Nine years ago in a mall in Washington State
Young Patrick Mains was excited for the fact he was on vacation and that he was allowed to go to the toy store alone. Now getting there was the trick, he followed the illuminated line till he found the number he was looking for. As he turned facing the correct corridor, he screamed and jumped back. There was a boy in front of him that looked exactly like him; the two looked at each other awkwardly and mimicked each other’s movements. Tired of play this game he looked back at his doppelganger and walked away.
“Weird,” the other kid said as he continued wandering the corridors of the mall.
He couldn’t remember whom he was, where he was, nor why he was here. His memory was nothing but a blank slate; he continued his wandering until he heard a stern voice call out to him.
“Patrick,” It beckoned to him but he ignored it. He didn’t know of any “Patrick” it was calling for but he let out a yelp as an outside force pulled him backwards. It turned him around revealing itself; it was a short, plump woman typical of her age, with curly brown hair and soft loving green eyes. Though she was a stranger to him somehow she was slightly familiar.
“Who do you think you are mister?” She asked in a stern yet loving voice.
The boy broke down crying, “I don’t know…” He hugged her and she took his hand.
“Don’t worry,” she smiled, “I’m sure you didn’t hear me. Come on buddy, its time to go.”
So she guided “Patrick” out of the mall into the van where the father and sister were waiting. However little do they suspect they have the wrong child. In the Kaybee toy store about an hour later.
“Where’s mom?” he asked himself as he inspected a Lego Set.
He walked out calmly and walked around the mall, minutes later looking throughout all the stores he could go through.
“I hope they didn’t leave without me,” he cried as he picked up the pace and bolted through the store he came through. He wandered the parking lot until he came across the parking spot dad parked the van in. It was empty, Patrick broke down crying realizing a horrific fact; he had been abandoned. But his grief was very short-lived; he started breathing every pant he took became deeper and deeper…
“Mon, dad…” His anger growing out of control, “I swear I’ll make you pay…”
Several years later, in Lethbridge. A nicely sized city in the plains of Southern Alberta, the weather is an unusual thunderstorm in a usually mild April. “Patrick”, now 18 are spending tonight with Rob his best friend and “Pritch” another friend. He stares blankly at the storm as he’s playing a deathmatch of Perfect Dark.
“It’s times like these I remember the mall, I remember nothing before that date. The doctors told mom and dad it was only selective amnesia since I retained my intelligence. We left it at that but…”
His train of thought was derailed when he “died” for the umpteenth time; Rob and Pritch looked at him oddly. Pat was sweating excessively Pritch waved his hand in front of Pat’s blankly focused eyes…
“Helllllllllllllo…” He chanted, “Earth to Pat…”
He made no reaction and both Rob and Pritch a little miffed, decided to play a little joke on their friend. Slowly they filled a balloon with air.
Pritch chuckled, “This should get his attention.”
“Will you do us both a favor and Shut up?” Rob whispered, “I swear I’ll strangle you one day…”
Quietly without attracting any attention from a still dazed Pat they crept up quietly behind him and held the balloon behind his head. Pritch took a needle found on the coffee table and popped the balloon. Pat let out a loud scream and jerked his head back bumping it into the table behind him, breaking the trance Pritch bowled over in laughter attracted Pat’s attention.
“God damn it Pritch,” He cried as he lunged his weight onto Pritch pinning him down, “You’re a dead man!”
Rob grabbed Pat and tried to pull him off of Pritch, “Hey! Settle down big guy, we were just having fun. Besides we never meant for you to be hurt.”
Pat looked to Pritch, “Really?”
“Really,” Pritch replied and shocked, “Would you mind getting off of me?”
“Oh, yeah.” Pat murmured as he released Pritch from his tight grip, and rubbed the back of his head to ease the pain caused by his abrasion. “Sorry man, my mind was elsewhere…”
Rob scurried upstairs, “Be back with some ice, just don’t kill each other. Okay?”
“Don’t mention it,” Pritch snickered, “I know every time I look into your eyes, you’re a psycho Pat.”
Pat smiled back at Pritch “Don’t you know it Pritch.”
Rob returned from upstairs with a ziploc full of ice and handed it to Pat, “You were so out of it. You were like one of those people who were hypnotized or something.”
“Call it a sixth sense,” Pat explaining his rather brash actions, “I have a gut feeling that something earth-shattering is going to happen.”
After a moment's pause both Rob and Pritch once more broke into laughter with Pat slightly agitated.
“What is so funny?” He snorted
A tear streaked down Rob’s face, apparently this was one good joke to him, "I’m sorry but I think you’re still out of it.”
With a cryptic look in Pat’s face both Rob and Pritch’s laughter died down showing some concern. “Am I?”
It was 9:38 p.m. and on the other side of the city Pat’s family was walking into the rain. His father Bill, mother Cheryl and his sister Laurel were returning from a movie, the happy chatter ended when they came across a stranger in a trench coat, although another lightning bolt illuminated the night sky the stranger’s identity was still unrevealed. His cold, soulless eyes glared at them.
“It is nice that this bucket of bolts is still in one piece, how long has it been eight, nine years?” He coldly growled, “Time flies when you’re being bumped from foster home to foster home.”
The family was in shock from the stranger’s words Bill approached him and gave him an angry stare, “I don’t know what the hell you want, but…”
The stranger pulled out a 9mm automatic and put in Bill’s face, “I only want you to die. You loathsome son of a whore.” He coldly squeezed the trigger and the deafening sound of a handgun blast silenced everything except the soft patter of rain of the pavement.
Bill’s body stood lifeless for a split-second, and then it tumbled to the ground. Crowds of people gathered in the lobby of the movie theatre watching helplessly at the two women facing and apparent psychopath with a gun. What could they do? Mostly nothing but watch the horror of a family being ripped apart. Cheryl fell to her knees and stroked his hair; a hand covered with blood was in front of her she started to weep as the blood washed of her hand. She looked the killer in the eyes and cried.
“WHY?!?”
He just stared at her…
“WHY YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHY?!?”
“At one time I loved you dearly,” He replied in a colder, grittier voice, “Now I think of you as a bitch, a slut, a whore lady. I could go on forever. You betrayed my trust, my love. You said you were going to come for me. Nine years later I had to come to you, to kill you.”
He pointed the gun between her eyes; somehow she found the faith that he was going to let her live. She was wrong, he shot her in even in colder blood but it wasn’t enough for him long after she hit the ground he fired again and once more. He looked at Laurel who was paralyzed from the trauma of watching the death of her parents; he put the gun to her forehead.
“Don’t you recognize me?” He chuckled as he removed the hat and bandana from his head and face, revealing the face of Pat only he was much thinner and his voice was slightly higher.
“Pa… Pa… Patrick?” she stuttered, “ I thought you were at Rob’s house for the night.”
“Guess again sister dearest, the “Patrick” you know is nothing more than an imposter who usurped my identity.” “Patrick” explained, “I was abandoned in a parking lot in Washington nine years ago, you were seven back then so you wouldn’t suspect the amnesiac you knew was a fake. I was bumped from foster home to foster home; my hatred for mom and dad grew and grew each hour of every day. You don’t know how it feels; it chips away at your soul and your will to live. I took a gun from my current foster home and made my way here and observed you all for three days now.”
Laurel stood there staring at him speechless, not knowing what words to say to him.
“My third foster-mom Emma told me I had the heart of a poet,” He smiled as he turned the gun to his head, “If I’m going to hell, I’m taking these two souls with me. Good-bye Laurel, it was nice meeting you…again”
Laurel cried has he slowly pulled the trigger, “NO PATRICK WAITTTTTTTT!” Her words fell upon deaf ears, the gunshot was fired and “Patrick” laid on the ground dead, half his face horribly disfigured and smiling evilly. Laurel tried to run towards the dead bodies but an older boy grabbed her and yelled.
“No! There’s nothing you can do, they’re gone.”
“Gone,” she murmured
News of the shooting spread like a wild prairie blaze, but as Pat and Rob pulled out their sleeping bags the 11 o’ clock news came on with their big headline.
“Today on Global news at 11,” It blared, “A murder/suicide at the Movie Mill, they name of the murderer can’t be released but husband and wife Bill and Cheryl Mains of Lethbridge were slain in the Movie Mill parking lot…”
Both Pat and Rob stopped what they were doing as Rob’s mother and father hurried down the stairs.
“Did you hear that?” he asked
Rob looked at him, “Unbelievable. You would do something like that?”
All of them looked at Pat who was totally petrified staring once again blankly at the TV. His life just crumbled away that very night.
A few days later, a thin, clean-shaven man marched down the corridor of a top-secret complex underground in the desert landscape of Arizona, thirty-two levels above presidential clearance. He entered the office of General Grimm, commander of the covert government division known as “Section Nth”.
“General Grimm sir,” The man barked, “We have news of an omniversal anomaly in Canada, sir!”
“Please, Colonel,” The general replied turning his chair around, “Stay at ease, I wish for once I can have a normal conversation. It’s been over two decades of running this operation and I’m sick of all this ridiculous military protocol.”
“As you wish, General.” The Colonel said obeying him, “There has been a murder/suicide in the small city of Lethbridge, Alberta. The now-deceased murderer's DNA matches that of a living teenager. The son of the deceased.”
“Damn,” the General growled pounding his fist on his desk, “Are there any witnesses.”
“Only one worth mentioning, she is the daughter of the deceased,” Colonel replied, “But she hasn’t even talked since the incident.”
“Damn it all to hell,” The general cried with bloodlust, “We here at Section Nth, have been trying to keep other-universal counterparts from bleeding into our universe. We let one stupid teenager slip through our fingers? God, we’re going to be the laughing stock of the omniversal community.”
“What will we do in the meantime?” Colonel asked.
“Just wait and see what this blows up into,” Grimm said waving the Colonel off.
Before the colonel walked out the door the General called to him, “Colonel Jefferson.”
Jefferson stopped and asked him, “Yes?”
“I know you’re new here, so I’ll say this.” Grimm told him, “This is not the military, we talk like people here. So I’d appreciate if you and your ilk would talk and act like human beings here.”
Jefferson just nodded and went on his way.
“Yeesh,” Grimm grumbled, stuffing and smoking his pipe. “What a putz.”
About a week and a half after the shooting in the movie mill parking lot, Patrick and Rob sit in a busy airport terminal in Calgary. The recent deaths of his parents and the fact that he has to go live with his uncle Robert and aunt Nikki in Ontario (for that was in the will, that the children will live with them) has taken it’s toll on him. Rob, he’s going to Vancouver to make the connecting flight to Hawaii for the band trip. Both knowing this will be the last time they’ll see each other in a very long time.
“So what’s going to happen with your sister?” Rob asked
Pat put down his magazine and sighed “Heaven knows at this point, she’s going under some extreme psychotherapy or something like that shit.”
“You sound disappointed have you seen her last week?” Rob continued
“Ever since mom, dad, and that crazed gun-killer died she refused to speak to anyone even me.” Pat told him, “At the funeral she gave me nothing but dirty looks even as I helped carry dad’s coffin away…”
Suddenly Pat began the choke, “Can’t >ulp< breathe… help” the very life in his eyes began to die as his skin started to glow brighter and brighter.
“Oh my god, someone help him!” Rob cried as Pat’s uncle bolted and tried to help. Everyone’s eyes were on the teenager supposedly known as Patrick. The very fabric of his reality began to twist and warp itself into a new shape. A dazzling explosion of light blinded those around him. When Rob recovered his eyesight he looked on his arms, they were covered with a glowing blue liquid before he could wipe it off it was absorbed into his.
He looked at the place were his friend was seated, instead of a human he found a robotic Pegasus animaloid in his place. Like the Skiver from Mega Man X5, one of the chaperones on the band trip approached it and inspected it. To Rob it looked like “Pat” was in a death-like coma, not really dead but not really alive either.
“It looks like he’s dead,” the chaperone told Rob.
“I know he’s alive,” Rob cried looking at the unconscious creature, “Somehow he is.”
Indeed Pat was alive but he was on earth anymore, instead it was some misty and shadowy landscape an eerie tingle ran down his spine. He inspected himself closely, to his shock he didn’t look like the overweight teen he was any more, he was much thinner and muscular and there was gold markings over his glowing blue body.
“What happened to me?” He cried, his voice echoing throughout this realm.
“This is your true form Ben,” a ghastly voice echoed back.
“Who goes there?” Pat rasped
From out of the mists an old man with a long white beard appeared, he wearing futuristic clothing and he approached the floating astral form of Pat.
“This is your astral form Ben,” He answered, “Your physical body is still on Earth-23.”
“Who are you?” Pat asked
“Wouldn’t you recognize your own grandfather?” The old man smiled, “Of course not, I blocked every memory of your life so who wouldn’t grieve for me or your brothers.”
“Brothers? Well what about this Earth-23?” Pat asked, “Are there really an infinite number of universes?”
The Grandfather nodded his head, “More so than you think, but all your questions will be answered one day but not today.”
He reached his hands into Pat’s astral body and something was coming back to him.
“Whoa!” Pat squeaked, “I feel like we’re one now.”
The Grandfather wasn’t listening; he was concentrating on his next move he started chanting some spell of some sort as Pat’s very life from that day in the mall was flashing in front of him. The memories seemed to be running away into the void of nothingness.
“Forget all the pain, Benjamin, forget…” Grandfather chanted as Pat was being pulled through the void. He screamed as he was being pulled faster and faster into the blackness.
The seemingly inert body of the Skiver came to life again as his opened. Nikki grabbed his body and hugged it tightly.
“Patrick,” she cried, “Thank god you’re alive!”
The robot that was Pat groaned as he awoke from his daze, as the image became clearer he jumped in a panic frantically looking across the terminal.
“Where am I?” He screamed, bolting in once direction then another. Madness taking over he knelt on the ground holding his head crying, “Where am I?!?”
Cautiously Rob approached the confused “reploid” but when he came too close the robot with a fire in its eyes swiped its wing and screamed “Stay away from me!”
Rob dodged the swipe but looked at the creature as it ascended to a greater height. Suddenly the gentle breeze from the air conditioners because a raging hurricane. People in the terminal ducked for shelter as the winds started to pick up numerous objects and hurled them across the building shattering glass and unfortunately injuring people below.
Rob looked above at Pat hovered above the havoc and chaos, unaware of the powerful winds he was creating. Like a confused animal he panicked every time someone even got close to him. Rob wished that there were some way someone could calm him down. At that moment trash bin was hurdling towards a pair of students, before it could strike, an unseen force only seen with the reflection of a blade sliced it in half.
“Damn,” A voice cursed, “His brain waves are on a different level, must compensate for it.”
Rob looked beside himself to see a younger teenager, punching in buttons. He looked at him and asked, “Who are you?!?”
The teenager looked at him, “Call me Rocky, I’m here to pacify the Skiver!”
“What?” Rob looked at him oddly, “Why would you want to do that?”
Still concentrating on his palm-sized computer, Rocky replied, “He’s my brother, Rob.”
Rob continued to stare at Rocky, “Pat doesn’t have any brothers.”
Rocky chuckled, “HA! This is not the Pat you know, his real name is Ben Ronning, Pat’s only his middle name.”
Rob still was pretty clueless on what Rocky was trying to tell him. However another teenager figure appeared helping the injured, Rocky called out to him, “Hey Max!”
Max looked at him, “Yeah?”
“Can you man-handle a Pegasus?” Rocky smiled
“Only one way to find out.” Max replied, with little difficulty Max jumped towards the raging Ben and grabbed onto him.
“Arghhhhh…” Ben cried, “Let go of me…”
“Hold still,” Max growled, even with his superior strength Ben’s struggling was weakening his grip; “It’s me Max, your brother…”
Although Ben wasn’t struggling as much, he still had to be knocked-out. A punch only Rocky could deliver, quickly he finished recalibrating his palm-top and aimed it at Ben.
“Sorry, Ben.” He whispered to himself; “We have no other choice.”
He clicked on the button that sent an electromagnetic pulse towards Ben, temporarily scrambling his brain patterns. As a result Ben was down for the count and gravity did the rest. The torrent in the terminal died down, Max groaned a bit as Rob gave him a hand.
“How did you survive a fall like that.” Rob asked looking at Max with sheer surprise; the kid didn’t even appear to have a scratch on his body.
Max smiled as Rob pulled him to his feet, “That’s what happens when you live in the ‘Void’.”
Rob passed a strange look on the twin brothers, “The Void?”
“Long Story,” Rocky told him, “We’ve been watching ‘Pat’ here for sometime, so we know every detail about his life… Rob.”
“How did you kno…” Rob asked again as Max straddled Ben on his shoulders.
“As we said…” Max interrupted; “We know every detail about his life, including you. Look we wish we could thank you but we have to take Benji-boy over here back to grandpa.”
“We’ll see you later, Rob.” Rocky told him as he pulled out a pen-like device, clicked on a button and they started to disappear.
“Wh…Wh…Wait!” Rob stammered as they disappeared from sight.
He looked at a ravaged terminal; it looked like a city ravaged by a hurricane. Debris like shards of glass, trash bins and various other items laid about the area. People finally came out of their shelters to aid those who were caught in the Pegasus’ fury.
Within those few minutes a stunning revelation occurred in his life. Everything he’d had known about Pat was a big lie, even his name with was always Ben Ronning. The mechanization, Ben’s apparent fit of madness and his twin brothers Max and Rocky; it was literally mind blowing. He noticed some students injured by the torrent.
He could understand that Ben’s reaction was natural, but why? He didn’t know; no one would give him the answers. To reassure himself he said, “He’ll be back, He’ll be back…” Those words he repeated to himself over and over until his parents arrived to take him back home.
Hours later at Section Nth Headquarters, Arizona…
Colonel Jefferson ran down the halls in a frantic pace to give news that the situation in Lethbridge/Calgary has blown to “Crisis” levels. Although he knows General Grimm eats his kind for breakfast, his duty was to monitor omniversal anomalies to see if they grow into something bigger. He finally reached the General’s office he panted so loudly General Grimm couldn’t hear the person on the other side on the phone.
“I’ll have to call you back.” He said and hung up the phone and scowled at the Colonel. “This better be worth it Jefferson or I’ll swear I will have you stuffed.”
“It’s the situation in Calgary/Lethbridge,” Jefferson panted his breath had not caught up with him yet, “It’s reached ‘Crisis’ levels General Grimm.”
“Mercy,” Grimm growled has he squeezed his pen, “For once you did something right. What’s your report Jefferson?”
“The teenager Patrick Mains, has transformed into some robot, you know?” Jefferson told the ever-attentive Grimm; “After a brief rampage he was sedated and taken by two unidentified teenagers both estimated to be thirteen years old. Their location unknown and they haven’t returned.”
“Mercy,” Grimm grumbled, “Get our men monitoring any omniversal anomalies, if they find him I want to know.”
“And if we do…” Jefferson asked, “Then what?”
“Destroy him we have no other choice.” Grimm replied, “The worst has yet to come.”