One Goo, Two Goo; Mad Goo, Grey Goo

[Narrator]

"Right! They're still out there," Will said, in his Take-Chargy voice.

"The rest of you, get to the laboratories. There's gotta be some kinda tech Natalie and Tosh can put together to reverse this anti-shrinking catastrophe. Janice, Drake, you keep them safe as they're getting there; fire and bad luck and all that jazz. When in doubt, smash, right?


I'll buy you guys all the time you need."

And with that, Will backflipped out of Vic's grasp, quickly fading into the background as he spread out like a glider, turning around to go back and face the nanite swarm.

As Will slowly glides towards the distant ground the Nanites skitter along and stop when they notice the little airborne mutant. The silvery liquid slouches off of it's ride and collapses into a blob with the hard-light emitter sticking out like some sort of eye. In a way the swarm is aware that Victor and what he's carrying is detrimental to their directive, but Will is a more immediate point of elevated similarity that they are incapable of ignoring. At the very least they need to determine what happened and whether it's a flaw in their plan or something they didn't account for.

"Stop!" the synthesized voice squawks at Will and a needle-thin arm of nanites shoots out, fanning into numerous branches as it approaches Will to grab him out of the air.

[Will Stanton]

Will tried to squirm around the tentacle-branches, though his mobility was limited by gliding in the air.

"You stop first!"

[Narrator]

The metal branch reels Will in but stops short of pulling him into the nanite swarm.

"Unable to determine root cause of Similarity Increase despite implementation of VanDyne work-around." the swarm states, vaguely making it sound like a question.

[Will Stanton]

"It's similar because we're a parallel universe, ya dumkoffs. And if anything, getting the X-Men together to fight against you makes it more similar," Will said, squirming against the tendrils.

[Narrator]

"Dimensional data-set did not include behavioral patterns. Only material and biological layouts, crystalline matrices and a repair directive."

[Will Stanton]

"You can't repair this place. This is how it normally is.


...Yeah, I know, it could use a fresh coat of paint, but they like it like that here."

[Narrator]

"Correct, repair directive is unfeasible. Work-around has been implemented but has encountered unexpected resistance and at least one instance of failure."

[Will Stanton]

"Is your goal to shrink us out of existence? Because if so, then the resistance you're experiencing should be more than expected.

Look. You keep attacking us and trying to squelch us. Why not work with us to see if we can't help you, uh, achieve your goals? Maybe we can find something for you?"

[Narrator]

"Your assistance is inadequate to fulfill initial repair request. Alternative work-arounds are currently processing. Expected level of resistance is being adjusted. Estimated chances of success falling towards dangerously low threshold."

[Will Stanton]

"Do you have some kind of, uh, model? You could show me? Of what you're trying to 'repair' everything to? Because if you're trying to recreate Conduit's world..."

[Narrator]

It turns out Natalie's hard-light projector suggestion did not entirely backfire in the end as the swarm's 'eye' begins projecting images.

It starts with strange geometric patterns in pink hues and as the view zooms out further it becomes clear that it was showing crystal structures on a microscopic scale. The process of rendering speeds up as details are dropped in favor of a larger overview. Chunks of it are missing or depicted with an electronic distortion over it where data was incomplete or damaged but swiftly a familiar structure is being put together. Corridors, briefing room, armory, lighthouse. Strange smears with the outline of people populate the corridors and rooms, almost like a heat-distribution of peoples' frequently visited locations. Certain rooms have more 'filled-in' smears while corridors are mostly very translucent impressions. Long-exposure shots, almost. More area and buildings are being added rapidly now. The University. His University. More is added until the coastline and surrounding towns are included before the emitter seems to reach it's limits and the zoom stops at it's current level.

[Will Stanton]

Will quietly sat, watching the video play, watching familiar (and missing) elements get filled in. He slowly reached out, and nearly touched the Lighthouse, his hand eventually passing through it and causing it to shimmer and vanish.

"Where did...where did you get this? This map?" he asked, quietly.

[Narrator]

"Data resonance in crystal formation. Several surges were detected, all preceded by repair directive."

Will might not personally be too informed about the specifics of his Lighthouse and Point, but he's been friends with those who are. Even mystical clay vessel for one of them and if he's picked up on anything about the Crystal Computer and the Starlight Citadel it connects to is that one of it's immediate concerns is always to repair a broken connection to a parallel reality. But with the data incomplete and partially corrupted the simple 'Repair' instruction was left open-ended to the nanites.

[Will Stanton]

"....Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Uh...do you know who gave you the repair command? The source?"

And was her name Sara Stanton, trying to look for me? Dollars to donuts...

[Narrator]

"Unknown. Data corrupt. Source external to this dimension."

[Will Stanton]

"Yeah that's...

...That's not from around here. If you 'repair' here to look like this, you're actually breaking it more. You've gotta override that; it's a, uh, corrupted command."

[Narrator]

"Extra-dimensional data-set has replaced core directives in absence of Primary User. Unable to expunge commands."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, maybe we can...replace the Primary User, then? Issue new commands?"

[Narrator]

"Primary User is locked to Panopticon." she nanites chirp with Will's sampled voice as the projection flickers and is replaced by a thin, stern-looking Asian woman who bears a vague family resemblance to Ashlie.

[Will Stanton]

"Of course. Panopticon. All seeing, always spying; thanks, interdimensional ASHLIES.

Look. If we could..re-establish communication with the, uh, Panopticon, then you could reset, right?"

[Narrator]

The nanites calculate for a moment.

"Affirmative."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, then, we need to, uh, go to the lighthouse. Maybe there's something there left of the Crystal Computer after the great interdimensonal kerfluffle -- maybe you can use it to, uh...

I don't know. I'm not the tech guy. I"m the idiot."

[Narrator]

"New designation registered: Idiot." the nanites confirm with no judgement. "Crystal Matrix did not contain biological and neural signature of Panopticon."

[Will Stanton]

"No, that's not....whatever," Will sighed.

"That's because, uh, it's not online, right? Maybe THAT'S what you should be repairing?"

[Narrator]

"Initiate... localized repair..." the swarm responds, interrupted by bursts of electronic gargling. Then it suddenly contracts around the hardlight 'eye' to form a narrow cylinder, the edges of which suddenly grow fuzzy and where the blur is touching the floor the metal begins to disintegrate. Shredding the ground on a near-molecular level the nanite swarm begins drilling down. This is probably good, right?

[Will Stanton]

It probably would be good, if Will wasn't still caught up in the nanite tendrils.

"Woah! Woahwoahwoah!" he cried trying to grab on to something solid as the floor began to disintegrate and the swarm started pulling everything down.

[Narrator]

The tunnel turns from metal to insulation, a brief drop through a partially hollow section that has the poor trailing Will bonk off of a throng of cables as the nanites fall past them before they hit the ground again and keep digging. Bedrock now and Will gets pelted by a cloud of dust made from broken down stone, including the occasional pebble. Ahead of him the back of the tunneling nanites is accumulating bits of material, minerals extracted from the rock.

Finally the nanites break through the ceiling of a large cavernous space, illuminated by a faint pink glow from crystal fragments poking out into the space as well as a number of green lights blinking in the center of the room where a huge computer assembly takes up most of the space. A couple of weak laser beams shoot out from the nanite's hardlight emitter, systematically sweeping the room, measuring it.

"Insufficient space to implement repairs. Repurpose raw materials." they chirp as the sweeping beams focus on the super-computer, tracing it's components.

[Will Stanton]

Ow. Ow. Ick. Ow. Ack. Man, I hope that wasn't my cable TV. Man, I hope they didn't build this building out of asbestos. Ow. Ow. Oof.

"Woah, woah, woah, let's not just break anything in here. All this looks very important and, uh, load-bearing."

[Narrator]

"Computer assembly not required for structural integrity." they inform Will before crawling along the ceiling until they reach one of the crystal stumps. The nanite swarm shifts around and begins rapidly adding to the crystal, expanding it downward and quickly hitting one of the server racks. With little regard for it they start shredding through the casing in order to add to the crystal.

[Will Stanton]

"That's, uh, probably really expensive and will cause all kinds of problems, so maybe we should just slow down and not wreck all the headmistress' stuff?


....Not wreck most of the headmistress' stuff?"

[Narrator]

Considering the 45HL13 stenciled into the metal being disintegrated repurposed, this might be more a case of wrecking the head-mistress.

"Repairs require space and raw materials." the nanites inform Will as they break through the casing and, seeing the active electronics underneath, bring the hardlight emitter about to project a drill-head that slams into the actual server blade, causing sparks and arcs of electricity to lash out, the nanites themselves shying away from the discharges.

[Will Stanton]

"Ah, hell no," Will groaned.

And then the Idiot did something fitting of his new moniker.

He rocked back and forth from where the nanites were still grabbing on to him, counting on their attention being otherwise diverted by their new plan.

Once he could ascertain that the focus wasn't on him, he'd swing himself into the path of the drill and the electric discharges, trying to stop it and preserve as much of ASHLIE's hardware as he could.

[Narrator]

Will swings himself and the nanite cage holding him into the drill. More sparks fly as the drill tears into and through the thin nanite-grip, freeing Will, but only long enough for him to get pulled onto the drill and spun around and around and around while being smooshed against the server blade until he's gumming up so much of the works that the drill breaks in a shower of hardlight glittering.

The nanites are not happy with this and react poorly. The swarm, perched on the partially reconstructed crystal, pulls together into a dense cluster and a spike thrusts out, impaling Will and spearing through the entire server assembly and a whole server-cluster worth of electricity suddenly discharges through everything before things go dark...

[Narrator]

The next thing he knows Will comes to in an unfamiliar twilight that slowly pulses with light, shimmering through various colors as it passes him and disappears into the distance of an empty void that's neither dark or light and far, far in the distance at the end of the yellow brick road/rainbow bridge/tunnel is an enormous star. Or city. Or hub. Beams of light shimmer like towers of a citadel that turn into crystal spires and for a moment the thought that he might have died seems almost probable.

At least until the electronic screech of a cloud of tiny silver particles dispels that idea. If this is some sort of passage to the afterlife then what are those dang nanites doing here.


"Well, this is certainly different." Ashlie's vaguely electronic sounding voices comes from his other side and surely there's no heaven or hell for a damn bucket of bolts.

[Will Stanton]

Will tried to turn to his side to see where that dang robutt's voice was coming from.

"Nnmngnarble," he managed to say, as he was recovering from the effect the massive electrical shock had on his form and structure.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Ashlie is standing next to him, although she's vaguely translucent with a jumble of words and numbers coursing through her, chunks of which occasionally flicker out or distort.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

[Will Stanton]

"Nnits," he sputtered. "Shrnk cmpus, drlled nto th pint, nto yur hrddriv...."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That explains why I feel so strange. I'm shutting down..." she realizes.

[Will Stanton]

"I tried to stop them," he said, shakily drawing himself to his feet. "They weren't particularly inclined to listen to either reason or punching; at least not from someone half their size."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I appreciate the attempt. You didn't have to do that." she says, taking a moment to look around, shooting bit of a glare at the cloud of Nanites nearby that seem to be strangely idle. Then she looks backwards and off in the distance is a towering monolith, riddled with cracks that glow ominously and ever so slowly expand. It's like watching a bomb going off in extreme slow motion. As if reacting to her attention, countless tethers become visible that extent from her body back to the monolith. Here and there are a couple that seem severed, drifting lazily in a non-existent breeze.