Episode-19: "Mistaken Heroes"
-The swirling blue wormhole opened and five figures were thrown from it. Quinn Mallory was the first to rise to his feet. Rembrandt Brown was next. Quinn helped Wade off of the ground and Rembrandt spoke, "Five worlds in less than twenty minutes. I'm not sure if I like this new "whenever we feel like it" gateway or not." Quinn replied, "Obviously, the Professor's timer is sliding him randomly and he doesn't have the luxury of long stays on the worlds he's sliding onto." Quinn raised the timer and looked at it's readout. "He's still here. I'm not picking up any photon trails or ripples in the space-time continuum." Wade spoke, "So we just have to find him before he slides again. Sounds simple eno-. Guys, look up in the sky." All the sliders turn their attention to overhead. "It's a bird," Quinn said. "No way man, that's a plane," Bennish replied. A human figure slowly descended form the sky to right in front of the sliders. Their eyes grew wide. Standing in front of them was a man, probably around his late twenties, with a muscular build and blonde hair. It had the strangest curl in the center of it. He wore a black costume with a white cape, gloves and boots. On his chest was stylized 'A' that looked like the symbol for Alpha. The sliders were speechless.
-"Quinn Mallory, by the Primans, I found you. Arturo's been going out of his mind. He thought JoyBoy had gotten you. And I see you have Ms. Welles and Bennish along with you as well. Although your other two friends seem to elude me." "This is Rembrandt Brown and Mary." The man spoke, "Rembrandt Brown? The Crying Man?" Remmy replied, "You've heard of me?" "Of course I have, you are the scourge of the underworld in Detroit. Everyone there runs in fear of the Crying Man and his arsenal of crying gas bombs and lullaby sonic scream." Remmy became confused. "Anyway, there's no time for any of this, Quinn. We have to return to Dimension X. Arturo believes the MechaMan suit is almost operational. So brace yourself for transport." He pushed a button on his belt and the five sliders and himself all vanished.
-The six figures reappeared in a vast, high-tech complex. Quinn was the first to speak, "Whoa. Look at t his place." The man spoke, "I know, everytime I enter the Citadel I have the same feeling." "Mr. Mallory! There you are!" Quinn and the others looked up to see Professor Arturo. "Professor!" Quinn screamed. "Good heavens lad, you haven't called me that in years." Quinn realized then that this had to be Arturo's double on this world. "Come lad, I've completed the final modifications to the MechaMan armor. You have to take it for the test run." Quinn was somewhat leery. At that exact moment sirens began to blare in the complex. And a strange, demented looking clown appeared on the view screen. "hey, hey hey, Alpha-Man, I have your friends. The fat blunder and his little sidekicks. So if you ever want to see them alive again," The view shifts to Arturo, Quinn, Wade and Bennish chained to a giant pinwheel. Arturo can be heard screaming in the background, "You blistering idiot, get me off this damned contraption!" "Come alone to the former Jacob's Cotton Candy factory, heheheheheh! So long Alpha-sucker!" Arturo and Alpha-Man looked at the sliders and spoke, "Obviously that was some kind of trick." Quinn replied almost half-heartedly, "Actually, Alpha-Man is it, we should talk."
-"So you are all from a parallel universe where super-powered individuals do not exist. and that other Arturo is my double from that world." "That's right. We were trying to catch up to him when Alpha-Man here brought us here," Remmy said. Arturo replied, "you know, Ar-al, for the most powerful being on the planet, you sometimes do not notice the obvious. Wouldn't your spectro-vision have picked up the differences in their sub-atomic structure from the natives of our reality. " "I didn't exactly cross my mind to do that, Max." "No matter, we must rescue our compatriots." Alpha-Man replied, "You realize, JoyBoy probably has Primadide. Which means I can't even get within two feet of him." "There is another option, but only if this Mr. Mallory is willing."
-"No, there is no way I'm getting inside this armor! I don't even know the first thing about it!" Quinn screamed. "You are the only one who can. The armor is patterned for Quinn Mallory's heat signature. Since you are his double, it will work for you. It is almost all voice activated, and I'll be in constant radio contact with you. All you have to do is distract JoyBoy long enough for Alpha-Man to slip in and grab the others. He'll 'port them back here and all you have to do is say 'port: home' and you'll be back without a problem." "I don't want to do this," Quinn said. "Quinn," Wade replied. He looked into her eyes and he knew he had no choice. "Suit me up."
-JoyBoy sat upon his thrown of baby dolls and spoke, "Well, it looks like your buddy isn't coming. Oh well." Joyboy threw a lever and the pinwheel began to turn. Suddenly the roof collapsed and a silver and black armored figure flew down. "Let them go ... uhm ... JoyBoy." "Oh, and who are you?" "I'm . . . . geez ... MechaMan. Now let them go." "Nah! How about instead I kill you." JoyBoy threw a bag of confetti at Quinn. Inside of the helmet, Arturo's voice is heard, "Use the wrist blasters, that's acid confetti." "Wrist blasters on!" A barrage of laser fire pours out form the wrists of the armor, inadvertently knocking JoyBoy down and the wall behind him on top of him. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but it worked my lad," said the voice of Arturo. Alpha-Man teleported in and grabbed the others. They all teleported back and then Quinn did.
-The real Professor Arturo began to come to in the Citadel. "Where am I?" Quinn replied, "You're back with us." "I am not your Arturo for the last time!" "I think you are, didn't we leave you on Azure Gate Bridge almost three years ago?" "Quinn? Rembrandt? Wade? Benn- . . . What's Bennish doing with you and who is she?" "It's a long story Professor, but lets just go home first okay." "Home. You mean you've found Earth Prime?" "Yes." "How long until the slide?" Quinn kind of smirked and spoke, "Whenever we want." Arturo was puzzled, but he was glad to see the others. His double walked up and spoke, "Thank you for your help Quinn." "My pleasure, I just don't think I'm cut out for this superhero thing, after all I'd never be able to keep my secret identity." Good byes were exchanged and the six sliders prepared to return home. Quinn raised the timer and pointed it at the wall. It sputtered a little so he hit it and it come right back on. 'What was that?" Arturo asked. "Probably nothing. Let's go home." The six sliders dove into the wormhole and it vanished. Arturo's double spoke, "Did they just try to transverse dimensions from Dimension X?" Alpha-Man replied, "I think so." "I hope they don't mind being delayed from wherever it is they're going for awhile, the scrambler field will have made sure of that."
