by HERO!, Fahrenheit 451 and GummyWorm
It was dark and cold in the void. Hero shivered, not because of the chill, but because for the first time since the bite, he was afraid. He had risked his life trying to remedy the tangled threads that he couldn't follow, and now he was isolated, helpless, cold.
In the confusion of the battle, Hero succumbed to the black abyss that was once the enemy. The darkness inhaled him as a tornado would a barn roof. For all of his powers and skill, Hero was helpless against it. For despite the metahero demeanor, he was still just a man.
It had been hours since the chaos, hours since he found himself here -- nowhere -- without his newfound friends. He was no closer to finding a way out than when he first arrived. For, with all of his powers, he could not begin to conquer the void.
Hero held himself as his eyes began to burn. His vision went blurry the moment before the tear fell, rolling down his goosebump-ridden cheek. With his gloved hand, he wiped it away and swore to himself that another would not follow.
Something brushed his leg in the darkness, again. Adrenalin raced through Hero's heart as the panic caused him to hyperventilate. As long as he was suspended in mid-air in the vast, black nothing, Hero couldn't run. But he did his damnedest to try. With arms and legs flailing, teeth clenched, and eyes involuntarily watering, Hero cut through the antigravitational field of the void and managed to swim or fly away from the something.
Hero stopped to catch his breath when he noticed a light. It wasn't much of a light, but in the utter darkness, a candle flame is blinding. He began to maneuver toward it, when the something slammed into his back, hard.
He screamed, but relentlessly pursued his goal: the light. The pain shot through his body, but the light was within reach. Hero threw his body, without a second thought, through the lighted rip in the veil of black.
Hero opened his eyes and glimpsed what he hoped was home. As foreign as the surroundings seemed, he continued to hope for the best, although in truth he had no idea where he was, or where the rest of the MBLers were.
Agent F7, Nightwatch, Marv Velo, Caped Cadet, Disco Stave, and Lioness were laying on the floor.
Hardy New-Born: "What happened?"
Caped Cadet: "Well, we were sucked into this pocket universe. And in there, the six of us were combined into this evil being sent to destroy the MBL. Well I'm glad that Hero and Flintlock stopped us. Where is Hero?
HNB: "Apparently, he was sucked into some sort of void."
Caped Cadet: "And why is Zed so smashed up?"
Zed: "Smasher did that. Apparently, he was captured by some aliens who are intent on invading us."
HNB: "Where's the Lad?"
Caped Cadet: "He's still in the pocket universe. I say we go find that guy who sent us there."
HNB: "To Minnesota!"
A television flickered on in a dark and smoky room.
"To Minnesota!"
The Worm looked grimly into the TV screen over his gin and tonic, absently groping for the remote control.
"Bugger this, then," he said to no one in particular, smirking at the flickering images of the MBL on the screen. "They never listen. I try to give them the clues they need, and they completely disregard them."
The Worm raised his glass and the remote to the TV. "Luckily, there's other worlds to go to when they blow this one to hell. Good luck, lads. You're gonna need it."
The channel flipped to Red Dwarf, and the Worm settled back to watch his last Earth TV show before leaving it all behind.