WELSHMAN POV:
I walked to the walls. I pushed a coloured block in. Slowly, a pathway soon appeared as the door opened.
I walked via the staircase down to it's destination.
I soon arrived at the secret lab below my office.
A scientist in a lab coat was having his hands full, no doubt, with my shit.
"Dr. Weldon. How are things going?".
I was obviously in a better mood than before.
"Xander, good to see you".
[Before the hullabaloo, he's my friend. Kudos if you guessed it right].
We smiled at each other and shared a hug.
As we parted, I then realized that his coat was smeared with a colourless..., well, serum.
"Waoh, that was vintage, man. Armani classic".
"Sorry for ruining your coat!".
I smiled again.
"Don't worry. I'm the president. These are like candy bars to me".
A machine beeped in the corner.
He quickly rushed to it.
"How's the job going?".
"Well, not as expected".
I walked up and stood close to him.
"I did what you asked. I got Wiccian's DNA sample".
"Yes, you did. But, I was wrong. Considering the sample, I discovered that their powers aren't hereditary.
It's almost like it's been distributed by something else".
"What...? Oh, come on!".
"This ain't super powers, Xander. It's raw magic we're talking of".
I turned away, dabbling my hand through my hair.
"We spent half a million dollars on the Ultra-lens Detector, searching for other useful abnormalities among the citizens.
Going like this, my inheritance ain't gonna cover the costs".
"That's why I'm saying, get the sponsorship of a biotech firm for me, Xander".
"Are you nuts? This is a secret experiment. We can't let Wiccian or anyone else for that matter get their hands on this. Besides, Hela's got a goddamn monopoly on US industry sector. Who'll keep it from them now?".
"Then, bloody steal then!".
I took a moment to breathe.
"He knows where my family is hidden".
"What? But the trip was clandestine!".
I just shrugged.
"We can barely conduct this without his men snooping around. And anywhere outside this premises that I visit often could warrant second looks".
"You've got some serious trust issues, man".
"With Wiccian, you may never know".
"But I warned you man. Run clean, but greed made you accept a grenade in a McDonald's".
I remembered his warning. In the bar that night. To reject the offer.
I felt regret all over.
"I was chasing a carrot on a stick, man. Now, I've become their pleasure bitch, man. Now, I dragged you into my problems".
My eyes were reddened.
He walked to me. He patted my shoulder.
"I'm your best pal, man. Anything for you dude".
"Thanks bro!".
I shook off the tears.
"Enough of the pity party. What of the portal thingy?".
"The Veil Shredder!".
"Whatever".
"Now, that's a different story, man!".
"Hit me!".
He walked up to a huge arc-like machine in the corner of the room.
"This is a near-perfect model with minor modifications right here".
"Right. So what's the evaluation?".
"That's the tricky bit, man. I haven't tried it out".
"And you called it near perfect? Jeez!".
"The last prototype could power Vegas for a week. Where are you gonna get such power from without raising suspicion? Last time, we almost got handed our asses from the press.
Besides, we broke a strange looking creature from prison".
"Fairytale books calls it a cauldez".
He looked at me.
"What?".
I asked, feigning ignorance of his next statement.
"That's why you failed middle school".
"Blah-blah. I saved your ass that day by changing the dimensions. Now get to the point".
"Point of correction, our asses, dude. Now, back to business".
He went to a huge drawing board. He wiped all information off it.
He then drew a circle.
He doubled it.
"Represented by a circle is the Timeline of Dimensions. Each running at different paces relative to one another. Now, for them to come to ours, there's a kind of link between us. We can't successfully access that link".
He then added an arrow running to both circumferences.
"What we're trying to do is to access theirs via weak spots. But we were attempting to find ones much farther from and after us. What if we are the ones on the last dimension? What if we access the ones before us?".
"So, you're telling me that you want to access the 'dimension thing' before ours? Well, that makes sense. According to the fables, they live relatively longer than us".
"Another unethical but confirmatory fact".
I walked to the fridge nearby and took a beer.
"Well, as for the power, I'll find a way to sort that out".
We soon heard clamouring coming from outside.
"Those reporters won't give it a rest, will they?".
"The bloody freedom of the press, my man!".
"Go do your thing, bro!".
I turned to walk away.
As I got to the door, I turned back.
"Which bloody philosopher cooked up the 'Timeline of Dimensions' anyways?".
"Good luck!" he ignored.
I laughed heartily as I left the room.