Batteries Not Included

[Daniel Uriel]

"...And that answers that," Daniel muttered. "Come on! Hurry!" he said, grabbing Kevin, too, as he figured that Mira could fly fast enough to keep up with him (having seen her do it before).

[Altamira Vazquez]

Mira stared at the lights, blinking.

[Daniel Uriel]

"Mira! Come on!" Daniel shouted back to her, not wanting to go on without her, but not really having time to stop much, either. Dammit, do I have to carry her along, too?

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Why?"

[Daniel Uriel]

"Because we're not leaving you here!" He turned in midair, flying back to scoop her up as well.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Why not?"

[Daniel Uriel]

"Because you're our friend!" He swung past her, reversing back to scoop EVERYONE up now. "And we aren't going to leave you here! We all go or none of us go!"

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Foolish mortal. You should never have come here, so far from your home."

[Daniel Uriel]

"Yeah, well, I've gotten this far by being foolish, no sense stopping now," Daniel muttered as they sped along toward the evacuation point.

[Narrator]

The walls of the entire station were shaking now. They could hear explosions coming from the lower levels.

[Altamira Vazquez]

The Phoenix broke Daniel's grip.

"THIS is the Phoenix's home. Chaos and death. This is where I belong."

[Narrator]

There was a deep rumble and a flash of light. Screeching metal and fire surrounded the team as the station exploded around them, ripping itself apart from the inside out.

[Altamira Vazquez]

The Phoenix threw a bubble around the group, with her on the outside.

"Do you see that?"

[Narrator]

In the cold black of space, as the flames and pieces of the station started to fly away from them, the group could see a shining light coming from a great tear in space.

There had been a ship there once. A ship that no longer existed. A ship that had changed everything. Now there was a gap in space, a window through the fabric of the universe. Bright light swirled around the edges but through the portal they could see a familiar blue ball.

Earth. Home.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"This is where you belong. This is where you have always belonged.

Altamira belonged there too...but when she needed help most, when she needed people, they weren't there. They turned a cold shoulder, and she was lost. Now and forever. The Phoenix lives.

She came to you," she said, turning to face only Daniel now. "And she came to her mother. The mother that had made her into a villain. And she was turned away. Your goddess came to you in the form of a young girl in a vision, and you turned her away with bravado and self centeredness. The Phoenix never needed help fighting. The Phoenix is Power itself. A young girl's soul needed saving. And it went unsaved."

"The Phoenix does not belong there," she said again, gesturing at the Earth.

[Kevin Gravis]

"You're wrong," Kevin interrupted, "you're just... wrong. The part of you that is Mira is still there. The Phoenix wouldn't care about all those people in the other universe. It wouldn't have saved me, and it wouldn't be helping us now. She deserves to be happy. She belongs there."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"My little puppy. Loyal to the last.

What Mira did is unforgivable, as a human being. That has been made clear. As the Phoenix, it's part of my duties. What is stagnant must be judged."

[Kevin Gravis]

"What Mira did? What Mira did?! She was the most innocent person I had ever met until you raised your ugly head! You failed to learn from her. You are only the stagnant one I see," he answered with furious conviction.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"If that helps you sleep at night. If you prefer the Phoenix murdering billions, or Altamira murdering millions. I was there when she was innocent. I was there from the very start. I raised her and I gave her a home. Living among people corrupted her."

[Kevin Gravis]

"You raised her apart from everyone and you're actually surprised she wasn't prepared for the world? Wow. You really don't understand people at all."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Direct your fury at the corrupters, not the corrupted."

[Kevin Gravis]

"The great and powerful Phoenix is the victim here? Yeah no. Cosmic deities don't get to play that card. Try again."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"The victim is a poor Spanish girl who wanted to help the universe. She had the power to.

She was asked the unaskable."

[Kevin Gravis]

That really took the wind out of Kevin's sails. Perhaps he could argue if he had witnessed what happened in the other universe, but he hadn't. All he had was this:

"Tell her I'm sorry I left her in the dirt because I couldn't accept the part of her that is you. And remind her... Sean is a good guy and I know he misses her deeply. He's better for her than I ever was."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"No man is better than you, Kevin Gravis. As good, maybe. But not better,"

She raised her arms, and the bubble grew opaque, as cosmic energies swirled around it, the sound growing deafening, even in the vacuum of space.


And then the party would find themselves in a small restaurant in central London -- home.