Magus still had that uneasy look on his face. Reid could tell something was wrong.“Can you tell what yet?” asked Reid.
“No, but I get a feeling we will find out when we return.
Reid reached into his pocket and activate his transporter device.
“The beam should be active in the alley we arrived in.” he said. “We’d better hurry.”
The Anglo-Force sky-jet arrived in the air above the disturbance in London. The side hatchway opened and the sword-wielding White Knight and Duncan McCloud leapt onto a nearby rooftop. They looked down at the scene below. They could not believe their eyes.
“That man in the black looks like James Watt, but with darker hair!” said White Knight.
“That’s not the only thing.” said McCloud. “That tall bald one with the sword, Connor killed him fifteen years ago! It’s the Kurgen!”
“Something is very odd here.”
The two of them leapt into the fray. The arrival of the two heroes brought a smile to the face of the wizard Cabal as they attacked Mordred and the Kurgen.
“So, there are immortals on this world too!” said Kurgen.
“You shouldn’t be here!” said McCloud. “Connor McCloud killed you in 1985!”
“Not from there I’m from!” Kurgen boomed. “I beat McCloud to claim The Prize!”
White Knight was surprised when he confronted Mordred. The first thing he noticed was the sword his enemy was holding - it looked exactly like Excalibur!
“The sword you wield is fake!” said White Knight.
“My ancestor ripped it from King Arthur’s hand over a thousand years ago when he claimed the kingdom from his father!”
Katrina Velichev-Watt lay on her bed in her hotel room, television remote control in her hand, flicking through the channels until she came upon CNN. She watched intently as a report came in from London of a massive battle in the streets. The live pictures came in. She was shocked to see White Knight, Fire-Master, Colossus, Solo and McCloud fighting five men she had never seen before. Then Watt walked in, towel around his waist, drying his hair. His jaw dropped when he saw the image on the screen.
“How long as this been on?” he asked.
“It just came on.”
They watched as the members of Anglo-Force were virtually outmatched in every department.
“How long would it take us to reach London at your top speed?” asked Katrina.
“It would take me that long, but I don’t know if you could handle the speed.”
“That’s something we’ve got to risk. Anglo-Force needs us.”
Watt then reached into one of the suitcases. He pulled out both of their costumes.
“Then it’s a good thing we brought these along!”
The doorway between the worlds reopened inside Reid’s lab at the mansion. As soon as both he and Magus stepped through Reid closed the doorway and shut down the transporter.
“When are we going back?” asked Magus.
“It depends on whether we can find any more parallel worlds.” said Reid.
Suddenly they heard a noise outside as the door opened slightly and the barrel of a rifle was pointed into the room. Reid then grabbed hold of the rifle barrel and pulled it and it’s bearer into the room. He was surprised when he found he had his arm around Yetta’s neck.
“Doctor Reid! I didn’t know you were in here! I thought everyone had gone to answer the distress call from London!”
“What distress call?” asked Magus.
“Five nasty types wrecking the place!” Yetta replied. “The police couldn’t handle them so they called for Anglo-Force.”
A minute later Magus and Reid were in the monitor room checking the logs.
“The logs show that a strange energy reading was recorded five hours ago.” said Magus. “Daniel, I think you’d better look at this.”
Reid joined Magus at the console. Magus called up the scanner logs.
“That’s the energy reading from my transporter!”
“Not exactly.” said Magus. “These readings show that two other forms of transportation have taken place during the last five hours, both from different locations.”
“You mean…someone else has transported to our world while we went to the parallel world?”
“My computers at Craigmillar could probably give a more precise location, but these portals definitely formed on other worlds, from parallel worlds.”
“And they’re wiping the mat with Anglo-Force. We’d better get over there.”
Commander Watt stood in the middle of the street holding Solo high above his head. Then with one fluid motion he threw him to the ground. The ground shook with the impact. Anglo-Force had been defeated by this strange force from another world. Then the victorious Cabal turned his attention to the police. They raised their guns as they prepared to open fire, but they soon found that their guns were useless as they were turned into flowers. Cabal laughed out loud, thinking that there was no one around who could stop him and his force. In his glee, however, he failed to notice a portal open on a nearby rooftop. From this portal stepped Jetson Man, Mr. X, Colonel Watt, Red Man and Doctor Mordrid.
“Well, we are here, now what?” asked Mr. X.
Mordrid looked down over the side of the building. A look of surprise appeared on his face when he saw Cabal.
“I can’t be, not here!”
“What’s wrong?” asked Watt.
“The man in the black robes is the wizard Cabal, an enemy of mine from long ago. I thought he was imprisoned in the Void. Now he has some powerful allies. We must do something.”
“Finally you agree with us.” said Jetson Man. “You should know the cry by now. Power Men! Attack!”
The villains in the street below looked up in shock as they were suddenly attacked by more heroes. Jetson Man and Red Man fired their energy blasts at the attackers while Colonel Watt ploughed straight into his namesake. Mr. X swung down on his cord and connected with a kick to the Kurgen while Mordrid hovered in the sky above Cabal.
“No!” said Cabal. “Not on this world!”
The battle had resumed.
Soon afterwards Magus and Reid arrived on the scene. They watched form behind one of the police blockades as ten strangers now battled each other. Magus and Reid looked on in shock.
“It can’t be!” said Reid. “Look Phineas, two James Watts fighting each other!”
“And a fit and healthy Mr. X in the thick of the battle!” Magus added. “It appears our theory was correct.”
“Should we join the battle?”
“No. First we must attend to our fallen comrades. They are in need of medical attention.”
The battle continued between the men from two worlds, and a short time later Captain Watt and Red Sun arrived on the scene. Watt was surprised when he saw what seemed to be himself fighting himself. Red Sun was even more shocked when she saw Red Man because of his striking resemblance to her late father. They soon Saw Magus and Reid and landed near them.
“What the hell is going on here?” Watt asked.
“Parallel worlds.” Magus replied. “But I haven’t the time to explain now. I’ve done all I can for our friends, we must now help the others.”
“It’s those others I’d like you to tell us about!” said Red Sun.
“As I said before, no time to explain.” said Magus. “Now follow my lead and only attack those I attack.”
Magus then raised his hand and fired blasts of mystical energy at first Cabal, then Commander Watt, the Kurgen, Mordred and the Ant. His lead was soon followed as Captain Watt joined Colonel Watt in attacking Commander Watt, and Red Sun joined Red Man in his attack. As the battle went on Mordrid turned to look at Magus and smiled.
With the addition of Magus, Reid, Captain Watt and Red Sun the tide of the battle went against Cabal and his man, and the wizard knew this. He knew that he had to concentrate his energies into one attack on a target of his choice, and his choice was Magus. Extending his arms in front of him he fired a massive blast of mystical energy at Magus, sending the wizard flying.
“Surround me!” he called to his men.
Cabal was soon surrounded by his four comrades.
“You have not heard the last of us!” he screamed. “I will return to this world and claim it in the name of Cabal…and Ultra-Force!”
Cabal then raised his arms and a glow appeared around him and his men. Seconds later the glow was gone and they had vanished. The heroes then gathered around the spot they had stood on mere seconds before.
“Does that count as a victory?” asked Jetson Man.
With the battle finished the meetings began. The two teams spent several minutes eyeing each other up. Captain Watt was the first one to step forward, towards the man who looked like him.
“Captain James Watt, chairman of Anglo-Force, formerly of the R.A.F.” he said, extending his hand.
“Colonel James Watt, former chairman of the Power Men, formerly of the British Army.”
Magus and Mordrid then moved towards each other.
“Greetings young man. I am Doctor Phineas Magus of the Istari.”
“Doctor Anton Mordrid, last surviving member of the Council of Wizards.”
The two wizards shook hands.
“I think this is going to be the start of a long friendship!” Magus smiled.
The heroes returned to the Anglo-Force mansion as socialising and new friendships began.
“You say you got married yesterday, to Katrina Velichev?” said Colonel Watt. “Why, yesterday I was just celebrating my twentieth wedding anniversary with my wife, Maria Velichev-Watt.”
Red Sun was talking to Red Man.
“My father, Boris, died during the Eugenics War seven years ago. My cousin, who is also a mutant, was named after him.”
Magus, Reid and Mordrid sat in the monitor room examining the logs.
“There must have been some sort of energy residue from my transporter when we went to that other world.” said Reid. “It must have also opened a portal to your world, and to the world of Ultra-Force.”
“This is really a great opportunity.” said Mordrid. “We have so many similarities and so many differences. We can learn so much from each other.”
“But we must find a way of designating our separate worlds.” said Magus. “If we all say we are from Earth it will get very confusing.”
“I think your world should be known as Earth-A.” said Mordrid. “Mainly because the first portal was generated in this world.”
“Then your world should be designated as Earth-B.” said Reid. “And the world Ultra-Force came from we’ll call Earth-C.”
“What about that other Earth?” asked Mordrid. “The world you say we are just fictional characters in.”
“Perhaps a fitting name would be Earth-Prime.” said Magus. “After all it seems that we all ‘sprang’ from that world.”
“Agreed.” said Mordrid. “We shall tell the others.”
The time soon arrived for the Power Men to leave. The two chairmen, Captain Watt and Jetson Man, shook hands.
“We should do this again sometime.” said Watt. “Perhaps once a year.”
“We may not be able to come back to this world.” said Jetson Man.
“I can help you with that.” said Reid.
Reid then pushed in another model of his transporter.
“You can take this one back with you.” he said. “It can be used to transport you and your friends from Earth-B to Earth-A.”
“Then we shall return.” said Jetson Man. “Same time next year perhaps?”
“Sounds as good a time as any.” said Watt.
Reid then went to activate his transporter, and a glow appeared around the Power Men. A few seconds later they were gone. Watt placed his arm around Red Sun’s shoulders.
“Maybe this is the best of both worlds!”
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