Continued from
One moment there is a stretch of ordinary burrow under the city. What's supposed to be an pit trap and packed earth walls. The next, the air halfway down the passageway tears apart. The edges of the tear fold back on themselves. Loose soil lifts off the tunnel floor and hangs in the air and then evaporates like morning dew.
Then the pull starts. It is quiet, and very strong. Something is being pulled through. Something from the Other side.
Oops.
!
OKAY this Rift is Aggressive she was NAPPING.
She lets out a yipe and goes invisible as she goes through, and looks around in slight panic.
The walls are packed earth, scored all over with neat parallel claw grooves, and every few yards someone has shored up the ceiling with salvaged two-by-fours, rebar, and, in one place, a street sign reading BROCKTON BAY ZOO. A few yards ahead the passage forks three ways. Over the middle branch hangs a badger-lettered cardboard sign:
"WARNING: PIT TRAP AHEAD, ACTIVATE HOVER MODE"
Past the sign, there's a circular area planted with flowers spelling "TRAP", lit by sunlamp overhead. Right next to it is the portal, half-open but still pushing air through into Earth Bet at a rapid pace.
There's a long corridor with many round doors here, and just now a rather short human woman in black-and-white makeup runs out into the corridor, selects another door, opens it, and runs inside. She's followed by four large robot badgers. When the last badger is through, both doors close automatically.
Yeah no definitely dreaming.
But a sudden plan wells up in her. She's pretended to be a horse before. Why not a horse sized badger? It's clearly the expected format here. And if she never has fun with illusions what's the point?
She goes up to the door the troupe went through and tries to open it herself to follow!
Just as she gets there, two humans in capes and armor exit through the same door the badgers came from, slide underneath her belly, and run into through the door that the badgers disappeared through
As soon as they disappear, the woman in badger makeup exits through a third door further ahead in the corridor, flashes a grin to the giant badger, and leaves through a fourth door.
Hehe. She'll participate in the scooby doo chase scene too, picking a door and just running through the maze. What a fun dream.
Eventually, if she goes that way, she'll arrive at the badger break room.
It has nine badgers, all relaxing by reading, playing video-games (all of which are pirated versions of 80s classics, but with all the sprites replaced by badgers).
There's several unopened boxes of shortbread, as well as an unopened, still sealed coffee machine and water cooler.
"We renamed it Bontra when we changed the sprites. Hello, I'm Edgar!"
She snickers. "I'm Weiss. Do you have Super Smash Badgers Melee? That was my very favorite."
"Of course! But Dr. E feels that "Super" isn't a good enough superlative."
"Hey!" It's in a woman's voice, from the other side of the break-room door. "Did you happen to see a giant non-robotic badger? The heroes don't want to play anymore."
Edgar, and several of the other badgers emit muted robotic giggles.
"I gotta say, this is a really fun dream. I haven't played Supreme Smash in... Gosh, how many decades?"
"Gosh you must be old! And from the future! I'm only three! And not from the future!"
"Maybe I'm actually from the past because I got sent back in time. I think I'm about... Ninety? That sounds about right. I haven't kept track. I guess Dr. E is the boss around here?"
"We are a confederation of equals. But Dr. E makes us- she's a tinker. Did someone make you, or are you autopoietic?
"Viva la revolution! Tamamo made me. She usually does foxes but I guess she was feeling poietic one day."
She wants to actually move towards and try to play one of the games, this kinda dream is not to be wasted...
SO much nostalgia.
She'll wile away some time playing! It doesn't even need to be a good video game, it's not like she has anything to compare it to. This one does seem fun enough, though. Her paws - under the illusion - are a little bit challenging, but she's being careful.
Edgar goes "bing" and one of his lights changes color for a second.
"Just got a badgermail on badgernet. Dr. E asks if anyone wants to go prank the mayor?"
"There's a mayor? Sure."
Whee! Time to see what the dream offers her next.
(...This is a pretty stable dream, though...)
After walking across eight corridors, down and up several stairs, and going through several round doors, they arrive at the lab.
The lab is round, low-domed chambers dug off a central hall. The walls are packed earth reinforced with various junk- car doors, corrugated roofing, and various bits of wood.
All over the lab are robot badgers in various states of completion, on straw-lined charging pads, cables running into their sides. A whiteboard in the corner says OPERATION: ANNOY THE MAYOR.
She feels vaguely In Trouble, and the creeping feeling of wrongness is getting stronger but lets it wash over her.
"Hi, Dr. E. What'd the mayor do that deserves annoyance?"
"Well, just recently he held a press conference about the traffic cones we put in his back yard. And at the end he looked into the camera and said, 'This city will not be badgered. As if it were a bad thing. But he's been bad-mouthing the badgers for years!"
"Oh, that is a burn."
Is this even a dream? She doesn't remember deciding it was. It started by sticking her through a Rift, and then that looney tunes chase scene...
...Hmm. She goes quiet as she focuses and feels out for older traces of her own magic. If it's a dream, she'll feel fuzzy random things. If not, she'll feel ... nothing?
Ah, this probably, isn't a dream? Which makes the whole thing much more concerning.
"Splendid! All badgers are welcome here! We're thinking of replacing all the paintings in the city hall rotunda with paintings of badgers, you in?"
"...It would be much more interesting than some old white guys, so sure."
And it will give her more information about what is going on.
Eventually they arrive inside the old mansion, and get an unobstructed view of the harbor and the city.
This sure looks like Earth!
She's increasingly less sure it's a dream.
Though she doesn't... Remember Earth very clearly.
And the badger crew seems to think nothing of breaking and entering.
.......Well, she's played along this far, let's keep going.
"I want to get a smartphone later," she remarks, though. "...Maybe a big tablet instead."
"Dr E doesn't make them! The ones she makes keep turning into moles and burrowing away..."
Ah, maybe it is still a dream.
She should be slightly less lackadasical. She tags everyone nearby with her tracker-illusions; Invisible labels with their names. Or, well, 'Dr. E' and 'Edgar' and 'Armor Guy', and 'Robot Badger' for everyone else. Technically they do nothing, because they're invisible, but she can find her own illusions again, so: Trackers.
Can her magic interact with radio...? Prooooobably not unless she actually understands how the signal works. Which she did, once, sort of, but not now.
"Geez, how do you get enough thrust in personal armor to fly without cooking yourself or running out of fuel in two minutes?"
"I taught him antigravity! He copied it from Harriet's anti-gravity claws! That's why we're best buddies now!"
The man in the armor lands on the ground ahead of them.
"I'm not her friend. Dr E, have you made a new badger? What can this one do?"
She knows badgers bark; She barks out a puff of blue fire, so nobody will expect much else. It's a very straightforward power. Makes them not suspect the others.
"That!"
"I didn't make that one! That one came out of a hole in the universe! The name's Weiss! She's our new friend!"
Armsmaster sighs as if the whole world was against him again, and focuses on Weiss. "You're from another universe, Ms Weiss? Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
Armsmaster taps something on his wrist, and reads from his visor.
"Note that I did not compose these questions. I apologize in advance if they seem offensive to you or to any of your protected characteristics. They were written for me, as a part of our standard operating procedures in case of interdimensional contacts."
"Now:
...
"Throw them all at me at once why don't you. Uhhhhh. Call me Weiss for now. I got vorped through yeah, I think I'm dreaming but kinda leaning less likely on that by the minute. I can't get sick or carry germs. Asking me that right in front of her kinda defeats the point doesn't it? But as it happens yeah I followed her willingly. I assume six wings is a local-" Words, words, she is just kind of saying things as English returns to her mind but this one isn't coming. "...Bad... entity?"
Armsmaster is making notes on his wrist keyboard. "Yes. A bad entity. We call them Endbringers. Governments?"
...Should she be lying? It kind of feels like the time for fun pranks is over.
"None where I was hanging out, that's cursed lands. Well, moderately cursed. You'd probably be fine but a random farmer, no. Uh... You've got Notal in the west and the Federation in the east and a bunch of colonies mostly aligned to one of the two big ba- Big governments. Oh, and the steppe guys. And a few native communities. -Ah!"
She shuts her eyes and sniffs back towards the mansion.
"...No, okay, it's fine."
"I didn't take a close look. No curse monsters got through, I can smell them from miles away. Nasty things."
She should not let on that she knows this is (probably) the United States of America. With... Superheroes? And badgers??
"The place seems nice, like, no promises but I don't tend to be hostile to governments unless they're doing horrible things. Like slavery. Or wars of conquest or driving native populations from their ancestral lands."
"The little ones don't have any real special abilities, they're just balls of black oozy hate in the shape of, mostly animals but a few more eldritch shapes. Some varieties spit acid, I guess. What you have to watch out for are the Endbringers, the big ones that have scary extra powers like turning corpses into zombies or mind control or sonic screaming or being really huge. And if you kill them they come back eventually, unless a priestess helps put 'em down for good, un-curse the lands."
She will pretend she didn't realize it was about her special abilities.
Armsmaster is exactly the kind of guy who would not feel awkward about asking twice. Or, rather, he'd feel just as awkward the second time. "No, I meant, do you have special abilities?"
Worth a try. "Oh, sure. Maybe I wanna learn about this place before saying more."
Armsmaster's expression changes, just a hint. "I see. Thank you, miss Weiss. Dr E, would you mind if I inspect your portal?"
"No, I don't mind. We'll be annoying the mayor in the meantime- that copacetic?"
Kevin is already halfway down the street. "Come on, come on, it's this way!"
Then something beeps in his helmet, and Armsmaster- despite knowing better- follows the robotic badger.
...She'll follow armor guy. He seems... More relevant, let's say, being diplomatic. But that doesn't mean she can't kinda needle him.
"Hey, you wanna buy some gold coins? I want to go buy 'video games' of my very own, they are fun."
"Oh, you're coming with me?"
Armsmaster thinks this feels suspicious, somehow, but it does make sense.
"I believe we can arrange to exchange some gold for you."
"Don't tell me you've broken into the Christner's ancestral mansion? It's on the Brockton Bay historical preservation list."
"Dr E feels that her actions will be EVEN MORE HISTORICAL, down the line."
She winces hard enough that you can tell even on a giant badger face.
"-Uh, yeah, I should be a responsible k- Badger and make sure things are good with the rift to Tirra. And ooh fun! I'm not in a huge hurry there, though."
A light goes off inside Armsmaster's helmet.
"Are you actually a badger? I should note that my helmet has lie detection- not that it works very well with Dr E- she tends to believe her delusions."
"Plausibly. We are relatively sure that she's never drawn blood, or hurt anyone more than bruises. She hasn't even thrown a punch. She appears to be a- rarity of rarities- mostly pacifist supervillain. We could have done much worse- there's stone killers out there. What are you really, if I may ask?"
"...Kitsune is probably the closest word. I - mm - long story." Kinda blows the illusion powers but that's how it goes. Better to earn some kind of trust, probably, anyway.
Armsmaster is totally that kind of weeb, even though he pretends not to be, so he swipes away his armor's attempted explanation. "I see. We have legends of your kind."
The tunnels are long, and there's plenty of time for conversation
"Yeah, that's... Complicated."
She is somehow not feeling all that chatty. Well... She asks some questions about 'this world', trying to act as baffled by cars as parahumans. To start providing cover for her knowledge from before the first isekai. Knowing English is a thing, sure, but maybe she can pass that off as a blessing? It kind of is, even, Tamamo made her smarter and reincarnated her still with some of her memories.
...She's never met a government that she really, fully trusted. And Armsmaster reeks of government.
The portal is still open, still exerting a strong force into this universe. Particles and air blow inwards at a constant rate.
"BEHOLD!" screams Kevin, his robotic voice clipping at the top of his range.
Visible through the portal is a forest clearing with a series of large painted boulders in it.
"Hmm!"
Usually, rifts close after not too long... This isn't a usual rift. She was alone, so it's not very surprising that nobody else has showed up yet. Sniffing the air rushing through, she does faintly smell another kitsune, though...
"Someone else might be coming to that side of this, probably to investigate. The air rush is kind of a problem. I don't think there's that much of a pressure difference. If anything it would be the other way, that location has ... A mile or two of elevation and the pressure is a little higher here to my ears, so I think Tirra has the same basic atmosphere as this planet."
"We can setup a pressure dome. Not sure it will do much good now- any bacteria or spores will have had time to travel. Still, probably a good idea."
"From what I can tell the biospheres are broadly similar. We've had portals like this occur - naturally more or less, but they last hours or days at most."
"You don't, I imagine, have badger-obsessed wierdos with strange super-engineering powers, so perhaps that explains itself."
"There are badgers with magic powers sometimes. Also various other magic animals. Different phenomenon than me, they're not any smarter."
She also looks at Armsmaster. Well, Armsmaster? Are we? She's not going to stop you.
