21 - The One Where Everyone Sits Around And Talks

“So,” Flatfoot says. “You’re saying that you, and by ‘you’ you mean ‘me,’ were killed when Kid Flatfoot went rogue and tried to take over the city.”

Deadfoot nods. “Me and Synapse were the first to die.”

“That figures,” Blue Steel adds under his breath. Flatfoot, Teckstyle and Blue Steel are all camped outside of Deadfoot’s cell. Each is sitting on a metal chair, drinking coffee. Flatfoot’s got a day’s worth of stubble on his chin. They’ve been here for a while.

“And you say you were…‘revived’ by Crey as a last ditch effort to save the city from him?” Flat asks.

“That’s right. And it worked. Kid Flatfoot was killed before the doomsday device could be activated, but not before most of the city was leveled in the process.”

“Sounds like quite an apocalyptic age,” Teck says, trying to stay awake. “Were there giant mutant-hunting robots too?”

“Finally! Someone remembers!” Deadfoot exclaims.

“Nope, I was just guessing there.”

“Right, anyway,” Flat says, rubbing his eyes. “Going with that, and the fact that you don’t seem to know about Lord Recluse and Arachnos…”

“Who’s Lord Recluse?” Deadfoot asks.

“Just the biggest villain since Sliced Bread Man almost killed Statesman in the 20s.”

“Sliced Bread Man?” Blue Steel asks Teck. The blaster only shrugs in response.

“AND the fact that Kid Flatfoot is still alive, despite the efforts of not a few villain groups,” Flat adds. “I’m going to guess that you’re not from around here.”

“What, you mean like another dimension?” Teck asks.

“Um. Yes. Yes, uh, that’s exactly what I mean. Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Flat says.

“Oh great, a dimensional fugitive,” Blue Steel groans. “Portal Corp. is gonna have a fit. The phone calls I’ll get…”

“Well then,” Teck says, standing up and stretching. “We take this guy over to Portal Corp. and let them figure out which gate to send him through and everybody’s happy.”

“It’ll take some time,” Blue Steel says. “Portal Corp.’s going to have to run some tests on him to figure out just which dimension’s his, and there’s no way after what he did that I’m letting him back on the streets.”

A few hours later, Tina Macintyre arrived with a team of scientists and conducted some tests on a suitably restrained Deadfoot. Now, in another room, she confers with Flat and Teck.

“Well, we’ve got very few guesses where he’s from,” she says. “Its very hard to do with non-living matter, and your friend in there is very much dead.”

“Then how’s he still moving, talking and being stupid?” Teck asks.

“Well, we found some kind of kinetic energy generator imbedded in his chest. It keeps pumping…something through him that’s keeping him active, but there’s no pulse, no heart rate.” She pauses to push up her glasses. “But whatever that energy is, it leaks out of him, making some kind of aura around him that’s tough to get past, that and, well, he keeps collecting it in his hands to attack his cell.”

“Great,” Flat says. “More pink glowy fists.”

“So he doesn’t know how he got here?” Teck asks.

Tina Macintyre shakes her head. “I took the liberty of looking up Flatfoot’s medical files for any insight, but all I could find is this.” She puts a file down on the table in front of Flat. “Apparently you have an acute allergy to quantum energy.”

“What? Get out,” Flat says, waving dismissively. “I’ve been hit plenty of times, always feel fine afterwards.”

“Its not quite like that. Your body has some kind of susceptibility to quantum energy. Not like Kheldians, they just fall over dead, but something different.” She pushes up her glasses again. “Whenever you get hit with it, it disrupts the space-time continuum for a brief instant, bringing down the boundaries between random dimensions. Who knows what could get through in those seconds.”

“And you think this Deadfoot came here that way?” Teck asks.

She nods. “If I were you, Flatfoot, I’d stay clear of anything carrying quantum weaponry, just in case you got hit.” Flat looks uncomfortable. “You’ve been hit before, haven’t you?”
Flat nods.

“How many times?”

“I don’t know. After the fifth time I sort of lost count. I just felt a little dizziness and that was it.”

“Earlier you said you felt fine after being hit.”

“Well, I, er, embellished the truth in order to sound more manly and tough to impress people. Did it work?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so.”

Ms. Macintyre rubs her temples. “So there’s possibly any number of dimensional anomalies running around Paragon City, and we have no idea where they could be or who they are.”
“So this would be the point where you give us a gadget to help find these dupes?” Teck asks hopefully.

“No,” Macintyre says. “We still need to lock down the energy signature on Deadfoot and run it through our database of possible realities. The Zig’s the only place capable of holding him until we can get that finished. Until then, keep your eyes open.”