AN: Hello and welcome everybody! My apologies for starting this fic, instead of uploading my other ones, but have no fear! They should each receive an update either this week or the following week. The reason for the delay was because, as I finally freed myself rom my Warhammer 40k craze, I fell into a Worm craze. Seriously, I think I read just about every fic about Worm on this site, and I still haven't read the original works. (My bad.)

But, I came up with an idea for a crossover, and I just couldn't let it go; I filled about an entire notebook full with storylines and plot ideas. I got some crazy idea's planned, so I'm looking forwards to seeing where I can take this! ^^

Enjoy!

Origins

Andrew Detmer closed his locker with a sigh. School had finally finished for the day, though, as always, Andrew wondered whether or not he was glad about it or not. After all, school being finished meant that he finally received a reprieve from the various gangs that plagued Winslow, and by extension, him. On the other hand, school being finished also meant that he had to go home now.

Where his father waited to continue the work of the gangs, with malicious enthusiasm.

Decisions, decisions.

Giving another sigh as he heaved his bag on his shoulder, Andrew turned away from his locker, giving the various gang-tags that decorated it only a cursory glance.

Huh, looked like the Merchants were starting to get more active again.

Ducking his head, Andrew made his way through the hallways of Winslow, dodging the throng of people milling about, trying to get to the exit unseen and without hassle.

Of course, this being Winslow, avoiding gangs and bullies was an endeavor doomed to fail.

"Watch it, freak!"

Andrew's head snapped up at the shout, but it was already too late. A leg, quickly put in front of his own, saw him sprawled out over the dirty floor of the hallway, his backpack thrown loose from his shoulder due to the fall. Its contents spilled out across the floor with a clatter, as Andrew scrabbled to his feet.

Working from experience, the downed teenager almost threw himself over his school supplies, trying to shield them from the people surrounding them with his body. Quickly stuffing his supplies back into his bag, Andrew tried to ignore the jeers and laughter of the other students, focusing all of his attention of retrieving his stuff.

As he reached out for one of his books, a steel-tipped boot descended on it, smudging the cover. Dreading what he would find, though he felt as if he already knew, Andrew's eyes tracked the boot up to a leg, which was attached to a body, clad in red and black leather, on which rested a head.

A shaved head.

'Oh that's just great. Empire 88, part-time Nazi's, full time assholes.' Andrew thought viciously to himself, though he made sure to not voice them out loud.

In Brockton Bay, people quickly learned that talking back to gang members was just asking for more trouble than you were already in.

Getting to his feet, backpack clutched to his chest, Andrew glared at his tormenter. He didn't even know the skinhead's name, even though this wasn't the first time he would come home with the neo-Nazi's boot prints on some of his stuff.

"I'd like that back now." Andrew said, hoping his voice didn't tremble as much as his legs.

Laughter met his statement, people making crude jokes and slapping each other on the back in congratulations. A quick glance around showed that people either joined in on the laughter, or pretended that nothing at all was going on.

A door to one of the classrooms a little down the hall, the head of Mr. Gladly, one of the teachers at Winslow peeking around the frame. Andrew locked eyes with the man, frustration and desperation warring in his gaze.

Mr. Gladly closed the door again.

'Just another day at Winslow, I guess.' Andrew thought to himself bitterly, struggling to keep the tears of impotent fury contained.

A sudden silence brought Andrew back to his surroundings. Looking around, the teenager saw looks of predatory glee on the people surrounding him and apprehension on those that had tried to ignore the situation. Dread coiling in his stomach, Andrew turned to his tormenter, who was turning red in the face.

"What-?"

BLAM!

Andrew hit the floor, hard, feeling the coppery taste of blood explode in his mouth. Struggling to stand up again, Andrew managed to lean on his elbows and look at the Nazi wannabe that had just decked him. A heavy boot slamming down on his chest pushed Andrew back to the ground.

Looming above him, his face still red with fury, the Empire 88 thug snarled at his prone victim.

"Think you can just ignore me, freak?!"

Deciding that not aggravating the guy who just took him down with one punch was the better course of valor, Andrew quickly shook his head. Apparently this was enough for the skinhead, since he let out a cruel grin.

"Good. Now, let's take it from the top. Say: 'I'd like that back, please'." the thug sneered at Andrew.

Seeing no way out, with the skinhead's boot still crushing his ribs, Andrew complied.

"I'd like that back, please." he spat through clenched teeth, the 'please' almost making him physically ill.

Laughter erupted once more, as cruel jokes and derogative statements made their way around the rest of the people surrounding Andrew and the Empire 88 member. The Nazi soaked up the attention, before turning back towards the teen lying underneath his boot. A look of contemplation crossed the thug's face, before he gave a snort of contempt.

"You're lucky, freak. I ain't got no time to teach you proper respect today, got some more… important business to attend to." the gangbanger said pompously.

Admiring gazes from the people surrounding them made Andrew sick to his stomach. Everybody knew what the thug had meant with 'important business'; for their members, the business of the Empire 88 was the most important thing in the world. This usually included forcing their Nazi ideology on the rest of Brockton Bay in the most articulate way they knew.

By beating the shit out of everybody who was not white.

And those who were white, but who they simply didn't like all that much.

'And these people look like they think that's the greatest thing in the fucking world.' Andrew thought hatefully as he took in the admiring gazes of the crowd.

He snapped back to his tormenter as the pressure on his chest slightly increased. Seeing he had his attention again, the thug continued.

"So for today, you get to run away, freak. Tomorrow though…" the neo-Nazi trailed of in what had probably been intended as a dark and ominous chuckle, though the effect was ruined by the gang member still being in puberty.

With complimentary cracked voice.

The crowd obviously ignored it, chuckling to themselves as well.

'They're all just like sheep, only… less intelligent.' Andrew thought to himself as he took in the mindless sycophants surrounding him.

A sharp kick to his ribs brought him back to the present.

"Just run away already, freak. Nobody here wants to look at your ugly face no more." the Nazi wannabe growled, following up his statement with another kick.

Couching up some blood, Andrew ignored the jeers from the crowd, who by the sound of it, agreed wholeheartedly with what the Empire 88 thug had said. Getting to his feet, he grabbed his back and the few supplies that had spilled out of it again. His hand darted out to the book that now had a boot print on its cover, quickly smashing it into his bag.

Getting to his feet, Andrew shoved his way through the crowd, walking away at a speed that was just barely under a run. He kept his head down, trying furiously to keep tears from spilling from his eyes, though he already knew he wasn't entirely successful.

'Fuck 'em. Fuck ALL of them. Fuck all those people who laughed with that idiot. Fuck all those people who pretended nothing was wrong. And FUCK Mr. Gladly especially.' Andrew kept thinking to himself, his thoughts continuing to turn down an ever darker growing path.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice that he had reached the exit. Quickly dragging his sleeve across his eyes to remove any possible traces of crying, Andrew pushed open the doors leading to freedom.

Leading away from Winslow.

He almost immediately came to a halt the moment he stepped outside though. There, standing clearly in the carpark, arms crossed across his chest, stood Richard Detmer.

And he looked pissed.

'FUCK! What's he doing here?!' Andrew panicked, contemplating turning around and walking back into the bowels of Winslow.

Neo-Nazi bullies didn't even come close to the evil that was Andrew's father.

Before he could flee however, Richard locked eyes with his son, making an irritated 'come here'-motion.

'FUCK!'

Making his way over towards his father, fear warring with sheer terror, Andrew almost cried in relief when he saw the car next to his dad. A nondescript van, it stood out in its mundaness amongst the banged up and tagged cars in the rest of the parking lot.

A PRT van.

It always struck Andrew as ironic, that in all their efforts to make their vans not stand out amongst a crowd, they only made the vehicles more recognizable. In a city like Brockton Bay, which was plagued by gangs and violence, cars were either damaged, scratched, or simply old, or they bore the tag from one of the gangs in the city.

Usually they were both.

The squeaky clean and undamaged vans were as much an eyesore as an ABB member in the heart of E88 territory.

Ignoring some of the more obvious ways the PRT expressed their complete and utter lack of understanding of Brockton Bay, Andrew made his way over to where his father was waiting, his fear noticeably lesser than it had been.

The apprehension was still there, but that was not an unusual thing when dealing with Richard Detmer, PRT-agent. However, his father had used one of the vehicles of work, which meant he was still on the clock, despite being put of uniform. He probably was on break and would have to return to HQ pretty soon; Winslow wasn't exactly close to where the PRT was stationed after all.

It would also mean that his father had less time in which to harass him.

Though Andrew didn't even think for a second that his dad wouldn't make the effort.

He was dedicated in that way.

Having finally reached his father, Andrew couldn't completely contain his sigh of relief. Sitting behind the wheel of the van was Richard's brother-in-law, Michael Garetty. Michael was married to Andrew's aunt and was Richard's superior officer. Richard hated him, but whenever Michael was around, he was forced to curb his more… violent tendencies.

"Hello." Andrew murmured, looking at his shoes, not wanting to look his father in the eye.

The sentiment was returned.

"Get in." came the gruff answer.

"What?" Andrew asked surprised.

He never got to ride in one of the PRT sanctioned vehicles, something about regulations, though Andrew wouldn't put it past Richard to make something like that up, just to spite him.

"Don't make me say it again, brat." his father growled.

Recognizing the tone of voice, one that would promise trouble later, Andrew quickly complied, getting in the back of the van. It was rather bare, he noticed, with the only notable thing being a duffle bag lying on the floor.

Or rather, his duffle bag.

The terror returned, settling like ice cold tendrils in Andrew's gut. So, this was it. This was the day. The day he got kicked out of his home. As he sank into one of the chairs, Andrew contemplated his situation.

He had seen it coming of course, he had known all along that someday, something would have to give. Apparently it had; his father had packed Andrew's bag full with clothes. Things didn't look good for him.

'Where am I even going to stay?' he thought to himself, feeling oddly detached from the whole situation.

The closing of door shook Andrew out of his thoughts, focusing on the lined face of his father. His look was coolly returned with carefully hidden disgust visible in the man's eyes.

"No need to worry Andrew." Michaels' warm voice grabbed Andrew's attention.

Andrew liked Michael. The man was kind, but forceful when he had to be, and was very nice to Andrew's aunt, who, after his mother of course, was probably Andrew's favorite woman in the whole world.

The PRT Officer continued.

"We are just going to drop you off at my place. Matt is already there, as is his friend Steve. You remember Steve don't you?"

Andrew didn't really. He knew Steve Montgomery more through his cousin Matt and the grapevine at Winslow. Steve's dad had a pretty high position in the office of the Mayor and as such brushed shoulders with some of the most powerful people in Brockton Bay.

Rumor had it that Steve was friends with Triumph and that he had even met Armsmaster once, though Andrew didn't know if believed that.

Michael didn't wait for an answer though and continued in his warm tone of voice.

"Joseph came with this interesting idea for the coming holidays; there's this summer camp that's supposed to be really fun and educative. He was apparently talking with Danny Hebert of the Dockworker's Union again, and the man mentioned that he was sending his daughter Taylor to the camp, and so Joseph thought that it would be nice for Steve as well. God knows the kid deserves a break now and then." Michael kept talking, even as he effortlessly maneuvered through Brockton Bay's midday traffic.

Andrew knew Taylor Hebert only vaguely. He knew that she went to Winslow with him, but she didn't share many classes with him. More importantly, however, was that she was friends with Emma Barnes, who Andrew did know.

Well, from a respectable distance, at least.

Emma Barnes was so far out of his league, it wasn't even funny anymore. As such, Andrew didn't have any connection with either her or Taylor. He had heard of Taylor's dad though; the man was the leader of the Dockworker's Union, who had fallen on hard times after the appearance of Leviathan and all the troubles involved with Endbringers in general.

The man was also friends with Steve's dad, Joseph, due to the both of them often meeting about the issues the Dockworker's Union faced from day to day. They didn't really make any noticeable headway, but the fact that the DU even existed in the first place spoke of both men's dedication to the cause.

Andrew focused on Michael again, who had continued talking, oblivious (or at least, Andrew thought the man was oblivious; you never knew with PRT Agents) to the fact that his audience had stopped paying attention.

"- so Joseph rings me up, asking me if Matt wants to come as well. Well, of course Matt would like that, he and Steve are joined at the hip, always getting into trouble together, ha ha!" Michael laughed good-naturedly, obviously not minding the 'trouble' his son got into.

Andrew was briefly overcome with a crushing sense of envy, before he tried to shake it off. It wasn't Matt's fault that he had a decent dad, and neither was it Michael's fault for being one. Still though…

'Why didn't I get a decent dad as well?' he thought to himself, glancing briefly at his father, who was sullenly looking out the window.

Then again, Richard Detmer always looked sullen.

Not noticing Andrew's sudden dark mood, Michael continued with his story.

"So Matt agrees to go with Steven to this summer camp, and I can't help but think that this is great. 'Cause me and your dad here will be reassigned for a couple of months. Don't know why precisely, though at the briefing, Piggot mentioned something like 'counter-infiltration' procedures." Michael shrugged; clearly, it didn't really bother him all that much to be shuffled around on the hope someone wouldn't stick their nose where it didn't belong.

"But then I think to myself, Richard here is reassigned alongside me as well, which would leave you in the same position as Matt. So when I told him, he suggested that you come as well. When I ran it past Richard, he was all for the idea."

'I just bet you were. Getting me out of your hair and away from mom? Why am I not surprised you thought this was a good idea?' Andrew thought to himself venomously.

He was surprised at Matt's actions though. It wasn't really as if there was any bad blood or anything of the sort between the two of them, but they also didn't really hang out together; Matt was going to Arcadia after all, along Steve, the Wards (though nobody knew who they were) and New Wave's Panacea and Glory Girl (who everybody knew who they were).

So Matt's offer pleasantly surprised Andrew, his opinion of his cousin rising several notches.

'Who knows, maybe this won't be too bad after all.' He thought to himself, desperately hoping he wasn't wrong.

The universe owed him this much at least, right?

However, there was still one thing that was niggling on the edge of Andrew's mind.

"Sir, what about my mother? If I'm gone and my father is reassigned, she'll be all alone." Andrew spoke up for the first time he stepped foot inside the van.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father's knuckles whiten.

Michael just chuckled reassuringly.

"Don't worry about it, Andrew. Whitney will be all too happy to have Karen over for a while, just the two of them. Everything'll turn out all right, you just wait and see." Michael said fondly.

'You just wait. This is Brockton Bay. Things don't just 'turn out all right'.' Andrew thought morosely to himself.

Andrew was sitting outside under the night sky, fiddling with his camera. It was one of his most prized possessions, and as such he rarely had it on him. It probably wouldn't last a single day at Winslow, and he'd rather not let his dad near it if he could help it.

The man tended to break things whenever he got angry. Which around Andrew came down to almost always.

So Andrew considered this to be a rare treat, to simply sit outside, undisturbed, fiddling with his camera. Currently he was checking out the night vision on it, trying to get proper shots with minimal lighting.

Of course, his contentment couldn't last.

"Hey Andrew! Andrew!"

Giving a sigh, Andrew turned around on the tree log he had been sitting on, looking at the two figures approaching him.

"Hey Matt."

Andrew didn't really know how to feel about his cousin. He was thankful for Matt for suggesting to come along, and so far, during his brief stay with the Garetty's and the uneventful trip to the summer camp the teenager had been nothing but friendly and polite. But Matt hung around more with Steve, who Andrew didn't really know all that well, so he preferred to remain in the background while the two friends were horsing around.

On top of that, despite Matt's friendliness, Andrew couldn't help but be annoyed by Matt's naivety. He knew of course that Arcadia didn't have the same problems with bullying that Winslow had, and he knew that the Garrety's didn't live as close to the Docks as Andrew did, but Matt had grown up so sheltered, it was almost as if those uglier aspects of Brockton Bay didn't even exist.

For Andrew, who was struggling to keep his head above the water in those uglier aspects, who felt as if every single day was a struggle to survive long enough to see the next one, this was almost insulting. Only because Matt so obviously didn't know better kept him from lashing out at him and Steve.

He was shaken quite literally from his musings as his cousin had grabbed him enthusiastically by the shoulders, shaking Andrew back and forth in his excitement. Glancing over his cousin's shoulder, he could see Steve with an enormous grin splitting his face, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet. Andrew could smell faint hints of alcohol on both of them.

Turning his head back to his cousin, who was still shaking him, Andrew craned his head a little. He wasn't exactly short, but his cousin was powerfully build, and topped him by a few inches at least.

"Hey Andrew, you're good with a camera, right?!" Matt said excitedly, his grip tight on Andrew's shoulders.

"You keep shaking me like that, and I won't have a camera to be good with." Andrew responded dryly, causing Matt to blush in embarrassment, before quickly letting go of his shoulders.

He could hear Steve's muffled snort at his response, but when he glanced in his direction, the dark-skinned teenager's face betrayed nothing, still sporting the enormous grin he had when he and Matt approached him. Andrew let out a snort of his own.

'Politician's son through and through I suppose.'

"So what did you need?" Andrew asked Matt, who somehow managed to look even more excited.

The taller teenager leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice to a rushed whisper.

"I think we found something!"

Andrew raised a skeptical eyebrow, even though he could feel himself becoming curious.

"Something? What kind of something?"

This time it was Steve that spoke up.

"We think its bones or something, maybe they're from something prehistoric, but they're definitely big."

"Just how big are we talking about here?" Andrew asked cautiously, though he couldn't help but be intrigued now.

In response, Matt spread his long arms wide, hands outstretched, looking at Andrew with a grin.

"That big?!" Andrew almost shouted.

Bones that big belonged almost always to a prehistoric animal, and when found were something of a sensation amongst historians.

Matt nodded at Andrew's slack jawed expression, grin growing wider still.

"I know, right! We document this, contact the right groups, we could become famous!"

"We could become rich!" Steve chimed in.

"We could have our names on the covers of scientific magazines!"

'I could pay for my mother's medicines.' Andrew thought dumbstruck.

"So, what do you say? Ready to make history?" Matt asked him, hand struck out.

Andrew barely had to think about it, a matching grin to the one that had almost permanently stuck itself to his cousin's face on his own now. He shook Matt's hand with vigor.

"Lead the way."

It turned out that the bones were in a cave of sorts. Andrew briefly wondered if his cousin hadn't kept something from his family; after all, what other reason do two teenagers have to sneak into a remote cave, all alone.

"So, Matt, you want to tell me something?" Andrew asked with forced nonchalance, as he tried to maneuver down the cave with a single hand, camera held securely within the other.

"Tell you what, Andrew?" Matt replied distractedly, trying to feel his way forwards in the darkness, only aided by the small flashlight he carried in his pocket.

"Well… ahem… I mean… about your… ehh… sexuality?"

"WHAT?!" Matt chocked out.

Behind them, Steve was laughing hysterically.

"Well, you want to explain why the two of you were away from the camp, in this cave, alone?"

Steve's laughter turned into coughing.

In front of him, he could see Matt blushing so hard that he hardly needed the flashlight to see in the dark.

"It's nothing like that!" Matt snapped.

Andrew merely raised an eyebrow.

"Steve wandered into the woods, found this cave, came back and got me, then when I saw the bones too, we went and got you." Matt bit out, his face still doing a remarkably good impression of a tomato.

"And what was Steve doing out here in the woods by himself?"

Matt opened his mouth, before he closed his mouth with a snap, his brow furrowed in thought. As one, both cousins turned towards their friend, identical expressions on their face.

Steve's eyes widened as a rabbit caught in approaching headlights before stammering an explanation.

"Look I needed to pee, all right?! And I couldn't do it in the toilets at the camp, because they were all occupied! So I came to the woods, did my thing and I, uhh… sort of… kinda… got lost."

The silence was deafening.

Finally Matt spoke up.

"You… had to pee… and got lost?"

Steve shrugged in apology.

Matt shook his head in exasperation.

Andrew helpfully didn't point out that his camera was still running.

"Whatever, let's just go, the bones are up ahead, we're almost there." Matt said, continuing to walk deeper into the cave.

Andrew and Steve quickly followed, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.

Despite the bones not being more than several yards away, it still took the trio almost ten minutes to get there; the boys had to crawl over buried tree roots and over sharp rocks, all the while trying not to trip or lose their way in the darkness.

Finally, after the most frustrating minutes in their lives, they had arrived at where the Matt and Steve had claimed the bones were buried.

Immediately, Andrew knew that they had been had.

"Dammit!" he swore loudly, getting the attention of the other boys.

"What? What is it?" Matt asked worriedly.

"It's not a fossil."

Looking from the exposed bone back to Andrew, Steve spoke up.

"What do you mean it's not a fossil? Bones are fossils, right?"

Andrew shook his head.

"Fossils are petrified bones. Basically, they're stones in the shape of bones. This is just a bone."

This time it was Matt that swore. Walking closer to the bone he ran a finger along the exposed yellow white remains.

"But, bones this big, it had to have come from some large animal, right? So maybe they're from one that died not long ago."

Andrew shook his head again, walking closer to his cousin, examining the bone for himself.

"There aren't any animals in the U.S. that are big enough to leave bones of this size, and those that have lived here, lived so long ago their bones would have turned into fossils."

Andrew leaned in closer, one hand running across the bone. He and Matt were joined by Steve, who quickly copied Andrew's actions. A look of intense concentration crossed his face, eyes narrowed in thought. Both Matt and Andrew watched him wearily, and as such were taken off guard when they saw understanding dawn in the dark-skinned teenager.

"FUCK!"

Who proceeded to swear up a colourful storm. Andrew was impressed; a few of those he hadn't even heard his father say.

"Steve! What the hell?!" Matt yelled over the din of Steve's swearing.

The other boy had heard him though and whirled around, one finger extended accusingly at the enormous bone next Matt and Andrew.

"That's not even bone! It's ivory! That thing is an elephant's tusk!"

Andrew turned to Matt, who looked equally gob-smacked.

"And elephant? What the hell is it doing here?" Andrew asked numbly.

"Fuck if I know! Maybe this cave was a cache for traders or something, and then they couldn't return and left it here. I bet that if we'd explore more of this cave, we'd find even more of these tusks!" Steve shouted back, before pacing around, widely swinging his arms, and continued his swearing.

"But… maybe there's a reward for calling it in, or something?" Andrew asked desperately.

'There must be somethingthat can help me pay for mom's medicines!'

Matt shook his head though.

"With the amount of S-Rank Threats in Africa, governments have been cracking down really hard on poaching and the like. Makes them look like they're at least doing something and elephants and rhinos are almost extinct as it is. We report a cache of ivory like this, best case scenario, we get a pat on the back and are told to go on our merry way."

"And worst case scenario?"

Matt winced.

"Let's hope really hard for the best case scenario."

"FUCK!"

The cousins were startled out of their conversation at Steve's roar. The teenager's pacing had been steadily increasing, while his attention to his surroundings had been steadily decreasing. The predictable result had been that the boy had tripped on something and was now lying face down on the floor.

Steve sprung back to his feet, his face contorted in fury.

"FUCK THIS!"

Before either cousin could stop him, Steve had walked towards the closest wall, which happened to be the one with the tusk sticking out of it, and kicked it with all of his strength. A muffled 'thud' and some dust shaken loose from the ceiling above them were the only results of Steve's kick.

Well, that, and a bruised foot, as Steve's renewed swearing implied.

Matt gave an explosive sigh of relief before rolling his eyes.

"Just calm down, would you. Who knows how stable this cave is? You could've caused a cave-in, and the-"

Whatever else Matt would have said was drowned out by a low groaning sound. It was incredibly loud, making the boys' brains rattle around in their skull. It was nearly physically present due to its sheer, all-encompassing, loudness.

As abruptly as it had begun it stopped, as if it had never been there to begin with. The three teenagers shared a panicked glance, each one standing as still as possible, no one daring to so much as breathe.

Then the rumbling started.

Andrew had never experienced an earthquake before, though he imagined it would feel something like this. It was like the floor had turned into a solid version of the sea, with great rolling waves rocking everything that stood on its surface.

Which, in this case, was him and his friends.

"RUN!"

Andrew was already running before he registered that he had been the one to shout. A hurried glance backwards showed that Matt and Steve were right on his heels. Looking further back, Andrew could see the cave collapse in on itself, the ground buried under mounds of rubble, like an inverted version of a tsunami.

And it was gaining on them.

Looking ahead again, Andrew tried to run even faster, though he could already feel his muscles straining to keep up. A tiny flicker caught his attention and as he focused, he realized that he was looking at the sky.

They were almost out!

Looking back at Matt and Steve, Andrew wanted to shout something at them. Maybe words of encouragement? Maybe simply yell to run even faster? But he never could. A different kind of rumble, audible above even the noise of the cave-in behind them, made itself known.

And it came from ahead of them.

Looking ahead again, Andrew just saw a black shape slide in front of the patch of sky, rubble falling to the ground in front of him, the walls collapsing in on each other.

The exit was shut off.

Skidding to a painful stop, Andrew almost smacked into the wall that had suddenly formed in-between him and freedom. Turning back, terror clearly visible even in the darkness, he saw matching expressions on Matt and Steve's faces as they came to a stop in front of him.

With the avalanche of dirt and stone right on their heels.

'NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! MOM! MOOOM! PLEASE! I DON'T WA-'

And then came the crushing darkness, as all three boys were buried in the cave-in.

The two entities, both larger than the mortal mind could comprehend, were moving around and into each other, every clash powerful enough to crush planets.

They communicated, with psychic messages of a magnitude so great, they thundered throughout the reality of the universe.

Together, these titans in space, these eldritch beings, these gods of chaos, came to a decision.

DESTINATION.

AGREEMENT.

TRAJECTORY.

AGREEMENT.

SATISFACTION.

CONFIDENCE.

And, simultaneously, the two titans shed parts from themselves, which combined in three lesser, but individual shards.

Which were hurled down to the little blue planet below.

Fun Fact: The director made Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, and Alex Russell live in a house together for 15 days in order to create a genuine bond between the three.