Dang Convergence Vol. 1

Chapter Eighteen Helping Hands

Chapter Eighteen

Helping Hands

He took the rear entrance into the shelter again which meant passing through the kitchen once more. This time though, he wasn't met with welcoming applause when he strode into the kitchen but instead looks of confusion from the cooks in there, whose mouths hung open as they struggled to process why he'd just walked in with someone completely identical to him.

"I can explain, but I think that'll just make it harder to understand," Dang told the confused cooks as all four of them passed through the kitchen and into the main ground floor of the shelter where the air was filled with excited chatter, with the kids there running around, buzzing with energy.

"What's going on here?" Daniel asked, a little surprised by the air of excitement, as were Megan and Dante who looked around with confused expressions on their faces.

"It's the race!" a kid squealed then, answering Daniel's question before Dang had the chance to.

"Race?" Daniel glanced at Dang with an expression of confusion on his face, clearly still in need of some clarification.

"It'll be easier for you to just see for yourself," Dang shrugged. "Back when I was still a kid here, we used to have these competitions when it was close to the holidays. Derby races. A lot of the kids here are incredibly smart, gifted, so they'd put together these cars made of scrap metal and pretty much race in them in a large open space. When I was younger, the race track was twenty minutes away from the shelter. The shelter's moved since then though and the track's only about five minutes away now."

"So, a bunch of kids are gonna race?" Daniel asked. "Is that, uhm, safe?"

"Anna Li's the one who runs this place," Dang said. "She's not going to let anyone get hurt. Plus, they're races for good fun. No one's trying to hurt anyone in them."

"Wait, Anna?" Dante halted then, his expression suddenly darkening, his eyes going a little wide. "Anna Li?" His voice was a little stiff.

"Yeah," Dang frowned at him. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh," Dante gulped and took a step backward, his fists firmly clenched, an incredibly uncomfortable expression on his face. "You know what, I just realized that maybe I should have stayed with Daedalus at the observatory, it'd make it faster for him to get this detector thingy up and running, you know. I think I'll just leave you guys to your whole race thing and get out of–,"

His voice trailed into a gasp then when Anna appeared at the foot of the stairs, flanked on either side by Caleb and Chase, both of whom were covered in soot and dark stains that looked a lot like engine oil. The twins were tugging at Anna's hands playfully and steering her down the stairs while she laughed.

Anna's laughter halted though, and her smile vanished, when she spotted Dang and Dante. Her expression immediately became one of shock and confusion, and she moved cautiously as she came closer to them.

She raised a hand and felt Dang's face. Then she moved on to Dante and cupped his face in her hands.

Dante's eyes reddened and welled up.

Anna looked from him to Dang. "Is he the one you mentioned?" she asked. "The other you?"

"No," Dang shook his head and folded his arms. "He's different. He's another me."

"Another?" Chase repeated, tilting his head in Dante's directions, scratching the back of his head in a slightly puzzled manner. "Oh, I see. His energy's different. You're from another world, aren't you, mister?"