Dang Convergence Vol. 1

Chapter Sixteen Converge

Chapter Sixteen

Converge

"And the next thing I knew, I was in that nightclub with the murder-bots, where you found me," the doppelganger shrugged, his expression solemn.

Dang blinked in disbelief, unable to tell whether the story he'd just been told was true or his newest doppelganger's idea of a joke. Daedalus on the other hand had a dark, unsettled expression on his face, his arms folded as he leaned against Dang's desk. He'd been quiet the entire time Dang-3 had been telling the story of how he ended up on that world and in the five minutes since Dang-3 had stopped speaking, Daedalus still hadn't said anything.

Dang, tired of waiting to see what Daedalus would say decided to break the silence. "So, Bellum, this incurser dude, he was on your world?"

"I don't know," Dang-3 frowned. "I've never heard of that name until now. But a few years ago, our world did get invaded by these odd robot things...we called them murder-bots. They came with technology far beyond anything we'd seen, quantum drives and whatnot...the war ravaged our world, saw hundreds of cities be wiped out, billions of lives lost. But then, we won."

"You won?" Daedalus repeated, an expression of disbelief on his face.

"Yeah," Dang-3 nodded. "The Crimson Cloaks were formed to aid us in the war. They were people with unique abilities, the strongest of our kind. They won the battle and laid claim to the technology left behind by the incursers. Zaldur was the leader of the Cloaks, and he saw potential in the new technology, a way for him to make himself a god."

"So that's how the Cloaks and the Red Capital took over your world?" Dang asked. "With Bellum tech? BelTech?"

Daedalus glanced at Dang and arched one eyebrow over the other. "BelTech?" he queried.

"It's a good name, I'm going with it," Dang shrugged.

"Yes," Dang-3 answered before Dang and Daedalus could begin to squabble. That was how Zaldur took over, how he made himself God of our world. The people who'd fought the Crimson Cloaks in the Cosmic War tried to stop him, but it was no good. None of them stood a chance. He killed them all. Him and the murder-bots he'd managed to enslave to his will."

"So, on your world," Daedalus shifted uncomfortably. "You won against the incursion but a different evil took over?"

Dang-3 nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."

"And the bots you were fighting," Dang murmured. "His?"

Dang-3 shook his head. "No," he answered, a slightly puzzled expression on his face. "I mean, I don't know for sure, but I don't think they were his. They looked nothing like the ones Zaldur has running around doing his bidding. But there's no way to be sure, maybe he had a few more hidden ones."

"Or maybe they're anomalies from a different time-space as you," Daedalus suggested, the grim expression on his face absolutely frightening now.

"You think there's more breaches happening here?" Dang asked.

Daedalus shrugged. "I think so. It's possible that at the same time The Harness displaced him and sent him here, ripples of that distortional energy could have been sent throughout space-time and might have brought more of Bellum's deathbots here too. I mean, I don't know for sure, it's just a theory, but it's one I'll need to look into."

"So how did you get here?" Dang-3 asked Dang.

"It's my world," Dang replied with a straight face.

"Oh," Dang-3 nodded then glanced at Daedalus. "How about you? And why is your name Daedalus?"