The Rockies were still smoldering behind us, a jagged scar of violet-tinted smoke rising into the thin mountain air. My "Leadership Seminar" transport—a high-speed, stealth-enabled VTOL—was idling in a hidden crevasse three miles away.
But I wasn't on it yet. I was standing in a grove of pine trees, watching the "team" regroup in a small clearing near the base of the mountain.
"That was... totally not on the itinerary," Ben panted, sitting on a stump and staring at his Omnitrix, which was currently blinking red and letting out a pathetic beep-beep-beep. "I think I broke the 'Way Big' setting. Or at least, I gave him a massive headache."
"You almost gave us all a headache," Jake grumbled, his scales receding. "I've got soot in places a dragon should never have soot."
Danny Fenton was the only one still standing, his eyes fixed on the sky where the rift had been. "It wasn't just a battery. Vlad was trying to pull something through. Something... heavy. I could feel the weight of it on my soul."
Kim was silent. She was leaning against a tree, her Kimmunicator in hand, but she wasn't looking at the screen. She was looking at the snow. Specifically, she was looking at a set of footprints that didn't belong to any of them—footprints that led from a nearby ridge directly to where I was currently standing.
I froze, my cloaking field hummed at 2% power to save battery.
"Wade," Kim said, her voice low and sharp. "Did you get a lock on the 'Producer's' signal during the fight?"
"It's impossible, Kim," Wade's voice drifted from the device. "The signal was bouncing off every GPS satellite in the Western Hemisphere simultaneously. It's like the guy has his own private network. But I did find something weird."
"Weird how?"
"The encryption style. It's not alien, and it's not magical. It's... familial. It uses a logic-gate structure that reminds me of your dad's rocket-cortex designs, but with a layer of cynicism I've only ever seen in... well, in your brother's math homework."
I felt a cold sweat prickle my neck. Damn it, Wade. You're too good.
Kim looked up, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the treeline. She started walking toward the ridge, her movements precise and predatory. She wasn't just a cheerleader; she was a world-class tracker who had spent her life outsmarting the world's most dangerous people.
"Danny?" she called out.
My heart stopped. "Sheila," I whispered, "Is she looking at me?"
["She is looking at your general coordinates, Danny. Her intuition is currently at 98%. I suggest an immediate 'Sibling Diversion.'"]
"Danny!" Kim called again, louder this time. She was only twenty feet away. "I know you're around here somewhere. The 'Producer' knew exactly when we were in trouble. He knew the 'static shock' protocol. That's a term Dad uses when the toaster breaks."
I realized I couldn't run. If I moved, the displacement in the air would give me away. I had to lean into the 'Possible' persona.
I deactivated the cloak and stepped out from behind a tree, about thirty yards to her left—far enough to make it look like I hadn't been eavesdropping, but close enough to be "in the area."
"Kim?" I blinked, rubbing my eyes and looking intentionally groggy. I was holding a digital camera and a bag of trail mix. "What are you doing here? I thought you were at the 'Cheer-off' in Denver."
Kim stopped, her hand hovering over her utility belt. She stared at me, her gaze traveling from my messy hair down to my hiking boots. "Danny? What are you doing here? This is a restricted research zone. There was an explosion."
"Research? Oh, man, tell me about it," I said, holding up the camera. "I heard there was a rare 'High-Altitude Aurora' event happening over this peak. I've been out here for four hours trying to get a long-exposure shot for my physics project. But then the mountain literally blew up. I think I got a picture of a giant green light, but I was too busy diving into a ditch."
I walked toward her, acting shaky. "Is Ron okay? Did you see a giant red lizard? Because I think I'm having a very specific altitude-induced hallucination."
Kim didn't move. She kept her eyes on mine, searching for the 'glitch.' For a second, the "Campbell" in me felt a pang of guilt. I was lying to the person who trusted me most. But the "Producer" knew that the truth would put a target on her back that even she couldn't outrun.
"You were 'taking pictures'?" Kim asked, her voice flat.
"Yeah. Look." I handed her the camera.
On the screen was a perfectly staged, slightly blurry photo of the mountain erupting—a photo I had Sheila generate and upload to the SD card three seconds ago. It looked exactly like the work of a talented, but terrified, amateur.
Kim looked at the photo, then back at me. The suspicion in her eyes didn't vanish, but it shifted.
"Wade," she whispered into her watch. "Can a 'long-exposure' camera pick up the same frequency as the Producer's signal?"
"Uh, no, Kim," Wade replied. "Unless the camera was actually a localized signal booster disguised as a Canon EOS."
"Right," Kim said. She handed the camera back to me. "Stay here, Danny. It's dangerous. I have to go... find Ron. There was a... gas leak. A very big, very purple gas leak."
"Classic Colorado," I muttered, tucking the camera away.
She turned and ran back toward the clearing, but I saw her look back over her shoulder one last time. She didn't believe me—not entirely—but she couldn't prove I was anything more than her annoying, over-achieving twin brother who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.
["That was close, Danny,"] Sheila said as I watched Kim disappear into the trees. ["She's suspicious. She's going to start checking your browser history."]
"Let her," I said, my voice dropping the 'scared brother' act. "I've got the history set to 'Pizza Hut' and 'Advanced Calculus' on a loop. But she's right. The secrets are getting heavy."
I looked at the data Kim had downloaded. The file name was finally decrypted.
PROJECT: CONVERGENCE - PHASE 1: THE ANCHOR.
And below it, a signature that made my blood run cold. It wasn't just Vlad or Drakken. There was a third name, a name from a universe I hadn't even recruited yet.
Professor Pericles.
"The bird," I whispered. "If the Mystery Incorporated villains are involved, this isn't just a crossover. It's a collapse."