Escape Through the Nexus
Nim heard two gunshots outside of his apartment. He jumped up to turn off the lights, then went to the window. Nothing out there but forest, he thought to himself.
Then a weird flame lit up the woods, way inside. It shot across a space, and then something darted across it. A short scream followed, then something indistinct he couldn't make out through the glass. Silently, he clicked the lock off, slid the door open, and stepped out onto his balcony, moving to the corner that was cast in shadow. More gunshots followed, then more flames, and then that something again, followed by a weird roar.
"Sableye's escaped!" he heard from the darkness.
Escaped from what? thought Nim. There's nothing out there. Or there's not supposed to be. I better look into this.
Stepping back inside, he went to his bedroom without turning on the lights. Ambient light from the moon allowed him to navigate well enough, and what he was looking for was always in the same place. While the single shots now gave way to machine gun fire, he tightened a belt, tied the holsters attached to it to his thighs, and then checked the guns. Fully charged. He Velcroed a star shaped metal badge over a patch of the same shape on his chest, and then grabbed a duster hanging on the door hook. Putting it on, he slid his feet into his boots, and checked to see that the anti-grav heel units were charged. Making his way back out to the balcony, he swung himself out over the rail, and descended lightly to the ground, a couple of floors below.
He made his way into the woods, and tapped his belt buckle to enable the force field. No sense getting shot by panicked shooters, he thought. He'd only gone about a hundred meters into the forest when a handful of men came sprinting towards him, shooting wildly behind them. He stepped to one side, then stuck his arm out, catching the first two in the chest as two more ran by. They fell hard to the ground, and then he grabbed the next one that came within reach; a babyfaced male. "What's going on here?" demanded Nim.
"Ranger!" cried the young man, wild eyed. He then looked over the ranger's shoulder, eyes wider still. Nim crouched suddenly, jerking the man down with him, then spun his leg outwards, catching the man's two companions again, sweeping their legs out from under them. Drawing one of his guns, he pointed it at them and said firmly, "I'll ask again: what is going on here?"
The two men put their hands up in front of them, and one of them said, "Sableye's escaped. The danged thing is trashing the camp!"
"'Camp?'" repeated Nim. "What camp? These woods are empty!"
The second man on the ground shook his head. "It's tesseracted. We're guards. They bring us the Nexus' worst."
Nim made a face like he'd just got wind of something foul. "What the hell are you talking about? There ain't no Nexus prison 'round here! I would know!"
The young man spoke up, "You're not supposed to know." Nim looked at him. "It's the best way to keep these prisoners' locations secret," he said.
"Look out!" one of the others shouted.
Nim looked at them, and they were looking behind him. Throwing the babyface all the way to the ground, Nim ducked himself, and looked up just in time to see a vaguely humanoid creature bounding at them on all fours, gem-like eyes gleaming in the moonlight. It growled, leapt, and went right over their heads, disappearing into an oval shaped void of energy.
Looking to the young man, he said, "Sableye?"
The young man nodded.
Looking to the other two guards for more information, one of them shrugged, "Don't look at us. We only detain. You are the ranger."
Nim tilted his head at them with some frustration, then leapt to his feet. He took three running steps, then threw himself into the nexus.
***
There was a brief head rush, and then Nim was tumbling out of the nexus. He rolled to his feet, coming up with his gun. "Nexus Ranger!" he shouted.
A bald man with a mustache had Sableye pinned down- one hand on the back of its neck, one on a leg, and a knee in its back. Looking at Nim, he simply said, "Heironymous. Secret Service. This yours?"
Spotting the badge on the man's belt, the ranger said, "I promise you: this is out of your jurisdiction."
"You don't say," the man said dryly, looking bored.
Just then, Sableye swiped a hand backwards, throwing his captor off to one side. It made a face, then yowled, and then exploded. Nim's force field kept him from harm, and once the dust cleared, he saw that the agent was also unharmed, although his clothes were in tatters.
"I hate when that happens," said the agent.
Nim looked around quickly, and spotted another nexus against the wall. "Sorry 'bout the intrusion," he said as he broke into a run, and leapt through the portal.
"No real harm done," Heironymous said as the nexus closed. Then, looking at his clothes, he said, "Hmph. I'm going to be late for dinner."
***
Nim rolled to his feet again, and then was immediately thrown to one side as the floor pitched to one side. Slamming into a wall, he saw the Sableye fighting with a tall, hairy humanoid which was howling its anger as it fought.
"What is that thing?" shouted 'Tar.
"I have no idea!" Drom shouted back. "But put it down before it destroys the Eagle! Tubacca! Quit playing with it!"
The creature gargled a protest, and then threw Sableye at a bulkhead. Instead of slamming into it, another nexus opened up, and it slipped through silently, sticking out its tongue as it did so.
Getting to his feet, gun in hand, Nim started to steady himself when 'Tar shouted, "Drom! Blaster!"
"Got it! Hang onto something!"
'Tar and Tubacca did as commanded, and the ship rolled sideways. Unprepared, Nim sailed backwards, tumbling through the nexus like an open window.
As it closed, a small explosion rocked the ship. "I am really tired of getting fired at today," Drom said quietly.
***
Hitting the deck in a full sprawl, Nim looked up to see a large man with a mace fighting the Sableye. Then he heard, "And what manner of man are you?"
He looked to the bow of the ship where the voice came from, and saw a tall blonde man that was apparently in charge. Before he could answer, the Sableye came screeching towards him. Ducking instinctively as it leapt, he rolled to see that Sableye leapt over the rail, but he didn't hear a splash. Scrambling to his feet and heading for the rail, he was suddenly jerked backwards by a powerful hand. "Finnrick asked you a question!" growled the man with the mace.
"Hold, Manjaro," came another voice. A man with a falcon on his arm approached from the stern, and pointing at the ranger's chest, he said, "See? He wears a symbol similar to Heironymous."
"I am still not convinced that was Heironymous, mage" spat Manjaro. "Even a dragon could not live that long."
Snorting at Manjaro's assumption, the mage turned his attention to the ranger and said, "I'm Ulrich. Are you friends with Heironymous?" he asked.
Thinking of his first trip through the nexus, he answered, "We've... met. My name is Nim." Looking to Manjaro, "I'm chasing the creature you were fighting." Then looking to Finnrick, he said, "I must be after him now."
"Go," Finnrick said without hesitation.
Nim ran to the rail, but stopped. "No!" he cried. "The nexus. It's...gone."
"I can help you with that," said Ulrich. Gesturing calmly, a mist reached out for Nim, enveloping him.
As he disappeared, Nim complained, "Aw, not magic. I hate magic."
Ulrich stared towards the dissipating mist, and answered, "That's probably why it affects you like it does."
***
A puff of mist heralding his arrival, Nim doubled over and threw up.
"Another intrusion?" said a booming voice. The ranger wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then looked up to see that it belonged to a gigantic red bird with four yellow eyes, sitting in the biggest tree he had ever seen. Under one of it's massive claws, it had the Sableye pinned. Or it did until a nexus opened up underneath, and the Sableye fell through. The bird stumbled slightly as it's foot slipped through as well, but it drew it out of the nexus just before it closed. "Hm," it said as it looked at the bottom of its foot, checking for the Sableye. Seeing nothing, it looked again to Nim, and said, "And who are you?"
Nim stood up slowly, hands drifting instinctively to his holsters, making sure his guns were still there, but he did not draw. "I'm chasing the creature that just disappeared from under your foot. The Sableye is a fugitive," he said. Direct explanations were often best when jumping dimensions.
The bird's top set of eyes smoldered slightly, but it said, "So go after it while you are still able."
"Thank you," Nim said respectfully, "but... how? The nexus closed behind it."
"That branch, there," came a voice from behind him. Nim jumped with a start, and turned to see a furry creature pointing to a low hanging branch. "You are the biggest squirrel I've ever seen."
"My name is Ratatosk," said the squirrel. "Get to that branch before Toucan the Terrible changes his mind."
Hearing the bird's name, Nim looked to him cautiously.
Eyes still smoldering, Toucan the Terrible said, "You should listen to the tree rat."
Wasting no time, Nim jogged over to the branch and jumped up to catch hold. Pulling himself up, he stood and walked in the direction that Ratatosk pointed. The branch climbed and curved steeply, and Nim followed it until he reached the end. "Now what?" he asked aloud, looking out into the black void.
"Jump," he heard Ratatosk's voice echo from below.
With no real alternative, Nim did as he was told. The inky darkness swallowed him up, and he was gone.
Looking a few branches up towards the bird, Ratatosk said, "You know I don't like it when you call me that, Sam," he said.
The bird's smoldering eyes lit up brightly, and two beams lanced out, reducing the squirrel to a pile of ash. The four yellow eyes narrowed, and the toucan laughed cruelly.
The ash shifted, and Ratatosk rose from the pile, shaking the ash from his fur. Glaring at the bird, he said, "I don't like that either."
Toucan the Terrible threw his head back and laughed loudly into the darkness.
***
Throwing up, then picking himself up off the ground, Nim spat, then said, "Magic again. Yuck."
The yowl of the Sableye drew his attention. It was clawing at a man's arms as the man attempted to choke it with his rumal. The man wore a turban, had a mustache similar to Heironymous', and a gleam of murderous intent in his eyes. Drawing one of his guns, Nim aimed and announced, "Nexus Ranger! Let the Sableye go!"
Just out of the corner of his eye, Nim spotted a woman walking through the wall, guns of her own trained on the man in the turban. "Phansigar!" she shouted "Time to... what the devil?" she said in bewilderment as she saw the Sableye.
Nim drew his other gun and pointed it at the woman. She in turn trained one of hers on him. Dressed all in white, she looked every bit the ghost that her entrance had made her appear to be. "Who are you?" demanded Nim.
Before she could answer, a blue flash distracted both of them. They looked towards Phansigar and the Sableye, only to see the creature leap through a nexus. The turbaned man spun his rumal around his head, and let it fall around him, disappearing also. As he did so, his voice echoed from the ether, "Another time, Woman in White!"
Staring in disbelief, she looked to Nim, the only other person left in the room. He looked back to her, and said, "I'm afraid I have to be going too, ma'am, but if you don't mind me saying so, you're beautiful." And with a wink, he ran for the nexus and jumped.
The Woman in White drew her arms back slightly now that she had no one to aim at, then holstered her guns. "I will find you, Phansigar," she said quietly.
***
Landing lightly on his feet, thanks to his anti-grav boots, Nim shouted, "Nexus Ranger!"
"About time!" shouted Solomon Seal as he shifted to mist to avoid a swipe from the Sableye. Reforming on the other side of the room, he said, "Take care of this thing, will ya? It throws fire!" A blue fireball erupted towards him as if to prove his point, and he misted away.
Nim fired at the mist, and the Sableye looked at the ranger with confusion, not sure why he had fired at his opponent. Taking advantage of the distraction, Nim fired at the Sableye, wounding it and knocking it backwards. Before it could recover, he reached in his pocket, and came out with a pokeball. Throwing it, the ball captured the Sableye, the creature yowling in protest. Walking over, Nim picked up the ball and pocketed it.
Punching a button on the hilt of his gun with his thumb, he fired at the corner of the room, and a return nexus lit up. Looking to the vampire, Nim nodded and said, "Sorry 'bout the disruption." He then walked into the nexus.
Walking in just in time to see the nexus flash closed, Jeanine Fairchild cried, "What in the world is going on here? Solomon?" Looking around at the mess, she exclaimed, "My office!"
Solomon sighed deeply, and looking at the now empty corner of the room, he said, "Don't worry, boss. I'll get it straightened up."
***
Landing easily back in the woods where he started, the babyfaced guard was still there, waiting. Looking at Nim a bit awkwardly, he said, "They told me I had to wait. I hate being the new guy."
Reaching into his pocket for the pokeball, he handed it over to the guard, and said, "See if you can keep it secured this time."
The young guard nodded sheepishly, and said, "Thank you, Ranger...?"
"Name's Nim. Roderick Nim," answered the ranger. "You can call me Rod. Most call me Nim."
The guard nodded. "Thank you, Ranger Nim." Hefting the pokeball, he looked at it as if he couldn't believe all the trouble it had caused, and assured the ranger, "I'll make certain this gets back where it belongs," and he turned to go.
Nim called out, "Hey! I didn't catch your name!"
"Need to know," the guard called back as he waved over his shoulder. "You don't," he said simply as he walked away.
"Hmph," said Nim as he watched the guard wander into the woods. "That's gratitude." Then he turned to head back to his apartment. "I do the legwork, he gets the prisoner. Shoot."
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