Last Time, on Project HermitVengers:

Ren has joined the main crew! After... some bickering on the Voids' side.

The ZIT trio just be vibing and bonding, really. For now....

Iskall seems to have the same amount of good luck as Ren, seeing as they meet the crew a day after he does. 

Grian and Taurtis seem to be doing something, but what is it? 

And the Avengers seem to have their hands full. But why would we focus on them when Grian and Taurtis' real adventure is about to begin..? 

-------

Here we see a cat. This cat is a very normal one-

VVVWWWMMMM.

Yowling, the cat leapt up as red and blue blurs darted by, gone as soon as they'd came.

"Keep up!"

"I'M TRYING-"

Grian and Taurtis. Or, should I say, Blitz and Skid?

Yeah... They can run a lot faster than your average middle-schooler. Like, few hundred miles per hour faster.

Being absolute nerds, the two came to the conclusion the universe was practically telling them to be super heroes. And why wouldn't they?

Well...

Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, Blitz grabbed his partner's arm to stop him. "Hey- Look, over there."

"Huh-?" Taurtis yelped quietly as he was pulled to a stop, his eyes darting to the nearest alley. "Where?"

"There, see?"

Sneakily leading Skid onto the fire escape, the two started to climb up to the building's roof, quietly following the sound of... scared whimpers?

'That sounds like a little kid...' Taurtis frowned, going a bit faster. 'What's going on here?'

"Does she have the gene?" A gruff voice asked, startling the teenagers for a moment. A wave of relief hit them as they both realized it wasn't directed at them... but the relief didn't last long.

"Yep. Take her to base. We'll start the process as soon as possible, while we still have the resources."

Taurtis and Blitz exchanged looks, both a mix of curious and worried.

'Oh?'

-------

"Cleo, why-" Bdubs blinked at the mildly disturbing sight in front of him.

The redhead shrugged. "It's fun."

"It's fun to give us all nightmare fuel?" Ren chuckled nervously, watching the rat corpses dance and hop around.

"Yep. Glad we're on the same page!"

Alex, however, wasn't paying attention. Scribbling something down in his journal with Xisuma looking over his shoulder, the two nodded to each other and stood up. Slightly alarmed by the two's almost perfect unison, Iskall glanced at the others to see if this was normal. Bdubs just nodded and mouthed, "They do that a lot."

"So, as we both know, it's Christmas Eve." Alex sighed. "Or Yule's Eve, or whichever." 

Xisuma nodded, his mind wandering to their time at Kamar Taj, when it was covered in a small layer of snow every morning (despite the fact that it didn't snow in the town around it. Many people thought that it was the Ancient One's doing, but she never confirmed nor denied it). Gods, he already missed that so much... 

Mentally shaking himself, X refocused on the present. "I'm aware." 

'Why is he bringing this up-? I know it's an important holiday, but...'

"And it's our first one with the Hermits, right?" 

"Yes?" Now he was sure Alex had something up his sleeve. "Where are you going with this?"

"Well.... I was thinking we could do something special for them." 

"Oh?" 

-------

That night, as Bdubs snuggled against his friends and drifted off... it happened again. 

Feeling cold and weightless, Bdubs blinked his eyes open, confused. 'Where's...? Oh.'

He looked around the glass-filled void for the second time, pressing his mouth into a thin line. "Why am I here again?"

It was unnerving how small his naturally loud voice was, occasionally echoing across the pieces of glass. 

"Hello." 

Bdubs jumped, and his eyes darted around for the source, expecting it to be from a shard. That made the disembodied voice chuckle. "You're not gonna be able to see me." 

"Wh- How- Where?!" 

"It's... hard to explain. Just trust me."

Before the young mutant could question anything, a shard floated forward. 

"Look." 

Hesitantly, Bdubs glanced at the glass piece as it started to glow. As the light faded, he could see... Alex. And X. 

"-worried about him. I know Bdubs said he was fine, but..." The Alex in the shard sighed and forced his brother to stop walking. "If he's not telling us the truth, we can't just sit around and do nothing."

"I know, and I'm not planning on doing nothing." 

Bdubs tilted his head in confusion. When was this? What were they talking about? 

"That's from the future. Your future." 

"Wh- What?" The young brunet looked around again. "What do you mean? I can't-"

"You can. Or, rather, because of this place, you can. This is a void between universes and times, Bdubs. These shards? They show those places." 

Wait, what?

... He couldn't have heard correctly.

No way.

"... I'm sorry, what." Bdubs quickly inhaled, barely restraining himself from screaming. "You're not- No, this is a dream. Just a weird, reoccurring- ACK-!?"

Feeling a sharp pinch on his neck, Bdubs flinched and yelped, rubbing where he'd felt the pain. 

"The hell-"

"Did that feel like a dream?" The voice asked, sounding a bit amused. 

Stunned, Bdubs just stared around, once again being hit with the overwhelming feeling of insignificance. A place between... universes. The multiverse was real? The things his parents had theorized about over dinner, all the jokes about alternate versions... 

Sighing, whoever was there seemed to put a hand on Bdubs' shoulder, guessing from the phantom feeling. "Sorry. I know this is a lot, but... let's just say you're gonna be dealing with it for a long time. The more you know, the better."

"But- Wait, how-?" Trying and failing to find the words, questions hitting his brain faster than he could comprehend, Bdubs looked over to his left as he heard something again. 

Hesitantly floating over the best he could, Bdubs watched as the shard glowed like he'd seen before, and showed another image. 

Himself. Not from another universe. 

An asleep Bdubs, snuggled against his friends. The only one awake was Cleo, who was absentmindedly fiddling with the jacket she'd worn ever since Bdubs had met her.

"Kinda weird, huh?" The voice chuckled, seeming to be directly behind the small teenager. 

"Yeah..."

Bdubs spent some time talking with the invisible person. He had no idea how long, since there wasn't really a clock or otherwise to be able to tell. He learned the stranger was here a lot, and he reminded Bdubs of someone... but he couldn't quite figure out who.

"I think it's almost time for you to go." The stranger sighed, making the brunet frown. Seeing his already transparent body start to fade, Bdubs spoke as quickly as his mouth could handle, desperate for answers. 

"Wait! But- Who are you? What's your name?!"

"Pha- ... Well..." The stranger chuckled. "Actually, you'll find out soon enough. Good luck. Oh, and let yourself feel your feelings. Don't shove 'em down."

And then Bdubs woke up.

. . .

 "Huh???" 

------- 

BOOM. 

Impulse could feel his heart beating, almost painfully fast as he turned around and started running, the sound of thunder reverberating in his ears. He ran faster and faster, until he couldn't make himself stop. 

"IMPULSE!!"

Jolting awake, Skizz's call echoed around the brunet's head as he registered the tears starting to stream down his face. Sparks of electricity flew off him, each one representing his fast heartbeat. 

"... I'm sorry..." Impulse meekly choked out, moving so his back was against the wall. He liked being around Zed and Tango, but... he couldn't leave Skizz... 

Tango blinked, awoken by a mix of sobbing and the crackle of lightning in the distance. 'Wait... is that Impulse-?'

Rubbing his eyes, Tango looked over at his friend in concern. Impulse was... shaking. Crying. His breathing was rapid and frantic. 

"... 'mpulse..?" Zed, who'd also woken up, slowly sat up and started moving closer. When Impulse didn't respond, the other two teenagers forced themselves out of their daze and tried going over to comfort him. 

ZAP. 

Reflexively flinching back and wincing, Tango looked up at Impulse with even more worry than before. 'Why is he..?'

"Impulse?"

Realizing what he'd done, Impulse spiraled further into panic. 'Oh god- I hurt him, I hurt him-'

"I-I'm sorry-!"

"Hey, it's okay." Zed moved forward, making Impulse quickly scoot back in fear of hurting one of them again.

"It was an accident, Impulse- I'm fine, don't worry!" Starting to panic too, Tango tried calming Impulse down too, feeling guilty for flinching. 

As the two offered hugs, Impulse hesitated for a second. 

Thump. 

Giving them both a small squeeze, the brunet hiccupped a bit and tried to stop himself from sparking more. "I- I didn't mean to-"

"Shh... I know. It's okay, we know." Zed sighed, glancing at Tango for a moment.

Feeling a painful jolt of electricity hit their chest, the two blonds forced themselves to not react for the sake of their friend. 

And they stayed like that. For how long, they really didn't know or care. Just until the thunder and rain stopped and Impulse's eyes were closed, his breathing steady and slow.

------- 

See, I'm alive! >:D /hj

Anywho- Have an amazing day, evening, and night! G'bye :>

- CaptainMarra (totally didn't panic when they couldn't get this put on time due to technical difficulties)