World Walker Personal Grounds Part 1: Story 4

(A/N: Alright this is a small mini-saga [about 2 or 3 stories] that place mostly in Universe-35, Todd's home universe. And yeah for the beginning, there is an inaccuracey with the Mesopotamian mythology, Enlil is not the creator god [Nor was he totally evil]...but he holds the Tablets of Destiny aka ME [pronounced mai] which gives him omnipotence, omniscience, ect. Plus...this is an alternate dimension, I can bend the mythology abit, but this is...closer to home for Todd. I hope you enjoy [:)]) (PS: This is after Persistence)

(PPS:Yeah, this is a darker World Walker, readers should be at least a teenager, roughly 14 and up)

(PPPS: For those of you wondering, yes, I'm still working on World Walker 3 with Hero Forever and Deathwalker13000, it's still underwork, but this little "saga" popped into my head and I couldn't help but begin it. Sorry for the confusion, if any. Funny, this is an ironic case in which patience begets impatience. HA! :] )

Fighting Enlil
Todd was thrown into the wall of the ziggurat he was in. 'Probably should have made sure I could be alive before asking Johanna to a movie.' Enlil glared at him and snapped, "Very underwhelming World Walker...very unimpressive for someone who's name is so well know."

Todd spat out blood and sighed, "Still need more milk." Todd's fists glowed with energy and fired towards Enlil's torso, but it didn't paze him. "Puny lullu!" he snarled (A/N: Not kidding, that was the gods' word for humans.) "You are pathetic! I am a god! How are you to even compare to me!"

Todd stood up and snapped, "Oh please! If it weren't for those damn tablets, you'd be no better then any of the other gods in your pantheon! I saved the benevolent gods from your wrath, since they can treat humanity with the dignity and care a creator should give thier creation, leading them, aiding us, while keeping us in line!" "Silence mortal!"

Enlil snapped, "BE GONE!" A beam of light bursted from the roof and inching towards Todd. No doubt that touching that would mean certian death.

Todd teleported beyond the beam and in front of Enlil. "Well if you're so much better then a little, what was the word, Lullu?, then you should beat me without the tablets." Todd was playing to the greatest flaw of all ancient gods like the Mesopotamian and Greco-Roman...an over-inflated ego. Enlil smile and tossed the Tablets onto the altar, the beam vanished.

Todd tackled Enlil only Enlil to grab him by his neck and send a current of energy through Todd's body, causing excrusiating pain. Todd stiffened, and was dropped. "So," Enlil said, "This is how the mighty World Walker fights. Pathetic!" Enili walked towards the Tablets. Todd opened an eye and saw an opening. Todd vanished. "Now to be rid of those tratiors who helped the World Walker..." Todd poped up from behind the altar and snatched up the tablets.

"Next time, don't take advice from a human who wants you dead!" Todd snapped, feeling infinite power flowing through him. At his will, the Tablets of Destiny floated around him, leaving his hands free. Enlil stepped back, "No! A lullu can't use the ME! It's not possible!" Todd replied, his voice reverbrating, "It's not impossible, for I am using them." Todd created an orb, no larger then a marble in his hands and glared at Enlil.

Enlil just said, completely awe-struck at what he was seeing, "I created lullus to be slaves." Todd said nothing as he threw the orb at Enlil. Enlil was sent flying back, withering away, his skin dissolved, his muscules shrivlied, and finally his bone disintigrated.

Todd was about to drop the Tablets when something asked him, "Why get rid of the Tablets? Your powers are now on par with a god. Imagine what you could do. Every god will cower before you, all of the multiverse will bend to your will. Knowledge and wisdom greater then that of Odin, power above that of Ra. Why travel from world to world, when you can be rid of these forces with a flick of your wrist. And you'll live forever, you now know how and when you'll die don't you? Why go through that? You can rule as God..."

Todd tossed the Tablets away from him and screamed out, "NO!" The knowledge and power ebbed out of him. Even the knowledge of his death faded from his mind. Todd grabbed a sword from a statute and sent it crashing down on ME, shattering it, destroying all the power in it. 'Corrupting influence.' Todd concluded, incorrectly, in his mind.

He then began to feel bad for Enlil, he proboably held on to them for too long and made him completely evil. Todd then returned to his world (as the temple he was in began to collaspe, due to the power of ME ) and was in for a rude awakening.

Stess and a show
Johanna was walking with Sandy, a friend of her's from school, talking about movies. "My favorite part of the Titanic movie was the end when she went to Heaven." sighed Johanna. Sandy replied, "I couldn't help but cry through out the last act, from when the ship started to sank until the end credits." "I loved the make-up effects to make Leonardo DiCapprio look like he was frozen."

"That wouldn't happen in real-life because he's so..." began Sandy, only to hear a loud voice yelling, "Stay the hell away from my home!" They looked up the street and saw Todd kicking a man off the porch. The man was about 6'1, tanned, rather thin, and had shiny eyes. He was wearing jeans and had no shirt. Todd leaned and said,

"If I see you around here again, I'm calling the freaking police!" He turned around and slammed the door behind him. The man called back, "You shouldn't even exist you brat!"

He stomped towards the door, only for Todd to open it, kick him in his groin then shove him off the porch again. This time when the man regained his nerves he simply left. Sandy asked Johanna, "What was that about?" Johanna sighed, "That...was Albert." "Who?" "Mrs. Simmions stalker ex-boyfriend. Whenever Mr. Simmions leaves for the military, he starts to stalk and try to "win her back". Poor Todd, with his dad over seas, and this soon after coming home, he has to protect his mom on his own."

Sandy and Johanna said thier goodbyes, knowing that Johanna was going to try to calm Todd down. Johanna knocked on the door in a difficult patter, alerting the Simmions that it was her. Martha Simmions, Todd's mother, opened the door, "Hello Johanna...something tells me you saw Todd's little...explosion." Johanna nodded and sighed.

"He's in his room." Johanna thanked her and walked upstairs and knocked on Todd's door in the pattern.

The door slammed opened telekineticaly. Johanna walked in and closed the door gentley. Todd was sitting on his bed, drinking tea, then coffee, and then a milkshake, obviously trying to calm his nerves. "Uh, hello Todd. How was the...world walking."

Todd responded in a seeped up, stressed voice, "Walked into a Mesopotanian world, killed Enlil. And after a stressful battle with a god, what do I come home to find? My mom's ex trying to sexually harrass her! I mean, I have to balance out my family life, school, just being a guy and save the mulitverse! I mean first a god, then some freak who doesn't know when to quit!"

Johanna gentley grabbed Todd's shoulders lightly. "Easy now. Hush Todd, Hush. You must rest, you're under so much stress," (A/N: Guess where I got the beginning from. Go on guess!) She sat him down, and covered him shoulders with a blanket. She always had this way to calm Todd down, almost even when they were babies.

Todd sighed slightly and said, "I'm sorry I slamed the door open, I mean, do you realize how stressful this could be? Fighting gods and demons, only to deal with a psycho-stalker when I come home?...every time Dad's away? It gets so...I know, I'm whining. I chose this pathway so...I got to put up with it. But it just gets to me sometimes. I mean, gods, demons, life. That's a lot to juggle."

Johanna sighed and stated, "Todd, I think, if you can kill a god, this should be no problem. Besides you've been doing this for three years now...your technique has improved."

Todd smirked and replied, "I guess it has." Johanna patted his shoulder and said, "Well let's go to the movies. You did ask me to see this with you... Sweeney Todd rereleased, by popular demand!" Todd smiled, "Hell yeah!" The two went down stairs.

Marthathen asked them, "Where are you two going?" "The movies, we're seeing Sweeney T-" began Todd, only to notice a letter in his mother's hand. "Uh, Mom, pardon my nosieness, but what is that letter?"

Martha looked at it and lied, "Just a letter from an old penpal Todd." "Alright, just curious." Todd said, walking away with Johanna. But she noticed a troubled look on Todd's face.

"You OK Todd?" questioned Johanna. "Mom never lied to me before." "What do you mean?" "My Mom stopped writing to her penpal when he insulted Dad. Why lie to me about it?" Johanna answered, "Maybe it was just private." "I guess so."

The two of them reached the movie theater, bought their tickets (with help from Johanna who picked up her paycheek earlier) and took their seats. The trailers were just finishing up when Todd and Johanna got there. But the worse case senario happened, the film got eaten, causing a collection of groans and complaints from the audience.

Some begun to leave, when a fimiliar voice came through the speakers, "Ladies and Gentlemen...we regret to inform you that you have been cheated out of Tim Burton's version of Sweeney

Todd." The speaker walked out on stage for all to see.

Johanna asked, "Wait a minute...isn't that Christopher Lee?" Todd squinted and said, "Yeah...yeah that's Chistopher Lee!"

The actor continued, "But good news awaits...there was no movie to begin with! Ladies and gentlemen! I give you, Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd...on stage tour!" There was an uproar of appluades from the audience.

(A/N: Unlike this story, in which the readers have probably already lost interest. Seriously though,no this isn't pointless. This is to...well, that would sort of ruin it, I'll explain later.)

The lights darkened, everyone fell quiet. Christopher Lee begun to sing, "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd/His skin was pale and his eye was odd!"

Christopher Lee clicked a button on a recorder, in which another fimiliar voice came from it, "He shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter are heard of again!"

Johanna then asked, "Where have I heard that voice?" Todd answered, somewhat confused, "That's Vincent Price, you saw him as the Egyptian Moses kills in The 10 Commandments...but how could there be a recording of Vincent Price if he died before the musical Sweeney Todd was made?"

The song ended with Johnny Depp, Sweeney himself singing the final lines," Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd! He served a dark and a vengeful god! What happens then well that's the play, and he wouldn't want us to give it away. Not Sweeney...not Sweeney Todd. The Demon Barbar of Fleet!...Street!"

And so the play begun, everyone from Tim Burton's movie repised their role from the movie and regained the original musical's interactivity. Todd and Johanna were loving the play, the actors even threw in jokes. "You know me sir?" asked Turpin (played by Alan Rickman) "Who, in this great world, has not heard of the great Professor Snape." The crowd roared with laughter, "I mean Judge Turpin."

The song was now "God, That's Good!", after Sweeney started killing people to be made into Mrs. Lovett's (played by the lovely Ms. Helena Bonham Carter) pies. The next thing came as a surprise to both Todd and Johanna, Johnny Depp pointed to Todd, and gestured him to the stage. They did this several times before over the course of the song, but it was still an honor.

Todd stood up and rushed to the stage, where Mr. Depp gave a quick debriefing on the stunt, "Alright..." "Uh, Todd Mr. Depp." Johnny Depp smiled and replied, "Just call me Johnny. Now Todd, all you need to do is sit in the chair, which is towards stage right, where you can slide off and you'll be caught behind the curtain. Got it?" "Yes Mr.-I mean, Johnny."

Todd sat in the chair as Johnny, who seemlessly reassumed his role as Sweeney, covered his face in shaving soap. As the song continued, Johnny finally "slit" Todd's throat, pulled a lever and slid down, around the line "Bless my eyes...fresh supplies,". Todd stayed there, since they couldn't take anymore, due to the fact the song was ending. But Todd was in for a pleasent surprise. After the song was over it was Helena Bonham Carter, there to help him up. "There you go dear," she said sweetly.

Todd flushed, "T-thank you Ms. Bonham Carter. I'm a huge fan of yours. You are incredibly talented and beautiful, and did just say the second thing out loud, I'm sorry if I seem like a stalker fan..." Helena smiled and said, "You're a real sweetheart. I hate to ruin this moment for you, but you have to return to your seat, but you and the audience can meet the cast after the production." "Y-yes ma'am." Todd slipped from the stage and back to his seat.

Johanna laughed quietly, "I'm so jealous! You got to be on stage with Johnny Depp! I recorded the whole thing on my phone" Johanna (like nearly every girl on earth) had a crush on Johnny Depp. "And I met Helena Bonham Carter!" Todd added excitedly. "No way!" "And we can meet the cast after the show!" "Yes!"

The play was closing, Turpin returned to Sweeney's shop. "Where is she? Where is Johanna?" 'Deja vu.' Todd and Johanna thought simultaneously.

"Judge Turpin, thank god! We were able to save her before the sailor molested her. She is with my neighbor below." "You mean Bellatrix Lestrange?" Even Johnny could help but laugh and...Alan Rickman smiled! (It's the end of the world!)

When Johnny collected his nerves, the play went on. "And she was virtuous./And he was...naive..." Toby (played by Ed Sanders) crept from the darkness and slit Sweeney's throat. The audience applauded loudly as the cast returned to stage and did their bows.

When everything was done, it was time for the fans to meet the cast. Todd lead to Johanna to Johnny Depp. "Mr. Depp, this is my best friend Johanna, she is, with no exaggeration, your biggest fan." Johanna blushed and said, "H-hello, Mr. Depp..." Johnny smiled, "It's always nice to meet a fan." Todd then asked, "Can I get a picture of you two?" "Todd!" Johanna snipped, embarassed. "Oh, of course." Johnny said, standing next to Johanna. Todd clicked the button and the picture was in his phone.

Johnny could tell it was somewhat awkward and got Helena over. "Now, Todd, take a picture with Helena, to make it fair." Johnny smiled. Todd flushed and handed Johanna his camera. Helena placed her hands on his shoulders, as the picture was taken.

After a few more minutes, Todd and Johanna, after meeting Alan Rickman, and Tim Burton, met with Stephen Sodhiem, the man behind the bloody show. Todd then asked, "How did you get the recording of Vincent Price?" The musician answered seriously, "Magic." Todd and Johanna shrugged their shoulders and replied, "We'll buy it." Helena, now with Tim whispered loudly, "Aw, they're so cute together." The two of them replied, "Oh, we're not together..."

The Lie
(A/N:Now let's get back to the plot shall we...and why I did the Sweeney Todd thing is about to revealed very soon...)

After a few more minutes the duo headed for home, now it was 8 o'clock.

Johanna and Todd were about half way home, and Johanna said, "Thank you Todd. I had a blast." Todd replied, "Well, that was more of the fact it was the surprise then me."

"Well, the play didn't let me meet Johnny Depp now did it." Johanna smiled. "Well, anyone could." Todd flushed, feeling that the praise was not nessicary. "Well, who invited me?" Johanna said in a sly voice.

"Well I guess so." Todd responded. Johanna did something unexpected, she kissed his cheek. Todd almost fell over with surprise, with only Johanna holding him up. "Well, I guess a simple thank you would have sufficed, but that gets the message across." Johanna smiled slyly. Todd, now a deep red said, "I guess so."

Johanna punched Todd's shoulder and laughed, "You're so coy Todd! It's so cute!" Todd blushed into an even darker shade...if that was even possible. After a few minutes they were at Todd's house. "Hey Todd, my mom would be asleep by now...do you think I can spend the night."

Todd smiled, "Yes, you know my family loves you." But once they were at the door, Todd noticed something was wrong. "Dad's car?" Todd asked to himself. "But I thought your dad left for the military." Todd, shoved the key in the door and opened it.

Upon opening, there was a frying pan that clanked on the floor. "What the-?" Todd snapped, telekinetically picking it up. Todd called out, "Mom! Dad!" He sprinted upstairs, Johanna at his heels. Not in their room, not in the upstairs restroom, trying to fix the leaky sink they've been trying to fix since before Todd was born.

They went downstairs and into the kitchen. It was a mess, flour, eggs, water and cooking utenzils on the floor. And on the table was two letters. One was the one Martha was holding earlier, the other he didn't see before in his life.

He picked up the unknown letter. It was Dad's message from the his supiror (and old colledge friend) Colonal Matthew. Todd read it. "Wait...how did Dad miss this?" Todd shouted, somewhat frieghtened. "What?" asked Johanna.

"Colonal Matthew always types up his messages, but always, always!, signed it by hand! It's typed here." Todd showed the paper, and he was indeed telling her the truth, Colonal Matthew was typed, and handwritten.

Johanna picked up Martha's message. It was an invitation to a ball at Betatech. Written on it was:

"Martha,

I would like to apologize for the way I've been act for all these years. While I doubt I will be forgiven in an instant, I would like to meet you at my ball and apologize in person. Thank you.

Albert"

Todd thought for a second and then he realized what was happening. Albert would never just give up. There was something else here. Todd shoved the letter in his pocket and took out his Sweeney Todd ticket. It dawned on him now.

"No!" "What Todd?"

Todd turned to face Johanna, but felt a surge of pain in his chest, clutching the left side of his body and fell. "Todd! Are you alright?!" Todd pulled himself up and answered, "I'm...I'm fine. But Mom isn't going to be soon!"

Johanna asked, "Why?" Todd answered, "What did Turpin do to Lucy in Sweeney Todd?" Johanna gasped, "You he's-" "Yes!"

Johanna grabbed a phone, "Should we call Rune and Philip?" Todd responded, "No! It'll take to long for Rune to get here from Belladore, and it'll take Philip too long to find this place...I haven't told him my address yet. Besides this is personal."

"We have to at least call the police." Johanna said dialling 911. "Yes, get the police to Betatech...there's going to be a..." Johanna then whispered in the phone so only the woman on the phone could here. "Thank you so much!" Johanna exclaimed.

Todd tapped his forehead, and a raven-like mask formed over his face. "We're going to need masks." Todd tapped her head and a butterfly-styled masked formed over her face. "Let's go kick some ass." Todd snarled, the pain returning in his chest.

The Ball
Todd and Johanna teleported to the outside of Betatech. The guard stepped in fron of them. "No one under the age of 21 allowed inside." Todd was going to feel bad about this later, but he froze the man where stood. Todd and Johanna spotted Martha almost instantly. She wore a strapless pink dress and a red domino mask.

"Never knew Mom owned a mask," Todd muttered. Martha was looking amoung the crowd, obviously for Albert. "Why would she come here after all he's done?" asked Johanna. "Mom's a very forgiving soul, God bless her for that."

A man in an oni noh mask, handed her a drink form his tray. "Oh, thank you." Martha replied. She never drank a sip of wine in her life, but she didn't want to be rude to the waiter.

Johanna looked around, "So, what mask are we suppose to look for?" "No clue. We just ask for Albert and hope someone knows where he is." The two split up and started asking everyman if they were Albert and every woman if they've seen him.

Todd asked a young blonde woman, "Miss, have you seen Albert, the CEO of this place?" The blonde woman answered, "No I haven't, sorry." Todd thanked her and went to the nearest person, a strapping young man, "Sir, are you Albert, the owner of this establisment?" "No, sorry."

Johanna walked up to a man and asked, "Are you Albert, and if not do you know where he is?" "No and no. Sorry."

Another waiter offered Martha a fourth drink, she was a little buzzed and took the drink without thinking. Her head was swimming, and it was evident she was lightly drunk. The waiter took off his mask. It was Albert, who was switching mask to trick Martha into taking multiple drinks.

He grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the elevator. Unfortunate for him, the elevator made a ding! noise as he hit the button, getting Todd and Johanna's attention. 'Mom!' Johanna looked at the elevator numbers, Albert was going to the top floor.

Todd grabbed Johanna's hand and teleported to the top floor, in the darkest corner.

There was Hank Simmions, tied to a chair. The elevator opened and Albert shoved Martha to the floor. "Bastard! She dumped you! It's over!" snapped Hank, "What are you going to do to her!" Albert kept an indifferent face and laughed, a surprisingly chilling evil laugh and responded, "She'll never know. You see, I majored in medicine. I'll remove the skins from our faces and replace them, the police will arrest you for... a crime I will not state and I'll be with Martha."

Albert continued to explain, "The idea came from Sweeney Todd, I think you know about Turpin and Lucy. But rather then go through all the trouble of your possible vengence, I desided to make this plan...cleaner. I've already called the police, claiming to be you, saying I stopped an attemped rape by "me". When they get here I'll be you, and you'll be me. No rape needed, none of my genetic information behind."

Johanna whispered, "He's insane!" "No!" Todd muttered back, "That implies he had a human mind to begin with."

Albert leaned to Martha's face for a kiss... And was shoved against the wall by a gust of wind. "Hands off the woman." Todd said in a gruffer voice. Albert wiped from blood from his forehead. "Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" Todd replied, "I'm here to kick you ass! Now let them go!"

Albert grabbed a gun from under his desk and fired at Todd. But a shield was formed in front of him, deflecting the bullet. "Now you have no weapon, this sheild is considerably think. "How thick is it?" you ask? Well about half as thick as armored plate, but you'll need and anti-tank cannon to..."

And out of nowhere Albert pulled out and anti-tank cannon. "Oh. crap that's an anti-tank cannon...HOLY CRAP AN ANTI-TANK CANNON! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?!"

Hank then asked, "These big balls every year, and now you've got an anti-tank cannon? Me thinks someone is compensating for something..."

Johanna has awoken and informed Martha. Todd then asked, "Miss, is Albert compensating for something?"

Martha nodded, "Oh yes he is..." Todd brooke out laughing, thinking, 'I knew I got from somewhere, but I had no idea I got from both of them!'

Albert snapped, "I'm not!" Martha laughed weakly, "Yes, you are." Todd took advantage of this and thought for a moment. Albert noticed a sudden lightness and noticed his weapon vanished in thin air. Todd walked up to the man, saying, "I will have vengence...I will have salvation!" Todd slammed his elbow atop the man's head, knocking him to the ground.

Todd said to Johanna, "Get them out of here! I'll take care of this scumbag!" Johanna went towards Hank. "No!" Albert yelled, crawling towards the two, only for Todd to step on his back. He snapped his fingers and Hank's bonds were gone. The three ran off.

Todd picked up Albert and punched him across the face. Albert stumbled backwards and landed on a potted plant.

Todd picked up the gun, full of rage all of a sudden, again quoting Sweeney Todd, "Not one man, no nor ten men, nor A HUNDRED!, can assuge me!" Todd aimed and cocked the gun.

"Good, good. This man has caused you harm, and threatened your family. Go on, kill him! No one will know, your mask protects your identity, your powers let you get away with anything you want. What's one dead man?"

Todd hesitated. "No." Todd whispered, removing the mask. "You." Albert said, surprised. "Me." Todd responded, pulling the trigger...into the air. Todd look over servalience and, just as he thought, got everyone in a panic and rushing out of the building.

Todd focused and the plant became a boa constrictor, wrapped around Albert and then became a titanium chain. "I'm done here. You can report me if you like...no one will believe you...no one believes in magic anymore."

Todd appeared beside Johanna, who managed to lose Mr and Mrs Simmions. "Todd you didn't..." "No. Never...I could never kill someone, no matter how much they deserve it."

Conclude
The Simmions rushed home, in hopes that Todd was alright. The opened the door only to see Todd rush them and hug them saying, "Thank God! What happened to you two! I saw the car and then..." Martha held Todd and said, "It's nothing Todd. You don't have to worry..."

Todd all of a sudden felt another jab of pain over his heart, gripping at it. "Todd, son are you alright?" asked Hank.

Todd couldn't answer, he fell on the floor unconscience on the floor, as Johanna, who was walking in with drinks, to help Todd relax despite the fact that his folks could have been in danger, dropped them, breaking them. She rushed over to Todd, yelling, "Todd! Get up! Oh God!" Martha was also beside him, "Todd, my baby!"

Hank grabbed the phone, "911! My son collasped, and he's not responded...Martha! Is he breathing?!" "Yes! Thank God!"

Unbeknownst to them, there was a man in a dark suit outside the window. The man laughed an evil, yet charming laugh, and said to himself, in a smooth voice, "Todd Simmions...you will fail your mission." He vanished in a puff of dark smoke.

(A/N: Wow...that was actually darker then I planned, so dark I actually had to put it in the Dark category...And by the way, the Sweeney Todd part was for comic relief considering the dark climax, ending, and semi-dark beginning, and so Todd would realize the plan, not for Todd's references. Even if I didn't have the play, I would have found some way for the the refrence, due to Todd's personality.

Oh and by the way, guess what's wrong with Todd and who the man in the window was. Hope you enjoyed, and if you didn't sorry. Let's hope the next Personal Grounds will be a bit lighter.)