Chapter CLXXIII: Explanations, and More Questions

Multehx sat down on a large rock on the mountain path. C.R. sat down on one adjacent to him.

The agent looked over. "So, what now?"

The Rip Watcher pulled out an ornate wooden pipe, generated a flame on his finger, and lit the pipe with it, snuffing the flame on the ground afterwards. He puffed thoughtfully, black and purple smoke wafting up from it.

"Don't rightfully know...the Council's nearby, but they're mainly off gathering more of the weapons and gaining in power. We're not enough alone to take them, as I have no clearance to fight this time, and you're strong, Tehx, but you
can't beat everything out there."

Multehx rubbed the back of his head. "No, you're probably right on that."

He sat his arms on his bent knees and looked at the ground in thought.

Finally, he commented, "So, what's in the pipe?"

C.R. grinned slightly, closing his eyes and withdrawing the pipe, blowing a cloud of smoke. "Special blend sold in the capital; mainly wolf's bane and poison sumac. Has something added that gives it a smoky but minty smell."

Multehx looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Doesn't it cause you massive itching in the throat?"

C.R. put the pipe back in his mouth and grinned. "You'd think, but it doesn't."

"How's that?"

"We Twilighter's aren't susceptible to a good few of the poisons that your average person is, you recall. We can drink and inhale them regularly; in fact, quite a few have pleasant tastes to us."

The agent slowly nodded and folded his arms, leaning on them. Neither spoke for a few
moments. Then, C.R. glanced over and spoke some thoughts on his mind.

"You going to show your true self to the others when they come?"

Multehx shook his head. "No. I'm going to revert once I feel the presence of the Spectrum."

C.R. frowned. "How come?"

"Well, if I showed myself, they'd be happy to see me, angry, and over all, they'd just lean on me." He shook his head. "They're very substantial in power, and I'd give them false hopes if I was to appear. No, I rather
them have confidence in themselves."

C.R. frowned. "You feel like you'll battle any of the Council?"

"I dunno. I'll probably just keep an eye on Havering, as who knows what he'll try to do on return."

And there was no further conversation. They just sat there, Multehx lost in his thoughts, and C.R. puffing on his pipe.

--------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Pseudo was walking through the Spectrum. He had his arms folded behind him, and bandages wrapped about his neck. He had given those who had tried to assist him a good fight, and in turn, those who tried to restrain him an even greater fight, and was now heading towards the engine. There was a strong evil aura present among many others
on this planet. He was not sure what, but he didn't like it. True, it was no match for him even now, but if it toppled any of this
crew he had gained charge of, then he'd be without bodies to shield himself with in the vulnerable state of sub-existence.

As he made his way through a hallway that had doors to the beds on his right, he noticed that the door was slid halfway open. He didn't like such a display of un-neatness, muttered something foul about these lizards and freaks and their being "raised in a barn", and slid it shut.

Some things were just not right, and he couldn't put his finger on just what these things were...

--------------------------------------------

In the darkness of the aged labratory, in the wrecked remains of what had been Pseudo's labratory in the Alpha Tek compound, a pile of twisted metal on one of the side desks shook slightly. Then a pile of metal bits moved slightly. Then again.

From the bits and pieces, a small computer chip with a deep crack running down the middle moved ever so slightly. It slowly jarred its way across the desk until it fell over the edge and clattered to the floor.

It lay there on the floor, motionless. Then it began to shake violently suddenly, and the bits and pieces of metal on the desk moved towards the edge and toppled onto the floor and the chip. There was a sound of bending and twisting metal from the floor, and a metal, skeletal hand shot up and fell on the desk. It tightened its grip and hoisted what was on the other end of the skeletal arm that was attached to it.

A metal head and body rose into view. One of the naturally frowning eyes looked around the room, studying the overturned contents.

"...P…seu…" it said in a hollow raspy voice.

It looked to an overturned oaken
chair.

"Ha...ver...ing..."

It slowly made it's way along the aisles, until it stopped at an operating table. It studied it for a
moment. Portions of memories flashed through it's mind.

"Mul...te...hx.."

It made its way out the lab door, and down the hall. It stopped, looking down a stairway at a blackened room below. It appeared to be some sort of tile-floored lounge. It frowned in slight thought.

"I…nfe…cts…" it murmured.

It paused for a moment, then headed down the hall farther. At the entrance to a room devoted to the repair of robots, it stopped. It paused, and the equivalent of a smile spread over its twisted face.

It sidled into the room, heading for a large machine, which had a conveyor belt leading into it. It looked to be part of an assembly line for manufacturing robots. The odd being flipped a switch on a side of the machine, and it and the conveyor belt whirred to life. The creature lay down on the moving belt and was soon rolled into the machine. Insane laughter echoed through the halls over the drone of the machinery.

--------------------------------------------

Back on Caelum, Multehx had moved to simply lying on his back on the rocky earth. C.R. still puffed away on his pipe. He opened an eye, and looked at the other Twilighter.

"Say, Tehx, things somewhere along the line got impossible to see events involving you, I think it was the aftershocks of Havering's death still, so what exactly happened?"

Multehx looked over. "Hunh? How so?"

"Like how'd you end up with Prismaya?"

Multehx closed his eyes and folded his arms. "Well, that's easy. After I came back to Parallel Earth, I had plenty of time to think of things, and I realized...well, the nature thing wasn't me, so I left a note in the girl's hut, where I was sure she would find it, and went on with life as usual. In my travels, I encountered Prism while in some hot springs, and I joined her on this quest for these crystal things she was after, and when it was over, I realized I quite liked her, so I saw her a bit more, and bang, things worked."

C.R. smiled slightly. He looked up at the night sky.

"Tehx, never forget moments like those."

"Hunh?"

"I said, never forget those moments; scum like Havering always want to erase them. Don't forget them; they're crucial to it all."

Multehx quirked a brow. "Right, well, alright, fine, I won't."

C.R. smiled, looking up again. "You'll understand, soon enough."