[We see an apartment in the darkness, with a leather-covered sofa and a low small glass table. There is the noise of clanking keys and someone opens the door. He shambles inside in the darkness with a flat, square, still-smoking box in one hand and a plastic bag in the other. When he is near the small table, he drops the bag and lays down the box, before panting and going to close the door and turn on the light. When he returns, we see a man in his late twenties with short, pale-aqua hair, dressed with little-worn jeans and a sweater with the script *ONE IN THE OVEN*, with an arrow pointing down; as soon as he gets to the sofa, he lets himself slump on it.]

Bobby: "Home, at last!" [He turns on his back and reaches for the pizza-box.] "Being a superhero, if not boring, is *really* straining. [His expression changes to thoughtful as he recalls his past day] Actually, I spent all the day a the Delfi Sanctuary filling piles of useless papers, but it has been hard anyway; a pity Lita couldn't move from home with all that she has to study. Sometimes chasing down super villains is better. [He stops for a second to ponder his last sentence, then dismiss it.] Well, I think I'll spend the night alone with my pizza and a load of good movies."

[He opens the box, sniffing the fragrance of anchovies, chili and spiced sausage, turns on the television and sticks a cassette, taken from the bag, in the VCR. He then sits back on the sofa and bites his dinner; the next second, with a double somersault, he lands in the kitchen, grasping open the fridge to get a cold beer.

After returning on his *battle station*, he falls asleep soon afterwards.

Just to be rudely awakened by the doorbell. He opens one eye and gets dizzily up, overturning the empty, but still greasy, pizza-box and send it right on his carpet.]

Bobby [hushed]: "Heck, my carpet! It's not that's expensive, but it gives a tone to the place."

[The doorbell rings again.]

Muffled male voice: "Mr. Roberto Martinez, open, it's the FBI."

[Bobby opens the door and finds two persons that qualifies themselves as FBI special agents. One is male, tall, in dark gray jacket, the other, female, is shorter, has red hair, and wears a light-brown dress.]

Male [producing a badge]: "I'm special agent Fox Mulder, and this is special agent Dana Scully; we are here to ask you some questions, if you don't mind."

Bobby [still drowsy]: "Oh, yes, c'mon."

[He lets them in and make them sit. Mulder notices the fallen box.]

Mulder: "Scully, I think we made a mistake; I'm not interested in rave-parties."

Bobby [nearly recovered, and a bit embarrassed]: "Sorry, but I fell asleep..."

Scully: "I could bet. Judging from this fumes, eating it should have been like eating radioactive waste."

Bobby: "More or less...but, weren't you here to ask me something?" <And why at this hour in the night?> [His sight wanders for a second to the clock hanging from the wall.] <3 a.m. Hell! Have people nothing better to do?>

Mulder: "Oh, yes, sorry Mr. Martinez. Sometimes my mind wanders too far away."

Scully: "Just keep it in our Solar system."

Mulder: [smiling but speaking to Roberto]: "Do you know something about the most recent UFO sightings in the San Gabriel Valley?"

Bobby [shaking his head]: "No."

Mulder: "Are you sure? Are you sure you *never* saw nothing?"

Bobby: "No."

Mulder: "Have you seen something like this [he hands down a photo of a white blotch on a dark background] in the past five days?"

Bobby: "No."

Mulder: "Have you seen members of a secret organizations that conspires to keep the truth hidden lately?"

Bobby: "Lately the truth, or lately the members?"

Mulder: "The men."

Bobby: "No."

Scully: "Mr. Martinez, have any in your family ever shown sign of mental insanity?"

Bobby: "My uncle Jose thought he was a monkey."

Scully: "And how did he die?"

Bobby: "He didn't. My aunt still brings him some bananas at the zoo twice a week."

Scully: "C'mon, Mulder, we've got nothing even this time. Thank you for your time, Mr. Martinez."

[They all get up and walk to the door. When they are gone, Bobby finally awakes.]

Bobby: <Who were those two? I think I know them, but I can't recall well. Was that time I worked with the FBI? Naah, they don't know my real identity. And all that thing 'bout UFO's and the like... [He turns to the window.] I've got enough problems with human beings, even if some supervillains have very little humanity left.>

[Suddenly, blinding light floods the room, paralyzing Bobby on the spot. As he begins to slide on the floor, like being sucked by some unknown and invisible force, we can see a vaguely humanoid shape appearing in the light, arms open.

We now see Bobby grunting on the sofa and fall unceremoniously on the floor, awakening. Everything is silent, only the clock ticks in that moment 3 a.m., giving off a faint, unidentifiable noise.]

Bobby: <Oh, man! That's a weird dream.> [He drowsily gets up, and grunts when he sees the pizza sprawled on the carpet. He tries to pick it up, but it's so stuck that at last he grunts again and leaves it.] "It must have been there for hours."

[We see him suddenly turning to face the window with a mixed expression of curiosity and fear. After some minutes of brooding, he finally smiles, deciding there's nothing to worry about, and walks to the window.

Manhattan's skyscrapers fill the night with their swarms of lights.]

Bobby: "*Manhattan?*"

[Against Roberto's astonished face, a huge reptilian shadow walks by shambling, shaking all the buildings in its paths; when only the tail can be seen snaking behind the creature, Roberto's eyes pop out. He turns away from the window and begins to run.

The whole section on wall is crushed under the impact of a police van flung there from nowhere. As plaster and glass shards fly and fill the apartment, the ceiling cracks and a rafter falls towards Robert. He jumps with all the strength he has, missing the impact for some whiskers, landing flat on his face, sliding on the floor.]

Bobby [still upside down]: "This is a dream. Absolutely. All I've seen simply don't exists. *I don't live in New York!*"

[He stands up with a quick move and walks to the caved-in window. The city below him is in complete chaos, the noise of sirens and screams reaching up to the 20th floor.]

Bobby: "And I don't live on the 20th floor!"

[Suddenly, the huge head of the monster of before lounges at the crack in the wall, puffing a terrible smell of fish. Bobby freezes on the spot, staring in one of those plate sized-orange eyes.]

Bobby: <Maybe it's like in Jurassic Park...if I don't move it will not see me...>

[Slowly, the monster sniffs the apartment and decides to search for a meal somewhere else and disappears. Bobby relaxes and collapses like a wet rag on the sofa.]

Bobby: "This *is* really strange."

[He stands up with fiery eyes.]

Bobby: "I think it's time to change dress."

[At this words, fire erupts from the floor, engulfing him in a purplish cocoon of dancing flames; then, from a swirl of blazing sparkles, another man appears, clad in a white ninja gi with boots and gauntlets trimmed with gold and black. A black sword sheath stuck from behind him, partially covered by his suddenly long hair, now woven in an Asian-fashion ponytail with a gold and blue ribbon. His eyes opens gleaming with the golden symbol of a dragon appeared on his left breast. Now Saint Dragon is ready to face whatever is next.

He walks towards the window again and looks down.]

Saint Dragon: "It's now time to discover what's *really* going on here."

[Like an answer, the giant lizard shows up again, appearing out of nowhere with a mighty roar, disintegrating the windows of the whole building and making Saint Dragon jolt with all his hair standing up and a great bead on his face. When the beast roars again, its breath is so thick and disgusting that Saint Dragon first turns the same hue of his ponytail and then collapses to the floor.

Not even time to touch the ground, that the scene changes and we see Saint Dragon jumping awake from the sofa.]

Bobby [still trying to get a good footing]: "What the...!?" [He looks down and sees the pizza on the carpet, turns and sees the clock ticking 3 a.m. His expression changes to a thoughtful one as he scratches his head.] "Wait a sec..." [He looks at his hand inside the glove of his costume.] "Why in the world I'm still Saint Dragon? Isn't this supposed to be a dream? Better if I go to the Sanctuary, this place is getting too hot for me."

[He moves toward the door, but when he is about to open it, he stops and looks at his right, then goes to another door and enters the bathroom.]

Saint Dragon [before closing the door]: "But first..."

[ He closes the door behind him and we hear a faint noise of running water, a satisfied moan, and finally the flush; but with it comes a surprised shout and big *plop*.

The door opens again, on a empty bathroom.]

Saint Dragon [sputtering and yelling, sliding down a chute at great speed]: "What the...!?"

[We see a metallic room, lit only by a feeble reddish lamp out of the view, with the only door sealed shut. Everything is battered, old-looking, dirty; piles of unidentifiable junk jut out the water on the floor.

With a wild cry, Saint Dragon falls in the room from an opening appeared on the left; he splashes on the floor and gets up as fast as he can, swiping his face and trying to figure where he ended up.]

Saint Dragon [still panting]: "I must call the plumber." [Looking around]: "Man, what's this place? It's like that Star Wars place..."

[A faint splashing sound comes from somewhere around Saint Dragon.]

Saint Dragon: "What the..."

[He turns again and again, as the sound repeats, every time closer. At last Saint Dragon closes his eyes and concentrates, his hand reaching to his back.]

Saint Dragon: "With my sword..."

[His eyes pop open with surprise when he grasps at nothing. A dark writhing shadow rises from the foul water behind him. A blur of movement, a scream, a horrible bestial sound, and the water is still again, no trace of Saint Dragon.]

[End of the story. What where you expecting? After all this *is* a SMAX sidestory, after all, and it needs something like this, I mean, I guess if the main character dies, it is a grim enough fic, isn't it? It keeps up with the main story's mood, doesn't it?]

[Maybe not.]

[The room is suddenly lit by a reddish gleam coming from its watery depths; it grows a little more creating like a purple stain in the middle of the room before exploding in vapors and flames whirling around Saint Dragon.]

Saint Dragon [looking directly at us with a rather angry expression]: "Who was goin' to die?"

[Bubbles surface in a corner of the room, Saint Dragon shifts to a fighting stance; then a slimy horror emerges from the water with unnatural silence. It is a roughly spherical mass of black protoplasm, with metallic junk jutting out; it convulses, and a tentacle slithers out of its body, forming on its end a skeletal smirking face with steel teeth and cold-burning eye sockets.

The two stay in this position, motionlessly facing each other, for long tense moments. Then the *face* twists in what could be called smile and disappears without making a sound.]

Saint Dragon [still ready to defend himself]: <Now what...>

[A deep, metallic moan rises as he finishes wondering, shaking the room; the walls begin to move, pushing away trash and after little crushing it. Saint Dragon looks around for an escape, but the room seems sealed.]

Saint Dragon: "One thing is sure, I'll get very slim..." [He then blinks, as being enlightened on some arcane knowledge] "I've seen this movie before...even if here there's no door to open." [The crushing walls screeched again.] "I'll make one."

[He charges a violet ball of energy in his hands, and when the shot is hot he releases it crying as loud as he can.]

Saint Dragon: "Hinotama!"

[The explosion shakes the room and make water boil near the impact point, where the melting wall oozes down. Saint Dragon bravely jumps in the darkness beyond the hole, moments before the crusher decides to complete its work with double speed.

We hear Saint Dragon's screams vanishing in the distance and drowning in running water.]

[The scene changes to a pool of water, with light mist hiding it real size; the water is cold and gray as the fog, silent and quiet. Bubbles rush to the surface, and then a very wet Saint Dragon rushing out gasping for fresh air.]

Saint Dragon: "See where I got this time...nowhere."

[A small wooden boat slowly floats near him appearing from the mist; Saint Dragon crawls on it sprawling on its bottom.]

Saint Dragon: <All this story is simply nonsense. I have seen all this movies before, and since this is definitely *not* a pizza-induced nightmare, there be someone playing with my sleep out there...wherever it could be.> [He sits in the boat, perfectly dry] "But who the hell could be so insane to..." [His words die as a wooden pier appears from the fog; over it there a arching sign that reads CRYST L LAKE, with the *A* missing. Slowly, the boat floats near it and stops, letting Saint Dragon jump on it.]

Saint Dragon: "Until I don't recognize what movie is this I must move carefully."

[He walks along the pier to its end. We see a silent group of thatched houses shrouded in misty fingers; no sound comes from them, nor any other sign of life. A sudden breeze brings to Saint Dragon the faint smell of frozen blood; he shivers.]

Saint Dragon: <I fear I know what this place is...>

[He turns towards the lake, finding a huge man blocking his sight; he wears a tattered and rotting shirt and a hockey mask. Before he can do anything, Saint Dragon is hit by a powerful punch that sends him flying against a tree.

He jumps on his feet and prepares to face his enemy.]

Saint Dragon: "So...you should be Jason, right?" [No answer.] "Yes, you are."

[Jason tries to smash Saint Dragon's head with another mighty fist, but he manages only to break the tree in half, as the ninja jumps in the air and hits him with a flying hurricane kick. The mask is flung away.]

Saint Dragon: "Welcome to the unmasking."

[But the words choke in his throat as we see Jason's *face*: a black skull with shining teeth and flaming eyes instead of the twisted and water soaked mummified head of the movies.]

Saint Dragon [visibly upset]: "Man, what's this joke?"

Jason [speaking with a whispery and amused voice]: "Don't you remember me, Saint Dragon?"

Saint Dragon [surprised]: "*Wraith*!? What are you doing here?"

[Wraith is one of the many supervillains Saint Dragon captured; in particular, this one has been rather nasty to catch as his powers allow him to track sleeping people and discover anything he wants from them, even secret identities; luckily for Saint Dragon, this power doesn't allow Wraith to recognize the same people when they are awake, leaving them relatively safe from attacks. Another power that makes this supervillain dangerous is a limited form of precognition that allows him to see in the very near future and detect magic sources.

From the Delphi Supervillain Database (DSD for short)]

Jason/Wraith: "Only taking my revenge."

Saint Dragon [panting]: "It's always the same story: every supervillain I cage wants to kill me after he manages to escape. By the way, how did you managed to escape?"

Wraith: "I thought you should know of the escape of the others."

Saint Dragon: "What others?"

Wraith: "Recoil and Pyromancer decided jail was not comfortable enough and broke free. I and a couple of others managed to run away, too."

[Saint Dragon opens his mouth to talk, but Wraith flails his arms ceremoniously and the scene, but more appropriately the world around them, vanishes into nothingness. Even Wraith is now a more normal supervillain, dressed in a dark suit with matching cloak.

From the black something slowly appears, nothing more than lines that create a rectangle and a starry background; as we see the scene from a greater distance, we can see both are on the face of a giant black monolith floating in space.]

Saint Dragon [raising a brow]: "And this?"

Wraith: "Don't you think this is the perfect place to settle our scores?"

Saint Dragon [passing a hand over his face]: "Oh, man! This guy's more nutty than before."

Wraith [rising his arms upward]: "I have been waiting this moment for too long, Saint Dragon! [Black energy cracks around him] "Now" [The energy focuses between his palms, forming a ball] "revenge" [Wraith is completely engulfed in his own aura] "is mine!"

Saint Dragon [shaking his head in mock-desperation and looking quite bored]: "Hinotama."

[The violet flame races towards Wraith, blasting him and frying him to a crisp. Saint Dragon now slowly walks up to him and grabs him]

Saint Dragon: "And now we'll have to chat about your friends that broke out from prison..."

Wraith [still conscious]: "And you think they are your bigger problem?"

Saint Dragon: "What do you mean?"

Wraith [with a faint smile]: "I forgot, you can't see in the *future*...and you can't understand...*there is no more future for this planet*...nor any past, or present..."

Saint Dragon [shaking him]: "What are talking about? What the hell are you talking about!?"

Wraith: "You'll see my dear...you and all the other Sailors...you'll see the end, and the beginning..." [He faints.]