Guardians - Alternate Universes

CH 18 Fetching Another Alex

Rile stepped out of the portal and met the eyes of another Alex. Her eyes only held him a split second, for they were immediately drawn elsewhere. This Alex was very, very pregnant. He went back to her eyes, and they told him who the father was: Morgan.

"Alex, I'm sorry," Rile said.

Alex trained a Sig 226 on him. "One, you know the code name of my project. Two, you don't seem to know my real name. Three, you are expressing sympathy. Four, not the usual reaction to pregnancy. Who and what are you?"

Rile bit back the trite answer of 'a friend' and went for the bald truth. "I'm a Guardian. I thought I was here to ask for your help, but now I see I am here to help you."

The Sig never wavered. "Help me? Where were you nine months ago?"

"Unfortunately, not killing Morgan before he could do that to you," Rile said. "If it had been up to me, I would have."

She flinched at the name, but the gun didn't.

"You can't be safe. Morgan must be the same, no matter what timeline. Let's get a new safe house, a temporary one, until you have the baby. Then we'll see where we need to go," Rile said.

Alex cocked an eyebrow. "Timeline?"

Rile flicked a dismissive claw. "Yes, yes. You probably love sci-fi like your counterparts, so don't pretend you don't understand. What more evidence do you need than my appearance? Hello, an alien who just stepped through a portal knows your name and at least some of what has happened to you. What is your real name, anyway?"

The gun's barrel dipped a centimeter. "Using my codename is good enough. That doesn't mean you're an ally."

"What proof do you want? I'll gladly kill Morgan for you. He's bound to come sniffing around, if you prefer to wait for him," Rile said. "Or you can tell me where to start looking."

Either convinced or just too tired to stand anymore, Alex sat down on a couch and propped her feet up on a coffee table littered with books. "I'll wait. I'm not in any condition to go traipsing around and I've got adoptive parents lined up to meet me at the hospital when I have the baby. That's the most important thing right now."

"How have you stayed safe? I mean, relatively, in the past nine months." Rile prowled the living room and checked that the windows and doors were locked.

"Grange. Do you know him, too?" Alex asked.

Rile nodded and stuck his head into the bedroom. "He wasn't much help in my timeline."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Grange walked through the door Rile was just about to check. He lowered the rifle he had aimed at Rile's head the entire time he talked to Alex. "Disappointing to learn that your counterpart is less than competent. Alex, are your bags for the hospital packed?"

She nodded.

"I'm staying until labor sets in and then taking you to the hospital," Grange told them. "Alex, do you trust this...Guardian?"

Apparently, Rile wasn't the only one who eavesdropped.

Alex nodded. "I feel better now that you've introduced yourselves to each other."

"What happened to the Morgan of your world?" Grange loved information and sci-fi as well, as did all his counterparts to varying degrees.

"I haven't killed him. Yet. It was my top priority until I was sent here." Rile looked Grange over. "Maybe my mission is to kill this world's Morgan since you're protecting Charli." Rile looked out the window. "I'd love to find him. Any leads?"