He mostly has low-tech weaponry that won't be very useful most places now, but why not.

"You know, I worry that by pointing out weird things happen you make them more likely."

"Really? Why? Doesn't that imply a god who favors - incredibly simplistic stories with immediate payoffs that are satisfying only because they're surprising, but executed so often they're not even that -"

"They're still faintly ironic for a while after they're surprising. I don't know. I just think maybe better not to mention that kind of thing before trying magic."

"Or at least track when you mentioned it and when you didn't," he says, making a note. "All right. Here goes."

And they're somewhere else.

It looks like a prison - like the one Alex left from -- except unlike that one it's empty, and the lights are off, except for a tiny green one bobbing in the distance.

- can you see what that is?

...also heyyy Father Michael I don't super expect you're in range anymore but this is Karen. I, uh, found Alex.

No answer.

I think we're back. Or, you know, in a parallel universe that also has the Initiative, I think I recognize this - we need to get aboveground, there's something else here and I don't like it -

Fun. She scoops Wishbone. You remember the way out?

If this is the place, yeah.

It is, or at least the floorplan. They emerge into a parking lot. The moon is half-full. We need a phone.

I dunno what the closest place with phones is. Or exactly how many miles the facility is from the rest of Sunnydale. You reading anyone we know?

I think so? And I wouldn't get much from here even if they're all fine, we're a ways from the city. I guess we can steal a car.

Yeah. Or I guess we could hike, there's not a lot of reason to believe anything is immediately wrong and they didn't just shut down the facility some time in the past year.

- smells off, though.

Yeah.

And it wasn't empty. Dunno who was in it, I guess it could just be squatters, but -

Mm. 

Yeah, let's take a car. 

They turn out to both have the windshields bashed in and odd damage to the metal, but one of them still runs.

They drive to town.

Town is experiencing some problems.

Specifically, there are various demons of various unrecognizable species wandering around vandalizing already-vandalized storefront windows. Batman is fighting Boba Fett. Some drunk pirates sitting on a rooftop are applauding every time one of them gets in a good punch. Everything looks at least a little bit destroyed.

Well.

I ....guess it could be that we were gone for longer than a year. What with the time dilation.

Home has definitely seen better days. Also worse ones, so.

We wanna check the Batcave or my house first?

Your house first. He successfully holds himself back from actually saying 'Michael can take care of himself' but it kind of comes through anyway, the way that osanwë sometimes overcommunicates when you're not paying attention.

Nod. Michael was not actually the only person at the Batcave last she remembers, but she needs to check her house anyway, so.

The lights are off. The windows are intact but the mailbox has been smashed. Azalea's car is missing.

No one there. They might've left whenever the town was -- overrun by hooligans and fantasy villains. Wishbone I don't suppose there's an obvious thing that would have caused -

Characters escaping from their stories? No. Not at this scale.