind Devon had been able to go to a private school which offered a class in robotics and engineering; topics which had fascinated Devon ever since Cala had gotten the Vigilante to give her nanoids that were then injected into Devon. This private school was part of the reason why she had graduated so early; it was an advanced school with teachers who had the time for one on one studying: so she had excelled quickly.

As Devon's lavender colored eyes moved back and forth over the page she felt a prickle on the back of her neck; the sort of prickle she hadn't felt since her sister was around. She straightened herself up and threw a bookmark into the book before shutting it so that her place was saved. She pushed the desk chair out and got to her feet. Grabbing the keys off of the nearby table she walked out of the suite and locked it behind her before heading towards the elevator; following the prickling feeling.

Up the elevator she went and onto the floor she knew Alec's office to be located in; or Junior's now as she had heard the rumors say. She walked down the hallway and stopped outside of the door. She knocked lightly and waited to see if there would be a response.

”If I know my dad, he thinks he probably ended up over there - however that happened - for a reason. When he gets in one of his muses there's no amount of talking that can bring him out of it until he's satisfied.... So I might as well send him some help, and send word to Avery and my little sister so they don't get worried about him.”

Jr pressed more buttons on the computer as someone knocked on the door. Thinking it was probably Aella coming back from exploring the many floors of the building, or possibly the penthouse up on the roof, Jr pushed a button to allow the door to open on it's own.

A part of the floor opened next to the desk, revealing a miniature rocket. A compartment opened on the top of it. Jr grabbed his father's dufflebag from the other side of the desk, stuffing a long-range wireless headset complete with a camera attached inside. He lifted and dropped the bag in the compartment; the impact of the bag landing inside enough to vibrate the entire floor several moments. After programming the rocket to home in directly on his father's specific location, he opened the window behind him, often used for the family to jump out of, and threw the rocket outside. It fell several moments before coming to life and speeding off in the direction of PC.

Next, using a ninja trick he learned in the next dimension, Jr quickly did several hand signs and created a clone. Jr and his clone nodded to each other before it jumped out of the window next, spreading its wings and flying off in the direction of Makkura. Jr then closed the window and sat again in the leather recliner, sighing in frustration at his father's choice to remain in a city over-run by man eating zombies; a city that stunted his powers and left him just as vulnerable as a human.

Shadow Clone Technique:

Cala could only imagine that if the majority of powers and abilities didn't work over there then neither did things like immunities: she could only hope and pray like everyone else that Alec didn't get turned into one of those mindless fiends: the idea of running over there to help out even crossing her mind. Before she could comment however she heard a soft knock at the door and as they were opened an all too familiar scent reached her nose: Devon!

Cala was on her feet instantly and crossing the few feet that seperated herself and her sister, Devon. She scooped her sister up into a hug, remembering not to squeeze too tightly and end up hurting her, and brought her into the room with her. When she got to the chair she finally released her sister and set her down on her feet. Finally she stepped back and took the time to look her sister over; noticing how much she had grown, how much taller she looked, and how she dressed far differently than she used to. Five years had definitely passed, and her sister showed it.

"Devon, I'm so sorry... you must be pissed at me. I got stuck between this dimension and the one everyone else went into. Junior heard me screaming and pulled me out. I was coming to find you as soon as I was done here." She then turned her focus back onto Junior, having noticed the rocket being thrown out of the window out of the corner of her eye before it went zooming off in the distance. "Are you planning on sending anyone else out to Pacific City?", she asked curiously.

Before Devon could register who all was in the room as the doors were opened before her she was scooped up and hugged; for a rather long while. When she realized it was her sister doing the hugging she returned the gesture with happiness! Her sister was finally home, and she seemed alright! Devon felt relief wash over her; relief that her sister was home, that she was alright, that she seemed perfectly fine.

All of the things Devon had thought over throughout the years that she wanted to ask or talk to her sister about came rushing through her mind but she kept her tongue at bay; if her sister was in the office it likely was for something important, so she didn't want to interrupt anymore than she had already. But, she did need to put her sisters fears at bay. "I'm not pissed at you, Cala. I was just worried; it's not like you to disappear like that on your own family, even if you are a little crazy. When you didn't come back I thought that someone had killed you or something, but everyone else was gone so I couldn't find out. I'm just glad you're okay.", when she finished speaking she hugged her sister again.

However, as she listened to her sister ask Junior a question about Pacific City she took a step back and looked between the two; she had apparently been right that something was going on. She wanted to beg her sister to stay, to not go over there even if she was needed because Devon missed her and wanted to spend time with it, but Devon kept her mouth shut - she didn't want to sound selfish. This was Cala's job after all, and if Junior needed her for something than she needed to do her job. So, with brows furrowed in worry she looked between the two and waited to see what Junior said; all while wondering what exactly was in fact going on.

Two sisters were reunited, but Jr continued to look frustrated. ”No,” he responded to Cala, keeping track of the rocket on the computer's scanners. ”Not until I know dad really needs it. With Vigilante, and his dufflebag on the way to him with all his guns, he should be fine... You've been... where ever you were for the last 5 years, maybe you should spend some time catching up with your sister before jumping asap back into the old days.”

Jr interlocked his fingers across his mid-section while sitting in the comfortable recliner, his red eyes looking through the many holographic screens that hovered above the high tech desk. Watching his father get eaten by zombies? This wasn't exactly the first assignment that he wanted to take on as the new Boss of Edge City.

Cala nodded to Junior; she hadn't wanted to go rushing off right away anyway, but was glad to hear it from his own mouth that he didn't need her. She wanted to spend some time with her sister and doing some catching up - she had a feeling that a lot had happened with Devon over the past five years and she was likely buzzing with excitement to tell her. "Alright, if you need me for anything let me know."

She playfully scooped up her little sister, who wasn't all that little anymore, and threw her lightly over her shoulder. "Still light as a feather, eh?" She gave a parting nod to Junior, "Don't worry, I'm sure your dad will be fine, especially if Vigilante's over there with him.", and then headed through the office doors with her sister on her shoulder. "Come on, let's go downstairs, get you something to eat, and you can tell me about everything you've been up to these past five years. I can almost here it in your head, like a bunch of bee's buzzing around. I now know what people feel like when they try reading my mind.", she said playfully.

Once in the elevator she'd put her sister down on her own two feet, pressing the button that would take them to the floor their suite was on...

[Exit]

Devon couldn't help but smile to hear that Junior didn't need Cala right away; it meant she got to spend some time with her sister who she had missed terribly the past five years. She laughed as her sister suddenly scooped her up and threw her over her shoulder as she so often did when she was younger. "Hey, I'm too big for this, put me down! And I'm not light as a feather!"

Her laughter continued as her sister walked with her down the hallway and into the elevator, and she didn't stop smiling even after her sister had put her down on her own two feet. Typical Cala... always a little crazy; but that wasn't a bad thing.

[Exit]