THE MOMENT
"Is this what you've been doing instead of school?" Quinn asked. She and Turbo walked down a narrow hallway lined with doors. They paused in front of one; but, Quinn asked before Turbo knocked on the door. He reached up to knock; but, he paused to answer her question.
"Only lately," Turbo shrugged. "I finished the main part of what I was working on. This is kind of the cleanup phase," he chuckled. Then, he smiled at her. "Thanks for coming with me."
"Thanks for inviting me!" she said with more than a tad of eagerness. She met Turbo yesterday and he was as friendly as she'd heard. Once he learned Quinn was a Muerte he seemed even friendlier somehow. He invited her to help him clean up some experiments gone wrong the day after they met. She agreed without waiting for the details. It seemed like Quinn wasn't going to ask anything else and Turbo knocked on the door. After a moment, an older woman opened the door and greeted them through the crack.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Hi," Turbo waved and smiled broadly. "My name is Turbo and this is my friend, Quinn," he said. He was too busy introducing them to notice the blush on Quinn's cheeks. She'd spent most of the year looking for friends and now, someone finally considered her one.
"I was working on a project and I accidentally created a hole in your reality. May we come in and close it?" he asked.
"What?" the old woman asked. The door moved forward an inch and she narrowed her eyes. "That's ridiculous; I'm not letting strangers in my home," she said. Turbo nodded and held his hand up to show the old woman a node.
"You don't have to," he said. "If you take this, it will help you find the rip; then, you can just press the button to close it." The door inched forward again. The woman's decision-making process was evident on her face. She spent several quiet moments appraising the pair and the offered node. Finally, she reached her hand out through the narrow opening and grabbed the clear glass card.
"Wait here," she said. She closed the door leaving Turbo and Quinn alone in the hallway again.
"So... can I know?" Quinn asked. "What were you working on?"
"Do you know Abby from the B-Squad?" Turbo asked. Quinn searched her memory, then tilted her head.
"You mean, Spider?" she asked. Turbo sighed and nodded.
"Yeah; but, I was working on a way to rescue her from Spider," he said.
"Rescue? You want to save Spider... from... Spider?" Quinn asked. Turbo nodded. But, the door opened again before he could respond. Though, it only opened a crack. The woman glared at them through it.
"There was a hole under my bed," she said. "How did you put a hole under my bed?"
"Sorry," Turbo shrugged. "Weird things happen when you mess with the energy of the universe. Did you close it?" The old woman stuck an arm out and showed Turbo the node.
"I pressed the green button; it said 'Portal Closed'."
"Great, thanks," Turbo smiled at her. And, he made a dismissive motion at the node. "You can keep that if you want. There's a lot to explore out there."
"No thanks," the woman said. She dropped the card and shut the door again.
"Ah well," Turbo knelt to pick the node up again. "On to the next one."
"Wait...," Quinn held up a hand to stop him. "...what exactly were you working on? What does this have to do with Spider?"
"Spider is an ancient Arana soul," Turbo said. He nodded as he started his explanation; he understood her need for more details. "And, he's powerful enough to take control of any Arana that gets his power. Abby has managed to fight him off so far, but I don't think she'll last in the long run. So, I've been creating a way to separate them."
"Separate her soul!?" Quinn asked. "How?" Turbo grinned.
"Oh, you know...," he waved his hand. It was the first time Quinn noticed a red metal bracelet on his hand; it stood out because it was glowing. A flash of black enveloped them. Then, Quinn was back in Turbo's familiar, white-walled lab. "... the same way El Sol does it."