Crystal Cove was the "Most Haunted Place on Earth," which made it a logistical nightmare for a shadow-owner trying to keep four teenage superheroes from attracting too much attention. The town was a tourist trap built on a foundation of cosmic horror and cheap masks, but the energy readings I was seeing on my monitors weren't fake.
"Sheila," I said, leaning back in my pilot's chair as my VTOL engaged its silent-hover mode over the California coastline. "Target 'The Anchor.' The data from the Rockies pointed to a specific coordinate in the Crystal Cove caves."
["The pips are in position, Danny,"] Sheila reported. ["Target 'Tactician' and 'Wraith' are currently disguised as tourists near the Spookane salt mines. Target 'Powerhouse' and 'Guardian' are... actually, they're currently arguing over whose 'monumental ego' is attracting more ghosts."]
"Tell them to pipe down. We're here for the Professor, not the local color."
I patched into the team's comms, my 'Producer' voice cutting through their bickering like a cold knife. "Eyes on the objective. You're looking for a localized distortion in reality—something that looks like a glitch in the world itself. Pericles isn't just building a machine; he's looking for a key. Kim, use the spectral-filter I uploaded to your Kimmunicator. It'll help you see past the 'tourist' illusions."
[K. Possible]: I see it. There's a warehouse on the pier that's putting out enough electromagnetic interference to scramble a satellite. It's marked 'Destroido.'
[D. Phantom]: The energy here is... wrong. It's not ectoplasm. It's older. It feels like the air is made of static.
"That's the 'Anchor' frequency," I said. "Pericles is using it to tether this reality to another. He's trying to create a permanent bridge. If he succeeds, the crossover won't be a one-time event; it'll be a merger. And the merger won't be pretty."
The team moved in with the kind of practiced synergy that made the "Campbell" in me beam. Danny phased through the warehouse walls, Ben (as XLR8) blurred past the perimeter cameras, and Kim and Jake provided the tactical sweep.
But as they breached the primary chamber, the feed suddenly went to static.
"Sheila!" I barked. "Compensate!"
The image flickered back to life. In the center of the warehouse sat a massive, brass-and-obsidian clockwork device that looked like it had been designed by a madman in the 19th century. And perched on top of it was a small, intelligent-looking parrot with a monocle.
"Ah," the bird's voice crackled through the comms, cold and precise. "The 'Producer' and his little collection of anomalies. I must say, I expected something more... formidable."
"Professor Pericles," Kim said, her grapple-launcher aimed at the bird. "I'm guessing you're the one who's been sending Drakken his Christmas list."
"Drakken is a means to an end, Fraulein Possible," Pericles chirped, his wings fluttering with a chilling calmness. "He provides the funding; Plasmius provides the power. But I... I provide the vision. The vision of a world where the 'mystery' is finally solved. The world is too small, too fractured. It needs to be... anchored."
"Not on our watch!" Ben shouted, slamming the Omnitrix.
"Actually," Pericles said, a dark glint in his eye, "it is exactly on your watch. Or rather, the energy signature of that watch is the final component I need."
Suddenly, the floor of the warehouse began to glow. A series of ancient, glowing runes—exactly like the ones Danny had seen in the Rockies—erupted from the ground.
"Team, get out of there!" I yelled. "It's a feedback loop! He's using the Omnitrix to jump-start the Anchor!"
The warehouse erupted in a blinding flash of white and violet light. I saw the pips on my screen spin wildly as the reality inside the building began to fold. For a split second, I didn't see the warehouse; I saw a dozen different versions of Crystal Cove overlapping—one where the town was a futuristic city, one where it was a smoking ruin, and one where it was sinking into the sea.
"Sheila! Execute 'Emergency Override: Black-Out'!"
I slammed my fist onto the console, triggering a massive EMP burst from my VTOL. The warehouse exploded—not with fire, but with a sudden, violent surge of silence.
As the dust settled, the Anchor was gone. Pericles was gone. And the team was lying in the middle of a crater where the warehouse used to be, looking dazed and battered.
I looked at my monitors. The energy readings were flat, but the 'Convergence' file had updated.
PHASE 1: COMPLETE. THE ANCHOR IS SET.
"He didn't want to open a door," I whispered, the weight of the realization hitting me. "He wanted to sink the hook. The worlds aren't just crossing over anymore. They're being pulled together."
I checked the status of the team. They were breathing, but they were silent. They had seen the 'glitch' firsthand, and I knew that the "Possible" persona was going to have a very hard time explaining this one to Kim.