There was no point in lying anymore. He was honest, for the most part, about what had happened. At least that was how he could recall it. There were still snippets of memory that were hard for him to focus on and those were confusing to say the least. A moment in time that was frozen, seemingly forever, where life and death didn’t exist and there was only an unending stillness; a purgatory. It was no wonder he blocked most of that memory out but he knew that he couldn’t ignore it forever. He had to explore in hopes of finding something out.

He explained how he had gotten across town. In all honesty it didn’t make sense. Akshay knew the limits of his abilities, but when he was frozen in that stasis, he could sense his abilities expanding outward, farther and farther to the point that he felt like has going to sense the entirety of the world. When he latched onto Svetlana’s signature, it had been the further and clearest point that he could sense. It was an escape and he utilized it.

Had that somehow aided in causing all of this? It sounded insane but, more and more, it couldn’t shake the feeling that this was real and he had played a hand in it.

>> "Dat part was probably me…My powers, I mean."

Her words shook him from this thoughts. Turning to look at her, he gave her a quick look up and down. He could still feel that buzzing aura around him. It had to be her, not just his condition or adrenaline from the event. No, she was indeed a mutant and this were her power affecting him. Was this it, though? Was it just a boost of energy? Or was there more that she wasn’t telling him? She seemed to think that she could have aided him in being pulled from across town, but no, it wasn’t her.

”No…” he said gently. His thoughts drifted back to that other agent, the one who could boost abilities. He had been there, in the interaction with Trace and himself. If anyone had boosted their abilities to dangerous levels, it was probably him. ”…I don’t think it was you.”

His eyes drifted back to the road. Cars were fleeing the opposite direction. The streets seemed to be surprisingly clear. And high above, he could see the eclipse of the sun still hanging high in the sky. Eclipses normally didn’t last this long. He ground his teeth, his thoughts drifting back to Bruce and their child. For the first time in all of this, he had to wonder…were they okay?

>>"Anyhow. Time manipulation, you said?... Could it be that maybe somehow he sent you... dunno, to another place in time?... Where are you from?"

Again he shook his head. ”I thought that too. But it’s the same day and time as on your phone, July 1st, 6:00pm. At least it was when all this started. It’s only been a couple of hours since then but…something feels wrong.” He dipped his head down. Another thought occurred to him, one that he didn’t even want to think about. Pulling his phone back up, he brought up more news stories and the word “portal” popped in over and over and over again. He had a running theory, but not one he liked. He glanced to Sveta as she drove. ”The man you keep confusing me for…who is he?”

>>”No… …I don’t think it was you.”

Sveta did not force the issue. It was probably better if she did not talk too much about her powers with this Akshay who was a government agent; the last thing she needed was to have to rely on Haven to keep her safe from becoming an asset for the CIA or whatever. Akshay did not seem like the man who would so something like that to her, but then again they had just established that he was not the Akhsay she knew.

>>”I thought that too. But it’s the same day and time as on your phone, July 1st, 6:00pm. At least it was when all this started. It’s only been a couple of hours since then but…something feels wrong.”

Sveta huffed, turning another corner, trying to get as close to the park as possible. She was beginning to spot emergency vehicles and cops, so they were getting close; the number of people fleeing on foot and by car was still significant, so whatever was going on with the portal had to still be happening. Akshay was right, something did feel wrong. Him being blasted straight from the place where the portal appeared could not be a mere coincidence.

>>”The man you keep confusing me for…who is he?”

Sveta pursed her lips. It was strange to talk to this Akshay about another Akshay, when she was still not sure whether they were the same person or not.

"His name is Akshay Malik, and he looks exactly like you." she answered finally "Well, mostly. Minus the beard, but I met him a couple of years ago. He had a comic book shop, and he had mutant powers that made words appear in the air. Like, you know, a comic book. Like, POW." she shrugged "We only met once, really. He was nice. I think he wanted to flirt wid me."

The car ride seemed to take forever but Akshay wasn’t going to complain about it. As much as he wanted them to hurry and get to the park, he needed time to accept everything that was happening. Scrolling through the phone, reading articles, watching short videos of the panic, Akshay was beginning to believe that maybe he was, at least partially, the cause of all this. Snippets of his encounter were coming back, at least what he could understand, and none of it boded well for his innocence. But, really, all of it depended on what exactly had happened...

He shook, trying to get the thoughts out of his head as he tried to fight through the weight of responsibility. Suddenly he was wishing very much that he had continued with his day off with Bruce and the rugrat. Maybe then none of this crazy would have happened and he wouldn’t be stitched up and bandaged in a stolen car.

But that was off topic. He couldn’t change the past, but rather he had to think about the now. One of things that he kept coming across in his searches throughout the internet one of the more wilder theories. Apparently people were discovered around the scene, strange people who seemingly wandered throughout the city in confusion as to why things were “different”. They said things were the “same but not the same”, much in the same way that Akshay felt. The running theory was that they were from another universe…a parallel one.

The thought of that alone spurred on his next question – who did Svetlana think he was? As preposterous as he felt it was, the agent couldn’t let the thought go. So he asked and waited.

>> "His name is Akshay Malik, and he looks exactly like you…Well, mostly. Minus the beard, but I met him a couple of years ago. He had a comic book shop, and he had mutant powers that made words appear in the air. Like, you know, a comic book. Like, POW…We only met once, really. He was nice. I think he wanted to flirt wid me."

Akshay tilted his head down. Honestly the Akshay that Svetlana knew sounded like a complete dweeb and, in no one, someone whom he himself would have interacted with. The power alone, seemed utterly useless, how could he ever be confused for him. But the name…it was exactly the same and she ever said that they looked alike. Curiosity urged him on as he switched to his phone’s search engine and typed in the name plus occupation.

His mouth went dry. The first few searches that came up immediately made him feel completely ill at ease with the world. He glanced to Svetlana as she pulled up to a stop. When he caught her gaze, he lifted his phone to show her.

”That him?”

The headline was dated for yesterday. That rising new screenwriter and producer, Akshay Malik (accompanied by a photo of him on the set of ‘Slagathor vs Robo-Men’), was currently overseas, hyping up interest in his latest franchise that as winning the box office. Indeed, sans the hair and beard, the two looked exactly alike – and that only startled the man deeper, down to his core. This wasn’t some long lost brother. He was beginning to believe, like all those crazy theories, that he was actually in another world…

>>"That him?"

Svetlana took a quick glance at the photo on the screen, then her eyes snapped back to the road. Traffic was getting crazy, but thankfully mostly in the opposite direction. The people who were brave enough to do some disaster tourism were mostly on foot, holding up cameras. They were getting close.

"Yeah, dat's him" she nodded; she had only needed a moment, and the guy still totally looked like the one sitting next to her. "You think you are related?..." It could be some freak case of non-twin twins. How common a name was Akshay anyway?...

They hit the point where driving on was impossible soon after that. Police were setting up perimeters, and Sveta parked the stolen car before they got dangerously close.

"Looks like we're on foot from here." she sighed, glancing over at Akshay "You really wanna go closer?"

>> "Yeah, dat's him"

That was confirmation that this was the man she was confusing him for. It was clear that they weren’t even in the same country right now as the man was overseas, doing the press junkets about one of his latest heroic films. The man sounded like a complete spaz to Akshay, but he kept those opinions to himself for the time being. Even though Svetlana had only met the man once, the last thing he needed was to offend her and, thus, deny himself more of her help.

Silently he turned back to the phone, looking over the contents that were quickly spilling into the internet thanks to social media. Everyone was beginning to talk about the portal, about the seeing strange things, about monsters, about mutants trying to help defend the city, about destruction en masse. This was bad, it was very, very bad. The most surprising, of course, were the witnesses who stated that they actually saw people being hurdled out from the portal. People who appeared out of nowhere in a state of complete confusion.

Something was clearly wrong here.

>>. "You think you are related?...

Akshay went quiet. As much as he wanted to believe that it were possible for him to have some long lost twin brother, a rising film maker with his exact name wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. Even if they were twins, why would they have the same name? It just didn’t make sense to him. No, this wasn’t his brother. Instead, coupled with reports that he was reading, he was beginning to realize it was something far different.

”No…” he finally replied in a soft tone. ”I…don’t think so.”

Silence sunk in again. Akshay tapped off his phone, holding it against his chin as his mind began to drift. He couldn’t even fathom the implications of what was possibly happening. Scientific jargon, conspiracy theories, all of it was just clicking together with the experience that he could only remember in bits and pieces. It was too strange of a coincidence to ignore.

When the car came to a stop, Akshay was shaken from his thoughts and looked up to see that they were close – however they were clearly not there. The road was barricaded, people had abandoned their vehicles and fled, and up ahead, there was a clear sign of a police presence. Those were things he couldn’t let stand in his way.

>>"Looks like we're on foot from here...You really wanna go closer?"

He nodded. ”I have to.” He winced as he moved himself, slowly opening the door and climbing out. He waited for Svetlana to join him, leaning against the car as he looked out over the scene. The ominous glow of the portal up ahead, it was…surprising to say the least. A glance to the blonde and he ground his teeth. ”I…think…this is my fault.” He said heavily. ”I was in a fight before all this happened. Chasing a rogue agent with time abilities. The last thing I remember is something…I can’t describe…but I…I could have sworn that I saw two New Yorks. Superimposed on top of one another…like picture slides.” He shook his head. ”I…don’t think I’m from…this New York.”

Akshay went quiet after that. Saying nothing, he began to push forward. The police presence wasn’t strong yet so time was limited. Either way, he had to investigate…

Akshay, against everyone's better judgment, got himself out of the stolen car. On one hand, Sveta was glad they were ditching the vehicle - but on the other, they were going to continue on foot, with the guy bleeding his guts out, for... what reason, exactly?...

>>”I have to. I…think…this is my fault.”

But of course.

Sveta looked at the portal as it looked ahead of them, surrounded by people who were all trying to control the situation, and all failing miserably. Things were just chaotic enough that if someone wanted to, they could still get close to the rift in space, although not many people appeared to be trying.
And the whole thing somehow had landed on Sveta's lap, along with Akshay.

>>”I was in a fight before all this happened. Chasing a rogue agent with time abilities. The last thing I remember is something…I can’t describe…but I…I could have sworn that I saw two New Yorks. Superimposed on top of one another…like picture slides. I…don’t think I’m from…this New York.”

Sveta stared at Akshay for a long moment, processing what he was saying.

"So..." she said finally, considering every word "You think you are... an Akshay... from another dimension." she glanced at the rip, then back at the guy, then at the rip again. "For real?"

Honestly, it sounded like something the other Akshay would write.

Akshay pushed on. He let what he had just told Svetlana sink into her head. It was a lot to take in and, to be honest, he wouldn’t have blamed her if she ran away right then and there in order to call the police on him. Clearly he was out of his head if he could think such a think. It was such thoughts that got people put away in the asylum, screeching at walls for playing their beat poetry so loud that it will wake the baby chimera sleeping in a corner of the room.

But Akshay wasn’t crazy. He was a lot of things. He had done a lot of bad things, but he wasn’t crazy, of that much he was sure. Whatever happened back in Madison Square Park, it was something that was beyond human understanding. Now they were just left with the aftermath.

Akshay had only made it a few steps before he was stopped by the sound of Svetlana coming to a halt. Slowly he turned back to face her, his eyebrows lifted inquisitively. As he eyed the woman, he could see the wheels in her head turning.

>> "So...You think you are... an Akshay... from another dimension."

He sighed. Yeah, again, he knew that he sounded crazy. But given that he had no other choice, the man just stood there and watched her. He was tired, he was hurt, and he could feel that the stitches weren’t really holding. As good a job as the nurses did, the fact that he wasn’t allowing himself to rest was just making the whole ordeal worse. But, there must have some kind of conviction in his voice as Svetlana wasn’t running for the hills. That was promising.

>>"For real?"

Exasperated, he just shrugged. ”I…I don’t know. But at this point…” he turned back to face the swirling vortex. ”…I don’t think we’re in a position to throw out any theories.” He sighed, collected himself and pushed on before he stopped, winced, and had to brace himself against a nearby car. He glanced to Svetlana again and ground his teeth. ”Help. Please…”

The rift looked even more threatening up close than it had on the videos people had posted. It was... Sveta's eyes could not even really tell her brain what exactly she was looking at, which threatened to cause a headache any minute. Could... a mutant, a single person, or even two people together, cause something like this? It was hard to believe. And yet, there had to be an explanation. Somehow.

>>”I…I don’t know. But at this point… …I don’t think we’re in a position to throw out any theories.”

"I don't even want to have any theories" Sveta grumbled, but she noticed that Akshay's legs were giving out again, and decided to keep the snarky comments for later.

>>"Help. Please…”

She moved to his side to support him again. He had to be used to the effects of her powers by now, and he was half conscious anyway.

"I feel like it's silly to ask, but... are you sure you want to walk into de giant horrible inter-dimensional rift? Because I can walk you up to it, but I am sure as hell not going in..."

Understandable the woman was surprised by what she was looking at, even going so far as to deny any theories that anyone had on the matter. It was true, how could one be prepared for something like this? How could they know that this was something that had no easy explanation? People had a hard enough time dealing with mutants and the powers that they possessed, but to have such power to actually rip reality? To throw all conventions of physics out the window? It was too scary to believe in. So he didn’t blame her. But, right now, he needed her to not believe, but to help.

Meekly, feeling his legs going out again, Akshay leaned against the car, ignoring the pandemonium around them and asked for her help. Like all the times where he had expected her to just run, leaving him to fend for himself, he was proven wrong by her tenacity. She wanted to help him and it was to a point that he almost felt bad for asking for it.

He felt her get close and immediately that strange buzzing sensation took him over. She was definitely a mutant and this was her ability. But what was it exactly? Just making people feel overly caffeinated? He didn’t have the time to process it, but instead just draped his arm over her shoulder as they started to move towards the vortex.

>> "I feel like it's silly to ask, but... are you sure you want to walk into de giant horrible inter-dimensional rift? Because I can walk you up to it, but I am sure as hell not going in..."

He nodded. ”Heh. I…I’m not expecting you to…” If the theory was right, and this was another Earth, and there was no S.U.P.E.R. (hence him being unable to contact them from here), then it was probably for the best. ”It’s best…you stay here anyways. You know what they say…about bringing strange flora and fauna into a foreign country. Heh.”

A bad joke at the wrong time.

He gulped and they marched on. Surprisingly they had only been approached by one authority, but he immediately forgot them when a pair of civilians started to hurl a trashcan through a window. Ignoring them, Akshay pushed on, weakly, his legs shaking with each and every step until finally, they were near it. The swirling wind, the ungodly light, it was almost too much to bear. But it was now or never.

He glanced to Svetlana, untangling himself from her as he took a few slow steps away. ”Thank you, Svetlana.” He said and turned back to the portal. ”Now…get the **** out of here. And don’t come back.” He didn’t bother to look at her. Instead he stepped, or rather shuffled, forward into the portal and was gone.

The process was strange. It was only a second but in that second it felt like an eternity. All the air was sucked from his lung and for a microsecond he felt like he was going to choke in the vacuum of space. Light filled his vision, light the likes of which would burn his corneas if he opened his eyes during the process. Ripped apart, atom by atom, Akshay was flung forward before he took his second step, a second later, and reappeared.

He barely got his foot down before he collapsed, his world spinning, the trees glistening in the darkness. Through his blurred vision, he only saw one thing, the sight of several S.U.P.E.R. agents swarming over the field of green before blackness took him over for the third time that day.

Akshay was mostly relying on her for support now, but somehow he was still moving forward. Sveta helped him. If he was right, if he had been blasted through a rift in space into this other world, then it was best for him to go back to his own world before the portal closed and he got stuck here forever. That would not have been good for anyone.

>> ”Heh. I…I’m not expecting you to…It’s best…you stay here anyways. You know what they say…about bringing strange flora and fauna into a foreign country. Heh.”

"Tell me about it." Sveta muttered with a smirk. Foreign country indeed. She had done that, and America proved to be different in all kinds of ways, and home in many others. But another dimension... there was no way she would ever mess around with that.

They made it through the frazzled police line and the random civilians wreaking havoc; they actually made it to the portal, close enough that she could almost feel a strange pull, or maybe just the dizzying effect of staring into a great depth. Akshay stood on his own feet with heroic effort, and let her go.

>>”Thank you, Svetlana. Now…get the **** out of here. And don’t come back.”

"Right back at you" she grinned, waving to Akshay as he stepped through... and was gone. What a chance encounter. He was not really the other Akshay, or even like the other Akshay... but he had been a decent guy, if a little cagey. Sveta smiled to herself, and entertained the idea of looking up the other Akshay, and telling him the story of his twin from another world, as she turned around and walk...

... and then the ground disappeared from beneath her feet.

It was a strange sensation, not really falling, or at least less dreadful, but... it was like the full-body sensation of what the sight of the portal had been, beyond all the senses and yet with a pull that was too strong to resist. Sveta felt turned around, lost, floating... and then landed hard on concrete, world and pain both coming back into focus as people flocked around her. Ears ringing, Sveta looked up from the ground.

"Well... sh*t."

It was all hands on deck. Despite the fact that Nolan loathed getting sent out into the field, this time things were actually interesting. SUPER's best guess was that all those time interferences that had been increasing in frequency and duration had finally coalesced, AKA: the agency was now investigating the mother of all space-time anomalies. Which was flipping cool, really. Sometimes, his job was juuuust fine by him.

Nolan hitched a ride with a weather Gamma that could get him there faster. He wanted to see it for himself and once they were there, it did not disappoint. There was glowing and debris from some kind of shockwave. The cars were all moved back and SUPER had mostly joined in on the emergency response because by all reports, people had gone through that thing and lived. For now, the area directly around it was almost an no-man's zone. People were scared to go close, fall through, meet God, whatever. For hours, nothing permeated the little cleared space around the vortex.

The emergency cases had been cleared and they were down to the people who just needed band aids when the first person crossed through. Someone shouted that a person had just shown up next to the rift, but at first glance Nolan didn't see him... because apparently he was face down on the concrete. He and a few other responders jogged over and the first thrill of excitement ran across Nolan's shoulders when they turned the man over. He knew that face. He knew what this Iota had been tasked to do in regards to Delta 5. And, considering the state that the Agent was in... he hadn't been returned to this world on his own.

"You're an Epsilon?" He thought he remembered training with this guy. Some kind of vertigo-inducing telepathic b*tch slap had set Nolan on his butt more than twice.

"The one with the grabby hands?" That got the laugh he was looking for. Nolan ignored the other first responders and, for now, ignored the unconscious man they were checking over. Time was of the essence. They needed to act. It could be that their rogue agent was just on the other side of the portal, walking away free. "I don't know about you, but I think I'd like to meet whoever helped an unconscious agent over the threshold."

Recognition of what was being asked clearly spread across the other agent's face and both men looked toward the vortex. If something was happening, Nolan couldn't tell, but he expected results and soon.

He was not disappointed.

Well, maybe a little. The blonde that fell at their feet was no Trace Tanner, Delta 5. But she was... something if she'd managed to subdue Mr. Unconscious and stuff him into a different world.

"Let me help you up." Nolan put a few memories into his voice of himself helping before. He'd taken those from other agents, but he selected memories that were pretty neutral: Nolan helping move boxes of equipment or Nolan offering someone else a water bottle. No direct contact. After all, he and the blonde were just meeting. It would be too jarring if he would have stuffed his life's history into her head. And, as much as he would have loved a little skin to skin with Ms. Blonde, she was more than the typical coverage. Another point in favor of her being some kind of mutant: Iota maybe? No control?

The helpful Epsilon grumbled and moved away to help get their agent ready for transport back to a secure medical location. Nolan's voice didn't discriminate. The memorymancer'd probably just broadcast his 'Hey, haven't I seen you being nice somewhere before?' memory package to all those in hearing range.

"Are you hurt?" Again, he slipped a memory of his face into his words that was old and faded around the edges. One of his trainees had once recognized him at the laundromat, but never come over to say hello since he didn't know his name. They were friends, as much as Nolan or the other agents had friends so the associated feelings with that memory were positive. Hopefully her reception would be equally positive and they could do this whole interrogation thing in a more palatable way.

There were people on the scene on this side too, although the disarray was slightly less than in her New York. Her... New York... Sveta could feel a killed headache coming on, doubled by the fact that if what Akshay had said was true, she had just hopped dimensions through a mutant-created portal. It was a miracle the universe was still standing. Sveta blew blonde hair out of her face as a good-looking man jogged over to check on her.

>>"Let me help you up."

He seemed friendly. Maybe this was not a universe of evil twins, if people could be helpful like this. Still, Sveta shook her head as she pushed herself up from the concrete, adjusting her gloves. She was suddenly aware that she was still wearing the scrubs she'd borrowed from a nurse, under her blood-stained jacket. She must have been quite the sight with the addition of new scrapes she earned with the fall.
Taking the offered hand, even from the nice guy, was too risky. She was in a completely new world now. With new mutants. She waved the guy away.

"Thanks." she muttered as she stood, a little shaky.

>>"Are you hurt?"

"No." she looked down at her bloody jacket then shook her head "Not mine." that reminded her of Akshay and she looked around, seeing him being lifted onto a gurney "I just helped that guy... come through. I think he's from here. I'm not. I should go..."

There was something familiar about this guy, almost eerie, but not like Akshay. She felt like... she had met the person, but not the face. The whole thing was off, like a fun house mirror...

The blood wasn't hers. He did manage to look a bit closer and she didn't appear to be damaged. Damn. That was one less reason to keep her. She glanced after the Iota, a SUPER asset. Either she was a sterling individual or the two had made a personal connection.

"He's one of ours. Thanks for, uh, returning him I guess? Weird situation." He really was sorry that she'd gotten caught up in this. She looked nice and just being close to her, he felt a little more alert after a few hours of carting off the injured. A pretty face was good for that. The conversation was moving a bit too fast for him to have packaged up another set of memories, plus he was floundering on what to give her. What would make her spill her guts fastest? He kept up with the honey.

"I'm sorry, we're trying to secure the area and that means no in or out for now. Would you mind answering a few questions to help us understand what happened with Stalker?" Stalker was a pretty safe designation and he wasn't close enough to remember the man's first name. He could touch the Iota and know, but he would rather find out first hand from an eye-witness.

>>"He's one of ours. Thanks for, uh, returning him I guess? Weird situation."

"Yeah tell me about it." Sveta muttered, dusting herself off. One of ours. This guy was some kind of a government agent then, just like Akshay. No wonder they were all hanging out here at the rip. If people were falling through left and right, someone had to control the situation. Or at least try. She wondered just what exactly this agency was responsible for...

>>"I'm sorry, we're trying to secure the area and that means no in or out for now. Would you mind answering a few questions to help us understand what happened with Stalker?"

Sveta blinked.

"Stalker?..." well, that named sucked big time. No wonder Akshay didn't tell her. Government agencies really needed to up their naming game. "Um, sure, but I'd rather not go far from here. Would have to get stuck on this side, you know."

Good. No resistance for now.

>"Stalker?..."

Her face and tone put a fresh perspective on the name for Nolan. Stalker was meant to be creepy, but with a little humor attached it became absolutely absurd. He couldn't help but throw back his head and laugh as he ushered the woman over to their temporary command point. His laughter held a few positive interactions with federal officers, instances where he'd seen them go above and beyond to make sure the human's were safe. They were, after all, the good guys. She should remember that now.

"I get that you'll want to go home. Thank you for accommodating us. You're a direct source for what's going on on the other side." He had to stop to check in and that included introducing his new favorite person ever as their source from across the rift. That allowed them some space. They knew he'd be working his magic and most people wouldn't want that for themselves despite the fact that as they walked past, he kept his words clean. He kept their desires in mind. People didn't like him enough as it was.

Eventually Nolan found a spot off to the side of the secured area with folding chairs. The agent grabbed two water bottles and made sure she took a seat. This might take a while...

"Hi. Sorry about all that. I don't really have a fancy name like Stalker so I don't mind telling you my name's Nolan. I work in intelligence and I'm really hoping you know a little bit more than we do. Could you start by going over what happened exactly? Stalker was on a rather important assignment and with him out of commission, we just don't know that status of that task." He gave his best 'trust me' eyes.