Shine and Wally easily evaded more people who were looking for the source of the disturbance.

They found a lower level still...one that went around a hollow space that looked like some old temple...mostly ruined now.

"Creepy," Wally muttered.

"This is like the Stone Table in Prince Caspian," Shine said. 

"I hope they don't do sacrifices," Wally said.

"No smell of it," Shine said. "I don't know what this is..."

"Well, if I had to guess," Wally said, "I'd say that if they had any prisoners, they'd be down that creepy hallway next to that old chair thing in the wall."

"Mmm," Shine said

They headed down there.

Going in, they found a narrow and dark hallway, barely lit by torches.

But then they found something even creepier than the other room.

It looked like some kind of lab, and it did have electricity...from a small floor generator, but still.

There was lot of nasty looking things around. And some unpleasant smells.

Shine stepped back. "This place reeks of sorcery," she said. "Literally."

"Eew, gross." Wally looked around. "But there's something a little different." He pointed to some object lying on a shelf. "Aren't those mutation-blocking collars?"

Shine blinked. "I think they are...though they don't look like they're operational. Maybe they're broken?"

"Or prototypes?" Wally looked closer. "Not sure they would even turn on. I don't see a lot of batteries around here."

He shook his head. "Again, creepy."

"Maybe we should bring that," Shine said. "Let Hank take a look at it...as long as it's not cursed."

"Not sensing anything on it," Wally said.

He slipped one into Shine's bag. "I guess it isn't stealing if they're up to no good, right?"

"Well, I think we do have to bend the rules," Shine said. "But it looks like we're on the right track."

"Told ya," Wally said.

"Yes, you're so smart." Shine ruffled his hair.

"Ah, stop, you're making me blush," Wally said.

"Okay, let's get going," Shine said. "No making out during the mission."

"But afterwards, right?" Wally said.

"We'll see," Shine said slyly.

* * *

Morph and Mystique couldn't dodge anyone, but they blended in.

The only bad moment was someone asking them if they knew what was going on outside.

But Morph played it off like a boss. "Oh yeah, there was someone poking around, I think. They're still looking for them."

"Weird, no one ever comes here," the person said. "But finally, some excitement.... Aren't you going to help?"

"Oh, no, we're supposed to be checking the back rooms," Morph said. "Never know what someone might be after."

"Good point. They might want those shiny, new mutants," the person said. "Keep a watch."

He ran toward the entrance.

"Of course it's mutants," Mystique said. "Just once, it would be nice if it wasn't."

"To be fair, we don't usually get involved if it's not mutants," Morph said. "Which is...kind of a thing to think about. Well, I'd bet money that whoever we're looking for is a mutant."

"No, really?" Mystique said sarcastically.

The passage they were following cut around the center room that Shine and Wally had gone through, and instead went deeper directly, and the earth seemed to be swallowing them.

The whole thing brought back unpleasant memories for both of them, of different villain lairs.

"Well...the decor is unique." Morph attempted to lighten the mood.

"What do all those symbols mean?" Mystique wondered uneasily.

"I wish I knew. I bet Hank would." Morph glanced at them. 

The hall turned sharply into a corner, which opened into a very small, dank row of cells.

The cells were carved out of stone, but had simple, newer-looking, wooden doors across them.

"Well...jackpot," Morph said.

"Maybe not." Mystique looked in one. "It's empty. I don't like this place..."

"Better just check them all." Morph was speaking low, even though there was no sign of any guards in here.

He moved down the row.

Mystique wondered why no one was guarding this place.

Then she thought, no way, no way someone wasn't there.

Squinting at the walls, she didn't see anything unusual...until she realized the pattern along one repeated itself a little.

Cocking her stun gun, she fired it.

Morph jumped and spun around to ask her what she was thinking.

Off the wall peeled someone who had blended into it...who was holding some kind of weapon also.... They fell on their face.

"Huh," Morph said.

Mystique shrugged. "Knew it."

"That was actually pretty impressive..." Morph had to admit. "I just hope no one heard that."

Suddenly a woman's voice, with an uptight-sounding British accent, came mumbling through of the doors.

"Oh, please tell me that racket out there is a prison break?"

"Who...?" Morph puzzled. "Hey, where are you?"

Something hit one of the doors.

Morph rushed down to the one that was next to last.

"Are all the cells of this level empty?" he asked.

Mystique was eyeing them more closely. "I think so," she said. "Unless more invisible people are there."

"If you're wondering, I'm the only prisoner here." The woman's voice sounded peevish. "This had better be a prison break. I have a terrible migraine."

"Okay, hold on." Morph shifted his hand into a lock pick.

"Copycat," Mystique noted.

"Well, kind of the point," Morph said.

He opened the door. "Okay, lady, who are you?"

Mystique peered into the cell also.

"Emma Frost?" she exclaimed.

* * *

"What?" Morph said.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Frost asked.

"Why are you speaking with that stupid accent?" Mystique asked.

"Still don't know you," Frost said.

Mystique dryly shifted into her usual form.

"Oh...Mystique." Frost frowned. "Well, I might have known. I still owe you from the last time we met, don't I? But really, kidnapping? A new low, isn't it?"

"Not really," Morph said. "You know this lady?" He sort of did, but something was off here, he wasn't sure.

"She's no lady," Mystique said. "Don't you know who she is? Part of the cult of mutants who were after the Phoenix."

Frost frowned at her. "I don't remember ever telling you that. Don't tell me the X-men did."

"Really, you don't remember meeting?" Mystique said.

But then she did a double take.

"Wait..." she said, "something isn't right...not just her voice... She doesn't look the same."

"Well, it could be this hideous collar they put on me," Frost said. "Are you two here to rescue me? Need a telepath for something? Honestly, I'd take anything over this filthy cell."

Morph suddenly pulled out the Talis link... It was doing something. [I made this up by the way, the link thing, but, it makes sense. This is all referencing the X-iles comic line. Which is...not that good but is one of the only ones to feature Morph as a main character.]

"Oh..." he said. "This is it. This is the person."

"What is that?" Frost stared at it.

"I think I got it." Morph looked at Mystique. "This is not the Emma Frost you know. This one is from another dimension."

Mystique stared at him. "This woman is from another dimension...just like that?"

"I don't get it either," Morph said. "How did you get here?" he asked Frost.

She shook her head. "I have no clue. I woke up, and I was here...on some table... The last thing I remember is..." She stopped, then looked at her hands. "I thought I was...dead..."

"That's not concerning at all," Mystique said. "Look, Emma Frost is nothing but trouble. I say we leave her here and get out."

"I can't do that," Morph said. "We have to get her out. Before it's too late... Listen, ma'am, something is going to come here looking for you and use you for something, and we have to stop it, or...well, you don't want to know."

"That the world will end?" Frost said coolly. "I have heard that line before. But I'm not anxious to stay here. Get this collar off me, and we have a deal."

"Maybe we can get it off," Wally's voice cut in.

"Hi," Shine said. "Who is this? This is the person?"

"According to my Talis link she is," Morph said.

"This is Emma Frost," Mystique said. "Not a good person."

"Coming from Mystique?" Frost said. "Unless you're not the Mystique I know... Is she?"

"I doubt it," Morph said.

"Well, then perhaps I'm wrong." Frost didn't sound convinced.

"She doesn't look like Emma Frost," Shine said. "And she has an accent. I don't think Emma Frost has one.... You must be an alternate version of Emma Frost."

"I beg your pardon?" Frost said. "What does that mean?"

"It means big trouble," Morph said. "Someone went to a lot of trouble to find you. We have to go before they show up."

Shine reached out her sword and cut through the collar.

Emma tore it off and rubbed her temples.

"Well, thank you," she said. "I should be all right in a moment now. Primitive, little device..."

"I'm convinced," Wally said.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Mystique frowned.

"We cannot leave her here," Shine said. "We found this lab.... They're into some crazy crap here. They might dissect her. Or worse. It wouldn't be right."

"Oh..." Frost shuddered. "But how do I know you're any better?"

"You're a telepath," Mystique sniffed. "It's easy for you."

Frost frowned, like it pained her to use her powers still, but she looked at them.

"Well...I think you're serious." She looked at Morph. "But I can't read you two at all..." She looked at Shine and Wally.

"And you don't trust me." She frowned at Mystique. "Why not? It seems, technically, we have never met."

"Well, she doesn't trust most people," Wally said. "But if you're not a bad guy here, that's good enough for me. Can you fight? Because we might have to."

"I am quite capable of defending myself," Frost said snootily. "But who are you people?"

"Oh, I'm Morph," Morph said. 

"Do you know who the X-men are?" Shine asked her.

"Yes, of course," she said.

"We're friends of theirs," Shine said. "I hope that is good news to you."

Frost got an odd look. "Well...it's better than the alternative. Very well, let's go."

"Are there any other prisoners?" Wally asked.

"No." Morph looked in the last doors. "It's weird. Just her."

"Weird and suspicious," Mystique said. "These people always have more than one prisoner."

"Yes...eventually," Shine said meaningfully.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Wally asked.

"Depends," Shine said. "Frost, do you know what room you were...I assume summoned in?"

Frost frowned. "I don't..."

She rubbed her head some more. "I don't remember. But, if we find one of those little guards, I can find out."

"Fair enough," Wally said. "Give us a minute."

He looked around the hall.

"Are you all mutants?" Frost asked.

"We are," Morph said.

"I knew that already," Frost said stiffly. "I can read your mind. I also know that's not your real form."

"I'm incognito," Morph said.

"But if I can't read theirs, they must be telepaths, right?" Frost gestured at the DJs.

"No," Morph said. "We don't really know what they are."

Shine shoved him. "Don't talk about us like we're another species, Morph."

"Might as well be," Mystique muttered.

"Okay, there's a few of 'em coming." Wally returned. "By the way, on the job, you can call me Flash."

"I hope that's a joke," Frost said.

"No one here likes my name," Wally whined to Shine.

"They just don't appreciate simplicity." Shine pretended to sigh in despair. "Well, let's go catch one of those hapless minions."

"Sure thing." Wally gave her a guns-up sign. "The rest of you can try to keep up. We like to work fast."

He took Shine's arm, and they hurried back out the hallway.

"Is her accent tripping you out?" they heard Wally ask Shine.

"I never liked the other Frost, so not that much. It's kind of cute, actually," Shine answered.

Frost glared after them. "I am not cute," she said scornfully.

"If it helps, we won't call you that," Morph said cheerfully. "But we do have to follow them. Mystique, can you watch our tails?"

Mystique didn't care for being told to do this; she felt she was being relegated to just an extra set of eyes.

But Morph didn't wait for her to agree or disagree, gesturing at Frost to follow him and heading after the DJs.

Frost at least walked quickly, despite still being sore.

They hurried back towards the front.

Wally had already punched the guards or minions or whatever they were, and Shine was pinning one down. They nodded at Frost.

"And you will only get information, right?" Shine said. "We don't hurt people with telepathy."

"Believe me, that would take more effort than I'm willing to expend right now," Frost said, still loftily. It was getting on Mystique's nerves.

She put a hand to her head.

"Why do they always do that?" Wally asked Shine.

"I think it's like how snapping your fingers helps you remember things," Shine said. "The mind and body are closely connected."

[Scientifically, did you know snapping your fingers actually does help you remember? I think it's the stimulus to your brain from touch.]

"Do you mind?" Frost frowned at them. "Well, I have some good news."

She stood back. "There is a control room here, a primitive one from the looks of it...and there's not that many members. From what I can glean, this is some sort of cult. Not surprising, but this fellow doesn't really know that much about it. Just that they want mutants for some purpose. We'd have to get a higher up."

"I don't think we have time," Morph said. "We need to get while the getting is good."

"The bad news," Frost went on, as if he hadn't spoken, "is that I wasn't summoned here, to his knowledge. Prisoners were sent in from somewhere else.... There's more than one, but the others are not here. Who they are, he didn't know."

The guy glared at them. "You freaks aren't going to get away from us."

"Dude, shut up," Wally said.

"More?" Shine said. "Morph, did your tip off say anything about that?"

"No," Morph said. "She must be the only one the Talis-thing cares about. So I'm betting the others might not be...you know...from another dimension. But dimension travel isn't just something everyone can do--it's really hard."

"You don't say?" Wally leaned on the wall casually.

"Yeah, so I don't understand. How is she here at all?" Morph said.

"I'm afraid that I can't tell you," Frost said. "I have no memory whatsoever of how it happened, and neither do any of these people. It's probably they just do not know. That's a secret you'd keep well guarded, isn't it? Frankly, I didn't even know other dimensions beyond the astral plane could be accessed, period. You're throwing a lot at me right now."

"Since you already know that, I think we can fill you in later." Shine gestured at the guys. "But not now. But if you come with us, Miss Frost, I promise you, you have a better chance of figuring this out. I hope you are not thinking of trying to hunt down who's behind this instead."

Frost raised an eyebrow at her

"At the moment, I just want out of here," she said. "You can fill me in, as you say. Then I will decide what to do. Can you live with that?"

"Sure," Wally said. "But what about blowing this popsicle stand?... Okay, I'm never going to see that expression the same way again...but, still."

Shine tapped her chin. "Morph, I do think it would be best to try to shut this place down. Kidnapping people from across the universe isn't something you can just let people get away with. But I'm sure the authorities would never find them, if we left it now. Still, we have so little information to go on..."

"I wasn't told to bust it up," Morph said. "And if we do that, we could change the wrong thing...too much to explain. I think we should just take Frost, go, and try to figure out what to do with her next."

"They don't have a lot of equipment here," Wally said to Shine. "And it sounds like she didn't get summoned here first. Maybe he's right."

"We have to at least do something to slow them down," Shine said. "Emma Frost, can you hide yourself using telepathy? You know, make people not see you."

"I can if I try," Frost said. "Though it's not the most effective way to take them down."

"All right, so, if you can do that, then they can take you out of here," Shine said. "We will catch up. We have an evil lab to destroy first."

"Are you sure about this?" Morph said.

"I'd be less sure of leaving it untouched," Shine said. "Break."

"So much for Morph being in charge," Mystique said dryly.

"I never liked being in charge anyway," Morph said.

They split up again.

"I'm trying to piece this together," Frost said. "All I've got so far is that you're an X-man, and they aren't, yet somehow you trust them enough to bring them and leave all your friends at home. And then there's her. I can't even fathom why she's here."

Mystique shot her a dirty look. "Why don't you keep your mind-probing to yourself? You're lucky someone came at all. I can't think of anyone who'd risk their necks for the Emma Frost of this world."

That remark seemed to anger Frost enough for her to become sullenly silent.

They got to the front undetected, but unfortunately there were a lot of the people outside, still looking for them.

"How can we get to the plane like this?" Morph wondered. "We'd have to portal right to it. I wish they'd hurry up. How can the fastest man alive be this slow?"

"It takes more than 5 minutes to destroy a lab," Mystique said. "Unless you bring a bomb."

She sounded like she'd done it before.

"Aren't you a barrel of sunshine?" Frost muttered. "Well, we could always just fight our way out. Not that I have much hope of either of you being that good in combat. As usual, I'd have to carry the team."

[Well, she certainly carried the entire show she was in.]

"Could be she's right," Morph said. "Not about carrying us, but about fighting. Still, if no one saw us, it might be better in the long run... You know, this is why I hate doing this sort of thing. You never know how you're going to affect the future in the long run. Someone else needs to make these decisions."

Mystique just gave him a weird look.

"We might have another problem," Frost suddenly said. "One of them has something that detects mutants."

"Which one?" Morph asked.

"I can't tell yet..." Frost looked around. "But...that one, I think." She pointed at one guy who was checking what looked like a watch, but it wasn't a watch.

The guy looked up and zeroed in on them.

"And...cover's blown," Mystique said disdainfully. "What were you saying about being undetected?"

"Well, they do say the direct approach is best..." Morph laughed weakly.

"How about the dodging approach?" Emma said, as the guy signaled the others.

"There!" He pointed. "Those are mutants in disguise."

"Perhaps I should have said before, I can't fool this many people at once," Frost said. "So, now they all can see me, I hope you two have a backup plan."

"Can you knock them out?" Morph asked, backing up towards the wall.

"Not this many." Frost backed up also. "In fact, I might fare better in my other form...if I can use it at all."

Suddenly she looked queasy. "Actually, forget that."

"Other form?" Mystique said. "The...oh, right, that. Yes, that would probably be better right now."

"What other form?" Morph asked. "If it can fly, I'd use it now."

"No, I can't--" Frost began, but before she could say any more, the humans were pulling out weapons and trying to surround them.

"If we let them box us in, we're goners," Morph said. "So, only one thing to do."

He morphed into Angel and flew into the air.

Then he took out his laser gun and shot at a few people, to get their attention.

It worked. They turned to follow him.

"Go diamond," Mystique told Frost crossly. "Now. They have weapons, and I'm not invulnerable to them like some people I could mention are."

"I..." Frost looked like she was going to faint "I can't...I can't do that."

"What do you mean you can't? Get a grip!" Mystique said. "This is not the time for telepathy anyway. Why does it matter?"

Frost mentally slammed a few people who were turning their attention back to them, and they fell over.

"I just can't!" she said. "End of story. What can you do?"

"Better than you," Mystique muttered, shooting a few more. "If this were a real gun, it would be more effective."

"One can really tell you're not an X-man," Frost said.

"Like you are?" Mystique shot back. "Do something!"

"I am doing something, you ninny!" Frost mentally knocked out a few more people. "There's just too many."

"Not for someone who was made of diamond."

"Will you drop it already!" Frost said angrily. "Why don't you turn into diamond if you're so sure it's a good idea?!"

"I can't just change my body like that," Mystique said. "And if you're going to be so useless, at least get out of my way."

She ran to dodge the rest of the people.

But really, just humans weren't that difficult to deal with.

Morph landed and morphed into an elephant, swatting a few more away.

Then he morphed into a monkey and sprang over their heads.

He had them thoroughly confused by now.

"This guy's got a thousand tricks!" they yelled.

"Maybe we should have captured him."

"You think you could?" another scoffed. "Just shoot him."

"More impressive than I was expecting," Frost muttered. "But we'll have another problem shortly."

"And what is that?" Mystique ducked behind a tree.

"There're other mutants here," Frost said. "I don't know how powerful they are... Figures, they always have their lap dogs, don't they? If one of them is stronger than us, we'll be in trouble."

"So just mentally take them out," Mystique said.

"You say that like it's that easy. Do you know how hard it is to do that if you can't see them?" Frost said.

"I wouldn't really know that, would I?" Mystique said. "But I know someone who's too scared to really try when I see them. Do you feel like dying today? Or being experimented on? Why aren't you using your full power?"

"How about I use it on you?" Frost said angrily. "Mind your own business."

"I'm not the one who was captured by humans," Mystique said.

"Oh, I'm sure you've never been captured by humans before," Frost said cuttingly. "Some rescuer you are."

"Ladies?" Morph joined them, panting. "Is there a problem? Other than the fact that I think more of them are coming...?"

"Where are your other two companions?" Frost asked.

"I don't know." Morph pressed his com-link. "Flash? Nightlight? We're kind of getting pinned out here. Please tell me you're almost done."

A moment later, they crackled back.

"We're pretty much done," Flash said. "But we heard someone say that they were sending their forces out to the front to deal with some mutants... This place might be just about empty now. Can you sit tight?"

Morph ducked as some people were getting closer, looking for them.

"I don't think we have long before they spot us..." he said. "You gotta get us all out of here, now."

"If I do, my door might appear anywhere around you," Shine said. "You are out of sight, I hope. One of them might try to follow you... You don't want that. Trust me."

"Right...out of sight," Morph said. "Okay, give us, like, one minute to get farther in."

"I'm sorry, what is she going go to do?" Frost asked.

"If you're a mind reader, you should know," Mystique said.

"You know, I've decided I already don't like you," Frost said.

"Girls, not now!" Morph looked ready to freak out. "Get back, hurry."

He hustled them farther into the trees.

"Oh dear," Frost said. "I have a feeling this might be where the mutants I was just mentioning are hiding."

"Wait, there's other mutants?" Morph said. "Why didn't you tell me--?"

Before he could finish, something hit him and knocked him over.

The girls looked up to see someone who was unmistakably a mutant crawling along one of the trees. They had spines sticking out all over them.

"I do hope those are not venomous..." Frost said.

Wouldn't matter, if she'd turn into diamond, Mystique thought.

The mutant looked at them with beady, little eyes, like a rodent's, and aimed at them.

Must not be able to shoot that many of those at a time. Weak.

Mystique barely even needed to look to shoot him out of the tree.

"Pathetic," Frost echoed her thoughts. "They really thought someone on that level would be able to stop us?"

"Well, you certainly were a lot of help stopping him," Mystique said. "Morph?"

Morph sat up. "Ow," he said. Then grinned. "Just kidding." He tossed the spines away. "I can't tell if these had poison in them or not, but it wouldn't matter."

"Are you immune?" Frost asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Morph said. 

"What?" Mystique frowned at him. "To poison?"

"Poisons, toxin, venom, most things like that," Morph said. [All this is from his bio.]

Mystique kicked him.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"First, there's no way that actually hurt you. Second, that is monumentally unfair." Mystique was mad.

"Oh dear, is the little, blue one not immune?" Frost said primly. "Well, life is never fair, is it?"

"It's not like it's my fault," Morph said. "I'm just more powerful than you, and I have a master's degree. That's the only difference."

Mystique pointed her gun at him. "Want me to try this instead?"

"Not the time for flirting," Frost said. "Bad people. Coming. Where is our escape?"

"What? We're not--" Mystique was livid.

The doorway opened right then.

"I'm going to assume that is our ticket out of here," Frost said.

"Go through now!" Morph said, getting to his feet.

Some of the humans started shooting things at them now that they were standing still long enough to be spotted.

Morph shoved Frost into the doorway. She yelped.

Mystique covered her head as she followed.

Morph jumped in right before it snapped shut.

* * *

The doorway dropped them into the Blackbird itself.

"Well...you gotta hand it to Shine--she can aim," Morph said, sitting up. "But where are they?"

A second later, another doorway dropped Shine and Wally into the room.

"Okay, let's never do that again," Wally said, rubbing his knees.

"We jumped off the stairs and into the door," Shine said, "trying to combine our gifts... I do not recommend that kind of drop...also ouch. Are you three okay?"

"Sure," Mystique said. "And nice, waiting for the last second to get us out of it. The suspense really built up my anticipation of being shot."

"I didn't have to anticipate it..." Frost had her hand on her leg. "One of those thugs hit me..."

Blood was appearing, which was not good for her all-white clothes.

"Let me see," Shine said. She looked more closely. "You're lucky, Miss Frost. It just grazed you. It's barely even a quarter inch, I'd say. We have bandages on this plane. You'll be fine as long as it wasn't poisoned...but it wasn't poisoned."

"How do you know?" Frost asked.

"Because obviously they wanted you alive," Shine said. "Probably the projectile was not even supposed to be that lethal." She pulled the first-aid kit out. "Morph, let's go. They'll find this plane eventually."

"On it." Morph was firing it up. "That was close. I mean, I would have been fine, but not so sure about the other two."

"One of us would have been, if she'd have used her diamond form," Mystique said.

In response, Frost used her mental powers to slam her into the wall, using her mind's reaction.

"Hey!" Morph said. "What was that for! And what is she talking about anyway?"

"Emma Frost can turn into diamond." Shine shrugged. "And...it's true--why didn't you? One less person to worry about being shot that way. Suppose it had been poisoned?"

Frost was silent as the plane took to the air.

But, as they kept waiting, she sighed.

"You want the truth?" she said.

"Please," Shine said, but not unkindly.

"The truth is," Frost said, "the last time I remember using my diamond form...it shattered into a million pieces...and I am not sure how I am alive, or how I am here...but I am not sure I can turn back into it without...breaking apart."

[Hmm...tea?

If you have not guessed by now, Emma Frost is the Earth 1081's Emma Frost. At least, as far as I can make out.

The X-men show this story is based off is Earth 616. They are basically just two alternate timelines. And 1081 is a little further into the future.

Her character is based on her rendition in Wolverine and The X-men, which is, imo, far inferior to the other show, but Emma Frost was a solid character, one of the only good ones they had.

Morph, if you don't know, is also from 1081 (and 616), though his backstory can be a little confusing. 

But dimension-merging stories are kind of my game, so I decided to try my hand at making sense of this bizarre dual timeline. I hope you're intrigued by now, because it's going to be a wild ride.]