Back to Basics - 1.0

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We're s- so very small, in the end.

The first bullet hit me from behind, where my mask offered no coverage, and I slowly toppled. The second hit me before I could fall, before there could be any pain.

***

The Dragon woke with a start, barely having the presence of mind not to scorch the second intruder to his lair this week. Fortunately for her, given how damaged she seemed to be already.

"Another? I must have been cursed for people to keep dropping into my lairs like this. It seems as if my wards require an upgrade."

Unlike his previous visitor, this one wasn't running and screaming. Or moving at all for that matter. He rose wearily and moved to inspect his unwanted guest.

It was a human girl missing one of her arms and wearing a strange set of armor. White silk with black plates and a mask with large yellow lenses.

As he examined her, he noticed a large amount of blood pooling beneath her. Carefully flipping her over he could see two small wounds in the back of her head.

He sighed and cast [Restoration] on her before casting [Cleanse] to get her blood off his spotless lair floor.

Now that she was lying on her front he could see a pack of some sort latched on to her armor. He plucked it from her back and emptied the contents onto the floor beside her.

"Hmm? I don't recall ever seeing items like this before. I suppose these will have to do as payment for the healing."

He was about to drop her outside his lair before realizing she would likely die in a matter of minutes from the dangerous creatures of the High Passes. It would be a shame to let her die after putting so much effort into saving her life.

"She must have something to do with the girl from before. I might as well drop her off somewhere in that area."

He reattached her strange pack and cast a teleportation spell to place her outside of his old lair. As the spell finished casting, he winced realizing that his spell would place her unconscious body somewhere in the Floodplains.

"I recall a drake city being nearby anyway. I'm sure they will find her before the Shield Spiders."

Shrugging, the dragon resolved to better ward his lair against randomly appearing human girls. He yawned. After another nap, that is.

***

I woke up to the familiar sound of chittering insects. I reached out with my power and—

what the fuck?

After getting my powers I familiarized myself with every useful insect species I could find. So I can confidently say that there are no spiders on Earth larger than a washing machine. I was surrounded by thick-shelled spiders ranging from a few inches to several yards in diameter. Never had I been so grateful for the power to control bugs.

These spiders must have been made by a bio-tinker and a pretty good one at that. Of the parahumans I know, only Bonesaw or Panacea could have pulled this off. I doubt it was either of them though. They would be too busy helping in the fight against— Scion!

I winced as a spike of pain shot through my head. I struggled to recall the last thing I remembered. Panacea was there and we were talking about… something. Something that would help against Scion. The memory was foggy but that felt right.

Did it work? Did we win? I couldn't remember. All I did know was that I was completely lost.

Directing the spiders away from me, I slowly got to my feet. I expected to feel the aches and pains I had gotten accustomed to with life as a parahuman but I felt surprisingly good. I stretched and realized that I couldn't remember ever feeling this good. Another oddity of my situation.

The only thing that felt off was my mask. I could feel two small lumps pressing against my forehead. I pulled it off to find two bullets clinking around on the inside. Sighing, I dumped the bullets and pulled my mask back on. That would explain the memory loss. I must've been healed somehow after taking two shots to the back of the head.

First things first, I had to find out where I was. Hopefully, I was still on Earth Bet because if I wasn't, I would have to wait for Doormaker to pick me up. If he was still alive, that is. If anyone was still alive. I shuddered. No point in thinking about it right now. My priority right now is surviving.

I climbed onto the back of the largest spider I could find. Gathering all the flying bugs in my range, I directed them to scout out my surroundings. In the distance, I could barely make out the shape of a city with large stone walls. I decided to head in that direction given it was the only sign of civilization for miles.

As I rode spider-back towards the city, I took stock of my situation. The container of my jetpack was empty leaving me with no phone to call for help and only my bugs for offensive power. Given the size of my new spiders, I wasn't too upset about the latter. The jetpack itself wasn't running too low on power but it was low enough that I didn't feel good about using it to get around. I'd have to save the remaining charge for an emergency.

After about 30 minutes of travel, I received another surprise. At this point, I was more annoyed than shocked by the strangeness of my situation.

Little green people were gathered around a tree harvesting blue fruits from it that I didn't recognize. They were wearing primitive clothing and using what looked to be hand-weaved baskets. I was really hoping that the city nearby had humans in it and I didn't just stumble upon a society of bio-tinker creations. I had my spider detour around them and move closer to the city.

The first building I came across looked to be a worn-down inn. I planned to pass it by as it looked abandoned but when it came into my range I saw a woman leaning with her back against the door via the bugs inside.

She had short brown hair and pale skin and though it was hard to tell with the way she was sitting she looked shorter than me. More importantly, she was a human. A human wearing modern earth clothing: a T-shirt and jeans. It looked like, for once, I had gotten lucky. If there was one human here, there were probably others in the city.

I sent my spider to hide nearby and approached the door.

Knock, knock.

The girl bolted upright and looked around. It was then that I noticed she holding a knife. Looking closer, I could see that her outfit was slightly burned and stained with blood. I crossed my fingers and prayed he was just really bad at cooking.

The girl seemed to come to her senses and stood up to face the door.

"W-who is it? I'm warning you, I have a knife and I know how to use it!"

I could tell from the way she was holding it that she did not know how to use it. Instead of calling her bluff I tried to set her at ease.

"My name is Weaver. I'm a hero with the Boston Protectorate. Can I come in?"

The girl slowly opened the door and peeked around it. Upon seeing me in a bug costume she immediately slammed the door shut.

I was dumbfounded for a moment before she realized how my bloody costume would look to someone who was already terrified.

"Don't worry I'm not here to hurt you. All of the blood on the costume is mine."

I realized a bit too late that I could've phrased that better but it seemed to do the trick because she slowly opened the door back up.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Costume? You're human?"

I hesitated for a bit but decided that my secret identity wasn't that important given the events of the past few days. I pulled off my mask and tried to give my best comforting smile. Judging by her face I don't think I did a good job. Or maybe it was the splatter of dried blood on my forehead. Could be either one.

"Oh… my name is Erin. Erin Solstice. Umm… are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I was healed recently. My name is Taylor Hebert. Why don't we talk inside?" I slowly stepped past her and looked around the inn. The inside was just as worn down as the outside. I found a table and took a seat, gesturing for her to sit down next to me.

"I seem to have lost a bit of my memory so I don't know where we are. I would really appreciate it if you could help me fill in some gaps. Is this Earth Bet?"

"Earth Bet? You're making it sound like there are two Earths."

I tried not to sigh. It was looking more and more like I wasn't going to get home anytime soon.

"There are a lot more than two Earths. I'm from Earth Bet. We discovered that there were other Earths a long time ago but we haven't made contact with all of them. Can you tell me about this one? I'll treat your wounds while we talk."

I gathered some of the silk I'd had my spiders make on the way and began to bandage her cuts. If this Earth had a bio-tinker it might have a tinker that can get me home. Hopefully, this girl keeps track of cape culture or knows where I can find someone who does. The look on her face did not give me hope.

"Oh, thank you! I guess it makes sense that this is a different Earth. I don't know anything about it though. One second I was going to the bathroom and the next I was running from a fire-breathing dragon! You're the first person I've seen besides those nasty goblins."

I held back another sigh. If things kept going like this I was going to get very good at that. It looked like I was going to have to find my way home with a clueless civilian in tow.

"It looks like we are in a similar situation then. I only got here today so I haven't seen much. Tell me what you've seen so far."

"Well, like I said, I was going to the bathroom and then suddenly I was in a cave with a really big dragon. He was all 'raaaah' and breathed fire all over the place. I ran away screaming but I got a little burnt. After running for a bit, I found this place and decided to clean it up. When I went to sleep, I heard a voice in my head that said [Innkeeper Class Obtained] and a bunch of other videogame stuff. I got chased by a giant rock crab that's scared of fruit. Then I got attacked by goblins but I beat them up. Then I caught a fish but I cut myself when I tried to cut it. Then I got attacked by goblins agai—"

"Why don't we go over one thing at a time? Start with the dragon. How far away was it? Did it follow you?"

"I'm not sure how far away it was but I ran for a pretty long time. And I'm pretty sure it would have eaten me if it followed me."

"Alright. I guess I'll have to keep watch for it. What about the voice in your head? What exactly did it say?"

"It said I was an [Innkeeper Level 1]— well, level 4 now— and it said I got two skills: [Basic Cooking] and [Basic Cleaning]."

Poor woman must have triggered, I thought.

It sounded like a strange ability but far from the strangest ability I'd heard of. If it could give her the skills of something other than an innkeeper, it could be powerful.

"I'll explain in a moment. Hmm, let's test something."

After about an hour of testing, we concluded that the skills did improve her ability to cook and clean though the effect was minor at best. I assumed that her ability worked similarly to Uber's allowing her to gain skills she'd never learned but unlike Leet, her abilities started weak and improved over time and seemed to be permanent.

"Looks like I was right. You must have triggered from the stress of having to survive on your own."

"Triggered?"

"It's a term used on my Earth for the process of getting powers. You must have a different term for it on yours."

"Superpowers are a thing?"

"Yes? What did you think I meant when I said I was a hero? And why else would I be wearing a costume?"

"I thought you were just a cosplayer! You're actually a superhero? That is so cool! Are you like a female Spider-man?"

"I don't know who Spider-man is but my cape name is Weaver. My power is…"

Out of habit, I considered downplaying my power. After all, my power has always worked best when people expect it to be weak. Looking at Erin though, I realized she really wasn't much of a threat. Besides, I was likely going to be working with her to find a way home.

"Bugs. I control bugs."

I used the bugs in the room to speak at the same time as a demonstration. Like everyone else who had seen me do that trick, Erin jumped out of her chair and let out a small scream.

"T-that was pretty creepy. But also really cool. I can't believe superpowers are real! I can't believe I have superpowers! How did that happen?"

"The exact process is… not something I want to get into now. Basically, you live through the worst moment of your life and if you have the potential, you get superpowers."

Erin's smile dimmed as she remembered the horrifying experience the last few days had been. I considered trying to comfort her but I wasn't exactly in a cheerful mood myself. The moment passed as Erin's face grew grim with determination.

"Teach me how to be a superhero."

"What? I'm not sure that's the best idea. No offense, but you don't seem like the going out and punching bad guys type. Besides, I am the last person you want teaching you how to be a hero."

"I've almost died to four different types of monsters in the last three days. If I'm going to survive I need to learn how to defend myself. Plus, if there are any other humans stuck out here, I want to help you save them."

I looked into her pleading eyes as I considered my options. If I gave her some training, she wouldn't be deadweight while I was trying to find us a way home. I didn't think she had what it takes to be a hero but I didn't either when I first got powers. Then again, I didn't last long before turning villlain. Maybe I could've been a hero if I had someone to guide me. Maybe I could be for her what Armsmaster wasn't for me.

"Alright, I'll teach you the basics and we can see where it goes from there."

"Yes! Don't worry, I'm gonna be the best sidekick ever!"

She leaped from her chair and pulled me into a tight hug. I finally let out a sigh. I had a lot of work ahead of me.

***

I spent the rest of the day fortifying the inn against further goblin attacks while Erin did basic workouts I recommended since she was too out of shape for the PRT standard. By the time I was satisfied with our defenses, she was about to pass out.

"I had the spiders make a bunch of silk for some bedding. It isn't pretty but it should be comfortable enough for now."

Erin collapsed into the pile of silk face-first and replied with a muffled thank you. After double-checking our surroundings I decided to follow her lead and get some rest. As I drifted off to sleep, a voice echoed through my head.

[Superhero Class Obtained!]

[Superhero Level 1!]

[Skill – Quick Change obtained!]

[Skill – Heroic Stance obtained!]

I woke back up with a start, looking around.

"Huh. Seems like a tomorrow problem."

I went back to sleep.