With every choice we make, we literally create a world.

The green light restraining him went back inside the Magic Ring, jolting Magic Lantern back into consciousness. It took him just a moment to catch his breath and blink his vision clear.

Prez was also, slowly, recovering. He was cognitive enough to realize he was back in the Fortress of Chill and managed to push himself up onto his side and look around. The emptiness of the room brought him no comfort, and the frigidity made him shudder.

He caught a glance of himself - on the other side of the room, hunched over. His pulse began to rise. He grabbed onto his arm; he could feel himself, but looking down at it, he was still translucent.

That didn't feel right to Prez. He should still be in his body. Looking back over, the stillness of it made him nauseous. Paranoia was taking over his mind, blocking his memories of how his past travels had worked and what Magic Lantern had told him about coming back down.

He got onto all fours and crawled over to his body. He had to reunite with it. Prez reached out a hand to grab it, but before he could see what the inside of his body looked like, he was picked up gingerly by his shirt collar and just as gingerly turned around.

“Nope,” Sunshine Superman said, sitting him back down in front of his body. He titled Prez's body's head up and held it there for easier access. “You gotta think of it as a trust fall.”

Prez didn't. He gave Sunshine Superman a wide-eyed look and shook slightly.

Sunshine Superman helped him out. He tapped him on the chest with his index finger, sending him falling backwards into his body. He then kept his hand on Prez's head for a moment longer, watching to make sure the transition from spirit to physical form went smoothly.

When he was satisfied that Prez wasn't going to start choking to death, Sunshine Superman left him alone to compose himself. He went over to Magic Lantern to see how he was recuperating.

Magic Lantern was mostly all there. He looked down at his Ring, and it blinked back at him with a sickly two percent charge. He slipped his hand into his pocket to find his charging lamp. It was empty.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket and placed it back in, as if he just missed it the first time. The pocket was still empty. He pulled his hand back out again, this time stretching the pocket open so he could peek inside, knowing for certain that he brought the lamp with him. But the pocket was still empty.

“Other pocket,” Sunshine Superman reminded him, grinning a little.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Magic Lantern placed his hand in his other pocket and successfully pulled out his charging lamp. He unscrewed the top and shook his finger over it to encourage the Ring to come off. It did, sliding off his finger and dunking into the goo. Magic Lantern then screwed the top back on and held it up to observe, partially to make sure the Ring was charging, and partially because he liked watching everything float around. “You here, Prez?”

Prez was getting there. Reuniting with his physical body helped at lot, but there was still a pit in his stomach and a haziness in his head.

“Prez?” Sunshine Superman went back over and studied him. His breathing and heartbeat were normal, and his eyes weren't glazed over, so he should be able to respond. “Can you hear us?”

Magic Lantern stood up. “Hold on, I got an idea. He needs something to ground him.” He too went over to Prez and held out the charging lamp in front of his face. “This do anything for ya, man?”

Prez watched the lamp for a moment; the slow, floating motion of the goo did help clear the clouds from his mind. But then he started to scowl. 

“Guess not.” Magic Lantern took back the lamp protectively and placed it back in the proper pocket. He was then greeted with Prez's fist in his face. It didn't have much of an impact, barely grazing his nose.

It was still enough for Sunshine Superman to grab Prez's shirt collar again, this time with a little more force, and hold him out like a misbehaving kitten. “Looks like he still needs a minute.”

“Looks like he needs something for his hands.” Magic Lantern agreed, wiping his nose to confirm it wasn't bleeding.

Prez didn't indicate either way what he was needing, as he was too busy trying to squirm out of Sunshine Superman's grasp. It was a futile gesture, but he kept it up as he was carried out of the room and towards the main area of the Fortress.

Waiting in that main area was the rest of the Love Syndicate, who had decided to entertain themselves with a deck of cards. Their game was interrupted by Prez's protesting. 

“What's all the fuss?” Speed Freak questioned.

“Looks like someone's in time-out,” Shooting Star answered, watching Sunshine Superman take Prez over to the opposite corner.

Brother Power was more curious about the location than Prez's current state. “We having a love-in?”

Magic Lantern joined them at the ice table. “More like a therapy sesh.”

“Aw.”

Sunshine Superman sat Prez down on the ground and stepped back, giving him space. “You wanna try your words this time, Prez?”

“I-.” Prez tapped his hands against the ice floor, frustrated. “I'm-.”

“That's a start.” Sunshine Superman looked over his shoulder. “One of you, c'mere with those cards.”

Brother Power dutifully went over to him, cards in hand.

“Play a round, see if that calms him down.” With that, Sunshine Superman left the two of them alone, having something else on his mind - and knowing if anything were to happen, Brother Power's fabric body could take one of Prez's feeble hits.

“Right on, Sunny.” Brother Power waved him goodbye and turned his attention to Prez. He ignored the part about playing something and instead fanned out the cards in front of him. “Check this trippy trick, Prez. Pick one.”

Prez wasn't in the mood for anything trippy. And he wasn't in the mood for being told what to do, either. He snatched a handful of cards from Brother Power, letting the other cards fall to the floor.

“I'm not dumb.” He said, finally getting out a full sentence. “I know how to do this.”

He didn't acknowledge Brother Power's confused look and instead shuffled the cards around in his hands. He organized them by color first, then switched to suits, then to numerical order, and then back to color and finally back numerical order again. His focus was intense, yet steady.

Uncomfortable with the way Prez was handling the cards, Brother Power decided to slink back to the rest of the Love Syndicate. 

“Vibes are still bad,” he reported. 

“Shouldn't be much longer.” Speed Freak nodded over to Sunshine Superman. “Sunny's been having a think on it.”

Sunshine Superman was ruminating in the kitchen area. After a few moments, he pulled the half-empty peanut butter jar out of the ice cabinet. “Supper?”

Shooting Star nodded sagely. “Eating should make Prez feel better. Still have those apples?”

Sunshine Superman pointed over to the ice refrigerator, still looking in the cabinet. “Got no bread though.”

“I could run to the shops,” Speed Freak suggested, leaving without waiting for an answer and coming back before the others could give one, “pick up a loaf.”

“That'll work.”

With supper plans made, The Love Syndicate was able to briefly focus on the tasks at hand, but the sound of furiously shuffled cards proved to be a distraction. 

“Whaddya think is making him act like that?” Sunshine Superman looked specifically at Magic Lantern. “You don't do that.”

Magic Lantern shrugged off the concern. “He couldn't handle the awesome power of the Ring.”

“Knew that'd happen,” Speed Freak said. “Told you to ease him into it.”

“You should care more about how your Ring affects civilians,” Shooting Star criticized. “You-.”

“- did it!” Prez declared, storming up to the group. He pushed the stack of cards into Brother Power's hands. “I solved your dumb cards.”

Brother Power flipped through a few of them to figure what Prez was talking about. He thought the cards still looked out of order.

“You all thought I couldn't do it.”

“We didn't?” Shooting Star started. “What are you-?”

Speed Freak decided to intervene in the conversation, grabbing the few sandwiches that had already been made and offering one to Prez. “Supper?”

Prez accepted the sandwich, opting to scrutinize it before trying it; he had never had sliced apples in a sandwich before. He was so engrossed in it that he didn't notice himself getting pulled back to the pit area by Speed Freak.

She let go of his arm and turned to face him. “You gotta tell us ‘bout your trip, Prezzie.”

He irritably bit into his sandwich. “The one you all thought I shouldn't go on?”

“The one you begged us to go on.”

Brother Power came up behind him and continued the questioning. “How was your past life? Was he happening or a drag?”

Prez was going to correct Brother Power yet again about the term, but thinking about his alternate self just increased his irritation. “He was a real jerk. He didn't care at all that I was there to help him and got even worse after I reached out to him-.”

“You touched him?” Magic Lantern interrupted, entering the pit area. He was actually annoyed. “Dude, I told you not to do that!”

Prez took another bite of his sandwich, making sure to crunch it loudly. “I didn't listen.”

Shooting Star stifled a laugh as he followed Magic Lantern in. 

Sunshine Superman followed in behind him, whispering as they sat down. “I think I'm picking up on what's bugging Prez.” He then cleared his throat to get attention. “Start from the beginning, Prez.”

“Right,” Shooting Star said. “Tell us about the trip itself.”

Prez looked over to answer them, not expecting them to be sitting down. He quickly looked around to see the rest of the group sitting as well, circled around him like an intervention. He took a few steps back towards the stairs to get some distance between him and them, only to lose his footing and slip onto the ground. 

Someone asked him if he was alright, but he didn't answer. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, leaving his sandwich abandoned on the ground.

“I've had better trips,” Prez started. “Had to go through this weird darkness before I could even get to the other plane.”

“The Bleed,” Magic Lantern informed him. “Told you ‘bout that too.”

Shooting Star wrinkled his nose. “The Bleed?”

“Bad as it sounds,” Sunshine Superman confirmed.

“And then I had to break through this barrier to even get in there,” Prez continued. “I think that green aura was holding back.”

Speed Freak held out her arm to stop Magic Lantern from reacting, dropping her voice low. “Don't kill the vibe more, Magi.” Her voice returned to normal. “How ‘bout when you got there? You said your alternate self was a real jerk?”

“Like I said, I had to break in to even talk to him.” Prez sighed and leaned forward, resting his chin in his hand and his elbow on his leg. His irritation had lightened a bit. “Prez Rickard.”

“Same name as you?” Sunshine Superman asked. The idea of meeting a directly alternate version of himself made him uncomfortable; he was thankful all the other Supers he'd met in the Multiverse were different people.

“Same name, same clothes, same everything. He even sounded like me.”

“I understand why that bothers you.”

Prez kept going. “Made things harder, that's for sure. That guy thought that since he's a President, he didn't need my help. He was the one locked in a room!”

Brother Power perked up. “You get him out?”

“Ah-.” Prez was caught off guard by a question he couldn't answer by just venting. “No,” he admitted. “I got sent back before I could.”

“Oh. You think he's cool now?”

“I-.” Prez didn't like the idea of his alternate self being hurt. But he also didn't want to think that his presence wouldn't have mattered in the long run. “Sure he is. But I would have got him out myself if I had more time, I was real close to figuring him out.”

“What for?” Magic Lantern had finally mellowed back out to usual temperament and was ready to join the conversation again. “Being locked in a room not enough of a problem?”

“There's always something else,” Prez insisted. He tried to seem matter of fact about it, but beads of sweat were starting to form on his face. Why was the Love Syndicate questioning him so much? “I could tell something was bugging him. Like, he was having personal problems.”

“Was he now?” Sunshine Superman was certain he was picking up on what Prez was - unintentionally - putting down, and based on the glances he was getting, so was the rest of the Love Syndicate.

“Uh-huh. He got all weird when I asked ‘bout a first lady, and when I asked ‘bout his dad-.” Prez cut himself off with a laugh, straightening himself back out and blinking back the tears in the corner of his eyes. “He started asking ‘bout my parents! Mine! Why would he even do something dumb like that?”

“Sounds like he was asking what you were asking.” Speed Freak she hoped she came off as tact and not argumentative.

“That's different!” Prez cried out. “I was getting information, he was starting a fight!” He wiped the sweat from his forehead and started talking to himself. “My parents would be proud of me, I'm doing good things.” He pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. “Good things....”

There it was. The Love Syndicate kept quiet as Prez's talking descended into whimpering and then finally muffled crying. Out of mix of uncomfortableness and a looming sense of self-reflection, none of them knew the best way to react. 

Brother Power was the first to try. The only one of his friends not thinking about family, he crawled over to Prez and took his hands. “Gee, Prez-.”

“Am I doing good?” Prez interrupted. 

“‘Course.” Brother Power returned to his earlier argument. “You're helping us. We're all one, you know-.”

Prez wasn't buying it. He pulled away from Brother Power. “I have to do good. I have to do more. Right? Why ... why else would I have been sent here?”

“Ain’t that the question?” Sunshine Superman had joined them. He wasn't there with an answer to Prez's anxieties, or to offer a comforting presence to get him through it. He was there in commiseration, images of a locked rocket ship and smoke-filed air permeating his mind. “Sometimes I think there's no answer.”

“Must be,” Prez denied. “Or else, I- I wouldn't have been picked. I c-could have stayed with them....”

Sunshine Superman nodded solemnly. 

“I dig what Sunny's putting down,” Brother Power said, shifting slightly so he could see Sunshine Superman as well. “We can't control the strings being pulled by Mother Nature or the Multiverse or whatever. But you can't let that bum you out, you gotta keep grooving!”

“Well, yeah,” Sunshine Superman agreed, “I don't mess with nihilism. But I still think Prez has something to say ‘bout our folks.” It was something that weighed on him. “What could have been still gets you.” With both sets of parents gone, he’d never know for sure. 

“Doesn't get me.”

“You don't have folks.”

“Exactly!” Brother Power waved his arms dramatically. “Whatever it was put me here, and I'm here! Like you and Prez.”

Prez still wasn't buying it. He sniffled. “Y-you two may have put here, but I wasn't. I must be meant for more than being stuck here.”

“That how you really feel?” Sunshine Superman's voice had gotten more serious.

Prez didn't answer right away. He focused ahead of him, avoiding eye contact with the other two. His head was hurting again, but as he sat there, his chest started to lighten a bit. He eventually decided on deflection as his response. “Dunno. Why d'ya ask?”

“You're our pal, Prez.” Brother Power leaned his head on his shoulder and stared up at him. “You being blue makes us blue.”

“And you asked us for help,” Sunshine Superman reminded him, tone shifting to something a little softer. He appreciated the distraction from his own thoughts. “Figured that means you want it.” He looked over at the rest of his friends. “Right?”

The rest of the Love Syndicate were also appreciative of a distraction from their self-reflections. 

Speed Freak spoke up first. “‘Course we wanna help. Must be rough having a midlife crisis at nineteen.”

“We can find less drastic ways to help you,” Shooting Star concurred. “If I can, have you considered that instead of tripping, you just actually want to travel?” He then quickly added, “Travel around our Earth.”

“Or like, space travel?” Magic Lantern added, only half joking. “My Ring could get you up there sometime.”

The idea of experimenting with the Magic Ring again made Prez queasy. “No.” He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, face falling a little. He was getting tired. “I dunno guys, that sounds too simple. My visions made it seem like something more important.”

“Your hallucinations,” Shooting Star started again, “could be a sign of stress, if this is really bothering you.”

“Or could be dreams,” Speed Freak suggested. “Dreams say all sorts of stuff ‘bout you. You been awake when you get these visions?”

Prez was going to say that yes, of course he had been awake during the visions, but as he tried to think of examples, he couldn't. Embarrassed, he deflected again. “That doesn't matter. I still think they mean something more important.”

“Like how you wanna help people,” Sunshine Superman said, remembering their earlier conversation. “There's a question, what have you already tried? Besides going out into the Multiverse.”

“I've....” Prez paused, again not able to think of anything. He turned even more sheepish. “I've tried going out into the Multiverse?”

“I see.” Sunshine Superman’s smile was somehow both smug and sympathetic. “Maybe we should go with Shooting Star's suggestion then, try something less extreme. There's plenty of ways to help without any kind of traveling.”

“Me and Sunny do charity events all the time,” Speed Freak offered.

“Or you could host your own,” Shooting Star proposed. “You must have some pull at the station by now.”

“Or you could ....” Magic Lantern struggled to come up with anything. “Help with, uh, whatever Brother Power does?”

“Yeah!” Brother Power sat up straight and clapped once. “I pulled critters from the road today.”

Prez still wasn't fully on board with the Love Syndicate's suggestions but was running out of reasons to disagree with them. “I guess that could work,” he relented. “At least until I can travel under my own power again.” Maybe he had to prove himself worthy again...? He blinked a couple times to keep himself awake. “Sorry ‘bout all this. I really thought it would work.”

Magic Lantern waved it off. “Ah, that's how it goes. Don't know ‘til you experiment.”

“Sorry I swung on you earlier, too.”

“Don't apologize for a moment of lucidity,” Shooting Star interjected before Magic Lantern could respond. He ignored the glare he got from him. “Seems like your mood finally stabilized.”

“You're looking better, too,” Speed Freak added. “Face isn't red anymore.”

Prez didn't realize his face had been red before. He looked away from her in case it got red again and happened to notice the sandwich he dropped earlier. He picked it up and fully turned behind him to see if he could spot some sort of trashcan; the least he could do after all this was clean up after himself. 

Sunshine Superman took the sandwich from him and effortlessly flung it away, it landing on the other side of the kitchen in a hidden trashcan. He offered out his hand. “Think we can wrap this up. You need sleep, man.” He just as effortlessly pulled Prez onto his feet.

Shooting Star was the next on his feet. “Right, don't want to overstay our welcome. Thank you all for making it to this, extended, extra meeting.”

Speed Freak popped up. “No problem.”

Magic Lantern followed suit. “You think you're good to get around, Prez?”

Prez didn't like being reminded that the Love Syndicate saw him struggling with the ice earlier. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t prove that he had overcome it, either, as after getting up the steps he immediately put his foot down wrong and fell backwards.

Brother Power caught him. He laughed amicably and pushed him forward, sliding him to the Fortress's exit.

The rest of the Love Syndicate straggled along behind them.

“I still think we shouldn't have let him trip right away,” Shooting Start argued. 

“He was fine,” Magic Lantern argued back. “Sunny and I were watching him.”

“I'm sure Sunny was-.”

“It was a good lesson for him,” Sunshine Superman interrupted. “For all us.”

“Us?” Shooting Star questioned. “We already knew the Multiverse is a dangerous place to go into.”

“I meant ‘bout how we reacted to what Prez said earlier.”

Speed Freak dashed in front of him. “Aw, Sunny, don’t drag that back up.”

Magic Lantern nodded in agreement. “I'll want my Ring back on if we gotta talk about that.”

Sunshine Superman rolled his eyes. “We gotta, but we'll table it for now. We can't all break down at emotional moments.”

Shooting Star placed a hand on his shoulder. “Thinking like that is why you get to be leader.” He smiled, meaning it honestly.

Outside the Fortress of Chill, Brother Power had pushed Prez all the way to the Comet. Letting him go, he doubled back to see what was taking the rest of his friends so long to join them. 

Prez leaned against the front passenger-side door, assuming he would be sitting there again. He closed his eyes, planing to think a bit more about his options, about what he could do to prove he was helping people

The green light that had overwhelmed his vision before was gone, but it still seemed like something remained just outside of his peripheral. He held his hand out in front of him to try and see it better. There was a green aura surrounding, almost entrapping it, and his body was near see-through.

A side effect of the Magic Ring? Maybe he should have listened when Magic Lantern was explaining things.

Prez shook his head, trying to jostle his mind and vision. This was no time to get worried, he told himself; this was just like when he had first started traveling, ghostly form and all. With that reassuring thought, his breathing had returned to normal, and his eyes focused enough to start registering where he was.

He didn’t know where he was. But that was normal too, for he never chose where he went when he was done with one plane, or even really remembered traveling from one to the next; he just appeared in each plane, one after the other, ready to go.

The dark void he was floating in must be the area between planes, he figured, the part that his consciousness would usually, thankfully, let him skip over. He started to tilt his body around, trying to get moving.

Despite how light his body felt, it moved rigidly - Prez couldn't decide if that was another side effect of the Magic Ring or if he was just rusty from lack of travel. He could only really get his body to move in one direction: forward. Ahead of him was a very faint light, different than the green one around him.

That must be the Earth he was being sent to. Not that he had much choice, since that's where his body was taking him regardless. 

That feeling of mild helplessness continued as he got closer, as the light was not a warm, welcoming transition from the void to the Earth, but instead was closer to burning, like a barrier trying to protect the plane from intruders. Prez shut his eyes.

He didn't open them again until he felt his body halt and straighten him back to an upright position. The first thing he did was hold his hand back out to see if the burning sensation affected him; his hand looked as it did before. Perhaps that green aura around him was actually doing something.

Putting his hand back down, Prez took in his surroundings. It was immediately familiar to him - memories of alternate selves he had helped, and even memories that may have belonged to his own past life, came back. This was a room he had been in before.

It was a White House bathroom. Nothing good ever happened in a White House bathroom.

In the middle of the bathroom was the person that Prez assumed nothing good was happening to, a doppelgänger. All the alternate selves he had met before could be described as doppelgängers, but this one in particular fit the bill. Same haircut, same sweater, same sneakers. The only real difference he could tell was that this doppelgänger preferred his denim jeans blue.

Prez moved a little closer to the doppelgänger, wanting to see if he could read his expression. But he was suddenly stopped by something, bonking his head on it. It didn't hurt, but he still winced.

He couldn't see anything blocking him, but he could feel it when he pushed the area in front of him. It was cold and smooth, his hands easily sliding down it. And when he touched it, it looked like he was touching the doppelgänger.

Was he ... inside the bathroom mirror? Prez frowned. He didn't like that. His form, as ghost-like as it was, was never intangible when he traveled before, nothing had ever stopped him from being able to physically interact with his alternate selves.

Frustrated, Prez slammed his fist against the barrier, and a clinking noise rang throughout the area.

The doppelgänger looked up from the sink and at the mirror. “Huh?”

Prez froze; evidentially he wasn't as intangible as he thought. He watched as his doppelgänger shook his hands in front of the mirror like a cartoon character. He should have played along and mimicked him, bought himself some more time to decide what route he was going to take, but it was too late.

“What?” The doppelgänger stepped back from the mirror, face going from confusion to concern. He backed up into the door, and he grabbed its handle to open it. It wouldn't budge.

That distracted him. He looked incredulously at the handle and then decided to try the window; he was not leaving through the bathroom window. He started to pace the room, as if he was trying to figure something out. As he did so, he happened to glance at the mirror again.

“What's going on here?” The doppelgänger marched up to the mirror and glared into it. His voice had conviction, but his face was still in denial.

Normally, Prez liked to obverse his alternate selves for a longer period before interacting with them, so he could have real answers for them and not just basic platitudes. But if helping people was easy, he wouldn't have had to been resurrected to do it.

He opted for the friendly role over the mentor one and beamed at his doppelgänger. “I've been sent here to help you out of this pickle you're in.”

“Sent here?” The doppelgänger frowned. “Have I been drugged? I'm talking to myself.”

“No, you're not,” Prez tried to reassure him. “You're talking to me. I'm Prez Rickard.”

“I know that I'm Prez Rickard.”

Irritation briefly fluttered across Prez's face. It was always harder when the other guy was literally an alternate version of him. “Well, pal, from one Prez to another, what's going on here? Looks like you've been trapped.”

Other Prez wasn't thinking about that. “Stop saying you're me, I'm me.”

“I'm not you,” Prez agreed. “I'm me.” There was an information gathering opportunity available. “Tell me about yourself, and I'll prove we're different people.”

“Tell you about me ...?” Other Prez's eyes widened. “Oh! I know what game you're playing. I haven't been drugged, I've been bugged!” He grabbed both sides of the bathroom mirror. “You're trying get me to spill government secrets. You must have a speaker behind this, a projector....”

He started to pull the mirror off the wall, only for a sharp pain to jolt through his finger. He yelped, letting the mirror go and stumbling backwards. He pushed his thumb against the newly formed cut.

“You okay?” Prez asked.

Other Prez looked towards his voice, only for shock to overtake him. The mirror was crooked, but the reflection stayed the same.

Prez was also surprised to realize that he wasn't fully trapped behind the mirror anymore. He wiggled his left leg and scraped the bottom of his shoe against the sink, getting an idea. Using the slipperiness of the barrier as a launching point, he slid himself down towards the sink, placing his left foot on the edge of the sink for balance, then having to place his right foot on the other side to truly stop from slipping onto the bathroom floor.

That was a benefit of his physical form becoming ghostly when traveling, he mused to himself as he got down from the sink, no worry about breaking objects.

“I-I,” Other Prez sputtered as he watched everything unfold. “I guess this means you're actually real?”

Prez put his beaming smile back on. “Of course, that's what I said.” He placed a friendly hand on his doppelgänger's arm. “Now, seriously, you okay?”

But he didn't get an answer. The green aura that surrounded him suddenly split apart, half of it floating over to his doppelgänger and wrapping around his head.

Forgetting about the pain in his finger, Other Prez held his head and leaned against the wall, his mind suddenly foggy. “What...?” He trained his eyes on his reflection to try and steady himself; it was proving difficult. “What are you doing here?”

“Like I said,” Prez started, trying to figure out what was going on himself, “I'm here to help you.” He was glad that his doppelgänger wasn't blaming him for his current condition, at least. Was the aura not visible to him? The thought that he should have listened when Magic Lantern explained how the Magic Ring worked once again crossed his mind.

“I don't need your help,” Other Prez said. “I can get out of here myself.” He went back over to the door and tried the handle again. His movements were slower this time, weaker. He groaned and put his head against the door.

Prez decided to try gathering information again; perhaps his doppelgänger would be more cooperative now. “This happen to you often, this locked room thing?”

Other Prez turned around to face his reflection, still leaning against the door. He figured he didn't have much of a choice in answering his questions.

“It's probably just another attempt to get rid of me. It happens, like, once a month.”

“That sucks.” Prez was familiar with assassination attempts. He dropped the overly friendly angle and tried for something more causal. “That bother you?”

“Not much.” Other Prez slid down onto the floor. “It just means I'm, like, actually getting things done.”

Prez nodded and crouched down to meet his doppelgänger’s eyeline. “Good, we got that same helping spirit.” It must be something else he was supposed to help him with, then. He didn't get a chance to ask what that might be.

“No.” Other Prez argued. “No, no, you said we're different. You're not ... I'm Prez Rickard. I'm not you.”

“You're not me.” Prez again agreed, already tired of that conversation. “Tell me what makes you, you, Prez Rickard.”

“Why?” He pointed irritably, yet weakly, at his reflection. “I already know about me. What about you ... you ... fake? I bet you're not even the President! I'm the President....”

“Yeah, I'm not President-.” Prez bit his tongue to stop himself from saying 'anymore'; he didn't like to talk about his past life. “I'm a TV host.”

Other Prez lowered his finger, mood starting to mellow. Even in his more mellowed state, he still managed to look unimpressed. 

Prez was a little upset by his reaction. “But I can still help you.” He just wasn't sure how yet.

“I told you, I don't need your help.” Other Prez turned away. “Why do you think I need it, anyway?”

“You're trapped in here, man.”

“But once I get out, I'm ... I'm good. My life, it's good.”

A sense of urgency worked itself into the forefront of Prez's mind. Maybe it was because his doppelgänger wasn't being as receptive as he wanted. Maybe it was because he didn't start in control of this interaction and still hadn't gained it. Maybe it was because the green aura was starting to creep from his peripheral vision towards his main.

“Sure it is.” Prez moved around so he could keep making eye contact with his doppelgänger. “But nothing is perfect. Something about your life is uncool, you're just in denial.” In his feeling of desperation, he decided to go straight for the big guns. “What's your family like?”

“Good.” Other Prez said again. “I see 'em every day.”

"And they dig the danger you get in?"

Other Prez didn't seem to notice the question. “Mom's the best Veep there is. And my sister ... she's cool.”

“Does your first lady know you have other chicks in your life?”

Other Prez's brow furrowed at the question. “Don't have one.”

Prez noted his doppelgänger's reaction as something he could build on. Maybe he was here to help him with more personal problems. As he pondered that, something else flashed in his mind. His own sweetheart, lost long ago….

Prez's own brow furrowed. He didn't want to think about his own life, must less his past one. He was here for his doppelgänger. 

“You look bummed by that. There a bird you have your eye on?”

“I'm not ...” Other Prez paused. “A bird?” He flustered a little. “What are you trying to say?”

Prez was surprised by his doppelgänger's reaction. “You know, a bird? A chick?” He couldn't help but crack a smile. “You not made it to England yet, Mr. President?”

Other Prez mumbled to himself in embarrassment. He tried to look away, but with his reflection eyeballing him the best he could do was stare at the wall. “And what about you, Mr. Not-President? How have you been to England?”

“One of my friends is English, I picked it up from her.”

“I see.” Other Prez still didn't look back at his reflection. His head had gotten significantly foggier.

Prez noted his doppelgänger's increased uncooperativeness and abandoned the love angle. He decided to try family again. “What's your old man like? You living up to him?”

“Dunno, never knew him.”

That could go somewhere. “He ran off with someone?”

“Yeah, the Grim Reaper.”

Where it went was once again trudging up Prez's old memories. Perhaps he should have assumed that an alternate self with the same name as him and looked exactly like him would also have a deceased father. But that didn't mean he wanted to think about it.

Other Prez didn't want to be thinking about those things either. He hugged his legs to his chest and rested his chin on his knees. The questions were starting to bug him, but his tiredness was winning against that feeling. “What's with the questions? That how you help people?”

That again? Prez was also bugged; he'd be seeing red if wasn't starting to see green. “I thought you didn't want my help.”

“I don't. And I didn't agree to an interview, either.” He struggled to keep his eyes open. “What if I just ... asked you questions, huh?”

Prez tried again to grasp control of the situation. “You're just distracting yourself from what's going on around here-.”

“Are you living up to your parents?” Other Prez interrupted.

“What?”

“Are you living up to your parents? You say you're Prez. Short for President, right?”

Prez didn't answer. “What are you getting at?”

“My mom named me President because she wanted me to be the president. And I'm President.” Other Prez fully closed his eyes. “Your folks know you're out here ... hosting TV shows .... bothering people?”

“Listen!” Prez got into his doppelgänger's face. “Just because I'm not president doesn't mean I'm less than you!” He was starting to seethe. “What I do is important! I help people! The public loves me, and-!”

He wasn't getting a response, or even a reaction. To his horror, he realized that wasn't his doppelgänger's choice.

Other Prez had fallen unconscious, and the green aura that had been wrapped around his head separated from him and melded back with the aura surrounding Prez.

That was enough to make green fully overtake Prez's sight again. He instinctively rubbed his eyes, but to no avail. Then it hit him.

"No, I can't go back yet," he said out loud. "I'm not ready. I haven't help anyone." He hadn't proved that he wasn't a failure.

But that didn't matter. Prez felt himself get pulled up and backwards into the air, back where he had come from. He panicked and started flinging his limbs around, trying to hit something to stop himself. He thought something should be there, the sink, the mirror, the wall, anything, but he was dragged along as if the room was empty. And then, even with the green light hindering his vision, he could see the area around him get dark.

Before long, his body stiffened up, the green aura forcing his limbs to his side. It pressed down on his chest, and he gasped out. He tried to get his hands up to his throat to stop the air from being pulled from his windpipe; tears filled his eyes and he gasped again, struggling to get a grip.

As everything happened to him, one rational thought pierced through Prez's fear, his mind's last attempt to stop him from devolving into full paranoia.

“This your headquarters?” He asked in awe.

“Nope,” Shooting Star answered, helping the rest of his teammates out of the jet. It was by his insistence they crammed themselves together in the backseat so their financier could ride up front, so the least he could do is help them out.

Speed Freak zipped out on her own and then up to Prez. “This is the Fortress of Chill, Prezzie.” She grinned at him being caught off guard and zipped off again towards the castle's entrance.

Brother Power was the next out, pushing past his teammates and landing face-first into the snow. He immediately popped back up. “Sunny's pad.”

Magic Lantern was the last out. He didn’t mind the riding situation, but he wasn't going to let Shooting Star know that. “I could have flown here, you know.”

“Yeah.” Shooting Star closed the Comet door tight. “And I could have wasted fuel going to get you after your ring conked out in the middle of the tundra again.”

Prez was too busy doing a double take over Brother Power's comment to ask them to stop bickering. He wouldn't have guessed Sunshine Superman the castle type, and even with the proof in front of him he was having trouble accepting it.

He started in Speed Freak’s direction, and was soon joined by Brother Power, who had seemed to read his mind.

“Don't get fooled, Prez, Sunny's down to Earth. He's made everything in there himself, a real artist type. And he makes all the munchies for the meetings, too. Last time he made us raisin cookies.”

That, Prez found more believable.

“Dunno what he's gonna make this time, since it's a causal thing.” Brother Power suddenly stopped and spun around, staring directly at Prez. “We're just hanging, right Prez? You're not keeping any bummer news from us?”

Prez was startled by the sudden accusation. “Of course not, it’s just an idea to share with you guys. No need to stress about it.”

Brother Power shrugged. “No stress, Prez.” As if that explained it.

But there was no time to discuss further, as the two of them had caught up to Speed Freak at the Fortress's entrance, and she knew the code to get in.

“Honey, we're home!”

Nearly as fast as she said it, the Fortress doors flung open to show Sunshine Superman already waiting for them, beaming his usual warmth that could have melted the surrounding ice if he wasn't controlling it. “Welcome.”

Speed Freak and Brother Power readily accepted the welcome, but Prez was once again distracted by the majesty of the Fortress of Chill.

Much like the outside, everything inside was made of ice. The furniture, the stairs, even the lightbulbs, all hand carved out of ice and neatly arranged to make one groovy living space. It was a real sight to behold.

“You dig it, Prez?” Sunshine Superman asked.

“It’s pretty cool,” Prez answered, getting out of his daze.

Sunshine Superman ignored the pun. “I like to keep my hands busy.” He ushered him inside. “Come on now, meeting's almost started.”

Before Prez could join him, Shooting Star and Magic Lantern breezed on by, finally catching up with the rest of the group.

“Don't slip up,” Shooting Star advised.

Prez stepped into the Fortress, and then immediately lost his footing and slipped onto his tailbone. The floor was also made of ice. In an instant, he was back up on his feet.

“Careful, love,” Speed Freak said, patting his shoulder. “They don't make house calls out here.” She sped off again.

Embarrassed, Prez decided to hug the wall as he made his way farther into the room; he didn't understand how the Love Syndicate walked on the ice so causally. He was soon at an opening in the floor plan and realized that he didn't know where the meetings were usually held. He had a few options to choose from - a kitchen area with ice appliances, a dining-like area with ice furniture, and a hallway that went deeper into the castle. He opted to try the dining area first, figuring that a large center table with five chairs around it would be as good a meeting place as any.

He pushed himself off the wall and towards the table. Now more mentally prepared for the terrain, Prez found himself getting into a groove sliding across the floor. He stopped himself by holding onto one of the chairs, only shuddering slightly at the touch. He figured he could go ahead and sit down, and that Sunshine Superman could just get another chair to replace whoever's seat he was about to be in. He pulled the chair out and-.

“We're over here, man,” Magic Lantern called out to him from the other side of the room. He and the rest of the Love Syndicate were in their usual circle formation on the ground. “We only use that table when things get heavy.”

“Of course,” Prez murmured to himself. He once again pushed off to get some sliding momentum, only to have to quickly stop to make sure he didn't topple headfirst over the small staircase leading down to the pit-like area everyone else was waiting in. He hesitantly took one step down, and when he was able to maintain his balance, decided it would be safe enough to march the rest of the way over to the Love Syndicate.

“Have I missed anything?” He asked, sitting down and mimicking the cross-legged position the rest of the group was in.

“We just started the refreshments.” Shooting Star pointed towards the large ice tray in the middle of the circle.

On the tray was a colorful array of vegetables - carrots, celery, cucumbers, even some peppers mixed in - all hand chopped and divided into sections. Accompanying the vegetables were the most pitiful portions of peanut butter Prez had ever seen.

But Prez knew better than to complain and took his presumed section of the snacks.

“The peppers are a lovely addition to your vegetable mix,” Speed Freak said.

Sunshine Superman waved off her comment in his usual humble manner. “It was nothing.”

“I appreciate you taking my request for more protein into consideration,” Shooting Star added.

“You know I'm always open to dialogue.”

“Speaking of,” Shooting Star switched topics, “I guess we should start our meeting.” He finished his cucumber slice before continuing. “Everyone cool with that?”

Magic Lantern bobbed his head nonchalantly. “Sure.”

Brother Power, a bit more enthused, gave a thumbs up. “We're cool.”

“Great.” Shooting Star cleared his throat slightly. “Then we'll start this extra meeting of the Love Syndicate. Obviously, our first order of business is to address our guest. Prez?”

Prez was too busy shoving as much peanut butter as possible onto his celery stick to notice the conversation around him, so it threw him off when he finally looked up to see everyone else looking back at him. “Oh, hey guys - and gal. We ready?”

“Mm.” Sunshine Superman decided to take over. “What's on your mind, man?”

He had a lot on his mind and was still trying to figure out the best way to approach it. “You all remember when I first got here, right? I told you all about my traveling?”

The Love Syndicate did remember that. It put Speed Freak, Magic Lantern, and Sunshine Superman all on edge wondering why he was bringing it up again.

Brother Power wasn't as affected. “You took your past lives soul searching.”

“Alternate selves,” Prez corrected. “Well, for the first time since I got here, I've been having visions about them.”

That was what got Shooting Star's attention. “You've been having hallucinations?”

“Visions.”

“Being purely visual doesn't make them not hallucinations.”

“Sure, I guess, but-.”

“Whatever you want to call them-.” Sunshine Superman interrupted. 

“-what are you wanting us to do about them?” Speed Freak finished. 

“Nothing.” Prez turned his attention to them, hoping they would be more receptive. “They just got me thinking that, you know, maybe I should ... take a trip again.”

That shifted the mood around. The tense members of the Love Syndicate relaxed a bit; that request they could handle.

Brother Power tilted his head, trying to figure out Prez's angle.

“You looking to go to a higher plane, Prez?” Magic Lantern asked. 

“Doesn't have to be, a parallel plane will work.”

“Good.” Speed Freak leaned over and nudged Magic Lantern, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Want to ease him into it, yeah?”

“Hold up for a second.” Shooting Star hadn't moved on from the earlier conversation. “Altering your mind won't fix the hallucinations.”

“I don't expect it to.” There was a light argumentativeness in Prez's tone. “And it won't just be my mind; it should be a full-body experience.”

Magic Lantern snorted. “If you're doing it right, it is.”

Sunshine Superman placed his hand on Shooting Star's shoulder, wanting to bring some sympathy into the situation. “I think it's good he came to us instead of trying to do this on his own.”

Shooting Star begrudgingly agreed.

“I had to,” Prez said. “I can't seem to do it on my own anymore.”

“That's your sense talking. You shouldn't trip alone.”

“So you guys will help me?” Prez perked up. “I'm down with whatever you all think would work best. Like....” His eyes went around the room and landed on Speed Freak. “Through the Speed Force?”

Speed Freak was taken aback. “Beg your pardon?”

“I knew it!” Brother Power suddenly cried out, pointing accusatorially towards Prez. “You're splitting on us!”

“Am not!” Prez defended. “I think. I won't know for sure until I actually talk with one of my alternate selves again.”

The mood was brought down again, further than it was previously. Brother Power sat back and crossed his arms, pouting. “Bummer news.”

“You actually want to go out into the Multiverse?” Speed Freak questioned. “Talk to other versions of yourself?”

“That's what I did before I got here,” Prez answered. “I don't know what else my visions could mean.”

“They could just be leftover junk from when we’ve had to deal with the Multiverse,” Sunshine Superman suggested. “You said they didn’t start ‘til now.”

Shooting Star had a different theory. “Or they could mean nothing at all.” He was a fortunate one and had never had to deal with the Multiverse personally; he was hoping to keep it that way.

“Why are you all dragging me down all the sudden?” It was a genuine question on Prez's part. "I know you all can do it.” His attention moved to Speed Freak again. “You've talked about meeting other Speedesters through the Speed Force.”

“Sure I have. But the Speed Force would vibrate you into mincemeat.”

Prez shifted his focus to Magic Lantern. “And you have meetings with other Lanterns all the time!”

Magic Lantern shook his head. “Outta obligation, man.”

Prez felt himself getting hot under the collar. “What do you all think could happen if I go back into the Multiverse?”

Sunshine Superman had multiple examples he could give. “If you got my luck, you'll end up taken by some wacko who'll drain your soul and force you into a slave pit.”

“That ... shouldn't happen to me?” The thought did admittedly unnerve Prez a little bit. He then shook his head. “But that's not my point. What I'm saying is, I think these visions are a sign that I need to get out there and start helping people again.”

“You're helping us,” Brother Power said, hurt.

“But I can get in the action myself and help even more people, like you guys!” He smiled, though his expression was still a little uneasy. “Please?”

The room was quiet as the Love Syndicate considered his plea. Emotionally, they wanted to say no; concerns about the risk of entering the Multiverse were still there, mixed with a new tinge of personal rejection. But they couldn't quite convince themselves to deny the request, either. They glanced at one another, knowing that somebody needed to say something and decide.

Sunshine Superman was the one to make the decision. “We'll talk about it.”

Prez considered following the Love Syndicate over to their discussion table, or at least getting close enough to it to listen in, but decided against it.

The beginning of the discussion was less a conversation and more of the Love Syndicate members all stating what they didn't like the situation - making sure not to interrupt each other and that everyone got a chance to speak, of course. It was mainly concerns they had already stated, but they all felt worth repeating.

With that finished, Sunshine Superman held up a hand to get everyone to regroup. “Now that we've shared the bad vibes we're getting,” – he wasn't as confident about his next statement – “has anyone picked up anything good?”

The group thought about it for a moment. 

Speed Freak spoke up first. “I think he was being real about his intentions. He, like, really meant it, you know?”

Magic Lantern took a more practical approach. “Whatever plane Prez is feeling, my Magic Ring should be able to reach it.”

Shooting Star was even more practical than that. “It's heartless, but... it's a bad idea to upset your only source of income.”

Brother Power went on a bit of a tangent. “It'd be groovy to meet my past lives someday, I bet they're cool cats.”

Sunshine Superman glanced over at Prez before giving his thoughts. “Who are we to chain him down?”

Prez was half-heartedly chewing on the remaining snacks when the Love Syndicate returned with their answer. He quickly swallowed his celery. “Well?”

“If you'll want this to continue, we'll have to work it out,” Shooting Star said, getting to the point he wanted to make first. “But we'll help you, for now-.”

“Right on!” Prez jumped up and immediately looked towards Sunshine Superman. “We doing this?”

Sunshine Superman smirked in amusement. “Nah, I'm just the sitter.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You're with him.” 

Prez peered around him the best he could. “Magic Lantern?”

Magic Lantern shook his ring and waited for information to materialize. A nearly sixty percent charge; that should be enough for a trip. “I'll be your guide this evening. Come on.”

Down the hallway was a large, empty room, devoid of any of the ice decorations that livened up the rest of the Fortress and was deep enough into the castle that outside noises, as few as there were, couldn't be heard. It was the ideal place to come down to after a trip, as Magic Lantern had much experience with. He was in the process of taking Prez there when he shared his plan.

“So, when you travel, you're like, astral projecting, right?” He didn't wait for an answer. “'Cause my Magic Ring can do that too. So what I'm thinking is, I'll have my Ring flow through you, and that should wake up whatever's in your mind holding you back, and you can, like, go to your parallel planes again.

That was good enough for Prez. “Sounds cool.”

“Cool. Now, listen up, this is the important part.”

But Prez did not listen up. He instead let his thoughts wander to why he was needing an outside force to activate his abilities again, questioning if his visions had anything to do with it, and then to how excited he was to get an opportunity to travel once more. He followed Magic Lantern's motions and sat down, once again in a cross-legged position, and tuned back in to what he was saying.

“- take too long, the Ring will pull you back down to Earth. Uh, this Earth. And when you come down, make sure to go back in your body backwards, or you'll choke on yourself.”

Prez blinked. “What?”

“Make sure to go back in your body backwards," he repeated, "or you'll choke on yourself.” He then shrugged. “But if you don't remember, that's why Sunny's sticking around.”

Magic Lantern took Prez's hands, and the Magic Ring began to glow a soft green. “Close your eyes. Free your mind. Let yourself be guided outward.”

Prez closed his eyes. He waited a few seconds, taking a breath to steady his impatience. It didn't work. He cracked an eye back open. “How long until I feel anything?”

“Depends,” was the answer Magic Lantern gave.

Prez closed his eye back to try again, hoping he wouldn't have to wait too long. He took another breath, this time exhaling it slowly and deliberately, letting his shoulder relax down and his head lean back. He felt lighter. And lighter. And lighter.

Then suddenly, he was feeling heavier. His body was sinking into the floor, and something pulled his breath up and away from him. Paranoia crept into his brain, and he opened his eyes to see that green light had completely engulfed his vision. He felt he was splitting into two, his body pulled down one way and his air going the other. Desperately, he tried to chase after it.