Chapter Twenty-Six

Dazzler stood on the command bridge and stared at the leader of the A.R.M.O.R. squad who’d arrived on station. Handsome, toned, and meticulously coiffed, he’d introduced himself as Senior Lieutenant Jake Aspen, and proceeded to take command of their mission.

At least, he thought he was taking command.

“We appreciate your assistance, Lieutenant Aspen,” Dazzler said, “but this is our mission and I’m in charge.”

“Are we heading into another dimension?” he asked her.

“Yes, we are.”

“Then that’s our domain. We lead. You follow.”

Before Dazzler could respond, Valdana intervened. “A.R.M.O.R. handles the other dimensions,” she told Dazzler. “It’s their jurisdiction. They have the necessary equipment and skills to handle things. Let them lead this.”

“Shaw is a mutant,” Dazzler said firmly. “We have the necessary skills to handle that.”

“We’ve handled all kinds before,” Aspen told her confidently, “and we have a thorough file on him and his abilities. We’re prepared for him. We’ve procured weapons from other dimensions that are perfect for the Shaw scenario.”

“How so?” Sage piped up.

Aspen waved one of his soldiers forward, and a lean but muscular woman wearing an eye patch and a name tag that said Lenny, stepped up. She hoisted what looked like a standard S.H.I.E.L.D. semi-automatic rifle. “This is a CAP-89,” Aspen told them. “It shoots a projectile that entraps its target inside an impermeable bubble. It won’t actually touch Shaw, so he can’t absorb its kinetic energy and use it against us.”

“I’ve seen them before,” Dazzler said. “S.H.I.E.L.D. uses similar technology.”

“Similar, yes,” Aspen said confidently. “We acquired the technology, and S.H.I.E.L.D. adapted it for their use.”

“What kind of dimension uses a weapon like that?” Polaris asked, studying it curiously.

Aspen glanced at her. “A peaceful one.”

“The words ‘peace’ and ‘Shaw’ don’t usually go together,” Sage told them.

“Well, they do today,” Aspen said, turning to Valdana. “Let’s head to the dock for departure.”

“I have Hask’s ship waiting,” Valdana said. “It’ll take you to the location of the portal he uses to enter the other dimension. Good luck.”

“Thank you, but hopefully we won’t need it,” Aspen said.

As the A.R.M.O.R. unit began to head out with Dazzler’s team, Valdana pulled Dazzler aside.

“Good luck, Blaire. I’ll inform S.H.I.E.L.D. of your mission.”

“Don’t,” Dazzler said quickly. “The more classified we keep this mission, the better.”

“I can’t leave S.H.I.E.L.D. in the dark about this, you know that,” Valdana said.

“I’m not sure who I can trust inside S.H.I.E.L.D. yet. You can report in when we return. Until then, no one else knows what we’re about to do. If Hask, from A.R.M.O.R., was on Shaw’s payroll, who knows who else is?”

Valdana studied her warily, analyzing the risk.

“The element of surprise is all we have right now,” Dazzler said firmly. “If we don’t return in twenty-four hours, you can alert whoever you want, but you give us those twenty-four hours.”

“All right,” Valdana said. “You have twenty-four hours before I call reinforcements.”

Dazzler headed for the door, as a thought suddenly haunted her. Several thoughts, actually. Thoughts of mutants like Frost and Logan, and all the kids at their schools, and what would happen to them if Shaw succeeded in his plans. Though she was still unsure about Frost, she trusted Sage’s judgement.

She looked back at Valdana. “If it does come to that, you’d better contact Emma Frost. I’m not sure S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. will be enough. You might need an army of mutants to clean this up.”

Valdana gave a nod, and Dazzler left the room.

Acting Commander Valdana sat in her office and watched the dock footage as the mutants boarded Hask’s small S.W.O.R.D. cargo jet, and shortly afterward, they disembarked. Seeing the dock was now empty, she logged into her secure portal and made a classified video call.

Ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Maria Hill appeared.

“Valdana,” she said, eyes fixed and awaiting her update.

“Hill,” Valdana said. “We have a problem.”

Dazzler and her mutant team sat strapped in a small carrier jet as it departed from the Alpha Flight Low-Orbit Space Station. With them were Aspen’s A.R.M.O.R. team and a unit of S.W.O.R.D. soldiers, headed up by a man in his early fifties, named Detson. That meant Dazzler was heading into this new dimension with her mutant team and sixteen soldiers. Based on the intel from Hask, that ought to be enough to handle Shaw’s contingent of soldiers. Still, she felt on edge as her trust issues threatened to surface again.

With a little help from the mutant team, they’d had Rachel infiltrate Hask’s mind one more time to check he was telling the truth, and she confirmed he was. Sage had warned them, however, that if Hask had only seen the dock that may have been an intentional move on Shaw’s behalf. It meant Hask was not privy to the full workings of the station, so just because he’d only ever seen a dozen soldiers, did not mean there weren’t others.

“So how do we do this?” Dazzler asked, looking at Hask, who remained cuffed as he sat with the rest of them, strapped into two rows of seats that faced each other.

“We travel to the coordinates I gave you. When we get there, I punch in my docking codes and the portal opens.”

“You traveled to another dimension before?” Aspen asked Dazzler, as he sat opposite her in full combat gear.

Dazzler and Polaris shook their heads, but Sage gave a steady nod to him. His eyes then turned to Rachel.

“I came from another dimension,” she said plainly, “but I’ve only crossed over once.”

Aspen eyed Rachel curiously, then turned back to Dazzler. “Anyway, dimension crossings can mess with your head a little,” he said to her, pointing to his temple. “It’s like upon entry your brain stops then restarts in the new atmosphere, the new gravity, wherever you’re going to.”

“And does Shaw’s dimension do that?” Dazzler asked Hask.

“Maybe the first few times,” he answered. “But I’m used to it now.”

“We have drugs to clear your head,” Aspen told her. “If you don’t feel right, let us know.”

Dazzler gave a nod, then pulled out her phone and began searching for some music, wanting to prepare for what was to come.

“Tunes to calm the nerves, huh?” Aspen smiled a little condescendingly.

“No,” Dazzler said, waggling her glowing fingers at him. “For this.”

Aspen raised his brows, impressed. “Nice! Just don’t use that on Shaw.”

Dazzler pulled back the glow from her fingers. She turned to look toward the A.R.M.O.R. team’s weapons. She hated that she was going to have to rely on others to stop Shaw, but she guessed this was what trust was all about. She was trusting her mutant team, and now she was going to have to trust the A.R.M.O.R. and S.W.O.R.D. cavalry. She had to let her ego and need for control go.

It didn’t take them long to reach the coordinates Hask had given them. It was long enough that the Alpha Flight Low-Orbit Space Station had disappeared from view, and there was no curvature of the Earth, making it appear as a flat sticker against a sea of black. Alarms began to sound. Aspen unstrapped himself from his seat, then both he and the lean muscular woman, Lenny, escorted Hask to the flight deck to enter the authorization codes, which he’d refused to give them until they’d reached the dimension doorway.

The team waited in silence. Well, the rest of the team waited in silence. Dazzler was nodding her head to the metal playing in her ears, thriving on the double-kick drumming, her body soaking up the sonic rhythms and transducing those beats into light energy that crackled over her entire body.

Sometimes she was so caught up in the feeling the music gave her that she forgot where she was. Rachel soon oriented her, though, shifting uncomfortably beside her, and trying to put a little space between them.

“Sorry.” Dazzler smiled, turning the volume down at little. “Sometimes I get carried away and think I’m on stage or something.”

Rachel glanced down at her clasped hands. “I’m kinda jealous in a way. Everything I do is so internal, no one would ever know I’m a mutant. I mean, unless they see my eyes.”

Dazzler softened. “Sometimes I wish I could be more subtle like you.”

Rachel smiled back in empathy.

“It’s good to see you two not snarking at each other any more,” Sage said.

“I don’t know,” Polaris said. “It was kind of amusing.”

“I wish I could fly,” Sage said, looking at the green-haired mutant.

Polaris smiled, then looked at Rachel. “I wish I could read minds.”

Dazzler joined in, looking at Sage. “I wish my brain was a super-computer.”

“We are a complementary team,” Sage said.

Dazzler nodded. “We are.”

“Aw, isn’t that sweet?” one of the A.R.M.O.R. soldiers, a big square guy with a black crewcut, said sarcastically, as some of the other soldiers giggled at them.

Dazzler stared at him, raising her hand and sparking light from her fingertips. The soldier raised his CAP-89, tapped it, and winked at her, before suddenly his harness pulled him tightly back against his seat, almost choking him. Dazzler glanced at Polaris and saw her hand subtly raised.

Rachel chuckled, her eyes turning from white to green. “He’s pretending to be a big dog, but he’s secretly crapping himself.”

“I am not!” he managed to say, struggling with the harness.

Rachel tapped her forehead. “Oh, yes, you are.”

“I’d be nice if I were you,” Sage addressed the soldiers. “According to my calculations, statistically speaking, heading into an operation like this with vague information, a powerful mutant, and plenty of MGH on hand, I predict only fifty to sixty percent of you will return alive. You’ll need all the friends you can get.”

The soldiers stared blankly back at Sage, and Dazzler smiled.

“OK.” Aspen returned with Hask and Lenny. “Get ready. We’re counting down, then heading in. Strap in and prepare for the crossing. Oh, and you might want to put some shades on. It tends to get bright.”

The A.R.M.O.R. and S.W.O.R.D. crews pulled down helmet visors or slipped on lenses.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Polaris said, sarcastically, as Sage tapped her cybernetic glasses, sending the lenses dark, and the rest of them closed their eyes and hoped for the best.

Emma waited for her call to connect with Logan.

“I’m looking forward to the day you stop contacting me,” he gruffed.

“Oh, come on, Logan, you’ve always liked attention,” she said.

“Not from you,” he said bluntly.

“Keep telling yourself that,” she said. “Listen, we’ve got a problem. A big problem. The MGH on the streets isn’t some clever hustler. It’s being orchestrated by a powerful crime syndicate calling themselves the New Earth Alliance. Heard of them?”

“No. Who are they?”

“We’re still trying to figure that out exactly, but apparently they’re everywhere. They seem to have infiltrated many top line organizations, including S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“What? Is Dazzler involved?”

“No. But I think she might be walking into a trap.”

“Laid by who?” Logan’s voice lowered in anger.

Emma hesitated, took a breath, then came clean. “I think Sebastian Shaw is involved.”

“Shaw? Your Shaw?”

“He’s not my Shaw. I can’t find any trace of him, but I have some of his associates here. This whole thing reeks of Shaw, Logan. This New Earth Alliance is planning on wiping all mutants out. If that’s the case, Dazzler and her team will be first in line. We need to warn them!”

“They already know,” Hill said, walking toward her with Bennett.

“Putting you on speaker, Logan,” Emma said, then looked at Hill. “Where are they?”

“I just had a call from S.W.O.R.D. Dazzler’s team was on the Alpha Flight Low-Orbit Space Station. They discovered Shaw is running the MGH operation from another dimension.”

“Another dimension?” Emma said, her brow furrowing.

“They’re heading in now to stop him,” Bennett said.

“What? We need to get up there and go with them,” Emma said.

“We won’t make it in time,” Hill said.

“You’ve got to stop them! They need our help,” Emma said. “Tell them to wait for us!”

“The portal’s opening, and they’re just about to pass through.” Hill shrugged. “It’s too late. They’re on their own.”

Emma heard Logan’s growl over the phone, before the line went dead. Emma turned and walked away from Hill and Bennett, her mind racing.

Another dimension? That had to be why she couldn’t find Shaw on Cerebra. But if she couldn’t find Shaw because he was in this other dimension, did that mean Magneto and Scott might still be alive in this other dimension, too?

Scenarios played out inside her mind. Was Dazzler and her team equipped to deal with Shaw? Should Emma have shared her suspicions earlier? Should she have warned them? Tried to stop them?

Had she just sent these mutant lambs to their slaughter?

Dazzler listened as the pilot began the countdown. She glanced over her shoulder through the observation window and saw nothing but a sea of black and gray with white specks of light sparkling here and there.

But then suddenly she saw it – a small dark gray swirl that appeared in the middle of nowhere.

And it grew, turning from a dark gray into a bigger, lighter swirl.

Soon it was almost the size of the ship. And bright. It was so bright that Dazzler had to squint her eyes against the glare.

As the ship careened at speed toward the growing swirl, she turned away and squeezed her eyes shut. The brightness grew, astounding her. Even with her eyes shut she felt as though they were open in bright daylight. Her closed eyes began to water, and tears rolled down her face.

The ship rumbled and vibrated heavily now as it neared the swirling portal, bright as a sun. The raucous sound, louder than the metal song in her ears, buzzed through Dazzler’s entire body. She reached for her phone and stopped the music, wanting to soak up the immense natural sonic energy and bury it deep within her cellular stores.

She’d never felt anything so powerful before. It was like fifty Cerebras. Maybe a hundred.

Another countdown sounded.

“Three, two, one. Transference engaged.”

The ship suddenly felt like it had flipped over sideways and then spun like a turning top, making her yelp in surprise along with Polaris. Sage and Rachel remained quiet, but Sage had no doubt done this many times before, and maybe Rachel knew what to expect from reading the others’ minds.

Suddenly Dazzler’s stomach was somewhere up by her throat, as she felt a strong sensation of the ship falling before it suddenly flipped back up the right way. A bright flash pierced her retinas even through her closed eyelids, and a massive sonic boom sounded, making her gasp as the energy overwhelmed her body.

“Man, what a ride!” one of the soldiers yelled.

“It’s such a rush!” said another. “It never gets old.”

The ship seemed to even out then and seamlessly cruised along just like it had done before the crossing. Dazzler opened her eyes, panting, and feeling a little drunk from that sonic boom, to see everyone staring at her body as it crackled brightly with intense light energy.

“Whoa…” one of the S.W.O.R.D. soldiers said, looking at her in awe.

“Are you OK?” Sage arched her eyebrow.

Dazzler nodded, catching her breath and pulling her light back within. “I think I almost overdosed on sonic energy.”

“Just make sure you stow it,” Aspen said firmly. “Keep that away from Shaw or he’ll kill us all.”

“So you already said,” Dazzler said, wiping the tears from her cheeks and feeling the fuzzy head he’d told her she’d experience. “You just make sure you trap him with those CAP-89s, and I won’t have to.”

Aspen looked over to their prisoner. “Hask? Get back to the controls, and radio that you’re coming in to dock.”

Hask nodded and headed for the flight deck under Lenny’s guard, before Aspen grabbed his arm. “If you try to warn them, we will take you out.”

Hask stared at Aspen, then continued on. Dazzler watched him go, then looked at Rachel.

“Can we still trust him?”

Rachel watched Hask leave, eyes whitened, then turned back to Dazzler. “I don’t know. He’s doing that thing again. All he’s thinking about is pink cotton candy.”

“Cotton candy?” Polaris asked, confused.

“I think he’s trying to block his thoughts and the chance of me reading him,” Rachel said.

“It’s a meditation technique,” Sage said and looked to Aspen. “Do you train your AR.M.O.R. soldiers with that?”

For the first time Aspen’s confidence dipped. He nodded. “You never know what you’ll find in these other dimensions. We have to be prepared for anything.”

“If he’s blocking us,” Sage said, undoing her harness, “it means he plans to betray us.”

“We don’t have any other choice,” Dazzler said. “We need him to get inside.”

“Even if he delivers us straight to Shaw?” Rachel asked.

“Yes,” Polaris said, unbuckling her harness and standing too. “We came here prepared to fight, so that’s what we do.”

“She’s right,” Dazzler said.

“No,” Aspen said, stepping in front of her and cutting her off. “That’s what we’re here to do. You stay back.”

“Aspen, you should let me go first,” Dazzler said. “I can use my light energy as a shield. It will protect all of you until we can get to cover and know what we’re facing.”

“We can’t risk it,” he said. “If anything ricochets off your shield, Shaw might absorb it and use it against us. We do not want to fuel the enemy.” He locked eyes with her to reaffirm his point, then followed Hask to the flight deck.

Dazzler stared after Aspen, flexing her hands, which still tingled with the overflowing energy inside her.

“I don’t like this,” Rachel said.

Sage locked cautious, steady eyes with Dazzler, then turned to the others. “Just be ready,” she said.

Dazzler nodded confidently to her team. “We’ve got this.”