Young Writers Society

Zara was rapidly starting to think that her earlier conclusion that they might simply attack here was actually going to be coming true and doing so a lot quicker than she'd anticipated.

She took a few steps back as one of the creepy looking mechanical arms of the person in front of her turned to stare at her. It was unnerving, as if the thing had a mind of its own, especially cause the attention of the man himself appeared to be more towards the two wielding weapons, not that she could fault him for that particular decision. Those two looked far more dangerous than she did.

Z, I think the man is just being cautious, maybe we should explain ourselves a bit?

Please don't put that on my tombstone

Hey you're lucky. I probably won't get a tombstone, being you know...

How about we stop talking about tombstones, and try to avoid acquiring one?

I can get behind that. So...?

I'll try and talk

With that resolution in mind, Zara slowly raised her hands to show that she didn't currently have a gun or a katana (she was still not over how crazy that was) in her hand.

"Heyy, I'm not here to do anything, I came through that strange portal earlier, and I think you did too. I just want to know if there's anything you know about where we are."

Jason slowly started to lower his gun. Alex, being nowhere as trusting as Jason was, kept her katana raised and ready to attack.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, her voice low and quiet. "Doc Ock is right there!"

"He's not doing anything," Jason whispered back. Alex knew he was a little naive sometimes, but this was really taking the cake.

"He's Doc Ock," Alex pointed out. "We don't have a Spiderman to protect us right now."

Jason technically had his helmet on, but Alex knew he was giving her a slightly judging look. After a moment of staring at, he quietly said, "I should have a kill count."

Alex wanted to protest that, but what kind of retort could she give? Doc Ock probably wasn't like them, but she guessed she could let herself trust him a little. Maybe he was similar to Jason and wasn't nearly as villainous as he was supposed to be.

She would still keep her katana ready, though. Talia had taught her well.

"We're in New York City," Jason said, turning to the last person to speak besides them. She gave Alex Wally vibes, but Alex couldn't put her finger on why. "I've never really been here before, so I'm not sure where. But I think we're near the downtown area?"

Otto glanced over his shoulder at the girl who'd just spoken, then back at the two people with the weapons. They seemed to be letting their guard down; perhaps they weren't here for him. The other girl claimed to have come through a portal...was that what had happened to him?

That would certainly explain why everything looked and felt different, and that lined up with the strange lights and sounds he'd experienced before ending up here.

Cautiously, Otto planted the actuator pointed at the first pair squarely on the ground so he was braced both against the walls and the ground, then pivoted so he and the last arm were facing the girl who had spoken.

"They're right," he said warily, not quite ready to turn his back on the weapons but knowing the actuators wouldn't let anything happen to him. "This is New York. That over there is Oscorp..." He pointed toward the dark building looming over head. "...So my guess is that we're downtown, yes. But a portal...."
It does make sense.
"...It does make sense," he agreed. "But why us? Why you? What is Osborn playing at this time?"

The girl was resisting her.

It made sense, she supposed. She hadn't mastered her powers of telepathy like the Professor had. He could get into your mind so easily. And yet, he never abused his power.
That was one of the reasons Jean admired him, and wished she was more like him.

Then, her nightclothes transformed into a green and gold silk bodysuit. The sound of a bird call filled the air.

"I am Phoenix," Jean cried, her voice an octave deeper and more booming. "Why has Jean Grey been brought here?"

Alex was quickly deciding she did not like superpowers. Her younger self would have been horrified at the thought. Before...then, she had always loved the superpowered Marvel characters the most. Loki had even been her favorite! Magic and superpowers had seemed like the coolest thing in the world back then.

But now Alex was stuck in the body of a preteen. And while she was more dangerous than the majority of Gotham, she was very much aware of the limitations of her body.

Especially now that the voice had suddenly become more deeper and booming—and that its owner was now a very visible flaming person. And, seeing that Jason had started to raise his gun again the moment he heard the bird cry, it wasn't just Alex who was hearing her now.

(Something about Phoenix sounded familiar, but Alex couldn't put her finger on what it was.)

"I don't know!" Alex said, exasperated. "We're all confused here. Red Hood and I were in Gotham. We weren't anywhere near New York City."

She crossed her arms.

"It's probably a meta," she guessed, "or some random mad scientist. But asking us isn't going to get you anywhere."

Jason didn't say anything. He just gave her a look underneath his helmet—one she couldn't see, but one she could imagine—and lowered his gun back down.

Any thought Otto had given to staying and chatting with these strangers disappeared immediately. Whatever that flaming woman was, whatever she wanted, Otto wasn't going to stick around to find out.

"You three have fun with that," he said, raising an eyebrow. He'd mess with mutants some other time. The actuators snapped to attention.

We cannot go up, one pointed out. The helicopter will see.
They had a point. Otto looked around. Damn, no windows in this alley, either.
Over. He jerked his head in the direction of the dark-haired girl, and the actuators surged towards her, gripping the walls above her to launch their owner away. Otto swung to the side, crawling along the wall of the building facing the street now. He'd circle back around to watch the fireworks, he supposed; no sense in losing sight of the people he might be connected to. But there was no reason to get involved with a mutant after he'd just been soundly beaten by a grad student in spandex.

Zara watched with equal parts fascination and fear as she saw a woman approach in what looked like a nightgown before transforming into a much more scary looking flaming form. She didn't even get a chance to answer what the man with the creepy tentacles.

Speaking of the man, she ducked on instinct as one of the creepy mechanical arms gripped the wall above her and began to launch the man away from the scary lady. She couldn't really blame him for that particular move. Now she was stuck considering her options.

Frost, uhh, what do we do?

You know what I'm going to say.

Try to talk to the scary people.

Exactly, the man is running away, so he's probably not going to be all that much help.

I feel like he's just smarter than all of us. You see someone bursting into fire like that, you tend to run.

Hey, we burst into ice.

And people run...

Okay you got me there. But...I do think everyone here's just trying to do the same thing we're doing. Some people are probably just more paranoid than others.

Oh we're so going to regret this.

"I don't think either of us really knows why we're here," said Zara speaking up and taking a few cautious steps towards the armed duo and the scary bird lady. "Maybe we can all talk minus the weapons and superpowers?"

It didn't take long for Jean to faint. The Phoenix seemed to anticipate this and she landed in a sitting position, sore but alright.

Jean moaned, barely conscious but aware of everyone's eyes on her.

"Talk..." She said weakly. "Why is the city so different?"

Jason wasn't sure how he was supposed to answer that question.

He had an idea of what was going on. He had listened to enough of Tim's sleep-deprived, caffeine-driven lectures on variations in the multiverse to understand that different realities existed. He didn't know if Phoenix was from DC or Marvel or something else, but she was probably from a different reality. His New York City looked different, too.

"The katana stays out," Alex said.

Jason looked over at her. It didn't seem like they were in any danger anymore. Jason had already put his gun away, even though away was just in the holster at his side. "Robin-"

"Red Hood," she hissed back.

Jason hopelessly glanced between Alex and the girl who had requested they put their weapons away. It would lower tensions and de-escalate the situation, but Alex wouldn't be convinced anytime soon.

He took a deep breath. With the voice modulator that came with his helmet, the breath was barely noticeable—if it could even be heard.

"I'm not sure how it happened," he hesitantly, awkwardly said, "but I think the city is different because you're from a different reality? We're from a different one, too."

"Alright, but don't swing that thing around," said Zara, eying the sword. Anyone who would bring a sword to a fight involving superpowers had to own either a really cool sword or have some powerful abilities. She was glad that at least the fire lady had somewhat calmed down.

She nodded at what the one with the gun said. "That checks out with how we got here. It was definitely some kind of portal, I wasn't sure if it was interdimensional, but now that I think about it, that makes the most sense."

Otto and the arms had settled a reasonable distance away from the conflict, still within earshot but tucked out of sight. Otto sent one of the actuators winding along the ground, close to the wall of one of the buildings, toward the strangers. Through its camera he could see the flaming woman appeared to have calmed down; she looked more fatigued than dangerous now. Perhaps his flight had been premature. Who could blame him for being skittish, though? He was just a scientist, really. A scientist who had made some grave mistakes.

Take us a bit closer, he instructed, and the arms obeyed reluctantly. They clung to the side of the building, careful to remain in the shadows to avoid the helicopter and moving as silently as possible to keep the others from noticing as well. That went fine until the upper left actuator, perhaps a bit overenthusiastic, crunched straight through a window--which thankfully only led to an empty office.