Chapter 1

Dark clouds stretched overhead and large flakes of damp snow dashed towards the ground. A dull glowing ball that was the sun shone through the thick cloud cover casting a dull grey light over the whitened city. A thick layer of snow covered the ground, some packed down my passing cars and people. Masses of foot prints showed the passing of the many people in the city as they enjoyed as much as possible the wintry day. Suddenly the wind picked up firing the snow into the faces of people walking along the sidewalks on Colburn St.

A darkly clad figure hastily walked eastward along Colburn St. in the south end of Brantford, head bent against the wind. He trekked up an easy hill and past the gas station. He stopped on the corner of Colburn and Bret Street, briefly taking notice of the red light. To his left the street sloped down into a neighborhood of decent sized housing. To his right was a small hill leading into the Zehrs parking lot. But none of these mattered to the figure, a teenage boy. His mind was elsewhere, his subconscious mind the only thing keeping him going along the sidewalk. He was tall, about six-foot, and thin. His light brown hair dangled about his shoulders from underneath his dark blue toque. His black trench coat whipped behind him in the wind revealing his dark, baggy jeans and grey shirt.

Speeding snow stung against his exposed flesh, turning it red and numb. But still it did not matter, for he had more important things to worry about.

The light turned green and the white “walk” form flashed on. The teen swiftly crossed the street. He passed by the billiard place, Subway and Pizza & Chicken, and then turned up the driveway into the Tim Horton’s parking lot. He glanced through the massive windows into the crowd of people clustered by the cashier counter. Few seats were empty in the coffee shop, filled by bundled-up people hunched over coffees, teas, and hot chocolates. A TV screen above the cashier counter flashed the latest winners of the “Roll up the Rim to Win.” The teen stepped through the external doors, then through the inner doors into the warm atmosphere. The smell of caffeinated drinks washed over him, blanketing him in a sense of security and peace. That was quickly fought back by his better judgment. He was far from security and peace was not simply found in the aroma of coffee, although he silently wish it were that easy.

The figure moved through the packed line that bunched up by the door and quickly moved towards the dividing barrier to his left. Out of the top of the barrier, which was hollowed out and filled with soil, grew lush, green plants, the reminder of the spring and summer months, which seemed too few at times. On the other side of the barrier were four tables spread out between the divider and the far wall. Two tables sat four, their red chairs permanently fixed to the tan tables. One table was attached to the divider and sat two, and the other, also seating two, was fixed to the far wall. The figure placed himself at the table behind the divider, sitting with his back to the large window that made up the wall. A sheath dangled over the right side of the seat, the blue wrapped metal clearly visible. The figure quickly pulled his coat over the sheath, carefully hiding it from view.

Now he sat and waited.

He did not have to wait long before another darkly clad figure entered the coffee shop. This figure was taller than the first and clearly male. He had a long coat on, its hood pulled over his head, hiding his face in shadows. His hands were gloved, the first and pinky fingers of the gloves missing. His black pants were barely visible under the all-covering coat and his boots were faded and looked well worn. The new figure moved through the crowd, people parting in apprehension. Some had a slight hint of fear in their eyes as the dark figure passed by. This man was one to be feared, they sensed. The teenager could sense it too. He shifted in his chair awkwardly. As the figure seated himself in front of the teen, a bit of light penetrated the darkness that hid the man’s face. Scarred and craggy was his face. His eyes were a cold sapphire blue, deep-set in the sockets. Thick, dark eyebrows slanted down towards his boney, crooked nose, clearly broken more than once. His mouth was little more than a tight line below his nose, bordered by a grizzled goatee. The man quickly pulled on his hood, hiding his features in shadows once again.

The man was a modern-day tracker for hire, with gifts that made him better at his profession than all others. Normally he only dealt with the wealthy and desperate people. Once or twice he had worked with the police as an undercover agent, posing as an assassin. Today, he was a friend doing another a favor. And an odd friendship this was. A young teen boy, although possessing gifts much like his own, and an old tracker, older than most care to believe, who rarely cared for more than the next job, the next payment.

Friendship was not the only thing, though, that had brought him to the Tim Horton’s in the small town of Brantford, Ontario. It was also a debt he owed that brought him there to sit across from the teen. He did not know what was expected of him, but his debt and friendship to this boy made whatever it was worthwhile.

The teen cleared his throat and folded his hands in front of himself. There was pain in his eyes, and sadness that the old tracker couldn’t quite figure out. But from the look on the boy’s face, he figured he was about to find out.

“Thanks for coming so quickly, Jack,” the boy started. The tracker raised his hand to silence the boy.

“Do not thank me for something you would have done had our situations been switched, James,” the tracker said, a hint of a German accent in his voice. “Now, why I am here is something of a bit more importance, nein?” James nodded.

“It’s the about the Four; my team. Sam, David and Terra have disappeared. No one has seen them in almost a week. Not a trace. The police have practically given up. No one is searching for them anymore. It’s like they never existed,” the pain was like a beacon in his eyes. The tracker could tell he was barely keeping his emotions in check. Anything else could easily be catastrophic. The tracker knew little about the group, only that they were a close-knit team. James and Terra especially close. Losing Terra, for James, would be akin to losing a vital component of the body. The tracker could empathize with what James was probably going through. Once, long ago, he had gone through similar.

“So, I take it you want me to find your friends, eh?” Jack asked.

“In a way, yes. I know where they’re being held. I would tell it to the police, but I doubt they’d believe me. It’s just a matter of finding them once we get there. You’re the best tracker in the world. If anyone can do it, I figured it’d be you.” James said, almost pleadingly. The tracker lifted his head and pulled back his hood slightly. The edges of his mouth were curled slightly, almost in amusement. James flushed slightly, realizing how pathetic his plea for help must have sounded.

“Well, before I can help you, James, I need to know where we’re going to be heading, what equipment we’re going to need and how long it’s going to take. I will help if I can, but I do have other obligations,” Jack said as softly as his gruff voice would allow.

James looked the older man in the eyes. He was trying to decide how much he should tell the man. On the one hand, Jack was his friend and to lie to him would not sit well with his conscience. But there was also the surreal side of the story that would completely dictate whither the tracker would help him. It was a difficult decision, one that could easily mean life or death for his missing friends. Sure, he could go after them by himself, but the time that would be saved by Jack’s abilities could be enough to save his friends. His face flushed in frustration and he had to look away from the tracker. His gaze wandered to his hands, still folded in front of him. A ring on his left middle finger reflected the dim light from outside. The front of it was flat and square. On it was carved a long, slender dragon wrapped around a sword. It had been a gift from Terra, given to him when they had first started going out. His memory brought Terra to his inner eye, her light brown eyes, and her soft brown hair. His memories took him back to when the Four had first formed in its original form as the Five. The battle they had fought and the loss of their leader, their friend. They had been through so much together, always at each others’ side, no matter the odds. They had protected each other, and in the process, grown so close. Now she was gone. He had been unable to help her, and now she was gone from him. His heart silently ached as if someone had placed it in a vice-grip and tightened it, not enough to crush it, but just enough to cause pain.

James looked back up at the tracker, his mind made up. With a deep breath, he began to tell his tale.

“It was about a month ago; Sam started running tests on an Asgard device left behind in one of the downed ships, the only one the government didn’t confiscate. Anyway, Sam theorized that it had some sort of inter-dimensional property, such as being able to move between universes, or maybe sub-universes. So he ran test after test for about two weeks, closely examining the data from each. He found a lot of components that supported his theory and slowly his understanding of it grew. Well, the only thing to do when you think you know what a device is for is to test it. So he did, and it didn’t have the desired effect. Instead of moving itself into another universe it instead pulled something through. We couldn’t quite tell what it was at first. It just looked like a semi-transparent orange cloud floating in the air where the dimensional rift had been. Sam took readings, of course, and he was excited to find that the cloud was actually a living being. It was an energy being of some sort. But before any more tests could be run, it moved out of the room and disappeared. We looked for it for almost a week, but couldn’t find it. Then, about a week ago, someone broke into the headquarters building while Sam, David, and Terra were there. They were all knocked out by orange energy that fired out of the person’s fingers. He dragged them off without thinking about the video recorders. When I arrived there was nothing out of the ordinary except that Terra, Sam, and Dave were not there. I checked the videos and saw the guy kidnap them. I quickly ran a test of the air in the room and, sure enough, the energy patterns were the same as the energy creature. Somehow it took over a person and used him to get at Sam, Terra, and Dave for whatever reason.

“But the thing was, the creature never left the building. It went to the storage room where it used the machine Sam was working on and went back to its own universe,” James paused. He watched the tracker’s expression carefully, hoping he hadn’t said too much. The tracker seemed to be processing the information, which, in fact, he was doing. His mind raced with the possibilities. It’s no small wonder the kid hadn’t wanted to get the police involved, he thought.

“I take it you know how to get us to the creatures universe,” the tracker’s said, his expressionless eyes boring into James. James shuddered inwardly at the man’s gaze. There was something about Jack that wasn’t quite right these days, especially since the death of their mutual friend and teacher, Geoff Ward, codenamed Schattenhaft, or more commonly called Shade.

“Yes,” he finally replied. He suddenly looked at Jack questioningly. “You seem to be accepting this inter-dimensional stuff a little too easily…” he trailed off.

Jack remained expressionless as he said, “When you have lived as long I, you find there are few things that you have not dealt with. Inter-dimensional ‘stuff’ is nothing new to me, James.”

James stared at the seemingly emotionless man for a few minutes. He shook his head and decided to drop the subject. He knew that any information he hoped to get from Jack would be stuff Jack wanted him to know. Jack’s past was not on the list of things to tell. It was amazing that he had said as much as he had. James reached for his wallet, and with a swift movement had it out and a twenty in his hand.

“Coffee?” James asked. Jack cocked an eyebrow at him. James suppressed a shudder as he was reminded of Star Trek, his least favorite show.

“What? If I’m gonna go wandering off in some other universe I’m gonna need a coffee,” James explained.

“Ah,” Jack started, “Well, in that case, yes please,” then, as an aside, “Double-double, please.”

-

A short while later the two dark figures, Jack and James, reentered the frozen air of Brantford. The snow had lessened, but that meant little as cars passed by on the road, spraying the sidewalk with dampened snow laced with the mud and grime from the multitude of previous cars. The sky had lightened, brightening the city. It did not brighten James any. His dark clothing clearly reflected his inner emotions.

James and Jack walked briskly down Colburn towards the downtown area. It took a good ten minutes to reach James’ house. They entered the front of the house into the front hallway. To the left and right were doors, and to the left was a staircase. Down the hall was the living room that also attached to the kitchen/dinning room. James opened the door to the left and entered his small room. Up against the right wall was his bunk bed covered with papers and clothes. Immediately to his right were a small TV and a Playstation 2 and a small device that resembled a remote control. James walked to the far wall and took down one of the many swords that hung there. It was his favorite, its simple hilt bound with royal blue cloth. The sheath had many lines carved into it, some of them painted red and orange, giving the impression of flame. HE removed the previous sword from his belt, hooked on the new one, and headed out the door, grabbing the device on the way. He called out to his mom, telling her that he would be gone for a while. She didn’t argue. She knew that once her son had made up his mind, there was no changing it. And she fully supported what he was doing, with the Four and with this rescue attempt. How could she stop someone who saved the world anyway?

Jack and James never exited the front door. James held up the device, after programming it for two people, and then, with a flash and the sound of imploding air, they were gone. Jack felt like his body was surrounded by cement. Flashes and waves of light colored his vision and, in shock, he tried to close his eyes. This proved impossible, so Jack withdrew into his mind, shutting off the visual receptors. Then, just as fast as it started, it was over, and a metal room materialized around him. He allowed himself to see again and saw James’ face splitting into a grin at the older man’s shock. He resisted the urge to knock the grin off of James’ face and decided on a less violent course of action.

“So,” he began calmly, regaining his composure and reverting to his usual seemingly-emotionless state, “where are we?” He glanced around the room as he asked. There was little furniture, a few chairs here and there tucked under desks and large machine consoles. The walls were dull grey metal and the floors were covered in a grey-red carpet. The ceiling was lined with florescent lights that rested in place in the metal grid that held up the tiles. He repressed a shudder, an unconscious response to his dislike of being surrounded by metal and lack of nature.

“We are inside the Four’s official headquarters, hidden beneath Brantford,” James grinned slightly, but only for a few seconds.

“How do you afford to power this place?” Jack asked nonchalantly, never once revealing his distaste of the place.

“Sam designed his own power generators. We pay nothing for this place, and all the original work was done by Shade and a friend of his who can manipulate metal,” James replied, heading for the door at the far side of the room. Jack followed him, slightly angered. He realized that James knew Gary Ward the best as the mutant Shade, but he personally found the codename lacking the respect due to a man such as Gary. Jack said nothing, though, knowing James meant no disrespect.

They entered a second room, and Jack was pleased to see that, unlike the previous room, it was not just plain metal. It was fairly big and well furnished. A half circle of chairs and a couch pointed at the wall to his right where a section of it was a massive TV. Farther up the wall was a game area. There was an air hockey table, pool table, and a large stereo system. To Jack’s left was a door into what looked like a kitchen, and in the far left quadrant of the room was a table encircled by four chairs. In the corners of the room were plants of varying sizes. At the far end of the room was another door where James stood, motioning for Jack to follow.

They passed through the third room, which seemed more like an intersection for the other rooms that branched of in all four directions. They entered the room to the left. It was smaller than the living/dining room, but was still rather large. It was metal walled and the scent in the air told him it was the storage room James had mentioned earlier. James turned on the light and walked further into the room. He stopped in front of a console near a large device that had a doorway leading into it. He allowed a questioning expression to cross his face.

“It’s the device Sam created to channel the Asgard’s device’s energy… or something like that. I dunno the specifics, all I know is, there’s a log of events in this computer. If I can access it, I should be able to replicate what the energy creature did to get himself back to his universe…” he trailed off on his explanation, his full attention diverted to the task at hand. Jack glanced around the room, examining the different devices and other objects in the room. Most of it was pieces of machines and other things that Sam had been working on. There was also a section off in the farthest corner devoted to machines and such that were definitely not human built. Jack assumed they were Asgard devices. He wandered over to a towering device. It had three semi-transparent tubes connected by a core of metal in the center and caps on the tops and bottoms of the tubes, also connected to the metal core. Insulated tubes led out of the larger tubes into the back of the device, into a machine that was situated between the back two tubes. There was a control station on the machine, but none of the displays were active. Jack silently wondered what the device was for.

A sudden call from James brought Jack back to the inter-dimensional machine. James had his back turned to the console and faced Jack. James had a slight grin on his face. He had found the method the creature had used to return itself to its own universe. He was ready to go.

“D’ya need anything before we go?” James asked.

“No. I have everything that I require,” Jack replied. He took off his trench coat. James was shocked to find the old man to be as well muscled as Shade had been, something that he hadn’t considered because of the man’s apparent age. Jack wore a t-shirt that was loose enough to move in, but not so much that it could easily get snagged on things. The shirt was tucked into his black pants. He wore special boots made specifically for stealth. Jack ran his hand through his graying hair, loosening it from its matted position on his head. It was cut short and for the most part black. Two grey stripes, starting in his sideburns, lined the side of his head, connecting in the hair on the back of his neck. A patch of grey in the front, right in the middle where the hair made a peak, indicated the start of another possible stripe.

“I can activate the device from the inside, so if you’ll step in we can be on our way,” James said indicating the doorway. Jack stepped in. The walls were black and the only light was coming from the door and a console near the door. A big light on the console glowed red and underneath was a light blue button, also glowing. James entered the tiny room and hit a green button on the console. The doors slid shut with a hiss and the two were plunged into darkness. Jacks eyes adjusted quickly and his night vision kicked in. He saw James reach for the console and press the blue button below the light, once red now green. The room lit up and the walls became brilliant white. They seemed to pulse with energy and grew even whiter. Then the walls fell away and they fell through a tunnel of multiple colors and other wavelengths that the human brain could not comprehend. It wound left and right, up and down, and endless swirl of colors passing by as they traveled between the fabrics that separated the other universes from their own. When the tunnel ended they found themselves bathed in white light. Suddenly the light disappeared and they were in darkness again. Except this darkness was the darkness of night.

Jack sniffed the air. His keen senses picked up the scent of many kinds of plants and animals. Insects chirped at their sudden appearance and a startled rabbit dashed off into the forest. Jack saw the trees that surrounded them and then the many trees that stretched into the distance in all directions. He heard James utter something unintelligible, at least to Jack. He motioned to James to be quite and sit down. James obeyed, trusting the tracker. Jack also sat down in a pose that made him seem like he was meditating, which, in a way, he was. He closed his eyes and let his other senses take over. For miles he heard everything, from the rustle of leaves in the night’s light breeze to the stealthy pad of feet of some predator and the scurry of its prey, unknowing of its imminent death. Each heartbeat was heard, every breeze felt, every pollen smelt. Jack let himself be absorbed by the sounds, the smells, the vibrations in the ground; nature itself.

For what seemed like an eternity James sat still, watching the old tracker do his thing, whatever that was. His thoughts drifted through memories of recent past and distant past. He smiled at the memory of the time his powers manifested themselves. He had been setting up his computer in the living room for his parents. They had no clue how even though it was a simple thing to do. He had almost everything plugged in; the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and printer. All that was left was plugging in the power cord from the wall into the power supply in the back of the computer. He had plugged it into the back of the computer and was about to plug it into the wall when electricity sparked between his fingers and the socket. He could feel his body drawing the stray electrons from the air around him and even the built up charge in the carpet. But he couldn’t control it and, with a pop, the circuits blew throughout the house. He had gotten in big trouble for that, after his parents had stopped being scarred of him and his powers, that is. After that point, rather than try to deter him from using his powers, they encouraged it, teaching him about the responsibility that came with power. Then Shade had come to his house and offered to teach him how to use and control his powers. His parents were thrilled and so was James. Shade had taught him a lot more than the use of his powers though. He taught him to use a sword, and how to defend one’s self in a hand-to-hand confrontation. But the one thing that Shade had brought into James’ life that truly made his life worthwhile was Terra. The thought of her caused his heart to ache once more.

Suddenly, Jack got up to his feet with a swiftness that defied his age. James followed suit.

“What now?” James whispered.

“We travel north. I could hear a settlement of some kind coming from that direction. I believe there is some sort of stone structure there, possibly a fortress, but definitely guarded. If it is the time that I think it is, we should reach the settlement by dawn.” Jack paused then started forward. James followed without questioning him. He was just a little curious how he had determined which way north was since the sky was not visible.

The two silent figures wound there way through the maze of trees for close to an hour. Jack’s footsteps were unheard in the silence of the night and he moved with the grace and skill of a hunter tracking its prey. Slowly light started to shine down through the roof of trees and the green and brown of the forest around then came into plain view. They crossed a wooden bridge over a river and within the next hour they found themselves at the edge of a clearing. Houses dotted the grassland beyond, mostly log housing with a few stone structures here and there. But the sight looming out of the center of the settlement stopped both James and Jack in their tracks. A massive tower reaching taller than should have been possible since it was all stone with no modern technology present. The stone was black as darkest night with windows every few feet around and every story up. It was surrounded by a tall wall. It shaped a box around the tower with sentry towers in each corner. Soldiers armed with bows and arrows, spears, and swords patrolled along the walls. A gate was placed in the middle of the south-facing wall, its large stone doors closed and probably locked.

James muttered as he stared wide-eyed at the sight of the tower, but especially the orange fog that encircled the very top of the tower like a halo. Jack was the first to recover from the shock and was quick to pull James back into the forest.

This was going to be harder that he thought.

-

Terra sat in silence. She had lost track of time in the dark dungeons of wherever she was. At first she had cried, afraid of what might happen, but that quickly ended as the days dragged on and by, the only sign of their passing being the meals she got twice a day. Even those seemed to merge in her memory.

On the first day she had tried to use her powers to get herself out, trying to focus her mind on the earth and command it to move. Nothing had happened. She had tried after every meal for about ten meals and then gave up. Something here was nullifying her powers, she had thought. It was true, to an extent. It was not, she later realized, something but rather someone that was canceling out her powers, and only the powers that were common knowledge; the lesser powers that she possessed remained free. So she indulged in the free power of telepathy. She was only a low-level telepath, able to read the thoughts a person was thinking at that particular moment, and sometimes go deeper, but never enough to have full access to another’s brain. She also could not influence people with her power; it was strictly one-way. The information she was able to glean from her surroundings told her enough, though.

She had seen through the eyes of the guards in the building, until they went out of her range, which was nowhere near any exit. All she got from them was the layout of the dungeons, and some bits of the other floors. After a while, though, the guards started to feel her intrusion into their minds and subconsciously put up mental barriers. None had told the head-dude yet, which she was thankful for.

So, sitting in the peace and absolute quiet of her cell, Terra was shocked by a thought that crossed through a telepathic rapport she had with… Her eyes widened in the dark and a smile played across her face. He’d come for her. She’d known he would, but this soon… If only she could speak to him, help him find her. But she couldn’t. It didn’t matter, she thought. Everything would be alright now that James McKay was here.