It was an awkward flight to Grey’s base. Not only was the cockpit of his plane cramped, he wasn’t great for conversation himself. Not that I really had anything to talk to him about as far as I knew, I’d never met this man in my life. And for some reason I was his sidekick? I was just his legacy character?

“Uh, what did you want to talk about, Grey?” He didn’t respond for some time. I had no clue what my relationship with this guy was even supposed to be like.

“The new vigilante.” He started, “Shamrock. We know next to nothing about them, their powers and motives are a mystery. Travels the world averting disaster, that’s it. I want to compile my notes back at the manor. Any information you can provide on their fighting style will be much appreciated, Green.”

I smirked, “He hit ‘em pretty fast, if he was using some kind of technique, I didn’t see it.” The expression seemed pointless in the hot black glass cage. He continued on to his objective, paying no attention to my comment. He didn’t tell me anything else for the entirety of the trip. It gave me some time to think on the situation.

I was still no closer to getting out of here, for all I’d known, hours had already passed in the real world, maybe longer. If they wanted to kill me, they probably could, either through Clover’s critical hit, or by strangling me, as Noah had attempted. I felt like I was wasting my time, like this stuff was a side quest I had decided to go down when the main story was laid out in front of me. That was a strong feeling throughout the entire experience, that the exit was right in front of me but I was refusing to go through it.

Something keeps pulling me back in.

Rather suddenly, we began to slow down, the plane thumping to a landing after the anti-grav turned down. As the glass dome slide back over our heads, he leapt out with the efficiency that comes from doing something over and over. I made sure to look before I leapt, or rather, crept out of the vehicle.

The manor, if you preferred the term over castle, was in a serious state of disrepair. It looked like a fake haunted house from the roosting crows and battered wooden beams. I turned to observe my surroundings. I got a little agoraphobic from the sprawling mountainside he’d flown me out to. The place was in the middle of nowhere, that, and the enigmatic nature of Grey, disturbed me.

I followed him in through the front door. Surprisingly there was a touch screen planted in the wooden wall of the tight foyer.

“Give it your finger print.” I looked to him, expecting for him to elaborate a little more. He didn’t. First, I pressed my index finger against it, when that didn’t work, I pressed my thumb against it. And when that didn’t work, I pressed my left thumb against it. I laughed sheepishly as it opened. He allowed me to walk out in front of me, into the dark opening.

He followed, and the door closed behind him. And I was submerged in the darkness.

“I had one imperative rule for him to work under me. One thing to remember. You failed three times. The first thing that tipped me off was the slight change in your mannerisms, not to mention the distance you put between yourself and Rabbit’s foot.”

The voice came from all around me, at first, I thought this was one of his powers, but after listening, fumbling around, they were definitely coming from fixed points in the room.

Speakers? I didn’t get a chance to think on it, a quick and heavy high kick hit me with a thud. as I shifted my posture to face the attack, it came from another angle, then he hit me head on, an uppercut with his palm, meant to break my nose, but I was already blocking mainly my, throat and stomach, but I caught him just the same.

As soon as I felt him, I reacted, jabbing with my right. I barely grazed his suit, feeling now that it was heavily protected. Even if I landed a hit, it wouldn’t matter, I’d never get through to his flesh. I’m only human.

I tried to use the only thing I’d been left with, myself. “That’s right, I’m not Sam! I’m Shamrock! But I’m not the guy flying around! I don’t know how this is going to sound to you, but I’m not your enemy! You’re not even real!”

The brutality of the attacks ramped up, like he was trying to squeeze something out of me, he was shattering my defences now. “This world is an illusion built- Pht!- built around my psyche! I’m in a fight with- with a guy in the real world, Lechoslaw Limorilow, he’s trapped me in here in order to break my spirit, so I’ll serve him and his master! I kept my guard up, despite it seeming like a fruitless endeavour now. After shuffling about on my feet for a while, I realised he was done.

I jerked done my arms, and waited for him to do something else.

Flood lights came on overhead, slowly lighting up the entirety of the facility, which I could now see as the vast horde of tech and armaments it was. He was sitting over at a pair of monitors, I only noticed him after he spoke up, “If you know that, then no matter who you really are, there is no further threat you can pose to me by seeing this. You said you were Shamrock, but not, what is that supposed to mean? Some sort of hyper versal consciousness? Two halves of the same coin?”

I blinked, and rubbed the side of my arm, “Uh, what? You’re done just- just like that? What did I say to convince you?” He didn’t look back. His mask was brightened by the dim light of his desktop. He raised an arm, and lifted a flap on the back of his cowl. After punching in a code, a slight stream of gas fshed out.

“Not much point keeping it on anymore, is there?”

Then he flapped the full thing off of his bony face.

I jumped at him, swinging a left hook for his exposed head. He caught it just a second too slow.

He along with his chair flew back, wheeling across the floor. He was soon back on his feet glaring at me, studying my posture, I did the same for him.

“You’re in here too?! You bastard! Do you really think you can make a mockery of my life like this? How the hell is this supposed to tie me over, you ass!”

I bit of blood began to leak from his nostrils, “There is no need for vulgarity. You’re quite a strange character, ‘Shamrock’. First you steal my partner’s body, find out my secret identity, then you punch me upon finding out what I look like under the mask? Please explain how I ‘trapped you here’? You wanted to come here, why else would you pretend to be Green?”

“Because I am Sam! I am Shamrock! I don’t know if your just some avatar or whatever, but I’m finishing this right now!

I tried to circle around him, change up my stance, but he was a better fighter than me, and probably by a lot. So, I waited for him to make the first move.

“Are you sure we can’t talk this through? I’m almost certain we’ve come to some kind of misunderstanding.” He softened his defence a little, trying to encourage me to lower my offensive. “Unlike the rest of Unity, I’m not entirely opposed to the idea of vigilantes, I think that if too much faith is placed in our pantheon system, eventually a generation will come along with a stricter sense of justice. ‘Freedom and liberty’ were once championed in America, it’s an awful shame that we’re seeing less and less of it.”

The lectures were definitely like Lech’s, but- (now this will sound dumb)- but this guy had a glint in his eyes. In contrast with his deathly appearance, he still had some life in his eyes.

I again slumped my arms down, and held my hands open.

“Happy?” I said, already getting sick and tired of this routine, and this world. I expected him to dash in with a straight punch.

But he didn’t, replying, “Not until I get a full explanation of this situation.”

I threw my head back, and groaned. Then I remembered, my posts. For some reason they had all carried over from the outside. I showed them to Grey, the dates corroborating my story to some degree. He had sat down for a few hours, reading through the most important posts I directed him too. He hardly said anything to me in that time, murmuring at some of the things I told him.

What really ticked me off was how quiet he got after he finished. He interlocked his fingers and set his elbows down at the desk in the corner. I tapped my feet waiting for him to say anything.

“There are two possibilities.” He began, “One, this is an illusion, perhaps a hallucination to make you more… affectionate towards this other me, and the world he’s trying to build.” He paused for some time, not even bringing up the second option yet.

“How would you describe this reality in comparison to your original- the real world? Your relationships, your circumstances, how does everything match up?”

I took in a deep breathe. Screw it, I thought. It hurts to admit it, even if it is just to some internal emotional projection of my enemy, but I had to try and better understand the situation, even if it was by restating a few things.

“Well… wh… whi…” My mouth definitely wasn’t dry, I swallowed back a wet lump in my throat, there was a lot building up.

“I had my superpowers. They’re different from my imposters, I can’t fly for one thing. I did have super strength. Basically, I was stronger in every conceivable way. When I stub my toe on a table, I’m more likely to do damage to the furniture than to myself. I couldn’t get tired, not in the same way a normal human being does, my cells operate at a higher efficiency. It takes a lot for me to get any… any blood pumping. A lot less hurts me, but that means there’s a lot less I can actually feel. I essentially lost half my sensations, even feeling warm is harder to come by. I lost the ability to taste spices as well.”

“I might be fine with living like that, I never did many physical activities, except trying to bulk up my body. I told myself I was going to be a superhero in real life, because nobody else wanted to, or could, that was the only reason I ever did push ups every day. I guess I enjoyed it though. But I’d sacrifice my own enjoyment if it meant the world had someone looking out for it, somebody who… who could actually save people. There were problems however.”

“The first, was my SP2. I realised it was there soon after I the first power. I didn’t need to use it. I just had to find a situation I could use it in. And it crept in, into the periphery of my mind. Any time I could use it, it let me know, like- like a spam email from some website you made an account for. They send you messages whenever they have any deals open, and obviously you don’t read them, you try to ignore them, but they’re there, your inbox is littered with this- this thing you never even wanted. It’s not meant to be there. This thing in me- it’s- it’s not natural. Or it’s not right, evil, I don’t know. The worst part is, I don’t know what website I subscribed to in order for these messages to come through, I might have worms in my brain, or be possessed by a demon.”

I refrained from acknowledging what Seon-SooAe had said to me, even when I was about to unload all of my baggage. I thought about it, paused for a moment to let it out, but it never came.

“I guess I can’t have sex either. I haven’t had a boner in months, again, a result of me becoming more numb over time, though I guess it could also be due to nerve damage. Even if it is working down there, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to- to actually experience it properly. I’d have to focus on not accidentally breaking her arm, or I’d have to lay on my backside and do nothing. So, yeah, I can’t have a relationship like that.”

“I don’t really have any meaningful relationships at all. The only people I talk to outside of school are murderers and drug lords, Clover’s a drug lord. She is the closest thing I have to a friend, and even then, I’m not sure she’d call me that, I’m more so a person she talks to out of necessity, because she needs to talk to somebody. That, and I’m in her science class, so she mostly texts me for homework. I- I don’t know if it’s- if I feel about her. I’m not exactly attractive. In here I have better skin, teeth, hair, cheekbones, eyes, abs, pecs, biceps, forearms, hairline, and I probably smell a lot better too. And because I’m a social outcast, who’s really going to get to know me? And even then, I’m just a superhero nerd.”

“If I do like her, there is no chance of us being… being normal. As we are in this fantasy.”

He interjected, “That and the fact that she is a crime lord.”

“Right, yeah.” I seconded.

“Yeah, my personal connections are different in here too. For one thing my dad’s still alive, My grannies good at cooking apparently. And my mum-”

My mum. I choked as she came to mind.

“I- At least I don’t think she’s a junkie in here. I mean, she looks healthy. Her eyes weren’t blood shot at all. She was- she was there. She was just my ma.”

That was the first time I had ever said it aloud, and it was to this guy. It made me sick to think about.

“I also haven’t had to run into this one asshole with a mullet, or any other people from school. What else… I work at a gas station, not as a super hero. Even two rooms in that house are probably bigger than my home. I read one of the comics in my drawer, and it was better than most stuff coming out at the moment. I had a good breakfast. The weathers great. I get to live in an actual city with amazing architecture. God, not to mention, there are other superheroes here. With teams and all.”

I smiled at the concept.

“In other words-” Grey began, “Your life is better here.”

I frowned a little, looking around the complex. “It was. Until I got my ass kicked by you. No, even earlier than that, when Shamrock showed up and got rid of the Gator. What do you think the point of all this is? You are him after all. You must have some idea, even if you are a fragment of him or something.”

His eyes wandered. It was clear he was deep in thought.

“Twelve years ago-” He began his non-sequitur, “My Tanya died. This was before I became Grey, before I had built any of this. I was just a well-off man suffering from grief. And so looked for a way to not only get her back, but to ensure that neither of us encounter such tragedy again. I placed my faith in Extra-universal beings, Gods, as I would have called them. A triad in particular, The Dark Gods, had caught my attention.

There was Balor, the Entropic God. I sought him first, for power, for he is said to be the mightiest of the three, the most willing for destruction. I was naïve, thinking that such a creature might pity a black speck such as myself. Or that power could grant freedom from this pointless world.

Then I searched for the third, The enigmatic Negative God. Her domain was said to be the undoing of events, I placed much stock in her. But I never did find anything concrete on her. Her cults were dead, her memory buried, I only knew of her existence because of their ‘heavenly poem’, and the fact that all ‘Gods’ form trios.

The most plausible master to serve my needs was the middle child of the dark gods, the one I spent the least amount of time in the thrall of. Irminsul, the Multiverse God”

My neck rolled and I grimaced. “Right, I can see where you’re going, but it seems like a very large leap-” He interrupted, “I do not leap to conclusions. As you already have.”

He continued, “I gained much knowledge in the tombs of his faith, chiefly, that it is impossible for a human being to travel through the branches of Irminsul. The human form is comprised of three archetypes. Body, Mind, and Soul. It is possible to stay alive with only two of these, but in order to travel between universes you must be one archetype thin.”

“You have lost your powers, even that esoteric ‘SP2’ of yours, which is likely tied to the soul. I stumbled upon an ancient rite, scrawled upon a scroll I found in Germany. I would have read it, had I not taken a moment to think things over. My goal was to find a perfect universe for me. This scroll had promised such a thing, but in reading it, I would fully give myself to the Dark Gods. An epiphany hit me in that moment, out of nowhere. I realised, that for me- my personality and memories- in order for me to get to the perfect world I’d dreamed of, I would have to displace an already happy version of myself. I realised, that that world would never be my world. That would never be my Tanya.”

He furled his fingers together and receded back into thought.

I also took a second to think. “Right, but this is information coming from you. If you are an illusion created by me or Lech, then anything you say is likely to be a fictitious too.”

He waged a finger at me, “I was just thinking the same thing. But if that’s true, if this is in your mind, then you would still be connected to your soul, your esoteric ability. And if this were an illusion built to complement your desires, then why would anything happen to displease you? Why would you’re enemy, the Gator, appear? Why would I have become aware of you being a different person from Green? Wouldn’t it have been more pleasant for everybody to go on blindly believing that you are the prodigy child of the superhero world?”

I racked my head for a counter argument, “With that logic, why wouldn’t I have just been dropped in a universe like that instead?” He was stumped. The clear expression of confoundment on his face, was in stark contrast to the corpselike demeanour of Lech. He traced through his knowledge.

“A universe… is comparable to one giant closed system reaction. Every chemical and atom are destined to collide from the dawn of time, based entirely on trajectory and stored energy, the formation of physics was ensured from the very first reaction in time, with both variables in play distance was formed. And with a continuum established, complex structures such as stars, black holes and even peoples could form. All of this is set in place because of a reaction that happened billions of years, if not an infinity ago.”

He really does love the non-sequiturs.

“Your presence in this universe is like throwing a stone into a pool. A chaotic but ordered bath of molecules, disturbed by something outside the system.”

I tried to rap my head around it, but it seemed what he was saying was that ‘destiny’ is real, alongside the multiverse. I honestly expected to run into both going down this path, but nowhere near this soon.

“How could me mumbling ‘uh-huh’ whenever somebody asked me something throw my dream world off to such a degree that the Gator shows up? That seems a bit beyond the ‘butterfly effects’ scope.”

He went silent. “What if you were meant to defeat him then and there? What if that was the intended route, for you to find some sort of closure in beating the villain you failed to stop? Alongside Hand-Made alone, you could have beaten him easily, teleported in and out with Berwick in your hands.”

I shook my head, “But I didn’t do anything to cause Shamrock to appear!”

“No,” he pointed a finger too me, “-maybe you didn’t. But you also said you’re unaware of the true nature of your powers. You haven’t told me what they do. I wouldn’t have you, it’s an amateurish mistake to reveal your hand, especially if you are right, that this is an illusion.” He clenched a fist and rose from his spot.

“I realise that I am… biased. I’d much prefer that my existence not be relegated to the mind of a horny teenager. Think about which is the more likely option. And we’ll act accordingly.”

I went beet red, “Didn’t you listen to anything I said?! I’m not horny!”

He ignored me, walking over to a long steel case, typing something into it.

I tried to get back on track, “You realise that if this is an illusion, and I break it, you probably won’t exist anymore, right?” He just shrugged, before advising me, “It’s probably best to keep this between the two of us then.”

I marched over to him, “What exactly would you do if I was from another universe? You already said you can’t send me back, not unless you ‘give yourself to the Dark Gods.’ So, what exactly is your plan?”

The case whirred before opening, inside were heavy volumes of leather-bound books. “One, we read up. Two, we find Shamrock.”

I whined, “Do you really think he has anything to do with this? He’s probably a part of this universe, or dream, whatever it is.”

“If you’re not Shamrock, who is?”

The question stopped me. It made sense. Literally everything else in this world was different, but that was definitely Shamrock. Now that I thought about it, that was definitely me. The jaw, the physique.

He tossed a tome at me, “Get to it. You’ve got three hours before I have to fly you back for your party.”

“What? Why would I go to a party if I’ve finally got a lead on how to get home? And, sorry for all these questions but, why exactly are you helping me if there is a chance, I’ll unmake your reality?” He flicked through the pages of another book, pacing back over to his chair.

“You have taken the place of my protégé, firstly, I want him back, but I also want his relationships to be properly upheld. This is the exact reason I didn’t take my dream world away from another version of myself, there was always a chance of me perverting it, mishandling it. Just do the best you can to keep them happy. Secondly, I’ve read through your notes. Look me in the eyes.”

He looked up at me from his hunched over position, and I looked right back at him. There was a fire in his eyes. “You said I- he has dead eyes; you describe him like a walking corpse. The idea that there is a part of me that could ever come to forget my humanity appals me. It is a disgrace to everything I stand for.”

I was taken back by the shift in tone. There was a determination in his voice, like he was declaring some great ambition. And I felt it’s heat.

I nodded, guessing, “The fact that he chose to become their pawn, it’s a disgrace to her memory.” He looked away from me. “Enough talking. Let’s get some work done, Shamrock.”

.

.

.

It was a strange crowd that appeared at the party. There was the obvious guests like Clover, my parents and granny, but the human version of Feoli was also there, along with Axel, Tayanita, the girl from my art class, Bob for some reason, and a ton of people I didn’t recognise. The first and strangest person met me before I even got to the party.

Grey dropped me off in a surprisingly quiet part of the city and told me to follow the coordinates on a small pager like device. He cleared off as soon as I got a few feet away from him. We agreed to meet here tomorrow at eight in the morning, I had negotiated it up from seven.

I had to walk down the same street that I had jogged up earlier that day. Passing the same inconspicuous alley. As I was passing by, a woman came out of it. Something about her seemed familiar, and after looking at her for a time, I realised it was Hand-Made. Her bulky visor was gone, replaced by a cold-blue pair of circular sunglasses. She smiled at me as I walked by.

“Hey, birthday boy!” she bumped me playfully, too playfully for a woman that looked to be in her thirties. “Uh, hey.” She cackled at my response, “Grey gave you a hard time, huh? Something to do with that Shamrock prick, I’m guessing. Can’t blame him for being a hard ass though, that’s sorta what it takes to get into Unity without powers.”

I couldn’t get a read on what she was thinking behind that smile. “Yeah, did thundereye-man catch up to him?” That got another laugh out of her, “You know he’d fly you into orbit if he heard you call him that, right?” I smiled and laughed.

“No, he hid somewhere out in the Midwest. That head start helped the bastard. From what we’ve got on him, his probably not as strong as ‘thunder-eyes’. If we can find him, we can kick his ass.”

I looked away to try and hide my reaction. That Shamrock was stronger than mine, judging from the one punch I did see. In the off chance that these guys are alternative universe versions of people in my world, they’d probably kick my ass. Never mind the real world, they could crush me without my powers. That made me very cautious of Hand-Made.

The tone of her voice changed. “You know, Grey started off as a vigilante. I’m sure he must have some sympathy for this guy. And I just received a notification from our database that all our files on Shamrock have been taken by your partner. Yeah, he always has aimed for targets a little over his head, but he’s been acting off since you met him up on that roof. Any clue where he’s coming from?”

I tried to think of a reason, that would seem logical for him. “He told me he was making a contingence plan, in case Shamrock ever became a threat.”

She looked at me. “He is a threat. A threat to those around him, and the system. A system that works just fine, that he could be a part of if he made a testament before the officials. He’s destructive and completely unpredictable, that’s a threat.” She reaffirmed, “There is only one world Sam. Never forget that.” I still couldn’t read her, but her smile seemed a little more put on than before.

“That’s just what he said. He told me that Shamrock is safe now, but he’s probably going to go off the rails if he doesn’t get to him first.” Her smile fell away, “‘Get to him’, huh?”

She was silent for a good period of the walk after that, only speaking up when we got to my block. “You’re good at what you do Sam. Especially for a kid. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but… your being considered for a promotion into Unity proper.”

The way she said it made it seem like it was some great revelation, but I still have no clue what she’s talking about, I just starred at her, then the ground, waiting for a little more exposition before I decided how to react.

“I thought you’d be happier. Well, under the circumstances, I don’t blame you for not jumping with joy. You obviously understand the responsibility I am placing on you. Whether or not you’ll be able to make the right call… Can I trust you with keeping the world safe Sam? From even the closest enemies?”

I still had no clue what she was talking about. “Of course. I understand.” She smiled, and punched me lightly on the shoulder, “’atta boy…” It hurt a lot for the slow speed she threw it at me.

We eventually did arrive at the party, when we did, I realised she probably could have teleported us right to the door but decided not to. She wanted to have that talk with me.

I was taken back to the fantasy, the dream, by the homely light of the environment, surrounded by smiles and the blowing of party horns. The group shouted to me, “Happy birthday Sam!” I smiled; despite the fact it wasn’t my birthday.

They sat me down at a table and turned off the lights and began to sing. I looked around, I didn’t know half these people, but the fact that they were here for me, filled me with happiness.

My mum, healthy and well, came through the crowd with a cake. I stopped myself from crying and waited for them to finish.

Then I blew out the candles.