When they stumbled on Emma Frost again, the X-men were not in the mood to talk.

She was just standing here, oddly, looking spaced out.

But Scott blasted at her right off.

The blow sent her out of the lab and onto the walkways outside, looming over the several layers of the pyramid below.

Emma, inside her head, struggled for control against the other Frost.

Finally, she thought she had some of it.

She was able to speak using her actual mouth again.

Scott was walking up, ready to knock her the rest of the way down.

Emma held up a hand with some difficulty--control was still wavering between her and Frost.

"Scott, wait," she said.

Scott stopped. "Don't call me that," he said.

"Let go!" Frost tried to kick her off inside.

Emma winced. "Ah..." 

Scott just looked at her like she was crazy. "Enough with the act," he said.

"Shut up!" Emma shouted at Frost, and then realized she'd said it aloud. "Uh, not you--Scott, there's not a lot of time before she takes control again. I'm still not strong enough--ow--did you just bite me?"

She still didn't realize she'd said that part aloud.

The other Frost had indeed bitten her.

Emma finally let go because of that. Big mistake.

Frost back-handed her and then kicked her.

In the physical, Emma reacted to the blows because she had control for the moment, and she almost fell right off the catwalk.

She grabbed on in the nick of time.

"You fool!" she hissed at Frost. "You want to kill us both?"

"Well, if you're going to get us killed anyway, I'm certainly not going to let it happen because of Cyclops!" Frost shot back.

Scott, by now, was starting to suspect something was off. "What is wrong with you?" he said irately.

"Who cares?" Rogue said. "Let me at her." She dashed forward and tried to touch Emma.

"No, Rogue, don't!" Emma grabbed her wrist, in real terror. "She'll pass onto you. You'll pick up both of us. Don't do it--it might drive you mad!"

"What?" Rogue looked spooked. "What are you screaming about? Let go already." She gave her a shake.

Emma tried to hold on.

To her shock, she found some of her strength was back in the natural also...so it really was.

Then she thought, of course, she had to turn into diamond--she could stop Frost from transferring to Rogue that way...hopefully.

She hardened.

But of course she had Rogue caught.

"Hey, let go!" Rogue said.

Scott put a hand to his visor.

"Big mistake!" Frost said. "You're still not that used to using this form again, and it cuts off your telepathy. Without that, I'm still stronger than you!"

She knocked Emma down and resumed control. She smacked Rogue away and then jumped up and ducked Scott's blast to kick his feet out from under him.

"No! Stop it!" Emma made a long spear and jabbed it at her.

"Ahh!" Frost said, falling over in real time as well. "You b----!" She turned back to her human form for a moment just to get her telepathy back. "I'll show you to--" She realized she was speaking aloud.

"She's lost it," Rogue said, sitting up.

"She's acting like she's fighting herself," Scott said. "Or something else."

"Scott, don't fall for it," Rogue said.

"For the record," Domino called from inside the doorway, "I'd swear that's not an act."

Frost slammed into Emma with a shield.

Emma tumbled over.

The white, shimmering figure that was undefined stepped in between her and Frost.

"Who are you?" Frost demanded.

No answer. But the light suddenly glowed stronger...

Emma's mind cleared almost perfectly.

She regained control for the moment.

She stood up and looked at the X-men with an expression that said she finally knew what was happening.

They all paused, not sure what to make of this.

"I owe all of you an apology," Emma said, distinctly. "I didn't do this, but I should have listened from the start to all of your warnings. Scott, please tell Shine that for me... She was right."

"What?" Scott didn't understand this change of topic.

"I don't know if I can--" Emma winced as Frost started moving again. "--I can keep her in check...for that long...without help--"

"Keep who in check?" Forge asked, weirded out.

"Frost," Emma said, "the...the other one... Sinister--" She grabbed her head. "Stay in there!" She yelled at her. Then she straightened. "Well, it's too late now. I'll try to expel her... I have the strangest sense of deja vu here...but then, I think that kind of cruel irony is sort of the point of Sinister's experiments."

She looked at Scott. "I wasn't lying to you--I just...didn't know the full truth."

Scott looked utterly lost. "I don't understand what's happening," he said.

Emma turned back into diamond. "Stay in there!" she said. "Don't you dare."

"I'll resurface!" Frost insisted. "Your shiny helper can't stop me forever."

She got bigger. "Give it up, lesser me. I was chosen out of the two of us because I'm stronger than you."

"By cheating," Emma said, this time inside her head. "But you're not really stronger than me...or he'd have picked your body."

Frost paused.

That had hit home.

Emma put a hand to her chest. She'd felt something there before...yes...a hole...

"Oh...this is the crack..." she said strangely, not sure if she said it aloud or not.

"Don't touch that!" Frost said. "That hurt! Sinister's kept that out to control us if we tried to resist him, I wasn't brainwashed like the others...call it insurances. It's delicate."

"So even now, the diamond has a flaw," Emma said.

She turned to Frost. "Get out of my body, or I break it."

"What?" Frost said. "I can't just leave your body."

"I think you can," Emma said. "You entered it, didn't you?"

"With help!" Frost said. "I won't let you do this," she struck at Emma.

Emma suddenly blocked her and shoved back with almost desperate effort. "I will not be your host," she said. "And I won't be Sinister's toy. Even if I have to go that far."

"You're mad!" Frost struggled, but for the moment, Emma's will power was stronger than hers, because she was panicking.

Emma felt perfectly calm, oddly enough.

With a nod at the white light, which seemed to be fading out now, she threw Frost down the hole in the room of her mind.

"Out!" she said.

Frost seemed to almost exit, but not quite.

The white light blasted around her.

She was shoved out suddenly.

And the thing was...all of the X-men could see her. Like an astral projection.

"What the h-- is that?!" Domino freaked out.

"That looks like a spirit to me," Scott said. "A human one...oh no!" he paled.

"Ah!" Rogue jumped back.

"You can't do this to me!" Frost turned back to Emma, who was in human form again. "I'll get back in there!"

Emma again turned to diamond.

"No, you won't," she said. "Go home."

"Wait!" Frost began to scream. "No, you can't do that! Stop!"

But she couldn't stop her.

Emma used her fist to hit her weak point as hard as she could, and it cracked harder.

"What did she just do?" Domino squeaked.

"Emma, don't!" Scott rushed forward. "Don't do this, not again."

"I have to," Emma said.

The cracks spread a little  more.

"I can't stop it now," Emma said, stepping back. "I'm sorry, Scott...I feel faint..."

She was losing her consciousness...

Darkness closed in.

Her form fell to the ground, and the cracks spread.

It didn't blow into a million pieces...it just looked like it would if you tapped it even once.

Scott knelt down. "Oh no..." he said.

Frost, in spirit form, shrieked in fury and then vanished from sight. Perhaps to try to return to her own body.

"Okay...that was spooky," Forge said.

Rogue shivered. "Well...I guess we got fooled there..."

She tried to pat Scott's shoulder. "Scott, I'm sor--"

"Don't!" Scott said furiously. "Don't try to act like you didn't want this."

"I didn't want this," Rogue sighed. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're guilty," Scott said. "Leave me alone."

"But...we have to stop them..." Forge said. "Scott...we can't just give up now."

"All of you, leave me alone!" Scott said.

"Let's just give him a few minutes," Domino said. "I think we all feel like s--- right now anyway."

She shook her head. "Let's see if we can find where that ghost went."

She walked back inside the lab.

Scott just sat there for a few minutes.

https://youtu.be/_hqW4odgkyo

Then Shine came stepping rather softly out of the room.

She'd sensed something had happened, even from far off...and she wasn't that surprised.

She came and knelt down next to Scott.

"Hey," she said softly.

Scott looked up. "She...was being controlled."

"Yeah, I know. Sinister told me everything," Shine said. "How they did it...it was never fair to her."

"No...it wasn't," Scott said. "And this...why again? I...don't know... I don't understand it. It's senseless."

"It may seem that way," Shine said. "But...Scott...did she do this?"

"Yes...to stop the...the other thing," Scott said.

"Her alternate self," Shine said. "I'm guessing."

"Looks like it," Scott said.

He shook his head. "I should have known."

"No, they made it look pretty convincing," Shine said. "Even I wasn't sure...but I am now. And, Scott, it might not be too late."

"What?" Scott said.

Shine pulled the vial out of her pocket. "It's a long shot, for me, but I got this off Sinister...the one shard of her they didn't put back...to keep her weak."

"So...that's how she--" Scott looked down.

Shine traced her hand along Emma. "So many cracks I almost can't tell...here." she stopped. "I feel a gap here...diamond is so hard to see, I almost couldn't have seen it on its own...right over her heart...I guess that adds up. We have neurons here, you know...for strong emotions. So much makes sense."

She looked upset. "You know, I liked her too...Well not past tense..there's hope anyway...if we could get her home...but since we can't...I just hope this works."

She took out the sliver shakily. "I've never done this before..."

She used her sword like a mirror and peered closely. "Let's see..."

She carefully inserted the piece, and then moved it around to make sure of it.

"What about the cracks?" Scott said.

"Well...I couldn't heal them before because that piece wasn't there," Shine said. "Perhaps now I can...God willing. There's no time to deliberate about it. They'll be more enemies here any second, so I'm just going to have to try. Pray Scottie."

She placed her Sword over Emma, and began to pray in a low voice.

Her sword lit up, more whitish light.

https://youtu.be/6IFYU8YDprY

Emma, somewhere deep inside her mind, began to feel something pulling at her.

Then she saw that pure light...overhead? All around?

Shine and Scott saw the cracks slowly disappear, and become solid again, flawless.

Then Emma's diamonds form returned to her human form, and she gasped and her eyes fluttered open.

She looked up at them in confusion.

"You know us right?" Shine asked.

Emma managed to find her voice. "Yes..." she said weakly.

"Oh good...it was complete..." Shine said, suddenly looking faint. "And that...may have done if for me...too much..." She slumped over.

"Shine?" Scott tore his eyes from Emma long enough to shot her a concerned glance.

"I'm fine..." Shine mumbled. "Just...let me lie here for a second...'kay?"

She covered her eyes.

Emma couldn't believe it...she'd actually been brought back again? And without it hurting her this time? She hoped.

She tried to sit up.

"Careful," Scott warned her. Taking her hand, "Do you feel okay?"

"I feel fine..." Emma said, mystified. "What happened to...what happened to Frost?"

"Disappeared..." Scott said.

"Oh..." Emma wondered if that meant she'd died or not. And if she should feel sorry for her if she did...probably not.

She looked up at Scott, suddenly remembered everything that Frost had told them.

"Scott, I swear that what she said wasn't true," she began to say hastily. "I had no idea what was happening until--"

She didn't get to finish that.

Scott leaned forward, pulling her up, and cut her off with a kiss...a long one.

Nevermind, Emma thought, and closed her eyes instead.

Then Scott stopped abruptly and looked ashamed. "Actually...I had no right...I should be the one apologizing to you," he said, looking down. "I should have known it was a trick...I'm sorry...Emma...Really, really sorry...like that means anything right?"

Emma smiled a little watery, and put a hand to his cheek. "Actually, it does." She said. "It's all right...None of us knew the depths of their deception, but, it was...well...it's over now. She's gone...so..."

Scott looked up.

Emma took both his hands gently and nodded with reassurance.

Scott pulled her to his chest, and just held on real tight for several long moments.

Probably he'd have been crying if his eyes had been capable of doing so, but he was shaking enough to imply it anyway.

Emma patted his head.

She actually wasn't much calmer...all that struggle, and all that pain to get here, and finally being free of their control--she felt all kinds of emotions. Relief, shock, sadness at how long it took, but joy that it finally was over.

Suddenly she laughed oddly. "Scott...I'm cured...it's out of my head now...no more cracking..."

"Oh...yeah that's true huh?" Scott straightened. "Wow...after all that...it was that simple."

"If you two want to make out," Shine said, hand still over her eyes. "Can you please do it quietly? I have a headache now."

"Well, that killed the moment," Emma said.

"Sorry," Shine said.

"But she's fine now, right?" Scott said.

"I want to slap you for asking me that when I'm like this," Shine said. "But...yes...physically she should be fine...Trauma doesn't heal that fast...I recommend therapy after all this is over...but as far as fighting goes, I think she'll be fine."

"Then I'm back?" Emma said.

"What did I just say?" Shine said.

"Well for now...good enough," Emma said. Then she shivered. "Oh it was such a nightmare...and I was such a fool...I should have known what happened much sooner."

"If you were, I was too," Shine muttered. "I'm just thankful you're alive."

Emma patted her head gently. "Thank you...If I could ever return the favor, I will."

"It's free, don't worry about it," Shine muttered. Then she started to sit up with difficulty "Ah...this is not going to be easy... I have no idea how we're going to stop the Merging at this rate, I hope Wally is doing better than I am."

"How did you get that piece?" Emma asked.

"Oh...you knew?" Shine said.

"Could feel it, yes," Emma said.

Shine made a strange face. "Well...I hope not too well...I got it from Sinister...and I destroyed his Failsafe so the signals to people's minds will be cut off...and...I also stabbed him. He asked for it though. He rushed me."

"And earlier you fought Apocalypse?" Scott said.

"You fought Apocalypse!" Emma grabbed her arm and shook her. "Are you mad?!"

"It was necessary to buy time..." Shine mumbled.

"After the speech," Scott added.

"And I forgot about that," Emma said. "After all that, you think you're not doing well?"

"Well...I don't know...I could have overdone it," Shine said.

"I swear I will slap you," Emma said. "Enough of this talk...much as I'd love to finish this," she shot Scott a look. "We have no time. What Sinister did to me he intends to do to everyone, I could tell..."

She looked up. "And...now that I have my powers back...I think I can find them."

"Oh...you know that's a good idea," Shine said. "Because I can't...you see how that worked out, Scottie? I'm done just when Emma's finally ready to help again? That's what we call God's timing."

"I just might believe that after what just happened," Scott said.

"Speaking of which," Emma looked down at Shine and took her arm to pull her up. "I may have seen a friend of yours while I was battling Frost...something helped...also it was taking the chip out, or at least the signals...So I guess you did a lot for me."

"Emma, I am just glad I could," Shine said a bit emotional. "I felt horrible about the thought that nothing I did made any difference."

"You put that idea out of your head right now," Emma said intently, pointing at her. "I never would have pulled that off without your instruction...I can't believe those words just came out of my mouth, but, if it's merited, it's merited. So leave off...But all things considered, I never want to shatter ever again."

"You know, I think twice is more than enough," Shine finally had some humor.

"Guys," Rogue looked out. "Look we gotta--Emma?!" She gaped at her.

Emma, coyly, put up a hand and waved at her. 

"What is it?" Scott asked Rogue, like nothing had happened.

"Oh...uh..." Rogue looked like she was trying to remember. "Well--"

"They found Sinister's lab, but he's not here, now," Emma said.

"Hey, I thought you couldn't read my mind," Rogue said.

"I didn't read yours," Emma looked past her.

Domino appeared. "Rogue, you gotta see what Forge found...oh..." she stared at Emma. "Well...huh...that's a thing...I thought you died."

"Shine brought me back," Emma said.

"Sort of," Shine amended.

"Sort of?" Domino and Rogue both repeated.

"So what did he find?" Scott prodded.

"Come see for yourself," Domino said.

***

They found Forge looking through Sinister's monitors.

"Guys, there's a plan here for Synergizimg all of he X-men," he said. "I'm not sure what the word means, but this looks like messing with their heads somehow."

"Merging them with their other selves," Emma said.

Forge jumped. "Frost? You're...what...?"

"Yes, yes, I'm alive, get over it," Emma waved dismissively. "You were saying?"

"Uh...I was...just...well... I have bad news," Forge said. "It says that the process was already started for some of them. You, for one, and...This person named Gambit."

"What?" Shine, who was leaning on So at the moment, leaned forward and looked alarmed.

"Gambit?" Emma looked at the monitor. "How far along was it?"

"It seems to be saying it was already implemented and it's pretty far, " Forge said. "But it doesn't say complete...none of them do. Actually, only you two were even started yet the others are all just in the queue..."

"So he wants them separate for now," Shine said. "I'm guessing because it's more necessary for this dimension manipulation that he's doing."

"Are you telling us there's going to be a bunch more zombies with two souls going around?" Domino said, on edge.

"I resent the term zombie," Emma said.

"I'm gonna miss you being a little quieter," Domino said.

"No you won't," Emma said off handedly. But then she shook her head. "Shine, Gambit is...he's gone already, isn't he?"

"His other self, I never met," Scott said. "Do you think he'd be stronger?"

"I never met him," Shine said.

"None of us has," Emma said. "Just what I saw in Logan's head. But perhaps I can find them now."

Shine tapped her chin. "I think we can help, Gambit, Wally and I. If we find all the others and get them out before this can go further, we could stop this. That and we must shut the doors. I don't have the strength left for this, now, so we must find Wally also...Emma...perhaps you can signal him?"

"My telepathy doesn't work on him," Emma said.

"No...probing doesn't," Shine said. "Mind control doesn't...but talking into his mind? That will work. Not on me, but on him, he has a friend who can do that."

"You and your secrets," Emma said. "Why not tell me so before?"

"Emma, considering how they were using you to spy on us, I consider it a God thing that we never mentioned it," Shine looked at her intently.

Emma's eyes widened, and then she nodded somberly.

"Wait, so how were they using her?" Forge asked.

Emma pointed at the Fail Safe. Now broken. "Sinister used that to down load thoughts from my mind, as well as every other telepath's he has, after putting chips into our heads to read our thoughts, and influence them, sometimes. On mine, it was not full control so that it would be undetected by the World Walkers."

"And we would have detected it," Shine was confident. "But just the attacks hid it, we thought it was PTSD. And I maintain that some of it was, still, perfect cover."

"And they did that on purpose," Emma said. "So...I never suspected. I couldn't block them out without my diamond form and powers."

"So..." Domino said. "How did you get those back?"

"Apocalypse...the whole thing is a little blurry," Emma said. "I was sedated so I couldn't resist the process."

"What?!" Scott said angrily.

Emma shivered. "My resistance was higher than they expected...I'm sure thanks to Shine."

"Not just me," Shine said. "Sinister said Scott also."

"Scott? How did he help?" Forge asked.

Emma reddened a little.

"Strong emotions," Shine said matter of factly. "The weak point was the heart, after all...and Emma almost did lose heart many times, but...we helped her not. Details beyond that? Only she knows." She winked at Emma.

Well at least she didn't go all the way with that exposure, Emma thought.

"But it wasn't enough in the end," Rogue said, seriously. "And you couldn't fight them off."

"I never stopped fighting," Emma said. "But I would never have won, not alone...I'm not used to saying that. But...it's hurting less than I thought."

"Doesn't it feel good?" Shine said. "Sharing the victory? I love talking to Wally about successes, much more fun than on my own...so now that you all know what happened, can we be on our way? Being left alone this long is not a good sign."

"I don't sense anyone near here," Emma said, putting a hand to her head. "It's like Sinister just ran away. Licking his wounds like an old cur, perhaps."

Suddenly Forge looked at one of the computers. "Wait...uh oh," he said. He looked up. "There's some kind of protocol set...it looks like a self destruct one."

"We've been suckered!" Domino cried.

"What do we do?" Rogue said. "How long do we have?"

"I should have noticed that sooner," Forge said. "It was hidden...uh...we have one minute."

"So stop it!" Domino said.

"I can't, you'd have to have Sinister's clearance!" Forge said. "The whole lab is practically going to blow."

"I suppose better killing us like this than letting us win," Emma said, turning into diamond. "I might survive that, but the rest of you won't."

"Hoverboard!" Forge said.

"No time," Shine said. "Run!"

They all ran.

Shine panted. "Of course there's no way..." she said. "We can't outrun that...unless...wait a minute...it's probably only this lab, not the alternate one,"

"And?" Scott said.

"If we could switch planes right now." Shine said.

"That might work," Emma said. "You'll be drawn to the other X-men...but can you take us with you."

"I can try," Shine said. "Grab on." She held out her hand.

They all grabbed onto each other.

Shine ran around a corner, and thought--picturing her other friends.

There was a shimmering effect, and then they were running over stones instead.

"Whoa..." Forge said.

Then it was tile.

"Ah...it's shaking," Shine said. "Without one of them here, it's hard to get grounded..."

"One of them was right by us," Emma said. "I could feel it...Try again." She telepathically reached out.

The ground changed back to stone, just as they heard something blow up loudly, and the sound of heat rushing through the air.

But it never hit hem.

They fell onto the stone, and were in a room with pillars and...evil looking plants.

"Ew!" Rogue jumped away from one of them.

"Well...who knew that plane shift thing could be useful?" Shine said faintly. "Turning weakness into strength, that's our motto...also...I think I might pass out."

She slumped forward.

Emma grabbed her shoulders.

"Now she's the one who's expended," she said.

"Is that you Emma?" She heard Storm's voice call.

"Storm?" Scott got up. 

"Oh look, it's the whole gang," Logan said.

"You again?" Rogue said. "It ain't ours," she looked at Scott.

"Well, it wouldn't have been, would it?" Domino said. "That was the whole point...also ow."

She pushed Forge off of her.

"Sorry, tripped on the...tile?" Forge looked around. "Or is it stone? I can't tell."

"It's both," Storm called. "Shine, was that her voice?"

"Yes," Emma said.

"There's something here she needs to see," Storm said. "And could one of you untie us."

Scott blasted their restraints off.

They joined them at the pillars...and they all stared at the doorframe.

Emma shook Shine. "Look at this," she said.

"I think this may be what you were looking for," Scott said.

Shine blinked and rubbed her eyes. "I...oh..." She sat up more. "Yes...that's it...we're here...One half anyway...Emma...try to reach Wally now, I need you to tell him something."

Emma put a hand to her head.

* * *

Wally and the kids were just making their way back to the lower levels, when he noticed the shaking happening again.

He fell over, dizzy.

The kids asked what was the matter.

Wally explained briefly.

"Can someone sing something or tell a joke or something...?" he moaned.

"Did that really work?" Kitty was skeptical.

"It did before," Wally said.

"I can't think of anything funny," Ryan said.

"Of course not." Kitty kicked the wall. "There's nothing funny about any of this.... We don't have time for this."

"Kitty, it's not like he can help it," Trinity said.

"Yeah, well...he didn't help us," Kitty said sourly.

"What are you talking about, little cat?" Colossus asked.

Kitty pointed at Wally accusingly. "We were thrown into that Arena, and you guys just ditched us! You didn't even try to help us! Just some speech on TV doesn't count! Do you know how hard it was? We thought we were gonna die! And one of us did!"

"Kitty," Jubilee said.

"I mean, she's got a point..." Ryan said.

"Is this the best time?" Quicksilver said. "I get it, you guys are butthurt about them ditching us, but I probably would have done the same thing."

"What?" they said.

Quicksilver shrugged. "We were goners as far as they knew. The fastest way to help us was to stop all this.... I mean sure, they didn't succeed--yet, but we did okay, and it's not like they knew that. We're supposed to be smart enough to handle ourselves.... Plus, that lady came to help us because of them.... All in all, I don't really have any complaints.... It sucks that the girl died, but that wasn't their fault."

He crossed his arms. "Of all people to blame for this, you want to pick on the ones who didn't want it to happen. And didn't all of you agree to come, knowing the risk? Could have been any of us. Sorry if you needed daddy to come save you, but I understood just fine."

"That's, like, the meanest but also nicest thing you've said to any of us," Jubilee said.

"Hey...you do have a heart," Wally said. "I give you points over the other guy...ugh..." He leaned back. "I think this is getting worse...even without two different dimensions of people here."

"Why did it start again?" Jubilee wondered, patting his head.

Suddenly Wally heard Emma's voice in his mind.

"Mr. West? Mr. West?"

"Whoa...Emma...when did you learn how to do this?" Wally replied.

"A long story.... Listen, Shine wants me to pass on a message: We found one of the doors that she believes is connecting our worlds. We're in...the older one."

An image of it came into his head.

"Whoa..." Wally said again. "That's weird looking."

"Apparently there's another one.... Shine thinks that between them is where we might find the missing telepaths.... I admit, I feel a strong psionic charge here.... I'm trying to tap into it. It's hard to focus even now."

"I'm surprised you can," Wally said.

"I have my powers back," Emma said. "Another long story. Also...there's some bad news, about Gambit.... We may be too late for him...at least...unless you both can work a miracle. They've...well, merged him already."

"What?" Wally sat up.

The others couldn't figure out what had changed.

"Poor Rogue..." Wally said aloud and in his head. "They can't...oh, man... We've gotta get him back."

"That would be nice, but there's no time to look for him... The pulse here is so strong... I'm not sure it can last much longer... Even the non- telepaths can see it switching now. The trouble is, Shine is tired. She's fought a lot today. To close this, we need both of you. She thinks you need to find the other end, and try from both sides... Oh, perhaps, from the inside out. But that's dangerous, also...so...what do you think?"

Wally rubbed his head. "If we try from both sides...then, best case scenario, we succeed and one of us is stuck in another dimension... Could be ages before we can get back--this stuff can mess up dimension travel for months, even years. And all the people I'm with aren't from that world."

"No...I think we'll have to join you," Emma said, "for you to find it at all...but if you came here, you might end up there anyway."

"Oh...I see... Yeah, that's smart,"  Wally said. "But we're still missing a few people. You have Morph with you?"

"No. I was hoping you did," Emma said. "But I sense more people near you..."

"Yeah, I have the kids," Wally said. "And they're all right...most of them. So..."

"Oh, thank heaven," Emma said, with real relief.

"But no Rogue," Wally said. "Is she with you?"

"No... Storm and Logan are. They were brought here, in fact. Which doesn't bode well. I believe they may have intended to entrap them inside soon. But no one is here... It's almost like they want us to go in."

"They might..." Wally said. "But it might be our only shot to stop this too.... I don't know. If we do it on the outside...what happens to all the people in there?"

"I'm not sure they'd ever make it back," Emma admitted. "I don't like that idea...but if we go in, we may never come back."

"Well...we can't without Rogue,"  Wally said. "I have to find her. Can you guide the rest of them to where you are?"

"I can try," Emma said. "Let me patch in now..."

Kitty suddenly winced. "Ah...who's...? Whoa..." She fell over. "Why's the room shaking?"

"So...the price of being connected is that we get thrown off," Wally muttered, rubbing his head.

"I don't want to make her ill..." Emma said.

"Try Trinity," Wally said.

"What?"

"She's not a DJ, and she doesn't have a double... Maybe she won't be as bothered by the connection," Wally said.

"Well...worth a try..." Emma said.

Trinity suddenly looked up. "What...? Ah, how are you in my head?!" She jumped.

"Calm down, kid, she's just talking to you," Wally said.

"It's creepy!" Trinity said. "Oh, gosh, is this what you guys deal with?"

"It's not so bad once you get used to it," Ryan said.

Trinity stiffened, but then she took a deep breath. "Okay...so...you want me to follow you? Uh...sure..."

"You don't have to talk out loud," Jubilee said. "She can hear your thoughts."

"That's even worse," Trinity said.

"Seems like it's working." Wally got up. "Guys, I have to find Rogue. Follow Emma to where the others are. We have a kind of an idea... This could be it."

"Really?" Colossus said.

"Or, it could be a trap," Wally said. "Which is more than likely. I'll try to catch up before you get here."

Kitty frowned. "Sure...just leave us again."

"Kitty--" Wally faced her. "--I get it...and I'm sorry. But if we don't do this, none of it will matter anyway. This is why we're here.... It's not fair. But you can either have fair, or you can have any good results at all. Because if we win, it won't be because the odds were fair, it'll be because we were in the right."

Kitty stared at him, then she sighed. "All right."

Wally nodded and ran away.