//------------------------------// // Chapter II // Story: Observer // by Superdale33 //------------------------------// Observer Chapter II The pain was real, that was for sure. There I was, being a nice guy to everyone and I get shot, and in the head no less! As I lied there, cursing like a kindergartener while clutching the back of my head, I wondered who would shoot at me. Granted, a lot of people wanted to shoot me, but I could narrow it down considerably when I added the transdimensional warp factor. But that filter didn’t help, since I didn’t know anyone that could jump to different Universes like myself and hate my guts. It’s scientifically improbable, I should know, I talked to Twilight Sparkle! Perhaps the shooter targeted me simply because I was associated with these ponies. That had to be it! But then who wanted these cute-looking ponies dead? A blind person? Wait, blind people can’t shoot guns, at least, I don’t think they can. It’s been awhile. “Observer!” Twilight shouted with concern, having shaken off her disbelief at my invincibility, quite fast if I may add. I looked up, seeing her gallop over to me before the Lone Wanderer placed a hand over her chest, halting her instantly. “Hold on,” he ordered, facing the stained glass window, which was probably ruined because of that shot. No consideration for the arts. “That sniper is still there.” I groaned, pushing myself so that I was on my hands and knees. “He’s right,” I managed out from the pain. It was hard to recuperate after a death shot, and this was no exception. It also affected my reflexes, which meant no fancy dodges. “He probably wanted that shot to lure you over to me.” “Why would he do that?” Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head to the side. Raising a hand, I pointed my finger, then had it approach the front of my head as I whistled. When it touched it, I made a splattering noise as both my hands reached up to each side of my head, drifting outwards. “They wanted to shoot cake batter at us?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head to the side. “Yeah,” the Lone Wanderer drawled, “Let’s go with that. You don’t want cake batter in your hair.” “Mane,” I corrected, lifting a hand up. “Shut up, no one asked you,” the Lone Wanderer snapped, pointing a finger at me. It was at that moment that another laser shot through the window, hitting me square in the back. I arched my shoulders, the pain coming back in force. I fell to my side, using my legs to push and spin me in a circle as I clutched my back. “We need to find this sniper,” the Courier stated, retrieving his revolver. “And not because he’s shooting Observer,” he clarified. “Why then?” Applejack asked, walking over to him. “I’m curious as to who has a laser rifle like that,” he explained, and I stopped my spinning to face the Courier, scoffing. “And here I thought we had something going on,” I said with a shake of my head, just as two more lasers shot into my back again. I squealed like a pig, wigging out on the floor in an attempt to reach the painful spots. I must have looked ridiculous, but at least they couldn’t doubt my invincibility! I win and lose yet again! “Lone Wanderer,” the Courier called, catching his attention as he pulled out his laser rifle, “I’ll loop around and corner him, you think you can keep him busy?” “Easy,” he answered with a nod. I saw everyone else look between the two like they couldn’t believe how calm they were about this. I couldn’t believe they weren’t used to something like this! Hoping to help in some way, I got a glance outside, seeing a small glint at the top of a tower from the sniper’s scope. “He’s on a balcony of some random tower,” I stated, swaying back and forth from the pain, “he’s not too far from here-” I was stopped by a shot to the forehead, my head being sent back as a result. A second passed, then another, before I cried out in anguish, my hands slapping onto my head in a vain attempt to escape the agony. Despite the obvious, I did not like pain. If I had a cool arch nemesis, it would be pain. Why had pain become an object at that point? “Keep him distracted, Observer,” the Courier ordered, bolting for the large double doors out of the throne room. “That’s what I’m here for,” I moaned before being hit in the buttocks. *** As Observer’s voice cracked from where he was most recently shot, the Courier rushed through the large double doors, appearing in the entrance of the castle with a wide set of stairs to his left. Before he could take off to the doors at his right, he heard hoofsteps behind him. “I’m comin’ with ya,” Applejack said, stopping a few feet away from him with a ready demeanor. The Courier chuckled, “You’d just get in the way.” “I won’t, I can promise ya that,” she snapped back, pointing a hoof at him. “Ugh, fine,” he settled, but before he could take another step, he heard another voice. “I’m coming too,” Rainbow announced, flying after them as she crossed her hooves. “Fine!” he shouted, stomping a foot in a fit of anger, “Anybody else!?” The Lone Wanderer poked his head out the door, “Why are you just standing there? Get going!” The Courier slumped his shoulders, bowing his head as he shook it, “Why do I even bother?” Rainbow and Applejack glanced at each other with a hint of humor in their eyes, before seeing Courier break off from them and head for the nearest door. The two galloped after him, and Rainbow faced Applejack with a look of slight worry. “I hope we don’t get lost,” she expressed, “We don’t really know our way around here.” *** “Those three are totally going to get lost in this place,” I sighed, lying on my side  with an elbow propping my head up. At that point, the sniper was taking shots at my legs and arms, hoping to maim me in some way since I couldn’t be killed… He wasn’t very bright when I thought about it. Anyway, flesh wound shots like those were painful as well, but they were far more manageable than a kill shot. “They’ll find their way,” Twilight reassured, looking more confident than I thought she would have for a human from a different Universe. She always finds a way to surprise me. Then again, considering these were different Universes, it shouldn’t surprise me that she surprised me. And she did! That's usually Pinkie's department, stocks must be low where she works. “Aren’t you going to move?” the Lone Wanderer questioned, gesturing with his laser rifle to my prone figure. “I mean, I know you can’t be killed, but you keep saying how painful it is.” I sat up, sitting with my legs crossed as I laid my hands on my knees in a meditative position. “Oh, I can control how much something hurts,” I said simply, puffing out my chest as a lung full of air came through. Which was weird, considering I can survive out in space for days. Don’t ask how I found that out. “It all depends on my concentration.” Another laser ripped through the window and hit me in the shoulder, but I barely budged a muscle, just like an awesome guy would do. “Oooooooom,” I chanted, “There is no pain, pain is my friend, I am the pain…” “Can you please remain quiet?” Rarity stressed with a concerned face, “Our friends are out there risking their lives, and you’re treating this like a joke.” “The Courier is with them,” the Lone Wanderer put in, “And if he’s as good as me, they’ll be fine.” “Why do you think I’m joking?” I added with a small chuckle. Rarity huffed, facing away from me, “Very confident, aren’t you?” I grunted, “Nope, just faithful.” I looked over my shoulder, “Huh. He stopped shooting.” *** After getting lost a few times, the Courier, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash made it to the base of the tower. Near the top, they could see the black barrel of a rifle, though it was more noticeable for the Courier, since he was used to seeing barrels, especially down them. Before Applejack or the Courier could make a move for the door, Rainbow quickly flew in front of them, catching their attention as she hovered a few feet above them. “I’m heading up to meet this guy first hoof,” Rainbow said as she smashed a hoof into her other. “Don’t wait up!” “Rainbow!” Applejack called after her, but was ignored as Rainbow took off upwards. “Come on!” the Courier said, stepping briskly for the door, “She told us not to wait up!” “That’s true,” Applejack nodded, as she growled at Rainbow’s behavior. The Courier stepped up to the door, tried to open it, but couldn’t, finding a very hard lock on it. “Oh great,” he muttered in frustration. “It’s locked, ain’t it?” Applejack asked with half lidded eyes, obviously knowing the answer. “Yep,” the Courier said, digging through his pockets, “Should be able to unlock it, though I’ll probably run through a few of my bobby pins before that happens.” “Step aside,” Applejack ordered, turning completely around, “I’ll buck it open.” The Courier slowly turned his head to look at her, his mind going to a conclusion that was not safe for children. “Uh, run that by me again?” he requested with a tilt of his head. “I’m goin’ to kick it down,” she said, looking up to him with a raised brow, “What did ya think I was sayin’?” “Sex, basically,” the Courier answered with a cross of his arms. Applejack rolled her eyes before backing up to the door to get a good enough distance to do her work. As she was doing this, the Courier couldn’t help but think that there was a beeping sound at the same time. Though that would imply she was fat, which certainly wasn’t the case. In fact, her muscles were quite toned, probably from working on some sort of farm, if the hat was anything to go by. Perhaps an apple farm, which may explain Applejack’s name and the three apples on her round, beautiful- “Ya still there, Courier?” Applejack asked, sitting in front of him with a confused expression. The Courier snapped out of his strange revery, looking between Applejack and the kicked down door. “Y-Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” he hastily said, briskly walking by Applejack while clearing his throat. Oh, he was not just fantasizing about that. Applejack had a feeling that the Courier was staring at her flank earlier, but she couldn’t be completely sure. Maybe four-sixths sure, but she’d rather leave the fancy mathematics to her brother. Applejack did, however, feel uneasy with an alien staring at her like that. Shaking off the feeling, Applejack followed the Courier through the door with urgency. Who knew what the sniper up above would do to Rainbow Dash! *** Rainbow Dash may not have been a patient pony, but with the sniper in sight as she hid behind him on the balcony, she could only stand there and gawk at him. He was an alien, like the ‘humans’, but this one was way different, and a bit more frightening, at least she thought so. She was confusing herself. The being before her had a head that faintly resembled a bird, but also looked like a lizard of some sort. A strange electronic device was attached to the side of his head with a strange blue light covering his left eye. The right side of his face was torn up, along with the armor he wore, which was wide and blue. His feet and hands held fewer digits than the humans, though the sniper’s were a lot thicker. “Come on, come on,” the sniper whispered to himself as he aimed down the sights of his sniper rifle. His voice had a flanging effect to it, which made Rainbow even more interested. “Someone would have checked on this guy by now. Though considering I’ve shot him twenty one times so far…” Rainbow was so entranced by the creature before her, more so than the humans, that she simply stared at him for the longest time. She took a step closer to get a better look, but her hoof landed on an inconvenient twig that somehow ended up on the top of the tower on a tall castle on a lone mountain. Wind can be tricky like that sometimes. The noise that was created caused the sniper to whirl around, pointing his sniper rifle straight at Rainbow. She reacted accordingly by jumping back a bit as she shivered a little, knowing what a gun can do thanks to seeing the Lone Wanderer and the Courier in action. Her ears splayed backwards as she lifted a hoof, afraid to move in case that set off the sniper. The sniper didn’t budge for a while until he slowly brought down his gun, revealing his odd-looking face. It was… odd. Rainbow couldn’t describe it any other way. He had these mandibles where his mouth was, but it wasn’t weird, it was just odd. The sniper seemed as curious about her as she was of him, tilting his head as he looked her up and down. “I’m supposed to kill you?” he questioned, “You don’t seem like the dangerous, baby-eating demons that he described.” He grunted, “You actually look kinda cute.” Rainbow blinked in surprise, her cheeks growing red before she shook her head to compose herself. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of someone kicking down a wood door with their boot. The sound itself caught the attention of the sniper and Rainbow, facing the door that was connected to the building where the Courier stood with his revolver drawn. “Yeah! Murica!” he shouted in excitement. “That don’t even make any sense,” Applejack said behind him with an annoyed expression. The Courier didn’t have time to respond as the sniper whipped towards the door, rifle pointed right at him. Thinking fast, the Courier rushed forward, pushing the rifle up right before it fired. After which, he knocked it out of the sniper’s hands, but the sniper retaliated by slamming his fist into the Courier’s head. The Courier, though wearing his helmet, still felt a pang of pain in his eye where he was struck. The sniper was in the same agony, only with his hand as he nursed it with the other. The sniper knew exactly where to hit to give the most impact, and the Courier had to give him credit for that, but not much, because they were still at each other’s throats at the moment. Hoping to end the confrontation quickly, the Courier lifted up his revolver, which was still in his hands, but the sniper quickly gripped the Courier’s hands with his own, pointing the gun up and away from himself. A struggle began between them, with both sides pushing the gun side to side trying to aim it at the other. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who stood beside Rainbow Dash at that point, watched with rapt attention. Applejack looked over to Rainbow Dash seeing her a bit nervous about the fight. “You alright there, RD?” Applejack asked with a hint of curiosity. “Yeah,” Rainbow answered with a shaky voice, “It’s just… he called me cute.” “Cute?” Applejack repeated, “They’re fightin’ for their lives, and you can only think about how that there alien called ya cute?” “I know, I know,” Rainbow sighed, her eyes still trained on the sniper, “But… I don’t think anyone has ever called me that before.” Applejack had to think about that, but couldn’t really as the struggle between the sniper and the Courier escalated to having the gun being pushed to the side, hitting the railing around the balcony of the tower, and discharging a bullet. *** “You know, this is kind of relaxing,” I remarked where I sat, everyone else having sat down on the ground from standing too long. I liked to think I had given them the idea of taking a seat, but I didn’t feel like bragging at the time. “Besides being shot a buncha times, and having a very pretty stain glass window ruined, I’d say things are looking up.” “Why’s that?” the Lone Wanderer asked gravely, sitting against the wall beside the window, looking over his laser rifle. “Well, the Courier must have gotten to that sniper,” I said, jabbing a thumb behind me to the window, “Cause he hasn’t fired a shot in-” I was interrupted by a projectile - a pew pew bullet, not a zap zap laser - that shattered the window completely and hit me in the back. It was so unexpected that I jumped up to my feet with a shout. Everyone else also got to their hooves, and feet, that’d be peculiar if the Lone Wanderer had hooves. “Ah! Whoa! Where did-!? Courier!” I yelled, knowing he was responsible. The Lone Wanderer cocked his head to the side, lowering his weapon away from him. “How the hell could he shoot you all the way over here with a bullet? All he had was a shotgun and a revolver.” “Don’t care! Hurting!” I whined, trying to walk in circles to drive away the pain. And jeez, did it come back with a vengeance. *** The Courier and the sniper stared with blank expressions at the shattered window a couple hundred yards away. They were just as surprised that the shot had hit Observer all the way down there, and of course, the Courier gave a short chuckle. “Nice,” he whispered. “I’ll say,” the sniper agreed, “How did we even do that?” “No idea,” the Courier said with a shake of his head. A moment of silence fell between them, the sounds of Observer’s shouts echoing over to them. They faced each other, unsure how to proceed after something like that happened. Luckily, Applejack intervened before things went back to the cat fighting it once was. “Uh, excuse me,” she called, gaining both their attention as she pointed towards the sniper, “but who are ya?” The sniper looked between the Courier, Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, who eyed the ground to avoid eye contact. “I think,” he said, pausing a moment for dramatic effect, “I’ve been tricked.” “What makes ya say that?” Applejack asked, dropping the previous question for the time being. The sniper rolled a hand around, showing off the talons on his fingers as he did, “Some… black smoke, called himself Sun-bra or something, said that if I killed these dangerous, baby-eating demons that called themselves ‘ponies’, he’d take me back home.” “Sombra!?” Applejack and Rainbow Dash shouted simultaneously, their eyes going wide. “Yeah, Sombra,” the sniper nodded at the correction, “And when I think about it, it’s kind of ridiculous that I called him Sun-bra. I think it’s a human thing.” The Courier remained unmoving, his mind having thought of a few of his companions wearing bras for some reason. The ponies, on the other hand, quickly took hold of the situation before anything else could be done. “We need to get back to everypony else,” Rainbow announced, hovering in the air, and causing the sniper to look at her in utter disbelief. And for some reason, Rainbow found herself unable to gloat at being able to fly, like she had done with the previous humans, as she bashfully looked away. She must not have been feeling well. “RD’s right,” Applejack added with determination, “The Princesses got to know that Sombra's back.” “I guess introductions will have to wait,” the sniper said with a shrug, shaking off what he saw, and the Courier nodded with an identical shrug. *** The Lone Wanderer waited for Observer to tell him what was going on. He had given Observer his binoculars out of his request, but he felt idiotic for not using them himself. All the ponies in the room had crept closer to the destroyed window, but still remained a ways away in case the sniper was still there. The Observer gasped yet again, “Oh, ah, whoa, cool, interesting, hmm, dew drop-” The Lone Wanderer groaned in frustration, “Would you knock it off with the sound effects and tell us what’s going on up there?” Observer lowered the binoculars as he faced the Lone Wanderer, “Well, I would, but they’re just talking. Quite fascinating actually.” “Why’s that?” Twilight inquired, taking a risk as she stepped closer to him. “I recognize the sniper,” Observer answered, tossing the binoculars back to the Lone Wanderer. It was sudden, so he juggled them for a moment before hugging them to his chest in hopes he wouldn’t drop it. “He’s kind of hard not to miss.” “Let me see,” the Lone Wanderer said, turning to the window and bringing his binoculars up to his eyes. “They're gone.” “Shucks,” Observer said with disappointment, swinging an arm for emphasis, “Missed your chance.” The Lone Wanderer growled as he put his binoculars away before snapping, “That’s because you hogged my binoculars the whole time, and these are actually quite rare where I come from!” “Feh, they’re not even very useful,” Observer waved off as he turned away from him. The Lone Wanderer held his hands out in front of himself, and they were tense as he restrained himself from wrapping them around Observer's neck. He saw why the Courier disliked him so much. "So they're not up in the tower anymore?" Luna asked as she approached Observer. "Right!" Observer cheered spinning on his heel and heading straight for the door. "And I want to see that sharp shooting Turian again! Come on!" "Turian?" everyone questioned, looking to one another in a vain hope that they some how knew what the word meant. "Hey," Observer called back, "how about instead of repeating a word I said, we meet up with them, eh?” Observer remained motionless for a moment, “Canada…” *** After that mild slip up of mine, I took off to our returning friends, leaving everyone behind. Slowpokes, the whole lot of them. They’re as bad as that Pokemon. Well, no one is as bad as that Pokemon. Not even himself… I’m getting off track. After wandering a couple empty hallways, devoid of any pony, I eventually heard the steady sounds of footsteps coming my way. I usually like to reveal myself in ridiculous ways, so one can imagine why I hid behind a nearby sun-symbolized tapestry, though my feet were showing quite blatantly. It was like my childhood hide and seek games all over again. Knowing they would spot me, I pushed the tapestry aside with a small fit, panic filling my gut as I search for some place to hide. Then I realized that there were large pillars with dark, shadowy areas behind them all along the hallway. Ah, how nature loved to give me things! Shuffling behind a pillar, I threw my hands out to the side as I pressed myself up against the pillar like I was already spotted. The echos of the footsteps grew closer, and my instincts told me they would be coming around the corner. And they did. Hazah to my instincts! Peeking around my hiding spot, I found the group nonchalantly walking down the halls, and who was amongst them? Which Turian had sniping skills worthy enough to hit my bottocks? The one and only Garrus Vakarian, that's who! I had to hide my squee of delight from seeing him up close. I loved that son of a gun. However, I found that the group was oddly silent, kind of like Garrus’ face. It truly was odd. After fighting each other, one would think they’d have more tension between each other, though I wasn’t sure who that one would be. Rainbow was hovering awfully close to Garrus, to the point where sirens were sounding off in my head. After hastily pulling the plug on the sirens, my ears caught wind of sound in the form of words. “So how did your weapon fold up like that?” the Courier questioned, pointing a finger to the sniper rifle, in the form of a long box, on Garrus' back. Garrus glanced at it before shrugging, “All of our weapons back home are programmed to condense when not in use.” “And if you don’t mind me asking,” the Courier continued, “What gun is that?” The sniper hummed to himself before taking out his sniper rifle again, having it extend the barrel and butt out as he displayed it in his hands. “This is the M-97 Viper. Semi-automatic and deadly accurate. Though I prefer the M-92 Mantis.” Ah, classic Garrus. Welp, I think it’s high time I revealed myself in my own classic manor. “That was rude of me,” Garrus said with a hint of humor in his tone, “I should probably give my name before I start rambling about my weaponry, as Shepard always says. I’m-” “Garrus freakin’ Vakarian!” I shouted, struttin’ right out of cover. Everyone halted in their walk, Garrus pointing his rifle at me out of habit, at least, I hoped it was out of habit. “Glad to see you again!” “Sorry if I don’t share the same feeling,” he said, his rifle still trained at me. I think a good amount of pain was going to head my way… again. “Hold it, partner,” Applejack intruded, waving a hoof around, “He’s with us.” “I figured that much,” Garrus said, lowering his weapon as he held it in one hand, gesturing towards me with his other, “Kind of the reason why I shot him in the first place.” I rubbed my bottom tenderly, “Thanks for that, by the way.” “How the hell did you survive that anyway?” he questioned harshly, his brow furrowed. “Would you believe me if I said I was invincible?” I asked back. “No.” “I’m invincible,” I answered with a shrug, “The suit protects me from all harmful attacks, but I still feel the pain.” Garrus stared at me for a while, which was unsettling. Really, having a Turian stare you down is not a comfortable experience. After which, he grunted, “Would explain why you were on the ground, squirming like a baby.” “Exactly!” I said pointing a finger at him. “And another thing,” Garrus said with a shake of his head, already becoming annoyed with me. He’s still far off from the record. “Who are you, and how do you know who I am?” “Name’s Observer,” I said, jabbing a thumb to my chest, “And I know you because I’ve seen multiple versions of yourself across the multiverse.” Garrus’ eyes widened for a moment before he returned to his stoic expression, “Oh, well, if that’s how.” “You’re taking this rather calmly,” Rainbow noted as she leaned forward. “I guess I’m used to stuff like this by now,” Garrus said with an indifferent shrug. “Shepard giving ya a hard time, huh?” I asked with a hidden smirk. Another advantage of my helmet: hiding facial expressions. Garrus simply narrowed his eyes at me. “Jesus!” I heard the Lone Wanderer behind me, and with quick glance, I could see him doubled over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard. For someone who walked around a lot, he sure seemed out of shape. “How are you so damn fast?” “Practice,” I stated, and oh the amount of practice I got. “Oh, and this is Garrus Vakarian.” Garrus walked forward a bit to stand out from everyone else… even though he was obviously an alien. Before Garrus could utter a word, the Lone Wanderer looked at him, and jumped back, his hand going for his laser rifle. “Hey, whoa, calm down!” I yelled, rushing towards him with my hands outstretched. I stopped a short distance away, the Lone Wanderer’s hand still hovering over his rifle. “Just-just stay calm! Just stay calm! Nobody panic! Deep breaths! Count to ten! Stay calm!” “Observer,” Celestia said calmly, knocking me out of my efforts to keep everyone calm. She flew through the air, landing beside the Lone Wanderer like she was landing on air. She can be real quiet when she wants to. The number of pranks she loved to play with that ability… incalculable. “Yo,” I greeted back with a wave. I had to wonder where Luna and the other ponies were, but I was sure she just told them to stay behind. Celestia always likes showing off her capabilities to negotiate. “I’ll take it from here,” she said, looking over to the Lone Wanderer, who still hadn’t moved a muscle. I hoped he didn’t turn into a statue, they’re hard to turn back to normal, and you have to be so fragile with them. Someone turning into ice is even worse. Taking a deep breath, like I had recommended, the Lone Wanderer lowered his hands. Garrus merely raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as if he was expecting the Lone Wanderer to change his mind. Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder, making him flinch from the contact, but not pull away. He was a real softy when he didn’t want to be seen as one. “Are you alright?” Celestia asked. “Yeah,” the Lone Wanderer nodded hesitantly, his eyes trained to the floor, “He just reminded me of a Ghoul Reaver.” The Courier grunted, looking back at Garrus as if he finally saw the resemblance. Everyone else, however, were just plain baffled. “Should that be taken as an insult?” Garrus asked, looking around for someone to answer. “Yes,” I said confidently, “Yes, you should. Now then, let’s all just take a moment and get buddy-buddy with each other. I’m not going to jinx it with words so let’s just-” A yellow, spiky grenade suddenly landed by my feet, catching my attention as I stared at it. “A Hedgehog Grenade…” I muttered, before it clicked that it was a Hedgehog Grenade. “Hit the marble!” I shouted, diving for the marble floor. Everyone else merely took a few hasty steps back, covering their faces as the grenade suddenly jumped in the air and dispersing sharp needles in all directions, most of which stuck to the ground or miraculously hit the walls, avoiding everyone. That is, almost everyone. “Ow,” I groaned, rubbing my leg as I sat on the floor. “What the hay was that?” Rainbow shouted in shock, staring at what remained of the grenade. “Hedgehog Grenade,” I said, scratching the top of my helmet, “equals Chimera, Chimera equals bad. Which means…” “Company!” the Courier shouted, looking behind him at the hallway entrance they had walked through earlier. Strange beings that looked like mutated aliens with long, cylindrical packs stuck to their upper backs were pouring into the hallway, wielding black guns that fired yellow plasma balls. Man, those Chimera still look all gangly and slimy. I can never get used to their looks. Luckily, there were just the Hybrid variety. Everyone ran behind the pillars, including myself for obvious reasons. The ones who had weapons took them out, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Everyone else stayed where they were, glad that they weren’t hit by the ambush. I, on the other hand, was curious how the Chimera got to this Universe in the first place. Heck, I wondered how any of these people got here in the first place! I’m sure it’ll be explained in the future, it always seems to, one way or another. Or maybe it won’t, who knows?