Captain Dominion's course for Earth represented something of a challenge for Tony, for he had never before made the journey between dimensions unaided. Under the tuition of the Dawnshapers and either Jhaton, the strange being also known as "The Magic Master", or his "apprentice", Nomu, Tony had dipped his toes in the interdimensional waters in the past, but this was the big test - making the full transition between universes - and during previous lessons, he had heard something quite interesting...

Every now and then, in the last few months, Tony had heard mention of something called "Over/Strike" - a fleet of Confederacy super-robots, apparently capable of almost instantaneous intergalactic travel. Such a thing was apparently impossible for living beings, and complex machines, and that left Tony with the distinct impression that such a feat could only be achieved by something that was neither. Something just like Captain Dominion.

It was a scary proposition from the very start, talk of a dimensional "void" bringing back memories of a lightless, soundless, timeless existence from which Tony had not long escaped. It, had, the young man had to admit, been an equally unsettling experience to emerge from his "inner void" at Darkhawk's encouragement, but Tony had never looked back since, and when the time came to immerse himself in interdimensional space, he did so without fear, telling himself that this was just another step towards fully reclaiming the life interrupted by his accident, and those years of being lost and alone, inside himself.

Propelled by willpower and the energies of the LifeStar, Tony started to swim through the limitless gulf between universes. The "void" was nothing of the sort, simply a different kind of existence, just as the world beneath the sea couldn't compare to life on land; one simply had to approach it with an open mind, and open eyes, and after all those years of being effectively blind, and isolated from the rest of existence, Tony drank in everything around him...

There were, he knew, all manners of dangers lurking between universes, hidden pitfalls and camouflaged horrors, and Tony was quick to rein in his understandably childlike sense of wonder as he directed his attention to his reason for being in interdimensional space - finding his own way home, ideally before his parents came back to his room to check up on him. He was looking forward to giving them something of a surprise.

You know how to do this, he told himself. It's simply an extension of what you've done before, travelling faster than light. To do that, you allow yourself to slide into the interdimensional, where our physical laws don't work, where the speed of light isn't a barrier any more. I simply need to go deeper, find those "currents" that touch both Dominion and my universe...

It was just those "currents" that, by brushing against the boundaries of physical universes, generated the energy commonly known as "magic", the Dawnshapers had told Tony, and magic was one of those energies that had been present when Dominium crystal was first formed. It had remained bonded into the structure of that strange substance for millions of years, unaffected by the passage of time, the unearthing of the crystal, its carving into the form of Captain Dominion, and Tony could feel that energy humming within him, in perfect harmony with the cosmic music surrounding him. To find the way to Earth, he had to find the correct "chord" that represented the magic common to his native reality, and find the worlds-spanning "string" on which the cosmos played those two particular chords...

It was like being caught by an undercurrent, and dragged under the water as a wave rushed to shore above his head. As soon as Tony found what he was looking for, the magic "chord" that sang home took hold of him, and began pulling him along. It was pointless to fight it, or try and travel at one's own pace - he simply had to hang on, use his own momentum to break free at the right moment, and that became his sole focus, all thought of emulating Over/Strike pushed to the back of his mind.

It came to him quite by chance. Tony was tensing himself for the right moment to tear himself away from the interdimensional flow, and emerge into his native reality again, when he noticed something about the space around him - the "music" wasn't just limited to the "current" that was carrying him along; everything was resonating in sympathy with it, and that resonance revealed previously concealed nuances, present in the surrounding "space". There was a whole separate "universe" of subtlety and texture he had not been aware of before - it reminded him of the "heat-haze" visible on the surface of a road on a hot day, something one would normally not notice, unless one just happened to look at the road the right way - or one looked for it intentionally.

Tony was gazing into that "haze", almost losing himself in it, when the energy of the LifeStar took over, flaring into life and pulling Captain Dominion free from the celestial undertow. It came as something of a shock, finding himself back in normal space, with more than one star shining in the heavens, and a lot less in the way of planets, and Tony was simultaneously happy to be "home", and disappointed that his studies had been interrupted. He had felt sure he had been coming close to understanding the patterns of energy, reflected in the surface of the interdimensional, in particular those areas where the "music" fell silent, places where the energy was either absorbed completely, or maybe fell through gaps in the fabric of the interdimensional. That could be it, he thought, as he tried to work out exactly where he was. Secret passages, maybe, or back doors...

Glancing around, Tony quickly realised that whilst he wasn't exactly at his own front door, he was at least in the right neighbourhood. To his right was a vast sphere, girdled by bands of muted, earthy colour... Jupiter - Tony recognised the largest planet in Earth's system from a book his father gave him for his fourth birthday, and now he could tell Mr Fulcher that he'd seen it himself, for real.

Tony didn't need to pick the Sun out of the star-strewn expanse to know which way to go, sensing his own body somewhere out there, and his progress to Earth didn't go unnoticed. Approaching the asteroid belt, which lay spread out between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, the next nearest planet to the Sun, the young hero started to sense organised energy patterns, artificial patterns indicating some kind of transmission; not the broadcasts Earth unconsciously allowed to leak into space, which Tony had been expecting to encounter, but a signal directed at, and surely intended solely for him.

Tony had found he was able to not only detect such transmission, but Jhaton's training had taught him how to decipher them as they interacted with his own internal psionically-regulated energy patterns. ***...u are approaching a restricted area. Be advised that your approach is being monitored, and should you continue towards the third planet of this system, you will be intercepted and detained. Repeating - this is SCORPION Control to unidentified vessel; you are approaching a restricted area. Be advised...***

It was relatively easy to translate the incoming signals into a pseudo-telepathic "voice", but processing thoughts into energy that could be received by electronic devices was a whole different matter. It took Tony several minutes to achieve it, but finally he was able to make contact - he hoped in time to prevent SCORPION from trying to shoot him out of the sky. "SCORPION Command, this is Captain Dominion", he announced. "I'm on my way to Earth, and the facility at Beacon Ridge. Please advise if there are any procedures I should observe before attempting to land."

The voice that responded sounded human enough, although there was a distinct accent to the English being spoken. ***Please stand by***, said a man who sounded as though he might be Japanese, English a second language for him. ***Do not attempt to pass beyond the orbital perimeter of the fourth planet until you receive clearance...***

Tony felt a knot of tension grow inside him as the comms-channel went briefly silent. He had no doubt that his identity would be confirmed, and his flight to Earth would be allowed to continue, but it wasn't SCORPION that had him worried. He was starting to wonder what Darkhawk would do when word got back to her that he had taken Captain Dominion on a not exactly official trip to Earth...

The next voice to speak to Tony was quite different - English came to the man as naturally as breathing, his accent seeming to be one native to the country from which the language had originated. ***Good afternoon, Master Fulcher. This is Rhagaan Tyrho, commander of SCORPION. We have you on positive track on an inbound vector - I trust you won't object to us carrying out a visual check on you, as we don't currently have your flight profile on record. Don't panic if you suddenly find one of our fighters shadowing you.***

Panic was the last thing on Tony's mind. There was something about Commander Tyrho's voice that made him feel quite relaxed, something that also suggested that the words were backed up by many years of experience - years... decades... perhaps centuries? And was that direct telepathy, not a transmission that became an interaction with Captain Dominion's internal energies which in turn became a psionic impulse...?

Questions for another time, Tony told himself as a sleek, narrow space-craft, an exaggerated arrow-head of dull silver, came in from his right. The space fighter edged in close, dipped beneath him, came back level on the left, all the time passing scanning beams over him, then a section of the craft's upper hull became transparent, and Tony could see a figure seated inside, human-like in general physiology but hidden within a full-body space-suit. The figure waved, and a brief flash of communications sent words bubbling through Tony's mind. ***Thanks for your patience***, said the pilot. ***Commander Tyrho says you're all clear to proceed to Earth - just try not to get seen too much, okay?***

"Pass on my thanks to your Commander", Tony told the pilot. "He might want to let Beacon Ridge know I'm coming - if he hasn't done already."

***Have a safe journey***, said the fighter pilot. ***May sound like it's coming a bit late, given how far you've come, but take it from me that there's been plenty of trouble in these parts this past year, and the rest of the way to Earth may prove to be something of a minefield. Quite literally.***

That revelation didn't exactly fill Tony with confidence, but he knew he had to find some from somewhere. The way to Earth was open to him, if not entirely clear, and at the end of his course, the greatest challenge of all awaited him - his parents.

No point in postponing the inevitable, the young hero told himself, and the LifeStar energy flared briefly inside Captain Dominion as he jumped back to hyper-light speed...

Pippi had been trying to address the somewhat thorny issue of who and what SCORPION represented, when she suddenly fell silent. It was only for a second, but it was all Mr and Mrs Fulcher needed for them to get worried. "Are you all right?", asked Ryan. "Is there something..."

The Deputy Commander got up, without a word, and hurried down the corridor to Tony's room. She did not enter, only glancing through the vertical glass panel in the door, then she came striding back to the waiting area, passing Ryan and Emily as they attempted, and failed, to keep up with the strange young woman.

"Miss Korax, is something wrong with my son?", Emily called out as she spun round and gave chase. "Please - you have to tell us!"

"No, no - everything's fine", murmured Pippi, going to the window, and gazing skyward. "Better than fine, in fact..."

Pippi reached into one of the many pockets of her patchwork waistcoat, fished out a personal comm-unit, and hooked the tiny device into her left ear. "Korax to Space Control - do you have a fix on the inbound?"

"Affirmative", responded one of the SCORPION staff monitoring space traffic in and around Earth's solar system. "He's absorbing the local scanning frequencies, so they haven't detected him, and he's masking his approach by entering the atmosphere by way of the region where the planet's magnetic field is at its most concentrated. Our most recent flight-path projection indicates he'll be following the main mountain range of the Northern Americas all the way to your location."

"Thank you, Space Control", said Pippi, looking north, towards the Rocky Mountains. "Any chance of an arrival time for our inbound...?"

The Deputy Commander caught sight of something glittering between the mountain peaks before any response could reach her ears. She braced herself as the gleaming point grew rapidly in intensity, and the Space Control officer tried to give a reply: "I... I think you're going to know he's arrived before I can -"

The roar of air forced to part before an object moving too fast for the atmosphere to get out of its way blotted out the rest of what the Space Control operative had to say. It shook the windows, the floors, even the flesh and bone, right down to the core, of anyone unlucky enough to be directly beneath the flight path of the new arrival.

"So much for the stealthy approach", sighed Pippi. "Someone better remind that boy that this is supposed to be a place where people can relax..."

"That... boy?", mumbled Ryan. "Are you talking about Tony?"

Pippi looked up, with a grin in full bloom. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Keying a security code into the access panel, the Deputy Commander instructed the automated windows to open, allowing her and the Fulchers out into the grounds of the Beacon Ridge facility. They found a suitable piece of open ground, a safe distance from the main building, and stood watching the sky as the light Pippi had seen coming down through the mountains circled Beacon Ridge, then began to descend, becoming less of a star and more of a man as it drew closer.

"What - what is that...?", gasped Emily Fulcher, as the amber and black shape approached, gliding silently towards the group, several feet above the ground.

"No - 'who is that?'", corrected Ryan. "Look at the face, Emily - that's Tony..."

The amber, jewel-like sections of the new arrival's body changed hue, becoming opaque and flesh-like in colour, and even Pippi could see the resemblance. "Mom... Dad...", said the incredible visitor, "I'd like to introduce you to Captain Dominion..."

The Deputy Commander was intrigued, her boundless scientific curiosity sparking into life, but she knew it was time to withdraw, and let the Fulchers come to terms with the rather startling fact that there was now a "super-hero" in the family.

As Pippi stepped back indoors, her comm-unit started to beep insistently, alerting her to an incoming communications stream. She tapped the device, still lodged in her ears and held in place by a mild cellular adhesive of her own invention, and a voice from millions of miles away addressed her. "Commander Korax? Mars Deep Space Monitoring reporting - we're receiving an urgent signal from a Dominion starship; Dominion Five. They're on an inbound course, and their commander has advised us that they're looking for Captain Dominion. Apparently, he left base without permission..."

Pippi glanced out the window at Tony and his parents. This, thought the Deputy Commander, was going to be... interesting.

"So, you can fly...?"

"Is... is this alive?"

"What's that light inside - is that your... soul?"

Mr and Mrs Fulcher had so many questions that Tony really didn't know when to start answering. There would be questions he simply couldn't answer - possibly no-one could - but the young man expected that his parents wouldn't get quite that philosophical...

"Tony, have you ever used... this to hurt anyone?"

Mr Fulcher asked the question that Tony felt compelled to answer - this was about him, not the crystal statue his mind was currently occupying. "Yes", he admitted, not needing even a heartbeat's length of time to consider his answer. "I've had to fight to protect the people who've been helping me..."

It was always going to come to this, sooner or later. Ever since Tony had gone into battle as Captain Dominion against the Faenri, the consequences of his actions had been shadowing him, and he had spent long hours alone inside his comatose body, considering his response should his war record ever be brought into question - just as it was right now.

Emily Fulcher looked horrified. Ryan's face darkened, and Tony knew this wasn't going to lead to the kind of telling-off he might have received, before his accident, for taking a cookie without asking. "Son... you have to tell me", said Mr Fulcher gravely. "Did you kill anyone?"

There were so many ways to justify his actions, so many ways to dance around the issue, evading a proper answer, but Tony wasn't going to do that. "Yes, I have", he replied flatly, remembering his battles with the Faenri forces that attempted to invade Dominion. "I didn't enjoy it, but I knew it had to be done - innocent people were in danger, millions..."

Mr Fulcher turned his eyes to the ground. "You're going to have to tell me everything, Tony", he said after a moment. "This... this is a lot of power for a boy to possess. Perhaps too much power. I'm your father, and you have to trust me to decide if it's right for you to keep on doing this..."

"I don't think we need to hear any more of this", said Deputy Commander Korax, switching off the audio feed that carried the Fulchers' words to a conference room on the other side of the Beacon Ridge complex. "This just became a family matter."

"And a matter for Dominion security", Ravani responded sternly. She had only just arrived onboard Dominion Five, and all the SCORPION security measures in existence had completely failed to keep her at bay. She had teleported down to Earth, under her own magical power, as soon as her vessel had parked in orbit around the planet, but only Pippi's reputation had kept the Dominion spell-caster from storming in and confronting the wayward champion of Dominion. "Captain Dominion represents a significant asset to the self-defence efforts of Dominion and the entire Unified Response..."

"I'm sure he does...", Pippi began, but Ravani cut her short, her indignation building.

"He is unique", snapped the elegant, leather-clad Mystalornan. "The first, and only example of Dominium being employed in this fashion. We are still investigating the limits of his powers, the consequences of extended use of the crystal form - we've already had a rather disturbing display of Captain Dominion's limitations, outside of Dominion..."

"...and there'll be plenty of time for research after Tony has explained himself", Pippi intervened. "He..."

"The crystal form is too powerful to be trusted to anyone else", growled the Mystalornan sorceress, her previously folded arms unwinding, her hands shifting onto her leather-skirted hips. "The boy knows the construct better, and more intimately, than any other possibly could, as a consequence of his medical history..."

"You do know that Dominion could be viewed as having exploited a helpless citizen of a non-aligned sub-baseline technology world?", interrupted Pippi. "His family were not consulted about his being... drafted into the Dominion defence forces, and let's not forget that legally he was, and still is a child, and that makes things a whole lot worse."

Ravani glared at her ragged, almost child-like host, but chose to calm things down. "We were assisting Tony in a strictly non-military fashion", she continued. "He volunteered for what I think you could describe as 'medical intervention', and when the Faenri attacked, Tony took it upon himself to... selflessly offer his assistance to our self-defence efforts, during which he excelled himself. To you, he may be but a child, but to millions in Dominion, he is a hero."

"And to the Fulchers, he is their son", Pippi reminded her guest. "Please, you've found your missing hero - and I assure you he'll be going nowhere without our permission, and your authorisation. For now, the worst thing we could do is step in, and get involved..."

Ravani's large slanted eyes narrowed further, and briefly glanced at the screen, where the Fulchers could be seen talking - Tony giving brief answers to his father's questions, while his mother lingered in the background, silent, looking perpetually worried. "Well, if I'm going to have to wait for the boy to finish explaining himself to his parents", the sorceress snorted in resignation, "I'll just have to find something to occupy myself with on this grubby little rock - do you have any suggestions?"

The other SCORPION personnel in attendance, who had stood by in silence as Pippi and Ravani exchanged heated words, could only look back and forth amongst themselves, not wanting to get involved, if they could possibly avoid it. Pippi herself could only shrug helplessly...

"Never mind", sighed the leather-clad spell-caster, her patience now running on empty. "I'll find out for myself..."

...to be continued - in Ravani: The Huntress Walks Amongst Us...