[ He lets himself be guided down, settling on to the bed beside Midnighter. Knees pressed against his husband's twisted around to face him a little - a mirror image of the angle that Midnighter turns to him. His hands in Midnighter's are warm and pliant, letting them be held as he explains. ]

The Carrier crashed through the Bleed, stranding us in a low-energy world. It didn't have any superheroes, any magic, no Doctors or Jennys. What's worse is our caged baby universe was missing and the Carrier was dying... we had no idea how to get home.

[ It had been something of a reality check; without the Carrier, the Authority were stuck no matter how powerful they thought they were. Apollo grimaces at the memory. ]

We were working with a local, a man named Ken. The Doctor looked inside his mind and he realised why the world was 'low energy'. He said it felt like everyone in the world was sleep walking...

[ And this is where it gets weird. ]

Turns out, this Earth had some kind of parasite. Like some space creature feeding off the entire world. Sucking out the emotional power of everyone on there, tapping in to the collective subconscious and draining it bit by bit -- hence why that Earth was low power, see?

And of course, there's us with the Carrier and all of our power, crashing in through the Bleed... it noticed us.