As Mage's astral form left the Perkins' household, it accelerated until it reached the outer most edges of the
Earth. Tony stared at the big blue marble that he was destined to protect and serve, and after admiring the
wonder of it all, he turned around and focused his will until he was once again on the ninth plane. His spirit
then floated all throughout the esoteric, ephemeral weirdness of it all until he eventually found the spot
where he hid his own body. Gazing upon it briefly like how he gazed at the Earth moments ago, he then jumped
into it. His body then immediately leaped up from it's slumber.
"Why does that always feel like jumping into a cold shower?" thought Tony out loud. Breathing slowly and
deeply to calm himself, Tony stood back up when he felt a vibration from somewhere in his pants. "How embarrassing" he said. After a few moments, he got his mind out of the gutter and realized that it was his
cell phone. Reaching into his jean pocket, he pulled it out and pressed the icon for listening to voice mail.
For anyone wondering why Science Master's phone message had reached the ninth dimension, let it be known that
he enchanted it to work anywhere. No matter what planet he was on, dimension he was in, or whatever eldritch
horror was currently in the area, he would get percent phone coverage.
The voice mail went like this: "Dr. Mage, this is Science Master." Fiendish laugh. "I have Lacey here at my
lab. I think she should make quite a good subject for some experiments I have in mind. I've always wondered if
its actually possible to graft a human head onto the body of an octopus. I'm going to knock off for an hour
and then start. You're welcome to try and stop me, of course, but I warn you your puny tricks are no match for
the power of SCIENCE!"
After ending the message, Doctor Mage put the phone back in his pocket, and all the blood suddenly drained
from his face.
No, I'm just kidding. He started chuckling loudly to himself. Science Master? Who the hell was this dork that
still thought it was the Silver Age? Mage had the feeling that after he put Science Master in a place where
the sun don't shine, he would have to have a long talk with this guy and straighten him out. Maybe have him
work on the cure for cancer, or create hyperspace travel...or something.
Mage breathed in slowly and deeply, preparing himself for the upcoming battle, and reentered our dimension
once again.
He reappeared in his room, and remembered that the cops were still looking for him. In fact, he could hear his
mom and dad right down the hall lying to them about how they haven't seen their son since this morning. That
warmed his magical little heart a little.
"Crap. Oh well, I'll just have to convince the commissioner later that I'm innocent."
With a wave of his hand, he homed in on the location of the Lau's and Science Geek, and then with a pop,
teleported there.
It was a regular suburban home, one that you might pass by and not give a second thought...if not for the
front door being wide open. A trap. A trap a ten year old could figure out was a trap. But Mage had no choice.
He stepped into the great beyond that was the front door. The living room was dark, and personal items such as
clothing were strewn around the room.
Mage's senses suddenly tightened, but before he could turn around and react, he was struck in the back with
lightening bolts. Screaming in pain, Mage fell to the ground, his mystical auto-shields that were supposed to
make him virtually invincible to all Earthly weapons somehow failing him. Before he passed out, he looked
around to get a good look at who did this to him.
"Hello."
It was his doppelganger. His lookalike. His twin. It was Science Master's robot double of Mage, the one who
burned down the Lau's household and brought them here. For every magic power in Mage's possession, the robot
had a mad science equivalent of it. He was Mage's equal but opposite in every way. He picked up Mage, and
brought him down to the basement...where his Science Master was waiting.
---
Was that a dream in the midst of a nightmare? Kylie couldn't tell. She was having such an awful time trying to
get away from "Kyle", that she would have grabbed onto anything to get away from him. But in her heart of
hearts, she really did believe that Doctor Mage had come to visit her in her sleep. He was a hero after all.
How many times had he and Wonder Gal saved the world in the last few years now? She even found him to be kind
of cute looking, as much she was loath to admit it. But now the nightmare was back, pushing her buttons and
prodding her to use her power for evil. Was he serious about this? Did she really have magic powers?
Someone at Kylie's door started knocking softly but firmly, and then opened the door.
"Kylie?"
This woke her up.
"Mom? Oh my god, I had this terrible nightmare."
Kylie's mom looked at her daughter with sympathy, and proclaimed, "Well, there's someone here to see you.
Maybe he'll make you feel better."
Tyler stepped forward from behind Kylie's mom, and came in his sick girlfriend's room to sit beside her bed.
"Are you feeling any better?" he asked.
"Not really, although the migraines have gone away."
(After Kylie fainted during the graduation banquet, she was taken to the hospital by her parents. The doctor
in the emergency room found several problems, one of which was a steady stream of migraines. Kylie had never
experienced such a problem before.)
Suddenly, Kylie's head started twisting around her body 360 degrees, Exorcist style, while spewing green pea
soup from out of nowhere all around the room like a water sprinkler. Tyler had caught a good deal of it on his
face.
"Soon. Soon I will be free to wreak havoc!" screamed Kylie at the top of her lungs in a tone that she was
never heard speaking with before.
Inside Kylie's mind, Kyle was rolling on the "floor" laughing. "Soon" he said to Kylie.
---
Animus was frustrated. Frustrated at Science Master's nanobots. Frustrated at his magic being noneffective
against Wonder Gal- he couldn't even influence her mentally. Frustrated at Wonder Gal and Doctor Mage. He
remembered being at that party, having to feign remorse when he was completely justified in what he was doing.
Soon. Soon he would have his revenge.
"But if Wonder Gal will not be turned, she will be destroyed." He always wanted to say that, even if no one
was there to listen to him.
Suddenly, Michael the dog suddenly jumped on Laura, knocking her over on the floor. She was still struggling
against the nanobots, and the frustrated look on her face and the sweat on her brow revealed how hard she was
fighting against them. Michael was in a daze, barking loudly, licking her face and in his own doggish way
demanding to be fucked.
Outside, people suddenly dropped what they were doing and ran to Laura's door, banging on it wildly. Fights
broke out as all the men in the neighborhood tried to break the door. In a daze, they all demanded to be the
father to Laura's children.
Animus sat back and smiled, invisible to everyone.