MGM - Chapter 79

Riley 'Grace' Davis

Garden of Eden

Riley Davis woke up feeling small. Not just small in the way she usually did - because, duh, she was six - but small in the way that made her feel like she had curled up too tightly for too long. Like she’d been hiding in a place too cramped for her limbs, except she couldn’t remember what she had been hiding from.

Her eyes fluttered open, met with a glass ceiling raised so high it almost looked like the sky. Light filtered through glass, tinted just enough that it softened the golden glow spilling over a garden that could’ve come from one of her colorful picture books. Flowers and vines crept up the walls, weaving over arches and lattices in colors she didn’t have names for. It smelled like… green. Like when she and her mom used to walk through the farmer’s market and stop by the fresh herb stalls, letting the scent of basil and rosemary and lavender cling to their clothes. It reminded her of home.

Subconsciously, her fingers twitched against something soft. A blanket. Heavy and warm.

And then - voices. Voices that were both familiar and strange to her, all at once.

“She’s waking up,” a woman murmured.

Riley twisted her head away from the greenery and saw her. It was a much older girl - tall, or at least she looked tall from where Riley lay - hovering near the edge of the enormous wooden bed she was lying on. She had long, bedraggled brown hair, light brown eyes flecked with the prettiest green she’d ever seen, and super cool black makeup that made her look kind of scary in a ‘rockstar’ kind of way. 

However, there was a weariness to her eyes, too - a weariness that made her look tired. Or maybe sad. Riley wasn’t sure why that made her chest feel tight.

Their eyes met for one fleeting moment, baby blue meeting wide, surprised brownish-green, before there was another voice - this one deeper, smoother.

“Well would you look at that. Good mornin’, goldilocks.”

Riley turned her head the other way and blinked at the sight of a man - grinning, lounging back against thin air like it was a perfectly normal thing to do and not one of the coolest superpowers ever. He had chocolate brown skin that almost looked like it glowed beneath the sunlight, silver eyes that twinkled like stars, and a way of smiling that made her feel like she was in on some sort of funny joke, even though she didn’t even know what it was. 

With his elongated ears, dark robes, and handsome face, he looked like some sort of… dark elf prince. Again, like it in her story books! Usually seeing someone so strange would be scary, but she felt no fear. Just confusion.

Then his hands flicked out in playful finger-guns, and Riley wasn’t sure why, but she giggled. It was small, hesitant, but it felt nice to do.

“It’s nice of you to finally join us. Enjoy your beauty sleep?” he teased.

Riley wrinkled her nose. “I think so?”

Everything felt… fuzzy. Like when she woke up from a nap in the car and couldn’t remember how long her dad’s been driving. But that couldn’t be right. Had she been in a car? The thought sent a weird jolt through her chest, but when she tried to grab hold of it, it slipped away like trying to catch dandelion fluff on the wind, or water with your hands splayed out. She’d tried it before, and it never worked.

The man watched her, his expression still relaxed but… there was something else there, too. Not worry, not like the lady beside him, but like he was waiting for something. Oddly enough, there was something about him that felt safe, too. And familiar. Riley felt like she’d seen him before, but putting her finger on that feeling felt impossible. 

Ugh, everything felt so misty. She didn’t like it.

“I don’t really remember falling asleep,” Riley admitted, her voice small and unsure.

He nodded, as if she’d said something deeply profound and wise. “That’s good. Not remembering is how you know it was a good nap. Happens to me all the time.”

She giggled, despite the weird fogginess in her head. His voice was deep and warm and a little teasing, but not in a mean or scary way. He was funny.

Then her giggles faltered.

Her hands clutched at the soft blankets pooled around her waist. She was in a bed - a really, really big wooden one, in a garden that didn’t look anything like…-

Wait.

Riley’s breath caught in her throat.

Where was she?

Her tiny fingers fisted into the thick white covers. Her heartbeat picked up as she racked her brain, trying really hard to remember what had happened - but all that came up was a thick, murky blur, like she was looking at her memories through that stained glass from church. It was pretty but it gave her a headache if she tried too hard, which was exactly what was happening right now. Her mind was stained glass, and she couldn’t see. 

She couldn’t remember. 

She remembered her parents - her mom and her dad. She remembered their smiles. Their voices. Their faces. But things felt blurry. It felt-...

Panic started to creep up her spine.

“Hey, hey,” the man’s low voice cut through the noise, warm and steady. “Easy there, goldilocks. You’re safe here. Breathe for me, yeah? I’ve got you.”

He held out a large hand, palm up.

Riley stared at it.

Something in her gut told her she could trust him. She didn’t know why. She just… did. A big part of her - the scared, confused, lost little girl - clung to the mere thought. Trusting a stranger was bad, but somehow, she felt like this man, or this woman, were strangers to her. Not really.

Her tiny fingers hesitantly reached out, gripping his hand. It was big; warm, solid, calloused in a way that made her think of someone who worked a lot. Like her dad. It reminded her of her dad’s hand.

A lump formed in her throat, but she took a shaky breath through the painful feeling, blinking rapidly to rid herself of the panicked tears that had begun to cling to her eyelashes. “Okay…”

He offered her a reassuring smile.

“See? No worries,” he said easily, leaning back onto… nothing. She really wanted to know how he was doing that. “I’d tell you to take it easy, but I get the feeling you’re gonna do that thing a lot of people do where they hella overthink, and that’s not fun. So, let’s keep things simple, shall we?”

He gestured around them with a lazy wave of his hand. “This? Invictus Palace. Home to my family, Invictus. That over there-” he pointed to the woman, who offered a small, black-painted smile, “-is Amy. She’s my girlfriend. And me? I’m Jason Black. We’re heroes, and we protect Brockton Bay.”

Heroes.

She knew that word. It sparked something in her. She liked heroes, didn’t she? Super cool, cape-wearing, world-saving heroes. She used to watch videos of them when she thought Mom wasn’t looking. Back then, it had been kind of scary, watching people get punched through buildings and fly through fire and stuff, but that had never stopped her from peeking. It had been her dream to become a doctor- like her dad. And heroes needed healing, too. 

So that they could continue to save the world.

“You… protect people?” Her voice came out small. Hesitant. “You promise you’re heroes?”

Jason’s smile softened. “Yeah, kid. We are.”

She chewed her lip, processing the truth in his words. Her brain still felt like it was wading through molasses, but it wasn’t as scary now. Just… weird. Even more then that, she felt like he was being honest. Dad always said that honest men spoke with their eyes, and Jason never looked away from her even once. His eyes were pure.

So if they were really heroes, and she was really safe, then-

“Why am I here? Did you save us from something bad?”

‘Amy’ flinched.

Jason, however, took her question in stride. “Something like that. You were in a bad way, but we got you outta there. I guess you could say we ‘saved you’, in a way. Right place at the right time.”

Riley chewed on her lip. That sounded like another truth. But…

“Do you remember anything, Riley?” Amy asked, speaking for the first time since the conversation started. Her voice was exaggeratedly soft, like she didn’t want to startle her.

Riley hesitated.

She should have been able to remember things, shouldn’t she?

Her head felt like it should be full of memories. For the most part, they were. She remembered her parents’ names. Grace and Theodore Davis. She remembered their love. Their warmth. She remembered school. She remembered her friends. She remembered long hours waiting in the receptionist area as her father finished his shift at the hospital, and she remembered picking flowers with her mother in the forest outside of their country home.

She remembered being happy.

But when she tried to look past all of that- past what she knew to be her life months ago, and into what led her to being in Brockton Bay of all places… All she saw was that same thick fog from before. It shrouded her mind.

Bits and pieces surfaced if she pushed hard to see through that fog. She could see flashes of color, and muffled sounds that didn’t quite make sense. She could hear a little girl laughing, Country Roads playing on the radio. She saw a tired-looking man with a scruffy beard and big hand and wired-framed glasses singing along, while a pretty blonde woman shook her head with a smile. Their faces were so clear in her head.

Her parents.

But then- then she felt something warm against her cheek. The scent of something metallic filled her nose. In her ears, the roar of an engine, tires skidding, the radio becoming quiet and distant.

A car. A dark road. The sudden, jarring impact.

Crash.

Riley gasped sharply, hands flying to her mouth.

Her chest ached. Her throat felt tight.

Something bad had happened.

“My parents,” she whispered.

Jason’s expression didn’t change. He didn’t flinch, or look away, or do any number of things that could’ve made her feel alone or crazy or unheard. He only nodded, slow and deliberate, and drifted closer to where she was huddled up in the blankets. His hand raised halfway from his leg like he wasn’t sure where to put it.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice gentle in a way that made Riley’s breath catch in her throat. “We were able to save you, Riley. But your parents…”

The weight of his words settled on her chest, pressing down like a hand squeezing her heart. Tears blurred Riley’s eyes.

She sniffled, trying her hardest to avoid outright sobbing. She was a big girl. She could take it. “Are they-?”

Amy made a pained sound in the back of her throat. She looked like she wanted to speak but couldn’t quite find the words.

Jason sighed, running a hand through his wild tangle of hair. “I won’t lie to you, kid. Your parents didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”

Something inside her cracked.

It wasn’t fair. 

It wasn’t fair.

Riley’s breath hitched, and tears burned at the corners of her eyes. A lump formed in the middle of her throat, thick and unmovable. Memories raced through her mind. Memories of the good times. The bad times. The ‘so-so’ times. The divorce, and the rekindling. They had just become a family again. Together. And just like that… Just like that, it was all ripped apart. For what?

“But-” Her tiny hands curled into the blankets, her knuckles white. “That’s n-not-… I don’t remember-”

“I know,” Jason said, but it wasn’t dismissive. It wasn’t a lie, either. It was just… fact. A simple, heavy truth that she could feel wrapping around her chest, threatening to cut her breath off at the source.

She was alone.

A sob bubbled up before she could stop it, breaking free in a trembling cry.

The woman - Amy, her mind supplied suddenly - shifted closer, her pretty expression warped with a very real pain. She reached out, hesitant, then finally rested a careful hand on Riley’s head, fingers threading into her blonde curls. The touch was awkward but warm, grounding in a way Riley hadn’t expected. Immediately after, Jason finally moved over fully, alighting over the bed and wrapping his arm firmly around her quaking shoulders, pulling her into his side.

He was warm. They both were.

Riley hardly remembered collapsing into their arms, but she did. And the couple embraced her in turn, surrounding her in warmth and scents that were foreign to her. Scents that weren’t her parents’. But it smelled nice, regardless. It felt comforting.

Her saviors let her cry. They didn’t tell her to stop, nor did they try and lie and tell her it would be okay. Because she knew it wouldn’t be okay. Not really, and not for a long, long time. They just sat there, calm and steady against her outpouring of grief and sorrow, rubbing the back of the pretty blue dress that she couldn’t remember putting on this morning.

After several long minutes, when the tears had slowed and her hiccups softened, Jason spoke again.

“I know this isn’t fair,” he murmured, his voice soft and gentle. “I know this feels like it doesn’t make sense right now. But as long as you trust me, Riley, I promise that I’ll make everything be okay. Maybe not right now, when everything is so raw and painful, but you will heal. You will recover. I feel like I owe it to your parents to give you a second chance at happiness.”

She sniffled, rubbing at her damp cheeks. “Y-you knew them?”

He hesitated - just for a second, so brief she almost missed it.

“I know of them,” he said instead, leveling her with a stare so intense that she nearly felt herself look away. “Enough to know that they’d want you somewhere safe. Somewhere happy, where you could grow up healthy and cheerful and be the kid you deserve to be.”

Riley scrunched her eyebrows, glancing around the garden. It was beautiful and reminded her of- of her mom, but she wasn’t sure how much fun she’d have playing with tulips and roses all day. Then again, it was very hard for her to imagine anywhere managing to make her have fun anymore.  “And… that’s here?”

Jason tilted his head, considering her words.

“Not exactly,” he admitted after a few seconds of silence, an odd little smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Earth Bet ain’t exactly the best place for a fresh start.”

She frowned in confusion. “It’s not?”

“Lemme put it this way,” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I was thinking of taking you somewhere better than here. Somewhere you’d never have to be scared again - at least, not anymore than normal. Somewhere you can actually be a kid. No supervillains blowin’ up city blocks, no bad guys busting open the side of banks. Just you, getting to live your life, and someone awesome who can take care of you.”

Her lower lip trembled. The idea of leaving- of going somewhere brand new… It was scary. But there was something about the way he said it, something about the quiet certainty in his voice, that made her think that… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Her heart hurt a lot right now, and though she knew, logically, that she would feel better later on… Riley kind of liked the idea of going somewhere fun and colorful and far away from the place that took her parents away from her. 

She really, really didn’t like Earth Bet right now.

Amy’s fingers ran through her hair again, slow and careful, teasing out curls in a way that made her heart squeeze with loss.

Riley found herself leaning into it, regardless.

“You don’t have to decide right now,” the older girl murmured, her voice gentle. “You’ve been through a lot. You should eat first, get a nap in as well. You can make your decision tonight.”

Riley sniffled again, hiccuping slightly as she nodded.

She was hungry.

Jason’s grin returned, softer now. “That’s the spirit. Ooh- we can order pizza! Been a hot minute since I had some authentic deep dish.”

“I’ll text Cassie and get her to order a few boxes,” Amy stood, stretching her arms above her head with a sigh. As soon as she’d gotten the kinks out, she looked down at Riley and smiled. “What kind of pizza do you like, Riley?”

And just like that, her stomach growled. Loudly.

“Um…” Riley blushed, ducking her head down to avoid looking into their amused faces, “Pepperoni, please? ”

Laughter rang through the room - quiet, half-stifled, but real. And much to her surprise, she  found herself giggling alongside her saviors.

For the first time since waking up, despite the heavy, aching hole in her chest, Riley felt like maybe - just maybe… things would be okay.

She just had to trust in Jason, like he asked her to do.

___________________________

Jason

Portal ‘Room’

Developing the memory-wiping spell for Riley had been a surprisingly smooth and easy process, all things considered.

It was fairly hard to wrap my head around, as someone who, only a short few months ago, used to be, well… average in nearly every way, but my talent with magic was ridiculous. I just hadn’t noticed because I’d never taken the time out of my day to try and actively modify and/or create my own spells. My memory and recollection was perfect, but even perfect memory didn’t matter when you spend several weeks at a time kicking ass, taking names, and helping everyone else become better versions of themselves. It took meeting Hecate and gaining full access to seeing all of the perks I’ve obtained to properly remember-

Heroic Aptitude, Infinite Potential, and Divinity.

Only one of them would’ve been fine when it came to accelerating my skill and talent with the arcane, but when taking into account the multiplier of all three of them combined? It had taken me roughly three hours and twenty three minutes of meditation, Hidden Intuition guidance, and a casting of Premonition to figure out how to modify Ulgu’s variant of ‘Mindhole’ enough to reverse-engineer it into a completely new spell - a spell that I later coined as ‘Mind Eclipse’. Ironically enough, Holy Hexes complicated the process just a bit.

Developing the spell was the ‘easy’ part. If need be, I could’ve developed the spell with the potency in mind to completely erase up to six years of traumatic and terrible memories, and replace that overwhelming blankness with a vague recollection of something artificial… but with Holy Hexes, I couldn’t be sure of what the perk would scale the magic up to once it was fully developed. As a result, until I was absolutely certain that I knew how to control the effects of the amplification perk, I had to make Mind Eclipse - at its foundational stage - very, very weak.

At base level, it could only erase up to a year’s worth of memories, and replace it with a vague feeling.

With Holy Hexes, Hidden Intuition, and Premonition working in tandem, I was able to corral the amplified version of the spell into delving up to six years, and replace it with a full blurry, believable recollection of a car ride and subsequent crash, pieced together from Riley’s own memories of driving to Cancún with her family. Of course, I didn’t use the little girl as my guinea pig; I went out and tested the effects of Mind Eclipse on a couple of ABB thugs scrambling for scraps in the Docks, figuring out how deep the spell went and how intuitive performing it was. 

The fact that it was kind of hard to even find suitable targets felt good, too. With the festival still in full swing, it was like they were hiding. Scrambling around in the shadows like rats. They knew what had just gone down. They knew who announced Brockton Bay as ‘theirs’. The few I managed to scramble the brain of were dropped off at the precinct once I figured out how to reverse the spell.

And later that evening, then came time to bring back Riley.

I hadn’t gone into it expecting much in the way of emotions. I had siblings. I had friends from college and high school that felt like little sisters to me. I knew what it felt like to be a big brother. But when that little girl opened her eyes and looked at me with all of the genuine, authentic innocence and purity and confusion and fear that Bonesaw would’ve never been able to fake, I’d felt something in me give way.

Riley is lost. Riley is confused. Riley is sleepy. Riley… is not Bonesaw.

Hidden Intuition’s whisper built up my resolve.

Holding her in my arms as she sobbed and screamed her little heart solidified it.

I wanted that little girl to be happy and safe.

A couple hours later with my belly filled with deep-dish pizza from Dominoes, I found myself leaning against the wall in the large, spacious wardrobe that I’d already deemed to be my personal ‘Portal Room’. Last time I’d checked, Riley, Amy, Rachel, and all three of her monster mutts were watching Brave on a projector in the Garden, while Trainwreck and Sherrel patrolled the streets (and got swarmed by victory-drunk Brockton Bay civvies). I’d already announced what I’d be doing for the next couple days during our little pizza party earlier, so I wasn’t leaving anyone high and dry. 

This was important work.

Get a feel for Quantum Transitional Energy.

Scout out a world that Riley could have a happy life in.

Figure out where we’ll have our next adventure.

The Multiverse, as I knew it, was practically infinite.

 So many things could go wrong. 

I could very well get head-tapped by a Level 9 Disintegration spell after walking into some sort of transdimensional Wizard War, or get every bone in my body pulverized because I stepped foot in New York while Hulk was trading blows with motherfucking Abomination. There was a very, very tiny margin for error with creating these wormholes through reality, which was why I made the executive decision to go it alone.

The perk mentioned I’d be able to remember the ‘coordinates’ to certain worlds I visit - which was nerd jargon for its ‘resonance’, or vibe. I was good at catching vibes. Larger portals required larger expenditures of mana to open and keep open, but I doubt I’d ever be caught lacking in the ‘magical energy’ category unless I was trying to pull off some End Game-level chicanery. I could only assume that just as I could go through these wormholes, other creatures could as well… So the plan was simple.

I’d open a wormhole, step through, make sure I wasn’t in danger of immediate death… And close it behind me. I’d be able to open and maintain a portal to the Palace anytime I wanted to - the vibe was there, and something in my gut told me that I’d long since caught it.

“Easy-peasy lemon squeezy,” I muttered excitedly, pushing off of the wall. My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides, mana rushing through my body and energizing my soul. 

I was ready.

One small step for man, one huge fuckin’ leap for the Multiversal Mage.

I-

“HIIII-YAH!”

SMACK!

It was like the equivalent of getting slapped in the back of the head by a stuffed plushie. Hidden Intuition didn’t even bother warning me.

There was only one girl this pitifully weak in the Palace.

I turned on a hair-trigger, catching the pink and black-colored missile in my arms and yanking her petite body into a bear-hug. She squealed like a piglet dropped into boiling hot oil, flailing her arms and legs in a desperate effort to break my grip, but as ascertained a fuck-ton long time ago…

Cassie was not made for wrestling.

She promptly gave up three seconds into the struggle.

“Gah, fine, fineeee! You win, jerk. You’re stronger than a five-foot-nothing Asian girl,” she half-hissed half-giggled, smacking me rapidly on the chest. “You’re lucky I forgot to order spinach on my half of the pizza. Otherwise I would’ve fucked you up!”

“Right. You’re a regular ol’ sailorman, aren’t you?” I snorted, unraveling my girlfriend from within the confines of my much larger arms and holding her in front of me at eye-level, hands beneath her armpits. She pouted beneath the intensity of my stare, dangling there like a grumpy kitten as I took my time examining her.

Cassie is planning to leave Earth Bet with y-

‘Yeah, yeah, I can tell. ‘Preciate it boss.’

Honestly, I should’ve expected this when she didn’t speak up at all during the pizza party.

My very bratty and stubborn girlfriend dangled before me in what my limited fashion-sensitive brain could only describe as ‘e-girl grunge’; black fishnet stockings, platformer boots with pink laces, a black and pink plaid skirt, and a tight, long-sleeved black crop top with ‘Bad Kitty’ written across the chest in cursive pink letters. Over the top of it, she wore what I could only assume was one of my normal-sized hooded jackets - except, on her, it fit more like an overcoat, touching the lower half of her knees. Finishing the ensemble off was a heart-shaped black choker, lightly applied black makeup, and what looked like two bangles hanging from her wrists.

Her MagiLink was, as always, fitted snugly to her head - the cat-eared headset, though. Not the visor.

Normally, this wouldn’t be even the slightest bit unusual. Cassie had a tendency of wearing my clothes, and she often mixed up her ‘style’ with random odds and ends that always ended up working since she was such a naturally pretty girl.

No, what set off my ‘alarm bells’, besides Hidden Intuition clocking it immediately, was the big ass pink backpack hanging from her shoulders, and the black Bag of Holding tucked against her back hip as if she could hide the magical item I created.

I felt a headache coming on.

“Cass…-“

The gremlin held her arms up in a big, fat ‘X’. Behind it, she narrowed her eyes at me and shook her head. “Nope.”

A pause.

“You-“

“Nah.”

“Cassie, this isn’t-“

“Nein!”

This fucker. 

I fought through the amused grin that threatened to ruin my ‘serious face’, just barely managing to maintain my composure. “Seriously, babe. I’m not tryna freeze you out on purpose, but this… It’s dangerous, y’know? I put together this whole fool-proof plan on how this world-hopping trial run’s gonna go. Like, I almost wrote that shit in MLA format and printed it out. And we don’t even have a printer. Do you know how rare that amount of forward thinking is for me?”

Cassie nodded her head aggressively, her short black bob bouncing back and forth with the energetic motion. “And I get that, Jay. I really do! But, and I mean this with the utmost seriousness… I don’t care how dangerous it is.”

My eyebrows furrowed, bemused. “Well, that’s dumb.”

“But it’s real!” She shot back, aggressively wiggling her body until I let her go. Bouncing on the tips of her platformers - which, funnily enough, only got her up to my chest - Cassie jabbed a very pink, very bedazzled fingernail into my tit flesh. “I’ve been fucked over on taking your man-virginity several times in our relationship, Jason Emmanuel Black! W-well, once, but still! It sucks!”

“… My middle name isn’t-“

“Do you know how angry I was when you told me that frickin’ Rune of all people got to experience your Domain Expansion before I did, Jay?! Seeing something that- that magical should be claimed by your precious, super cute girlfriend who can appreciate the awesomeness that is your chuuni anime video game superpowers, not some racist, neo-nazi skank!” She punctuated each upset sentence with a sharp, utterly ineffective jab of her fingernail into my chest.

I winced; moreso because of the truth and genuine hurt behind her words than any actual pain. “… That’s valid. But Cassie, this-“

Her soft, strawberry-scented fingers clamped my lips together before I could even get the words out.

She narrowed her eyes at me, her nose wrinkled in that telltale way that signified a crash-out was approaching if I didn’t tread cautiously. So I did what any smart boyfriend would do… And took the hint. 

The way her frown threatened to twitch into a smile told me that I’d chosen correctly.

“I know the risks, baby,” Cassie said in a quieter, more serious tone of voice, her fingers still clamped gently around my lips, “I know how crazy the multiverse can get. I watched, like, four documentaries on it over the past two weeks. But, and maybe this is harder for you to understand because you’re so… protective and unyielding- Jason, I want to take those risks. I want to throw myself into danger. I want to run from dragons, and rescue princesses, and fail and succeed. I want to do all of these things… With you. And I’ll never get to have those new and exciting experiences if you keep taking on everything dangerous alone.”

She paused for a moment, her eyes - blue from the contact lenses - wide and vulnerable as she stared up at me. “I know there’ll be times where I’ll have to sit back and let you take on the brunt. And I’m fine with that. I… I love that, honestly. I love how powerful you are. But please… Just trust me. Let me take risks. Let me grow with you?”

…

Fuck.

Fuck it.

I was adaptable. I was a lot stronger now. And Cassie wasn’t stupid, or weak- she was just excitable. There was no reason to clip her wings when I’d known from the get-go that she was a girl who wanted to fly. To grow powerful enough to stand at my side - not as a ‘side character’, but as someone who I could genuinely rely on when things got tough. Plus, what kind of a shitbag boyfriend would I be if I went and saw something like the Hokage Monument without bringing my full-fledged, cringe-incarnate weaboo girlfriend with me?

A really big one, that’s what.

I sighed. “As always, you’re right.”

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her cute little skull. I raised a hand before she could glomp me, however, stopping the petite girl dead in her tracks. “But I’d feel like an asshole if I just brought you. Have you asked Amy-”

“She wants to stay with Riley!” Cassie whisper-shouted, both fists clenched beneath her chin. The pearly white grin on her face would’ve made Jim Carrey proud. “I just got done talking to her, actually! She says to bring her any ‘interesting flora or unique biological phenomena’, whatever that means. I think she just wants to make more magical zaza. Which, like, heck frickin’ yeah. I figured we’d probably find hella loot, so I brought the big boy.”

She patted the Satchel of Holding.

A wry smirk formed on my lips. “That sounds like her. But you do know that I have an interdimensional inventory, right? The big ass pink backpack isn’t necessary.”

“It’s not about efficiency, Jay. It’s about the experience,” Cassie shook her head in disappointment, jerking the straps of her backpack so that it tightened against her upper back. She was practically vibrating with jittery excitement as she stood a bit behind me, looking every bit like a spunky teenage girl getting ready to go on a field-trip. 

I hummed, turning around to start rotating my mana once again…-

And that was when the nervous rambling began.

“Then again, I can’t expect Pay-to-Win mofos like you to understand the serotonin that comes from real, authentic hobo-maxxing. Now, how exactly do we get this adventure started? Magical Portals? The Gates of Oblivion? Ooh- I’m ready to drive you fucking crazy with random lore dumps, by the way! I spent the past half an hour coming up with a ‘Weaboo World Wishlist’, too; WWW for short. Oh, oh, do you think we’ll find Luigi’s Haunted Mansion on the first jump? I brought some candy for the road - Sour Patch Kids, Hershey Bars, Ring Pops… I’d totally say yes if you proposed to me with a ring po-”

“Holy shit, Cass,” I laughed, tilting my head back to look directly at the yapping girl. Magicka crackled through the air in bright, mesmerizing blue loops, pooling at my fingertips like liquid light. 

It tickled.

“Relax on the mouth-flappin’ and listen closely. I’m pretty sure I figured out how to start up the Wormhole, but I’m still tryna learn how to ‘filter’ the worlds. I’m pretty sure it’s based on intent, but- anyways, step back. Give me a cool twenty-five feet.”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion, but she didn’t hesitate to follow my directive - slowly yet surely backpedaling towards the open door of the ‘Portal Room’. “There’s not too much real estate in here, Jay. You better not be trying to leave me.”

“Don’t be silly; I’d never leave you, Cass. You’re gonna stand back, and count to sixty as soon as I step through the Wormhole. If it doesn’t close in fifteen seconds, you know it’s safe to come through after a minute passes. If it closes before you reach sixty… Well, wish me luck.” 

Hesitation flickered across Cassie’s soft features. “Jay… I don’t know if I feel comfortable with just leaving you to fucking die-”

She was cut off by the sight of reality folding in on itself.

That had a tendency of happening a lot around me.

The area at the far back of the Portal Room - the space currently occupied by the azure blue swirlies - abruptly twisted, spiraling inward like a prismatic rainbow whirlpool of all sorts of different colors; green, purple, silvery, blue, gold. Bleeding in from that whirlpool, charging the very air with the rich, heavy potency of my very own magical energy, a rippling Wormhole formed, its edges flickering and undulating like some sort of arcane heatwave. Despite it being roughly the size of a normal doorway, I felt nearly a quarter of my magicka disappear immediately.

This was the real deal.

“Too late for pussying out now,” I grinned, slowly lowering my arm. I couldn’t see shit through the Wormhole. "Grab your balls, Cyber Sorceress Cassie Black. You ready?”

The air felt tingly. Unnatural. I wasn’t sure if the knot in my stomach was from nervousness, excitement, or some sort of interdimensional Space Aids from standing this close to a portal to another world… But any and all thoughts of ‘backing out’ was immediately erased from my mind when I looked into those funky, swirling lights.

This is what I was made to do, baby.

“Let’s do this. I’m going to start the virtual countdown timer as soon as you step through, Jason. I love you! Oh- and if you die, I’m gonna have Amy bring you back to life so I can frickin’ kill you myself!” Cassie shouted - which was unnecessary, considering she was only 25 feet away, but the earnesty was cute. She stood in our bedroom, glaring through the open doorway, her MagiLink visor activated and the bangles on her wrists replaced by her MagiLink gloves. Both hands were aimed directly towards me and the Wormhole, ready to activate.

When did she-…

Right. Magitech Tinker.

“Sounds good, partner. I love you too.”

I was as ready as I’d ever be. I could feel my Epic-grade Crown of the Wizard King synchronizing with my natural magicka regen, topping me up to near peak reserves in the very thirty seconds since I’d formed the Wormhole. My body felt limber. Loose. My mind felt free. And my heart was filled with excitement and happiness, because I was going into this new journey with one half of my life’s partners with me. 

I exhaled softly.

‘I channeled ‘happiness’ when I made you, right? Let's see how happy we get.’

I squared my shoulders, cracked my neck, and stepped through the Wormhole.

…

For what felt like hours, but could’ve only been mere seconds, I could see, hear, and feel absolutely nothing but a kaleidoscope of shifting colors - and then, with a sensation similar to being squeezed through a fucking tube, I was suddenly elsewhere. The feeling of air on my skin, ruffling my hair. At some point during the transferral process, I’d closed my eyes. I opened them now, though, inhaling the smoky, dusty air of-

CRACK!

The ground beneath my boots groaned and shuddered.

Explosions and screams rang through the air, loud and violent.

I blinked.

“... I don’t know if I’d consider this ‘happy’, necessarily.”

I recognized where I was immediately.

The U.S.J. Otherwise known as the ‘Unforeseen Simulation Joint’.

More specifically, I’d just stepped out of Earth Bet and into the middle of an episode of My Hero Academia, one of the most popular anime of the 2020s in my original world. Although I hadn’t watched anywhere past Season One, I immediately recognized the setting and scene before me - mostly because it had been one of those scenes were I actually felt really fucking bad for Shoto Aizawa, the constantly exhausted Homeroom Teacher for Class 1-A.

Now why, exactly, did I feel bad for him?

Well…

It was hard not to feel a little bit of sympathy for a relatively baseline human man getting his skull cratered into the fucking ground by a big, burly, mutated purple corpse.

“Who- What the hell is this? Who are you?!”

Across from me, maybe about fifteen or twenty feet away, was a lanky, odd-looking man of average height - pale-skinned, white hair, and several pairs of grayish-blue hands attached to his body in random spots. He was gripping the side of his neck with frayed fingernails, violently scratching at welt-covered flesh as he glowered at me. It didn’t matter how little of the anime I’d actually watched; if you’d ever been on the internet in the big 2024, you knew exactly who this little shitstain was.

And if he was still standing here, then…

Alarm bells.

I didn’t even allow myself to think.

I just moved.

In the amount of time it took me to breathe, I’d already teleported roughly fifty feet into the air. That distance, and the aerial view, gave me all the space I needed to see the disgusting, exposed mass of pink brain matter that made up the entirety of the Nomu’s skull - and, in that same instance, witness it slam its fist into the exact same spot I’d just been standing in. The earth yielded to its strength, stone exploding in a cloud of dust and splintered fragments, and the biting backlash of the wind hitting hard enough to send a dark, crippled form - Aizawa, I distantly noted - flying violently towards the nearby body of water, where three very recognizable teenagers watched with shell shocked expressions.

Sparks of mana flickered off of my hand. I was falling down, even as my Armament - my every trusty spear - materialized in the palm of my hand, shining a brilliant silver and gold with a sudden infusion of raw, unadulterated magical energy. In the back of my head, I kept count of how long I’d been here.

Twenty seconds…

Twenty-one…

More than enough time.

The Nomu was strong. Most likely stronger than I was by a considerable margin.

But I was fast.

And I had motherfuckin’ magic.

CRACK!

Sound broke beneath my descent.

Under the cover of dust, with my reflexive teleport taking me out of immediate line of sight, the Nomu didn’t even have time to register my arrival before I drove my mana-charged spear straight into the big, ugly organ sitting like a beacon at the top of its avian-like skull. Flesh parted like the red sea beneath the spear head’s magically amplified sharpness, forcing out a choked, guttural roar that toed the line of ‘human-like’. The Nomu’s entire body bucked like a bull’s, desperately trying to throw me off, but my mind had been made up the second I realized where the portal had taken me.

“Burn, bitch.”

Pure white flame consumed my vision.

‘Sear’ was a fairly simple Aqshy spell - channeling the Bright Winds through my body and out my hands, I was able to release a cone of searing flame to incinerate my enemies within a certain area of effect. Before, I was certain that I could do quite a bit of damage with it. My spellcasting was excellent and I had an intimate connection to Aqshy in particular. The Wind was relatively thick in the atmosphere here, and the sun was shining. I opted to channel it through my spear instead of my hands.

That was before Holy Hexes got its hand on the ‘simple’ spell.

It happened in a flash.

One moment, I was skewering the Nomu through its skull and down, out through its ass - but it was still alive. Half-retarded and flailing, but alive. And then I cast my spell, I saw nothing but pure white, and the next thing I knew…

I was standing in a wide, shin-deep crater of melted gray slag, the remnants of a goopy pink substance - brain matter, Hidden Intuition whispered amusedly - sizzling into nothingness on the shaft of my spear. The Nomu was blackened and flaky, like overcooked steak. It was no longer flailing… because its insides were no longer its insides, and there was no longer any life left within its seared shell.

I tilted my head to the side, a sheepish grin forming on my lips. “... Shit, man. I should probably get a handle on that perk before I kill someone. ‘Least, someone that ain’t an evil sack of shit.”

My eyes flicked up towards Shigaraki.

“G-...” He choked out, staring at me with wide, bloodshot eyes. The villain stumbled backwards on thin, quivering legs, nearly tripping over his own untied laces in his desperation to get away from me. “Game over! Damn it, what the hell is with this plot twist?! K-Kurogiri, where the fuck are you?! We need to-”

“LIGHTNING BOLT-U!”

CRACK!

I blinked, feeling the ends of my dreadlocks frizzle and pop as a bolt of raw, angry blue lightning scythed the air right beside my head, blasting against the white-haired man’s chest before I could even finish registering Cassie’s high-pitched battle-cry. He let out a screeching wail of agony in return, his limbs locking up and his body flying back and skidding against the ground for several long feet. 

When Shigaraki’s body finally came to a halt, at the base of the massive staircase in the middle of the facility, it simply lay there, prone, seizing from the aftershocks. Above it, materializing in a haze of dark purple mist, was Kurogiri-

“LIGHTNING BOLT-U! LIGHTNING BOLT-U!”

Who promptly had to teleport away after my eager partner-in-crime began slinging more lightning in his direction.

I let out a wry chuckle as Cassie stepped onto the edge of my melted crater, MagiLink fully activated and a wide, gleaming grin on her face. She glanced my way - nothing more than a quick once-over to make sure that I was unharmed - before sprinting towards the fountain. “I got Mister Ugly over here - I’ve been waiting years for this, Jay! Make sure that foggy fuck stays away pleaaaase!”

“Bet.”

Closing the Wormhole was as simple as yanking away a ‘thread’ in its swirling, rainbow-colored matrix. Now that I’d made the jump, I was certain that I knew the ‘resonance’ for both this world and Earth Bet. 

The practice was very fruitful so far.

With a single step, I teleported out of the crater and onto solid ground. My spear rested over my shoulders, both arms dangling over either ends of the shaft as I gave a casual glance around the facility. I absolutely trusted Cassie to handle Shigaraki - especially after she practically one-tapped him with that Lightning Bolt, but I couldn’t be sure where Kurogiri ran off to. He was much, much smarter than his ‘boss’.

Not to mention…

“S-Sumimasen, sugoi h-hīrō-san, A-Aizawa-sensei o tasukeru tame n-n-ni nanika d-dekiru koto wa a-arimasen ka?!”

I glanced down at the bruised, teary-eyed, green-haired teenager staring earnestly up at me from a few feet away, both fists clenched desperately by his side. Behind him, at the edge of that massive pool, the frog chick and the pervert - Tsuyu and Mineta, I quickly corrected myself - watched with visible awe and apprehension, Aizawa’s prone and near unconscious body propped up and bleeding on their legs. He looked… a lot worse than I’d remembered watching in the anime. 

Both of his arms were broken, and it looked like his jaw wasn’t set correctly. That was probably why Midoriya seemed so panicked-

Celestial Quest Issued:

“All-Might Who?!”

You have claimed the right to bear the title of ‘Number One Hero’ on Earth Bet, o’ Champion. Your strength is mighty, your magical prowess undeniable. But as you traverse the path between worlds, you will meet many others who claim to be the very best. 

Show them why they are wrong.

Defeat the League of Villains and save Class 1-A before All-Might’s arrival. 

Reward: (1x) Moderate Might Perk

Accept? Y/N

…

Oh.

Ohhhh.

Now this… This sort of sugar-mommying was the kind I could get behind. It didn’t hurt that I’d already been planning to help out anyway, like any good samaritan would. Probably.

“Yeah, I accept.” I smirked, lightly flicking Midoriya’s forehead. In response, the Celestial Quest faded away from my mind - satisfied by my acceptance, and the green-haired boy flinched back, confusion and shock temporarily forcing away his tears.

“A-ano… Ameri-can? Engrish-u? You can help?!”

“Sure,” A warm, comforting heat began to build behind the front of my temple as I made my way towards Aizawa’s prone form. It had been a while since I channeled the healing energies of Hysh through my Evil Eye, and I was curious to see just how strong it was now. “Just keep watch for the freaky purple dude, yeah? Tell your friends, too. I gotta kill him before I leave.”

“Hm-hm! Okay! I… er, help-u you. You help-u Aizawa-sensei!” Midoriya nodded vigorously, his anguished expression shifting into one of tentative hope as he followed beside me. Behind us, the sound of Cassie’s cackles and Shigaraki’s ragged, desperate screams filled the air. Each crack of lightning made the much smaller boy flinch and check behind him.

It wasn’t until we were already at his fallen teacher’s side that he seemed to finally translate the latter half of what I’d said.

“W-wait! Whaaaaaaat?!”

I can’t lie; his over-dramatic screaming got a good chuckle out of me.

Man, I fucking loved anime.

Now I just needed to figure out how to raw-dog a Translation Spell off the top of my head. 

No biggie.

____________________________________

A/N:

Hello. Yes. YES. We are back, we are here, and we have the very first world hop undergone! And I cannot lie to you... This was such a breath of fresh air to write. A new place. New characters. I asked a while back where you guys would like to see Jay go, and the winning vote was MHA. So here we are.

Nomu got fucked up. But they weren't really accounting for someone like Jason coming out of nowhere, huh?

Hope you guys enjoy the Riley segment, and the world-hop segment! Originally I was going to leave Cassie out of it, but fuck that. She's more of a nerd than Jason is. Let that girl get some fucking fun.

You can also see how Quests will be handled, as well. They're going to be relevant to where he is, and will be fairly balanced on their requirements.