"Aaaaaw!" I sighed. "This is nice."
Sandy let out an ooof as someone jabbed an elbow into her side. She looked out over the throbbing sea of nerds, geeks, closet geeks and cool-kids-pretnding-to-like-comics-and-such-because-it-was-in-now. "This is nice?"
"Yeah." I smoothed down my short, black hair. I'd always gotten mocked about how my hairstyle looked like it belonged in the 1950s. My letterman jacket didn't help. At least here I got some thumbs up for looking like some Silver Age character. "A day without monsters or being shot at? How could that be not nice?"
Sandy sniffed the BO polluted convention center and gagged; she plugged her nose. "Yeah. Sure."
Glen, meanwhile, drooled over the Couch Potato League Assemble booth.
I had to smile. "Finally something we both enjoy. It seems like ages since we just hung out."
Sandy pulled a can of air freshener out of her purse. The can hissed and released a coconut smell as she pressed the button. She waved the can around like she was casting some kind of protection spell. "You see each other everyday at the dig site."
"Yeah...but I'm usually complaining. I took that semester off and got stuck with the internship at the mountain."
"I thought you came because Glen got an internship."
"Oh, that too. But a lot had to do with all the other choices being picked over." I glanced over at Glen. The owner of the booth was giving Glen a lecture while clearing the glass of fingerprint smudges.  "Don't tell him I said that." Sandy gave me a bright smile. I rubbed my jaw. "I can tell my complaining is getting to him. Lately any time he gets to punch me so I can power up, he seems to enjoy a bit too much."
"For a pacifist he sure is violent," Sandy said with a humph.
"I wish there was another way to project to the Astral Plane than getting clocked." Sandy gave me a look that said, "I bet you do." I shook my head and changed subjects back to Glen. "If it isn't the internship, it's my 'job' with E Ops." I even added the air quotes. "It's hard to keep friends when you're constantly battling monsters and mobsters."
Someone behind Sandy began coughing loudly and continuously. "I'd almost prefer the monsters right now." She started reaching into her purse for something else. "I like pop culture as much as the next empowered 21st century teenage girl, but I'd rather be watching this on MyVideo. It's quieter and I won't get Con Flu." Finally fed up with not being able to find whatever it was she was looking for, she turned to the cougher and said, "Didn't your mother teach you to cover your mouth?!"
Glen joined us. He practically floated over to us. He was all smiles and joy. "Ace! Look at this!" He shoved his purchase in my face. "They actually had a copy of issue 169. It's the first time Spudtor joined the CPL!"
"You sure do like alien characters," I chuckled. The whole Couch Potato League was made of aliens who came from a distant planet.
Glen shrugged, slightly nervously. "I'm a normal American teenager. I can identify with aliens."
"Huh?" Sandy and I said.
"I mean, feeling alienated. Like you don't belong."
Sandy almost pushed me aside as she approached Glen. "But didn't Spudtor have to leave the CPL in issue 218 after he betrayed his fellow super-spuds?"
Glen turned pale for a moment; he stammered for a second. Once he regained his confidence, he stated, "It only appeared he'd betrayed them, which is why in issue 231 he was welcomed back."
Sandy crossed her arms and shot a glare of defiance at Glen. "I'm not sure I could trust him after he lied and kept secrets like that." Glen gulped. I raised a knowing eyebrow. Her stance relaxed a bit but became more defensive. "I lied, kept secrets, and spied on you for the greater good."
"Bad guys always say that," said Glen, almost sticking his tongue out at her. I just rolled my eyes.
Thankfully, the announcement that the next panel was beginning interrupted the growing intense moment. I really didn't want to make a scene. Today was about having fun and not fighting. I was so dedicated to this idea that I didn't even mention how uncomfortable the seats were (or that it felt like it was 90 degrees in there).
The room filled with camera clicks and applause as Toby Rowe, the creator of the Hero Tails comic series entered and sat down. Other staff from MegaCorp Comics soon joined him, including the CEO, Denis Smythe.
As the crowd calmed down, Glen made a comment that Toby Rowe's real name was actually James Tobias Rowe. But once Smythe started speaking all noise stopped. He started the panel event by explaining upcoming MegaCorp projects. The audience was inthralled.
Suddenly, the lights went out. Someone screamed. A spotlight descended upon a man in a voodoo priest getup. He wore a bone necklace, top hat, cane, and luminescent face paint that made him look like a skeleton.
"Greetings all you freaks of nature,"said the voodoo man with a bow. "I am here to collect James Tobias Rowe for it has come time to pay the Devil his due. For I, Dr. Ace Journeyman, have spoken it."
"Ace?" I whispered. What?
The voodoo man jumped from the panel table and grabbed Rowe.
"Ace!" Sandy shouted. I didn't react so she shouted louder. "Do something!!"
I finally snapped out of my...I don't know, surprise and turned to Glen. He at least said, "On it,"before he punched me in the face.
Within seconds I stood over my body. I really wish there was another way to do that.
I headed straight for the man claiming to be Ace Journeyman. Still holding on to Rowe, he addressed me, which probably looked silly because only he could see me. "Sorry, kid, there's only room for one journey-man on this stage." He smacked the ground with his cane. It made an eerie, hollow sound, but other than that nothing happened. It did make me pause for a moment, but then I kept going.
Something then grabbed my wrist. I saw chains wrapping around my wrist. Something else then hit my other wrist. More chains! I struggled against the growing chains as I pushed on towards my foe. I then felt the chains snap around my legs. I pushed harder, but I could already tell my strength was fading. The chains were getting harder to strain against. Finally, there was a moment of taut stillness. And then I was flung backwards like bungee jumper.
The world zoomed by as if I was traveling through hyperspace. The chains continued to grow and tighten around me. Finally, as darkness gathered around me, I gasped.
"What are you doing?" Sandy asked.
I was flat on my back staring up at her. Why was I flat on my back? Why was Sandy talking to me like she could see me?
"Ace!" she finally shouted. "He's getting away!!"
"Something happened!" I half cried out. "Hit me again, Glen!"
Glen smacked me again.
"Ow!" I whined. I rubbed my chin. "Wait. Ow?" I looked around in a panic. Where was my body? "I'm still here?"
Sandy gave a devilish smile. "Maybe Glen needs to hit you harder."
Glen shrugged. "OK."
"Wait!" I said.
POW!
"OW!!!" I yelled.
"You're still here," said Sandy. I'm not sure if it was a question or a statement.
Glen wound up for another blow.
"STOP! This isn't working!" Glen lowered his fist. "That...guy did something to me. I can't project."
The strange voodoo master laughed as an even stranger cloud of multicolored smoke surrounded him and Toby Rowe. "Like I said: there's only room for one Ace." He then wiped off some of his face makeup. Even with only half his face revealed, I could still see that he was me. A slightly older version but still me.
"Whaaaaat?" said Glen.
Voodoo Ace laughed. "I've chained your soul to your body. No more traveling for you. You won't even be able to sleep at night. Soon you'll die from exhaustion and I will take your strength!" He clenched his fist then continued to laugh as the cloud grew thicker, and it seemed that he was disappearing.
"Ace, you got to do something!" said Sandy.
With no other option, I charged at the voodoo man with a flying tackle.
Everything went black and silent. Then everything went white and loud.
The voodoo man, Rowe, and I were...not really falling...it was more like, uh, sliding through a maelstrom of white with bits of gas-like color. It was like every color possible and even some not possible were here. And we were surrounded by white noise. Noise like every sound ever was going off at once.
"What did you do, you fool!" shouted the voodoo "Ace." He righted himself and snagged Rowe with his cane. Rowe didn't fight back. In fact, Rowe looked like he wasn't going to be doing much of anything for awhile; he was in too much shock. "You've knocked us off course!"
I saw images in the swirling whirlwind. They faded in and out and almost looked like smoky spheres that someone Photoshopped in.
Voodoo Man continued to shout. "Who knows where or even when we might emerge!"
I then saw an image of a great city. It was all shiny and filled with neon lights. The white noise seemed to fade and was replaced by a single musical song. The song began to swell, as did the image of the city, until we were bathed in it. It then faded and I found myself standing in the middle of the street. No poof, no flash of lights, I was just there.
I gawked at the magnificent city of lights. I'd been wrong; these weren't neon lights...they were something else. And the buildings were made of some strange material.
HONK!!
I turned towards the sound of the angry driver. A pink humanoid sat behind the wheel of a taxi waving his tentacles at me. He had a bulbous head and a comically big nose. He had kind of squid look to him.
"Get out of the road ya freak!" he shouted and honked again. I thought he'd hocked the car horn but he was the one honking.
I stepped to the sidewalk; and as he passed, the tentacled man shot me a nasty look. "What on Earth?" Behind him drove an insect-like woman with two maggot looking kids in the back. She was followed by a normal looking African American human male.
"Watch it!" a voice said as two very hairy teens with horns shot by on hovering skateboards.
"Zic! Zack! Mom said to wait for me!" A white Earth human about ten with blond hair and glasses ran by. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and then ran on.
I then heard some kind of roaring-whooshing noise overhead. Above me were flying cars. My mouth dropped, but I thought I'd pass out when I saw the hexagon cells in the sky like some kind of dome. I could see the sky but it was kind of blurry and seemed...fake. This strange dome stretched over the city.
"I don't think I'm in Newton anymore."

To be continued...

For more adventures with Ace, check out The Life of Ace Journeyman book(s) at Barnes & Noble
http://goo.gl/uBgLmB.
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Until the next wormhole...
End of Transmission.