[1] Redux

“-stimated time of arrival is now 8:30AM. Thank you for your patience.”
That was all V heard from the speaker when he awoke from his nap. What the fuck...

This wasn’t the same boat he used as transit every morning. Gazing out from his window seat, it didn’t seem to be the same ocean either. Those skyscrapers at the distance were definitely not part of any city he’d ever seen. There were no familiar faces when he looked around. No gorgeous girls he’d let slip away from years past. No Sam. None of them.

V noticed a purse on the seat to his side. A woman, seemingly returning from somewhere, picked the purse up and sat down.
“Excuse, sorry, good morning...were you always there?” The woman soon asked. “I saw the bag but no one came the whole...trip.”
V stared at her completely bewildered. Wait...my exact same messenger bag was here? What...

She seemed around the same age as him. Brown hair with yellow highlights, hazel eyes, and a cute heart-shaped face.
“Umm...” she blushed. “You don’t speak Azgarish?”

Azgarish? Az...Azgard! Holy fuck!
“Is this Azgard?” V finally talked.

“No...?” The girl returned the state of confusion. “Well...it used to be...ages ago. It’s Azgaredux now. Where’re you from?”

“Umm...” V had no idea how to respond. “...Earth?”

She giggled. “Well we’re all from Earth, I guess. But you’re sounding like an alien right about now, though. What’s your name?

“V.”

“Just V?”

“Yes. And you?”

“Sacha. So...do you know about Heroes? Alcrests? Do you even know about the city we’re sailing in right now?”

V just stared at Sacha with a perplexed face. She laughed.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. One moment MM was driving his car, the next, he was sitting in a boat, listening to an announcement about arrival, his arms still in the air.

What the hell? Putting his arms down, he stood up and went to a nearby window. There he could see a city off in the distance. Scratching his head he looked around, hoping to find some sign that would tell him where they were arriving....

Sacha, although confused about V, was jovial on enlightening him about the Kingdom of Azgaredux. It seemed to be a futuristic Azgard. Yet it's still a kingdom...

The boat they were on serves as transportation between Ultilanges Island, where Sacha lived, and the capital city of Azgaredux, Metryo.
What was most interesting; AI machines. They play a significant role in Metryo as multipurpose tools.
"These machines are called Alcrests." Sacha said, with a spark in her eyes. "I work in the company that develops them...Heroes. But I'm just a clerk."

"Interesting." V replied. Wait no, fuck...I should probably be acting like I know some of this already and was just messing around...

"You know, it's really bizarre that this is all news to you. And why're you on this vessel if you're not from Ultilanges anyway?"

"I...don't...know...I think...err..."

Sacha couldn't help but laugh at V being completely lost. "Maybe you've got amnesia..."

"That would be a problem." V looked around. "Um, could you tell me where the washroom is?"

He followed the directions Sacha gave him. This boat appeared to be five times the size of his commute back home. Inside the restroom, V stared at himself in the mirror. So Azgard again huh...although a whole different time period. Wonder if any of -them- are here too.

MM searched the ship and managed to find a map depicting the boat's transit. Ultilanges Island and Azgaredux? Where on earth is this? How do you pronounce these names? Is there wifi on this boat?

He reached into his pockets and quickly realized they were empty. No cell phone, no wallet, no notebook. Nothing.

Merp. Next to the map there was a layout of the boat. He decided to go to the washroom to avoid some of the strange gazes he was getting from the public.

As V was about to exit, someone walked in. Someone who looked very familiar. He couldn't tell for sure since it's been half a decade since he'd last seen any of them.

"MnMz?"

Standing in front of MM was.... "Vriz?" MM asked in disbelief.

"And in this corner, ladies and gentlemen, you know him, you hate him, it's Ty the Explosion!" The announcer cried, as the moderately sized crowd gathered around the ring started booing.

"Oh come on, now they're introducing as the guy everyone hates?" Ty muttered to himself as he rose from his corner of the arena. He was in an underground fighting pit, in multiple senses of the word, though it was surprisingly clean for what it was. He was dressed in his fighting outfit, a mixture of function and flash, just enough decoration to display his persona, without hindering his ability to actually fight. It was torn in places from his early days fighting, and the 'signature' red trim around the collar was frayed.

Ty stepped forward and met eyes with his opponent, Ricky the Rock, as the announcer made a grand display of their rivalry.

"Hey Ricky. Got any plans this weekend?" Ty asked at a normal volume, the crowd's roars nearly drowning him out.

"Gonna go see that new movie with the missus." Ricky said, waving to one of his particularly enthusiastic fans. "I'd invite you, but it's kind of a date. You get."

"Yeah, no problem man, I've got some big plans myself. You know, laundry, eating, all that good shit." Ty said, picking out some particular insults about his name from the crowd.

"Sorry in advance about taking you down, Ty. It's gotta look real." Ricky said, as they received the signal they were starting soon.

"Yeah, that's something no one mentions about taking dives. Still hurts like Hell. Mind not going for the face, at least?" Ty asked, Ricky's answer being drowned out by the crowd's renewed roaring as the fight began.



"Good fight tonight Ty, you looked like you almost had him." Tony said, counting off hundred dollar bills for Ty's paycheck.

"Yeah, no problem. Easiest thing in the world." Ty groaned, holding his stomach and leaning over a trashcan. At least he hadn't gone for the face.

"Well, here's your cut. Pretty good this week, I think the rivalry angle's really working out. If you need to bit, you can rest back here a bit, just lock up before you leave." Tony said, walking out as Ty gave him a halfhearted wave of acknowledgement. After the sensation of needing to vomit went away, Ty made his way to his locker, stripping out of his fighting outfit and changing into his street clothes. Taking a deep breath, which was still quite painful, Ty slumped down against the wall, looking at the stack of money in his hands.

"I used to be a Hero, man." He muttered to himself. "Why do I have to be the one everyone hates?"

Ty closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, sitting against the wall.




"B..dy. Hey, buddy." A voice said, shaking Ty awake with a start. "You can't sleep here."

Ty looked around in confusion at the public street surrounding him. It was daytime, which was alarming enough on its own, and there was a small crowd looking at him with a mixture of concern and suspicion.

"Uh, where I am?" Ty asked blearily, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Should we call someone?" Ty heard someone in the crowd ask.

"He's just a homeless guy, he's not hurting anybody."

Ty pushed himself to his feet weakly and looked around. He was in a city of some sort, much larger and more slick than the one he lived in. A short ways in the distance was a waterfront, with a very large looking boat coming in. Assuming he could find a map or a clerk of some sort there, Ty assured the group that he was fine, and was not a troublemaker, and started making his way towards the water.

V disembarked with Sacha out to the beautiful waterfront. The city already seemed extravagant from afar but it was mesmerising up close.

"So I guess this is goodbye, Mr. V." Sacha smiled.

"Guess so, miss...umm..."

"Wow! Did you seriously forget my name already?"

"I seem to be forgetting everything lately," V smirked. "Sacha."

She laughed.
"I guess you'll be waiting on that friend you said you met up with. I'll be over late today if I don't start moving fast."

"I'll see you later, then."

"If you're on the 4.30 sailing...but you're not from Ultilanges, you said."

"Mhm, I just...magically popped in that boat."

Sacha giggled. "Whatever, mystery guy. Enjoy your day!" She scurried off.


V stood at a side waiting for MM. People were still leaving the vessel so the crowd remained thick.
The berthing announcement came up a few seconds after we saw each other. We were supposed to go back to our seats since there was a procedure to disembark by sections. However, V did tell MM a bit of what Sacha informed him of this new Azgard. Well, Azgaredux.

As MM exited the boat, from a distance he saw Vriz talking to the girl he mentioned. Call him "V" now huh? And that's Sacha? And this is.... Azgard?

MM caught up with V. "Yo man. Where did your friend run off to?"

"To her job in...Heroes, I believe it was. They manufacture those super-intelligent machines I told you about."
V spotted a silent drone hovering in the distance. Guessing that's one.

"So what we supposed to do, Mz? Think the king here wants some temple exorcised?"

"Maybe not a temple, but a skyscraper?" MM grinned, "But one thing's for sure. Some more information about the area would be nice. Maybe find a library? A tourist booth? There's got to be a map or something nearby...."

MM scanned the area while crowds of people continued to walk by.

"You want to know where you are?" The clerk asked snidely as Ty stood there with his arms crossed.

"Yes." Ty said, refraining from saying snarky back. That typically didn't go well with service people.

"You walked here, right?" The clerk said condescendingly.

"Oh come on man, it's not like I'm asking for your freaking kidney!" Ty said, leaning over the man with his hands on the table. The clerk looked startled for a moment, before gathering themselves.

"Next in line, please." The clerk said. Ty groaned loudly, but decided that trying to make more of an issue out of it would get him nowhere. Making his way through the crowd, Ty felt very aggravated and confused, until a voice caught his attention.


" A tourist booth? There's got to be a map or something nearby.... "

Ty's ears perked up and he spun around quickly to try and find where the words had come from, in case he wasn't wrong. As he did so, several people walking close behind him slammed into him as he suddenly stopped, and the small group of individuals, Ty included, fell to the ground in a tangled heap.

"Watch what you're doing, you dick!" One of the people in the pile said as Ty pulled himself to his feet.

"Sorry, sorry." Ty said, now awkwardly the center of many people's attention.

V couldn't help but feel that the drone gazed intently at both himself and MM. We're outsiders in a high tech world. Not good.

"I gue-"

Just as V was about to respond to MM, an upset occurred in the crowd. The one behind it was another familiar face.

"Guess we just need Phen now and we can start the first dungeon." V smiled.

"So much for staying on the D. L." MM face/palmed, but couldn't help but smile. The gang was getting back together.

MM moved through the crowd and found Ty, waved at him, and motioned for him to follow back to V. MM whispered to Ty, "Welcome back to a futuristic Azgard!"

Ty followed MM back to where V waited, and after a few moments people went back about their own business. When MM whispered to him, Ty let out a sigh of relief, and noted that his stomach no longer hurt.

"Oh thank God, that explains so much." Ty said, "I was worried that I had been drugged, or kidnapped, or sleptwalked...Into another city..." Ty continued, his voice lowering into a mutter as he realized how dumb any of those scenarios sounded.

"I guess it actually doesn't explain all that much either, now that I think about it. Weren't we brought to Azgard by Valorinx the first time? Or is that wrong? And if he did, does that mean the big crystal guy's still kicking around, and he brought us here this time too?" Ty asked, realizing they probably didn't have many answers for him, but he felt the need to ask anyway.

"Is that how we were brought here last time? I can't remember." MM shrugged and wondered if V remembered. He also wondered if they would see the others.

"Don't know how this whole thing works. Never did." V kept a low volume. "But if we're here, I imagine a certain Brazilian and Filipina must be somewhere around too."

"How much do you want to bet we'll find them together?" Ty chuckled, before pausing for a moment. "What do they even use for money here anyway? It's pretty hi-tech around here, think they use credits?"

"Good question." V walked with the other two into the colossal city. "But all we know so far...this nation's no longer Azgard but Azgaredux. No idea 'bout the reason for that slight change yet. This city, Metryo, is its capital and is apparently advanced in artificial intelligence."

The trio noticed astonishing self-driven vehicles. The interior of some cars were like a lounge. They saw one with six people surrounding a table, chatting while eating their breakfast.

"But the nation somehow still operates under a King's rule."

MM was pretty amazed by the breakfast eating group in the self-driven car.

"If we do figure out the currency situation, we should really figure out the food situation. Pretty sure I saw pancakes in that car that looked pretttty tasty."

Ty's eyes widened slightly as V mentioned artificial intelligence, and then even moreso as the group spotted the self driving car.

"Dude, AI?!" Ty exclaimed excitedly, drawing looks from passersby. "I'm calling it now," he said, clapping his hands together to accentuate his point, "We're gonna fight demon robots this time."

After a moment, Ty's face regained a more somber and curious expression, as he looked around at he people are, several of them still looking at the trio oddly.

"Actually, maybe that's not why we're here." Ty muttered, mostly to himself. "I mean, last time we fought monsters, but the people of the city all seemed troubled and concerned with circumstances. These people seem pretty fine. Think it's just because it's too science-y for them to notice?"

"Don't know but you're right. Seems peaceful here but I doubt this is simply a vacation warp. At the same time, I wouldn't mind it being just that. I guess our currency and food situation negates that though."

The vacation possibility met its end when the drone from the waterfront came down to face them.

"Good day. Please provide identification of some kind." It said in a robotic tone.

V froze along with MM and Ty.

"Please respond."

V chuckled at its last statement despite the grim situation. A minute passed.

"Warning!" The drone's volume rose drastically. "Unidentified personnel!"

Three soldier-like machines arrived on the scene in an instant. They towered at ten feet with guns and blades at the tip of their robotic arms.

Fuck.

"So... we gonna fight, run, or try for diplomacy?" MM whispered nervously, scanning the scene for possible ways to escape.

"Neither." One of the weapon Alcrest's voice resounded.

V's head throbbed. The city blurred into complete darkness. It felt like mere seconds had passed when he awoke. MM and Ty were knocked out beside him in a box of a room pure white and mercilessly bright.