Chapter Text
Chapter 3 Season 1: Flipped
All seemed well on the island of Artemis. The sun was shining bright, there was a slight chill in the air and the whole landscape was covered in a fresh blanket of winter snow. It all felt very peaceful.
You couldn’t even tell that there had been an apocalyptic alien invasion just weeks prior.
Not long after the organization known as The Seven flipped the island to the other side, life in general returned to normal for a lot of the residents living there. Homes were rebuilt, businesses opened their doors once again, and it seemed that everyone was willing to put the past behind them with the hope of a more positive future.
…Well, almost everyone…
Sanctuary
Down in the dark labs of the large base, a certain scientist was hard at work. He was rather tall and muscular in stature and was clad in black futuristic looking armor.
The Scientist’s gaze periodically shifted between his notes and the readings that he had received from the seismometers. He had been working tirelessly through the night taking notes on seismic readings. About a week before, he had some reports come in regarding irregular activity occurring all over the island. Namely—small tremors. As a member of The Seven, it was his sworn duty to protect the island and all of its inhabitants from any danger that threatened them. Therefore, he had to investigate. Over the course of a few days, he had several of their sentries place seismometers at numerous locations across the island to get readings from all areas. As the results came in, it had confirmed the theory that something peculiar was indeed occurring beneath the island’s surface.
But today was different. He had stared at the current readings for any sign of seismic activity. So far, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. The strange tremors that were occurring before had suddenly stopped.
The Scientist let out a tired sigh as he picked up the mug that contained his sixth cup of coffee for the day.
“What is going on here?” He asked himself, he briefly opened the visor on his helmet so that he could take a drink. He took a large gulp and instantly winced in disgust as the once hot beverage had now gone cold. After mustering down the miserable swallow, he closed his visor again and continued to work.
He began to scribble down more notes, desperate to come up with some reasonable explanation as to why all of this was happening. His troubled thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the lab doors opening.
Another man stepped into the room. Like the Scientist, this man was also incredibly strong and wore futuristic armor with a glowing visor. It was none other than The Foundation: The Seven’s leader.
“Scientist.” He spoke up,
The Scientist abruptly turned to the Foundation and saluted, “Yes, Sir.”
“Have you been down here this whole time?” He asked,
Scientist nodded, “Why yes. I’ve been down in this lab for three whole days!” His upbeat tone turned more sarcastic, “I’ve been living the dream down here! I mean, what’s not to like?! No sleep, cold food and coffee, I haven’t even showered!”
The Foundation grimaced behind his helmet and waved the air in disgust, “Ugh, obviously. I can smell you from here. Anyways, how is the research going? What have you been able to find?” He asked,
The Scientist shrugged and shook his head, “Nothing new, I’m afraid. In the past 48 hours there haven’t been any new signs of seismic activity.”
“You mean it’s stopped?” Foundation said,
Scientist nodded, “Affirmative.” He began to pace the floor.
“It’s so strange. I have never seen natural occurrences acting this inconsistent. It almost doesn’t seem natural.” He began wringing his hands nervously. “I thought that flipping the island would solve all of our problems. But it seems that it’s only created new ones. It was the same with the black hole as well.”
The Foundation hummed in thought, “Well, our work is never truly done, Scientist. What’s important is that we keep an eye out and stick together.”
“Speaking of ‘sticking together’, have you seen Visitor?” Scientist asked, “I’ve hardly seen him since ‘The Flip’.”
“He’s currently positioned at the launchpad outpost over by my monument.” Foundation answered, he turned to leave.
Scientist nodded again, “Right… your monument…” He then muttered under his breath, “Vainglorious egotist.”
The Foundation snapped his head back towards the Scientist, “What was that, Scientist?!”
The savant nearly jumped out of his skin and held his hands up in defense, “N-Nothing, Sir! Nothing at all!”
The Foundation glared at him, “That’s what I thought…” He turned around and headed for the doors. “I’m going to head out and survey the island.”
“I’ll be here.” The Scientist replied, there was little enthusiasm in his voice.
Foundation stopped and turned around once more, “Oh, and one more thing, Scientist.”
“Yes, Sir?” Scientist asked,
“I’ll be returning later on today. Agent Jones is coming by to discuss negotiations regarding his work for The Seven. Visitor will be coming too. So please, for the sake of us all, take a shower before we get here.” Foundation said annoyed,
“Got it!” Scientist called back,
As soon as the Foundation left, Scientist immediately returned to his work.
Just as the Foundation promised, he and the others arrived at Sanctuary about three hours later. Scientist had managed to shower up and air out his suit before they got there, much to their relief.
The Scientist, Foundation, Visitor and Agent John Jones were all seated around a briefing table located in the East Wing of the base. It was quiet. No one really knew how to start the conversation.
Agent Jones, known to his friends as ‘Jonesy’, was nervously twiddling his thumbs. Finally, he decided to be the first one to speak up.
“So, uh…You said that nothing new has occurred in the last 48 hours?” He asked,
Foundation sighed as he facepalmed, “Yes, Jones. We established this point three times already.” He said annoyed,
“Right right, of course.” Jones nodded, he then looked over at the Scientist. “Do you happen to know what is causing these tremors exactly?” He asked,
The sarcastic savant shook his head. “No, not at all. I find it rather alarming, to be honest. Normally earthquakes are a common natural occurrence on islands, but these earthquakes are unlike any that I’ve ever seen.”
He proceeded to pull out the notes that he had been taking down in the lab. He placed them on the table and began to look them over.
“All I know is that these tremors occur more sporadically than normal, and the magnitude for each of the quakes have been inconsistent. They’ll be on the higher end of the Richter Magnitude Scale one minute and then be on the lower end the next.”
“Regardless, we need to keep close tabs on them. Just because the quakes have stopped doesn’t mean they won’t resume.” Foundation said seriously,
“Why are we even worried about them?” Jones asked with a shrug, “As long as the Zero Point is safe, we have nothing to worry about!”
Foundation sharply turned his head towards Jones, “Zero Point or not, any threat to the island must be taken seriously.” He then folded his hands rather professionally.
“Now, onto other matters.” He looked at the Visitor who was sitting across from him.
“How are things over by the launchpad, Visitor? Have there been any attempts to steal our rockets?” Foundation asked,
“Negative. Not a single soul has come close to the outpost.” Visitor replied,
Foundation gave a nod of approval, “Excellent. Keep it up.”
“Actually Foundation, I was wondering…Perhaps I could take on a different task? Something more…productive to our cause?” He asked,
“No, we can’t risk letting our arsenal fall into the wrong hands. The island may be at peace now, but that’s not going to last forever.” Foundation said, “Now…”
The leader of The Seven then looked to Jones.
“…Let’s discuss our little deal, Jones.” He said seriously,
Jones’ face blanched a little. In light of the recent events that had transpired, such as Cube Queen and The Last Reality’s attempted invasion of Reality Zero, the former I.O agent had nearly forgotten all about the deal. While the Foundation did remind him while he was rescued from Slone, Gunnar and the rest of the Imagined Order during ‘The Flip’, Jones had been preoccupied with helping those known as the ‘Loopers’ as well as the other former denizens of Apollo get settled on their new home of Artemis.
Essentially, their ‘little deal’ had slipped Jones’ mind.
“Our…deal?” Jones said nervously,
“You promised that you would get me both Geno and the sisters. What is your progress on that?” He asked,
The former I.O agent began to sweat profusely and stumble over his words. “Yeah, about that. Um…I uh…don’t have them yet.”
“What? How do you not have them yet? We made this deal months ago.” Foundation said aggravatedly.
Both Scientist and Visitor exchanged nervous glances with each other. Although Foundation’s face was currently hidden behind his visor, they could tell from his tone that their leader’s temper was rising.
And that was NEVER a good thing.
“O-Of course! I know that.” Jones replied, the rogue agent shrank back in his chair.
“I’m just…still working on it.” He said,
“You’re ‘still working on it’? What kind of an answer is that?!” Foundation asked, “Can you do it or not?!”
Visitor spoke up again, “Foundation, if Jones is unable to retrieve Geno and the sisters on his own, perhaps I could assist him?”
“No, Visitor. You’ll remain at your current post. That’s the final word.” Foundation said sternly,
“But Sir, I-.” Visitor tried to say,
“Visitor, the answer is no!” He snapped,
Visitor slightly lowered his head and stared at the table. “Yes, Sir.” He said obediently,
The leader of The Seven then rose from his chair and walked over to where the former I.O agent sat. He roughly grabbed the collar of his orange prison jumpsuit and pulled him close so that they were face-to-face. Jones gulped and quivered in fear.
“Jones, I’m going to ask you again and you’re going to answer. Can you get Geno and the sisters? Is it even possible to get them? Or did you make a promise that you can’t keep?!” Foundation asked,
Jones opened his mouth to speak but was too scared to say anything.
Foundation held his fist close to the blonde man’s face. “I don’t think you want to know what I do to people who double cross The Seven. Now answer me, Is. It. Possible?”
Now fearing for his life, Jones feigned a laugh.
“Come on, big guy! Would I ever lie to you? Look, it’s definitely possible. It’s just going to take some time. I mean, we’re talking about detaining an all-powerful evil genius here. On top of that, while I’ve never seen them, his daughters are likely every bit as powerful as he is. That’s not exactly a walk in Pleasant Park, you know.”
Foundation lowered his fist as he looked over at his other two men to get their opinions on the matter.
“He’s got a point.” Scientist shrugged,
Visitor just nodded in agreement.
Foundation let out a sigh. He let go of Jones’ collar and sat back down. Feeling stressed, he slumped forward in his chair and leaned his head into his hand. “My apologies, Jones.”
Jones fixed his jumpsuit and waved it off. “Don’t worry about it.”
“It’s just that the sooner we have them in custody, the better…” Foundation then stared off into space, fearing for the future.
“I want to end this thing before it begins.”
“We will, Sir.” Scientist said,
“Affirmative,” Visitor continued,
“I spent too long working for the wrong side. I will not rest until Reality Zero and the Zero Point are safe.” Jones said determined,
The Foundation nodded with pride at his soldiers, “I’m glad that we’re all on the same page…” He stood and headed for the door.
“We are reality’s last hope…”