The word "cluttered" is only really applicable if there appears to be some space or order to things. What Eliza appeared to have achieved was anarchy in disorganization. The floor, due to a strict regiment, was completely free of items. In fact it was neater than most rooms, but every desk, counter, flip down wall and mostly flat surface held items of various danger and ruin. There was one area clear, one area not touched, the place that Eliza practically haunted as she built her machine.

---

Eliza's Lab 1
Eliza's Lab 2
Eliza's Lab 3
Eliza's Lab 4
Eliza's Lab 5

---

After a short half hour, everyone was dressed in their x-suits, geared up and ready to go. The crew headed over to Eliza's lab where Junior had the machine ready and waiting. Everyone gathered around, waiting for George to take the first step.

George stared off into the whirling vortex that was the dimensional transporter. Even though he was disposable, and had volunteered for this... he still feared what might happen if everything went wrong. He straightened up, rolled the shoulder joints in his shoulders, bent his knees, then walked straight over to Waya. He picked her off her feet in a second, hugging her tight against his chest, burying his head against her shoulder before putting her back down onto the floor. "Sorry." he said with a nod to her, before turning around and taking a few confident steps straight into the portal. It was strange, as if he had been there for a second, then half there, then just... phased out of reality, every part of him, plastic and metal just vanishing in the static of reality.

Waya felt a stiff sense of panic for a brief second when George picked her up. That fell away quickly when he put her back down. He didn't even give her a chance to respond.

There was a rumble that sent a rush up Penelope's spine. "How long do we wait?" she asked the group.

"Well..." Eliza said with a scratch of her head "That's the thing about portals to other dimensions, there might not be chronological synchronization..." She frowned slightly "He might be back any second... or in seventy years... If not longer."

"What?! Eliza! I thought you had this shit figured out! I can't go away for seventy years!" Penelope gasped.

"That...kinda is something you should've mentioned before anyone stepped through..." Rhydian pointed out with a grimace.

"Remember, Forge has a time machine." Eliza said, looking around at the others "George would just need to use it, come back to the current time, and go through that door."
Eliza pointed at the doorway "It'd just be a little time travel, nothing too dangerous." She looked over at Waya, wondering if the girl was alright.

Eliza wasn't the only one a little worried about Waya. Junior was still dumping energy back into the power box from having opened the portal for George to go through, but he could still speak. "Waya...?"

"What?" Waya said a little quickly, perhaps harshly.

Mari stayed out of the way and looked awfully worried when the time difference was mentioned. There were so many risks with a portal made by a teenager...

"Of course..." eliza said, frowning at the portal "If he doesn't come back that could mean something else entire-" She yelped suddenly as the rift in space seemed to shudder and twitch. "In coming!" she yelled out, starting to turn a few dials.

Junior lifted his hands when Waya snapped at him. "Nuthin..." He went back to Mari's side now that he was done dumping excess energy into his box.

George stepped out of the portal, his body crackling into existence as he arrived again. He looked... wet... fine, but wet. He looked around at the others and gave a little nod. "It was raining." he said simply, before opening up one of his arms "I'm sending you my information now Eliza, so you can double check my findings."

"How long were you there, George?" Rhydian asked him curiously. To them, it had hardly been minutes, but Eliza was right, dimensional travel was tricky.

"A few minutes." george said with a little nod "The complete Chrono displacia will be analysed in a few seconds, but the time difference is not too great." He knew Eliza had been worrying about that actually, so he'd taken careful observations.

"What did you see?" Waya asked him, considering it would take longer for Eliza to analyze everything. "Apart from the rain, what was it like?"

"And you're sure it wasn't acid rain or anything... just water, right?" Penelope asked.

"The land on the other side is... different, however, sustainable to human and mutant life." George replied with a small nod "I appeared in the internals of the mansion in that realm, I did not get to look around for extended periods of time... but I believe the mansion was deserted."

Eliza was the one to speak up to Penelope "The water has the same chemical compound as our own Penelope. If anything, a little more base... but that might be the local area changing it, nothing major. Certainly not harmful."

"Deserted mansion? Well that's not too different from now, really." Penelope said in a snarky tone.

"Wait, I thought we were dialing an alternate dimension, not an alternate reality?" Junior asked. "Those aren't exactly the same thing.

"No one was really sure how Spot's powers worked." Waya told Junior. "The theory Richards came up with was that Spots powers were a lot like Father Wagner's. That whenever he opened a hole to teleport, he dialed another dimension, or spliced into another reality all together. If the reality thing is true, then it ups their chances that they're still alive... Unless they ran into evil alternate versions of themselves..."

"Other dimensions are other realities, but further apart than regular, so there's more of a difference. It's easier to access another dimensions rather than another reality, but when Spot went critical he had little control over his powers and... well... sent them to somewhere closer than we expected. Which turned out to make it more difficult." Eliza said with a soft sigh, before nodding "Alright, so time is a little slower in the other realm... Not much, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's been a year or so less for our parents than for us... Which explains why I got to them faster than they got back to us. Other than that, it seems alright over there. Still, we should be careful."

"Aren't we always?" Rhydian asked curiously. It seemed a bit ridiculous to be telling them to be careful. They always tried to be, but trouble always had a way of finding anyone foolish enough to label themselves an X-man...

"Who wants to go first?" Penelope said. Sure, George had technically been first, but she was asking about organic lifeforms.

Eliza looked at the others for a while, then let out a small sigh. "I suppose I must go first..." she said after the brief silence had descended "It is my machine... I should prove to you it's safe for organic life."

George was half listening to the others. He had moved a bit closer to Waya, and speaking in a quiet voice that only the sensitive ears of the feral girl would be able to pick up, he said "I'm sorry if I acted inappropriately earlier."

"Forget it, George." Waya told him, then moved past him. "I'll do it, Liz. This was all my idea any way. If I get fried I'll be ok, if I don't come back, you're the best bet at finding me."

"I should go with you." George said at once. "To assure a safe return, since we are certain I will make it through alright." Maybe he shouldn't have said that, but he was pretty sure Waya was acting a little rashly.

"Oh for fuck sake.." Penelope placed a head in her hand and shook it slowly.

"You're not going through alone, Waya." Rhydian said and stepped up to her side. He was not about to let a robot show him up on chivalry.

"Then let's get it over with." Waya told them both. "Comms should remain open as long as the portal is still active. We'll tell you guys when we know it's safe."

George was about to state that Rhydian coming through would defeat the purpose of this trip, because they were testing to see if it was alright for people who were organic based to step through the portal... but he stopped himself before he said anything. It would most likely be fine, Rhydian would be in no trouble, and he did not want to give the others more reason to dislike him. He looked at the others, walked forward, and entered the portal without hesitation.

Waya walked up to the thing and her nervousness was a little more apparent than it had been a moment ago. She touched the mirror-like surface of what looked like water and saw her fingertips vanish. It felt like nothing at all. She took a deep breath as if about to dive into a pool and stepped into Gen X: The Other Side

Rhydian took a deep breath as he watched George, then Waya vanish through the liquid wall. He gathered himself and then took a step forward, through the breach.

"You guys look after yourself." Eliza said almost cheerily as she watched the others go through the portal. She was trying to be cheery and calming about all this while she was still quite nervous inside.

Penelope walked up next, paused, then took a deep breath. Taking a step back, she went through with a jump, just wanting to get it over with. She vanished into the portal too.

Maribel's neck appendages were moving to and fro in nervous circles. She watched the others go through and looked at Junior, not wanting to go in alone or without him.

"We'll go last." Junior told her. "Just in case this thing needs last minute energy to keep open."

Eliza carefully maintained the portal for a few seconds, before letting out a small sigh and nodding. "Alright, time for me." she said, moving from behind the controls and walking calmly straight towards the portal. She closed her eyes as she got there, letting the portal wash over here.

Maribel watched and nodded when Junior spoke. She had to be brave for this. She had promised herself to be useful on this mission. Not like last time.

"Alright..." Junior said, looking at Mari. "Last chance to c<hange your mind..."

Mari shook her head and grabbed his hand. She could do this. She would prove to him, her friends and herself that she could.

"Alright then..." Junior told him. "You have to go through alone. It's safer if you're not with me when I go through." Considering he had all the equipment for opening another portal, he didn't want her to get barbecued if he did.

Maribel nodded with a frown before she gave him a hug and kissed him on the lips. She was scared, but was trying to do her best to be strong like he was. She stepped up to the portal wall and hesitated, looking at Junior.

"Right behind you." Junior said, smiling, but unable to keep the worried expression from his eyes.

Maribel looked forward, held her breath and hopped in.

Junior took a deep breath, making sure he had everything he needed. He hoisted the pack up on his shoulders, making sure the straps were secure. He blew a nervous breath through puffed cheeks and stepped inside.

With a deep 'THRUM' noise, the portal ripped open in the middle of the lab again. It wasn't exactly on the machine, since it would have been impossible to land exactly there, but where they would come out would be safe.

Penelope exited first and looked around. At least they got home safely. She moved out of the way for the others.

George followed after her, looking as disgruntled as a robot can get. He was dragging Eliza along as well, obviously wanting to get her out of there before there were any long awkward goodbyes with the person who might be her 'father'. "Eliza," he said, turning to the girl "You should get the water supplies ready. I will talk to Penelope."

Eliza nodded, frowning slightly but going over to a corner of the room in silence. She would need to get a hose or something.

"Talk to me? About what?" Penelope asked, really hoping the robot didn't think he could just preach to her all day.

"Things." George said, walking over towards Penelope. He stood in front of her, crossing his arms and tapping a finger against his own arm. "Come on."

She smirked, doubtful and raised a brow at him. "Talk to me instead of waiting for the others to get through alright... well you sure have your priorities." Penelope teased and waved before following him. Here it comes....

"Upstairs. Your room." George said as they walked along, tapping his arm still as they moved off together "And the others will be able to get back through." He was frowning slightly down at her "You lead the way."

"My room? Look... can you just out with it? I don't appreciate the condescending tone you've been giving me this entire time." Penelope said in her usual, snobbish way.

George didn't say anything. He just reached out, picked Penelope up under her arms, and began to carry her away. This probably wasn't very comforting for Penelope, since she knew some things about George's past.

"George! Oi! Put me down!" Penelope shouted and tried to wriggle out of his grasp. No such luck. His grip was like a vice as he headed up to Penelope's room.

Waya and Rhydian stepped through and moved out of the way so they weren't in the way when Junior came through.

Maribel and Junior were next and when they were through, Mari hopped out of the way for Junior.

"Box... box give me a box." Junior was glowing again, desperately needing to dump his excess energy.

Eliza came over soon, carrying an empty box they had lying around and handing it to him quickly. she hadn't really spoken yet since coming back, not that the others would notice, but she felt... a little sick.

Junior grabbed the box and began dumping energy int it. "I'm gonna need another." he said. "Quick."

Waya was right there with another. "I've got it Junior. Just relax."

Rhydian stood back, out of the way, and watched. It was always something to watch Junior's powers at work.

Mari didn't see the others, 'Where is Penelope and George? Did they not make it?' she asked Rhydian.

"They left." Eliza said, moving away to go get the water ready for the portal "George wanted to talk to Penelope. I think they went to her room."

"That's not gonna go w-" Waya began but a sudden surge of panic and fear knocked her back a step, bumping into Rhydian. "Holy fuck..." She panted, grabbing the right side of her head and panting. Her eyes were wide as she'd inadvertently connected to Penelope at the thought of her.

Rhydian quickly, but cautiously placed his hand upon Waya's side, steadying her. "Waya?" He asked softly. It wasn't like her at all to show weakness like this...

"There's something wrong with Penelope." Waya said, leaning against Rhydian for a second. "I gotta find her." She pushed off of him and started out of Liz's lab. Penelope needed her. Specifically.

Mari was trying to help Junior, but was distracted by Waya's sudden realization. She hoped everything was okay.

"What's going on?" Eliza asked, slowly starting to pour water through to the other realm, "What's wrong with Penelope? She was just with George a second ago."

Rhydian reveled in the feel of her leaning against him. The moment was far too short lived, however, as she pushed off of him. "Do you need help?" He asked her before she'd gotten to the door.

Waya paused as the door slid open. "I duno, maybe... I'll call you." She hurried out.

"She has all the fun..." Junior groaned, peeling his hands off the second box he'd filled. "Liz, can you run this thing off these or do you still need me to resonate for you?"

"I'll run it off those for now." Eliza said as she kept the water pouring, hoping it would be enough "Don't worry. Grab some rest, I'll find us... a new portal soon."

Rhydian felt a little defeated as she ran away. He didn't understand why though, she was going to go and help Penelope.

Seven minutes later, Penelope entered, looking frazzled.

Junior looked up as he put his box aside, feeling much better. "What happened?" He asked. "Waya ran out of here looking like you'd been shot or something."

"I might as well have been." Penelope said, "That damn robot is off his nuts! He tried to confide me in my own bedroom!" She shook his head, "Hopefully Waya is ripping him a new one."

"He isn't very good at the... people thing sometimes is he?" Eliza said, pouring the water slowly into the portal, letting it feed the person on the other side "Then again, he's been worse since Mojo."

"Did Mojo mess with his programming?" Rhydian asked curiously. He hadn't really taken the time to check George out. Maybe there actually was something wrong with him

"I chopped off his arm and fingers. He better get his shit sorted, let me tell you. He was trying to tell me that I'm danger to the team." Penelope explained, "He was planning on barricading me in my bedroom to keep me from going on another mission."

"That doesn't sound like him." Junior said. "But Maybe Rhydian is right. We never thought to check him out after Mojo upgraded his body.

"I don't know... his attitude seems the same most of the time... I just think he's a bit... well... Having difficulties dealing with his new body." Eliza shrugged a little, turning off the water. That should be enough "It would be as if someone ripped us out of our bodies and built an entirely new one...."

"Or he just sucks." Penelope said gruffly, not liking that the others didn't want to believe her.

It wasn't as if they didn't want to believe her, it was simply that they'd known George just a little bit longer. Rhydian, for one, hardly knew her at all. He had respect for her as he did for Veronica for surviving that long in Mojo's. But George was a member of the team, for longer than she had been. "I'll take a look at his coding and check him out. It could just be a simple coding problem."

"Did you say you... cut off his arm Penlope?" Eliza asked, frowning as the portal closed, the other world being cut off completely. Eliza went over towards her machines in the corner, she needed to find another dimension to open a portal into after all, and she didn't like waiting around.

"And fingers. I was going to cut off his head if he tried to hold onto me any longer." Pen said without remorse.

"Wait, he's acting crazy and we let Waya go handle him on her own after he-" Junior paused. Not everyone in this room knew what had happened after Rex attacked, but he did. "I'm going to check on her." He said, putting his box down and heading for the door.

"Hold up-" Penelope said, "She wanted to be alone with him."

"All the more reason." Junior said as he reached the door.
(tempted to have her come in now but I think rhy should get a chance to respond)

"Waya can take care of herself, Junior." Rhydian said, surprised by the fact that it needed saying. "Besides, George would never hurt her. I'm pretty sure that he physically can't."

Penelope caught the eyes of his half brother and winced. He knew what she did too apparently, "Riiight."

Just as Junior prepared to go through the door, Waya stepped in, not very happy. She saw everyone looking at her, or rather Junior because he was about to leave. "What?"

"Hey Waya. You alright?" Eliza asked as she went to put the water hose back where she'd got it from "People seemed worried about you."

"Please tell me you gave him the 'what for' with a two by four." Penelope said, arms crossed.

"I'm fine." Waya told them. "George was out of line and I told him that... though he could probably use some help fixing his arm."

"I can give him a little help with that." Rhydian explained, but glanced over towards Liz. "Though I'm far from the expert."

"I'm not the best either. It's mojo's tech now. I used to be able to help before but..." Eliza sighed and rubbed her brow "I can try again I suppose."

Just then, George carefully walked in the door. He was still holding his own arm, carefully tucking it under the other one, and swept his gaze over the others in the room. He was disheartened to see the obvious mood change. "Can I apologise to you Penelope?" he asked her, looking down at her "It would be nice to do so... in a more private place. Though I can see why you might not wish to."

Penelope took a step back, "You're bloody joking..." she looked at the others, "He's joking, right?"

"You've got her spooked, George..." Junior told him gently. "She's not gonna wanna be alone in a room with you."

"Can it at least be the damn hall?" George half groaned, rubbing his face slowly with his one working hand.

"If I say 'no' are you going to pick me up and carry me out?" Penelope asked with a snippy tone. "Say what you got to say, machine."

"Pen, you're upset." Waya said. "But you don't have to call him names."

"Penelope... Why are you freaking out?" Eliza asked carefully, looking a little uncertain as she watched Pen. After all, she didn't know anything about george before he'd arrived here.

Oh she knew about George alright. All she ever wanted to know as well. "I'm not freaking out." Penelope said with irritation to Eliza. "I just don't take his behavior lightly. I mean... considering it's him."

"I'M SORRY I SCARED YOU ALRIGHT!" George suddenly snapped, desperately twitching his fingers and jerking his one working arm, making the other one drop to the floor "I just... fuck... I hate the way you look at me and just see... See... this." He waved at himself with his one working hand "I forget what I am sometimes. I pretend... I'm not a... a freak. And I try to do what is right. But you... ohh... you... just can't let me ever forget. Forget I'm not... real... forget what I used to be... what I am." He hummed loudly as he took in a deep intake of air "I'm damaged. You guys should... go on this one without me."

Penelope snapped her fingers at him and took a brave step forward, "Stop it! You stop it right there, George. Don't you dare try and turn this around and play the victim here. Pretend all you want that your human...it's not going to bloody happen! Especially when you treat others the way you do. You touch me like that again and I'll chop you up into bits, I swear it."

Maribel was near Junior, being the protective girlfriend she was, but she couldn't help be pulled into the fight between George and Penelope. She was pretty loud afterall. Sadly, situations like this weren't her strong suit.

"Oh my god, just stop it!" Waya demanded between them. "He apologized, Penelope. That doesn't give you the right to be so fucking mean." She looked at George. "She has a point. You shouldn't have manhandled her the way you did, but you've apologized. That should-" She looked at Penelope. "Be good enough. If you two don't like each other, fine, just stay away from one another."

Junior didn't know who's side to take on this one. His new sister's, or George who had proven himself a valuable member of the team and... an alright guy. He knew George's past. He knew what Eliza didn't, but he also knew George was different.

Rhydian knew exactly who's side he was on with all of this. He stood by George, who'd already proven himself. He didn't understand how he came here from that alternate reality thing that everyone had gotten trapped in, but it didn't matter. Penelope was just too new for him to really trust yet...

"Penelope, what the hell are you doing?" Eliza asked, frowning at the girl, looking quite shocked. "You're yelling at George for treating you badly, he apologised and admitted he messed up. Now you're cursing him out despite the fact you SLICED UP HIS ARM. Pretty sure he deserves an apology too."

"I'm going to have to stay here on this mission." George said, looking over at waya and giving a half hearted shrug "I need to repair my arm. I can't be a burden on you guys." He was glad to see everyone seemed to be... with him on this. Though he also knew that what Penelope said was true.

"I don't think we're fit to go anywhere any time soon." Waya told him. "Junior needs to rest and Liz isn't done with that other Tom. Go get patched up." She turned to Rhydian. "Why don't you go help him." That gave him an excuse to check on George like they'd suggested.

"Apologize?! Me? Are you out of your bloody mind?!" Penelope asked Eliza.
"No. I warned him multiple times that I would cut him into bits if he proceeded. Apparently he wanted to get sliced."

"I believe Eliza has just finished with the man through the other portal..." George said, nodding over at the fact Eliza wasn't putting water in any more "Though Junior should rest... Has anyone checked how long we were yet?"

Eliza was silent for a second after Penelope spoke, before saying "Did he hurt you? Has he laid a finger on you at all?"

"Of course he did." Pen said, "He held me off of the ground and wouldn't let me go."

"Come on George, let's get that arm looked at." Rhydian told him, coming up to the robot's side.

"He scared you." Waya told Pen. "He didn't hurt you. I understand you're upset but calm down. He's apologized, lets just go upstairs. I'm sure the Twins have something awesome fixed up for dinner. We can tell everyone else what we found and forget this whole thing."

"I second that motion." Junior said. "I'm starved and last I knew we had ice cream."

"The twins, Jeremy and Veronica are no longer in the mansion." George said flatly, speaking without emotion but nodding towards Rhydian "I can attempt to cook however. We can leave the arm until later."

Maribel lifted her hands and when George looked at her, signed 'Where are they?' Why would they have left? 'We are in the right time and dimension...' she looked at Eliza, 'Right?'

"We're in the right place." Eliza said with a nod to Maribel "Maybe... not the right time though."

Rhydian looked at George curiously. "What do you mean, they're not here?" The fact that George would try to cook with only one hand wasn't important now. "When have we come back?"

Waya used her telepathy, looking vacant for a moment. "He's right. They're not here..."

"I am unsure if we are in the correct time. We are certainly in the correct dimension, but no one has taken any time to check if we arrived a few hours later or a few millenia later." George looked around at the walls "Most likely not too long, if we have gone further than expected... But as for the whereabouts of the others, I have no idea. Perhaps they have left us a message upstairs."

"I think we are in the right time. Everything in my room is just how it was." said Pen.

"That still doesn't explain the others missing." Eliza said, looking around and frowning "I suppose one of us could try calling them. They might have something we can contact them on."

"Why not Cerebro?" Junior asked.

Waya looked at Junior as if he had just said a dirty word. "And who the fuck is gonna scoop my brain back into my skull when it turns it to mush?" She asked, not wanting to even turn down the hall that led to that damn machine.

"Guys. Cell phones. Or something." Eliza said with a little half shrug, wondering why no one was even thinking of calling them.

Penelope sighed and was typing in her cellphone. Then held it up to her ear and waited.
"Hey, are you guys back already?" asked Jaden.
"Yup." Penelope said, "We were wondering where you guys are."
"Right now...in the Blackbird, hovering over the Florida Keys."
Putting a hand on the phone, she said, "They are in the jet above the Florida Keys."

Waya for once was glad for Penelope's impatience. Why Junior had jumped automatically to her using cerebro, she'd probably never understand. "What? Why the hell are they there?" She asked Penelope.

Penelope asked and listened a moment. Finally, she said "Coulson, who is apparently a robot, came to the school and said the 'real' Coulson was kidnapped by his own organization, they don't know why, and they were suckered into rescuing him. So they are checking compound after compound, trying to find him. No luck so far I guess."

"Robot?" George said gently, seeming suspicious of the story at that moment. What was another robot doing around here? He was feeling a little jealous.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. employs LMDs, Life Model Decoys, so that they don't have to risk their human personnel..." Rhydian explained for George. "Honestly, I'd had my suspicions that he at least operated one for years. The man simply never seemed to get older, that's pretty strange, unless you either have a super healing factor like Logan or you're a robot..."

"I guess that's why I never sensed anything from him..." Waya said. "Not that I ever really tried." She turned to Pen. "Ask if they need help. We could be there in a falcon in less than an hour."

"Are we giving up on rescuing your parents for now?" George asked, looking around at the people surrounding him.