In The Middle Of Our Street

[Samantha McManus]

Sam spreads her consciousness out. Not avoiding where she gets conflicting impressions but seeking them out. Trying to feel out the ebb and flow of them. She grits her teeth as some slip through like water, re-centering herself as she tries again.

[Narrator]

It would take a bit of effort -- everything was constantly shifting -- but after a moment things started...making sense.

Not to Sam, mind you, oh my no -- a poor Irish girl caught in a maelstrom had no chance. No right-thinking person could really make sense of the rapidly shifting chaos.

But these weren't four random places being smushed together. Every one of them was home -- at least, to a certain phantom queen.

The Morrigan was guardian of it's territory, of it's people. And nowhere, in any dimension, was more of it's territory and it's people than here, even if here was actually multiple dimensions. If the universes were in conflict with one another? No one navigates conflict quite like The Morrigan.

For the briefest of moments, her consciousness felt like it scraped against something...strange, yet familiar. Other ravens, briefly joining the flock only to break off, leaving trails in their wake which helped outline and trace the chaos, finding the logic and order of the battle waging onwards.

[Samantha McManus]

"...I have a map." She murmurs.

"It's a map made of sand, waves, and wind..."

"...but it's a map."

[Will Stanton]

Will smiled and nodded. "Then lead on! We'll all be right behind you!"

[Miranda Weaver]

We're right here. Lean on us if you need it.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear nodded, hefting her full satchel on her shoulder.

“Where to?”

[Samantha McManus]

"It's not going to be a straight line," she says as she starts a serpentine path across the grounds, avoiding places that soon after phase in or out.

[Will Stanton]

"Just be careful I don't get tangled up!" Will said, still holding on to Miranda and Sam and Robin.

[Robin Stanton]

As they're walking Robin shrinks down into a string that snakes up along Will's arm until she's sitting on his shoulders for a moment before continuing on to his head, turning into a squid-hat with big cartoon eyes.

[Will Stanton]

Will held on to his new hat, tying the string around his chin so it wouldn't fall off, and grinned like an idiot.

[John T. Hino]

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" asked John's deep voice from somewhere ahead.

[Null]

"That is at least the third time you've asked," the boy grumbled. "The answer has not changed in the past three minutes."

[John T. Hino]

"Or has it?" he asked as the others came into sight.

[William Stanton]

"...Another one? How long do I stay at school?"

[John T. Hino]

"This is officially too many Wills."

"Bear I know, but who are the rest of you?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm Sam, that's Miranda, and Will is wearing Robin."

"And since Miranda and Robin are here, you're the person we're looking for," she says as she gestures to The Boy.

[Haley!]

“....there’s a lot of the green haired ones...” Haley remarked.

[Null]

The boy had stopped dead in his tracks. "Miranda...Robin...oh no. Oh no, no, no," he said, horrified, before jogging towards the group.

[William Stanton]

"Professor McManus? Thank goodness, someone in charge."

[Miranda Weaver]

Miranda watches quietly, her telepathy reaching out to get a sense of the new Wills.

[Narrator]

The one Sam had referred to was angry and frustrated -- not, like, at anything in particular, more like that was the underlying emotional state from which others came; a "base" level upon which other emotions interacted and reacted. He seemed legitimately shocked and dismayed to find Miranda and Robin here.

The other one had, apparently, no clue who she was, or who Robin was, or who most of these people were, and was a bit overwhelmed by the situation, to be honest.

[Samantha McManus]

"So far they're the only ones I've found from your world here, but they've been worried sick about you," she says to The Boy.

She looks to the younger Will.

"Not... not Professor. Not Headmistress. Just Sam."

[William Stanton]

"R...right, professor. I mean Sam! Sam.

...Professor Sam."

[Null]

"So far they're the only ones I've found from your world here, but they've been worried sick about you," she says to The Boy.

She looks to the younger Will.

"Not... not Professor. Not Headmistress. Just Sam."

"As well they should be," the boy frowned.

"I'm so sorry this happened. We'll find a way to get you back, I promise."

[Samantha McManus]

"...do I honestly not look younger than the people you lot keep mistaking me for?" She asks almost anyone around her.

[Will Stanton]

"I mean, you've got a bit more muscle at the moment," Will offered, 'helpfully.' "Working on those guns."

[Byrna Cooper]

“You look just like you should.” Bear offered.

[Haley!]

“You can look like whatever you want, can’t you?” Haley remarked trying to see if she could get her phone working again.

[Null]

"Well, within certain limitations. She's good, not perfect," the boy smirked.

[Robin Stanton]

"Cool people don't age, s'all." Robin chuckles.

"Hey Dad again!" the octopus hat says as it jumps at Null and gives him a hug by latching on to his chest with it's tentacles.

[Miranda Weaver]

"I keep seeing possibilities, so at least I have an excuse," Miranda says distractedly. "And we'll get *all* of us back where we belong."

[Null]

The boy stroked the hat. "It's ok, snickerdoodle; we'll get you back home right as rain."

[William Stanton]

"Dad?" William whispered to the people next to him.

[Will Stanton]

Will quickly reached an arm out to grab back on to Robin.

[Samantha McManus]

"We're dealing with different worlds here," she says to the inexperienced Will.

"Their future might not be yours."

[Robin Stanton]

"This is getting out of hand. Now there's three of them!" Robin laughs.

[William Stanton]

"Being in three places at once is...overrated," William smiled, sheepishly. "Roll with the punches, OK, I'll be alright. This is just...

...I mean, blurgh. This doesn't happen at NYU."

[Miranda Weaver]

"Prepare constantly for the unusual," Miranda says as her mind makes contact with Will, trying to investigate the protection while everyone else is distracted.

[Narrator]

"Prepare constantly for the unusual," Miranda says as her mind makes contact with Will, trying to investigate the protection while everyone else is distracted.

Again, Miranda's initial attempts to probe deeper into Will's mind met with reflection and deflection -- as Sam had guessed, likely due to the mechanical nature therein.

Then again, Will wasn't entirely mechanical -- obviously -- so Miranda was able to go deeper, entering the Astral plane and taking a look at Will's greater mindscape.

This presumably wasn't the first time Miranda had gone this deep -- as an open book, and with great recuperative powers, Will was a pretty good test subject for novice telepaths -- but the layout that greeted Miranda was very unfamiliar. Will's mindscape tended to shift and change overtime, likely reflecting his malleable way of life, so it was never entirely the same, but...

It had certainly never been a giant golden box on the edge of a cliff. The cliff extended downwards as far as the eye could see, it's bottom disappearing into fog. Similarly, the golden box reached up towards the sky, fading into the clouds above. It was an ominous, uninviting structure.

There was, at it's very base, a small, person-sized door.

[John T. Hino]

Feeling like one wheel too many, John said, "So what now? I, at least, need to find the rest of my team."