1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

41 - MORE THAN FINE

"I'M SORRY, ONE MORE TIME?" Nicky rubbed his temples, everyone gathered around his computer screens to listen to the explanation given from one of the X-Men, nearly all of them incredibly confused, the psychologist especially.

"So..." the teenager began, glancing over towards Terran, "Did you know that the guy who was after you was in cahoots with someone who could dimension jump?"

Terran took a sip from his juice box, shaking his head. "I did not, in fact, care to elaborate in, you know, English?"

"That's not even your first language," Rhett pointed out, and the man simply shushed him, pointing towards the teenager who was rolling their eyes, waiting for them to listen.

Finally, they continued. "So, basically, your entire complex was targeted and was used as a test subject to try and go to another dimension and wreak havoc there, since all the universes have this—You know what, just take my word for it that it's a good thing they didn't continue with those trials. Your complex is currently in...they're not necessarily in another dimension, because what's happened was they caused a shift in time, since it's not necessarily linear, there are multiple outcomes that can be made of various actions. Rhett, you're a time traveler, of sorts, you know what I'm talking about."

The blond nodded. "Yeah. Like, I bought those Christmas lights for Nicky, that means someone didn't get theirs. Same with that Target plush. But they're not running into past versions of themselves?"

"No, because they're fiddling with that idea that, you know, time isn't necessarily—that it all kind of—take my word for it, they're not caught in an infinite paradox, they're just trapped in this glitch caused by the attempt to send them to another dimension, moving through time in a—just take my word for it, they're okay because they can like travel within the time they're in, but no one can see them or really remember them or anything because of the loop they're trapped in—I'm not a scientist, I don't actually know how this works, I just jump around and help fight." The teenager dropped their head into their hands, groaning with frustration at their inability to accurately explain what they couldn't even understand.

"You're okay," Nicky said soothingly, "It's okay, we understand, and we believe you. Trust me, you're not the first person to not understand how time works." He glanced over to Rhett who was looking at the teenager with a sympathetic smile. "Do you know how we could get them back?"

The teenager rubbed their eyes. "No, not as of now. I could learn, though, I think this'll just take a lot of research and underground digging. Because they had to have learned how to make the machine and try to make the jumps from somewhere, which means someone must know something."

Nicky whistled lowly. "Well, if it's somewhere on the internet or is connected to something on the internet, I can find it."

Sam snorted. "How humble."

Nicky turned in his chair to stare at him, unblinking and unmoving. "I hacked into every surveillance camera in the entire state and connected it to a tiny tracker that was injected into the body of a teenage boy, which could check his vitals and transmit his his words and what he could hear in real time to a pair of earrings that had holographic interactive software imbedded, more advanced than what Tony Stark has right now. Don't even test me. If there's one thing I know I'm good at, it's this. And listening to people, I'm pretty good with that."

Sam smiled and shared a look with Rhett, who smiled back, the two of them thinking the same thing; this was as close to Nicky saying that he knew himself, or at least something about himself. It wasn't perfect, but it was close enough.

"So we've just gotta do more research and searching," Nicky said, shrugging, "But they're okay?"

The teenager nodded. "Unless I'm completely wrong, they're totally fine. I'm sure they're probably freaked out, but after five years...they're probably used to it."