System World
Andrew let out a satisfied sigh as he settled onto the couch in his brand new outfit, happy to be him again. Quinn rolled her eyes at his exaggerated reaction. “You know, if you were that uncomfortable wearing skirts, you could have just told me.”
Andrew waved dismissively. “It wasn't really the skirts, it was the whole female thing in general. I wasn't going to be comfortable no matter what I was wearing. Besides, how the hell was I going to explain a preference for certain types of clothes when I wasn't even supposed to know what clothes were at that point? And by the time it would have been reasonable to say anything… well, I'd kinda gotten used to them.”
Quinn eyed him uncomfortably for a moment. “You know… you could have told me about that too. It would have made all this a little less… jarring.”
Andrew hesitated. “That's- fair, but I didn't exactly know any of this was going to happen, and otherwise… I didn't really see the point? It didn't look like the other reality would ever be relevant to this one, so I was just focused on becoming a part of this one. Telling you about my other life just seemed like it'd cause problems.”
Quinn frowned. “I guess I can understand that… It just kinda bums me out that you didn't feel comfortable confiding in me. I thought we were getting pretty close! Practically sisters!”
“We were! Are!” Andrew retorted. “I just- there were better things to confide in you about? Like, you know, the dungeon thing. Maybe if there was something in the other reality that was bothering me I would have brought it up, but things have been pretty calm over there, so… it wasn't an issue.”
Quinn gave him another look, before shaking her head. “I suppose that's understandable. As long as there aren't any other major revelations you're waiting to spring on me.”
Andrew paused, quickly running over everything. “I- used to be a goblin?”
Quinn blinked. “You- what?”
“When I was first born in this reality, it was as a goblin.” Andrew elaborated. “Then I got an animal core and started leveling it, which resulted in my uplifting and getting brought here.”
Quinn worked her mouth wordlessly for a moment. “You- did you ever- breed?” She finally asked, wincing at the last word.
Andrew immediately shook his head. “No, thankfully that never came up. I'm- fairly certain I wouldn't have ever gone through with it, for many reasons, but… well, that whole situation is more complicated than I'm comfortable with.”
Quinn scowled. “What's so complicated about it?!? They rape and torture women to breed!”
“They do, but it's either that or they go extinct, and… I'm not saying the noble races shouldn't do everything in their power to exterminate them, because they are an inherent threat to you, but that doesn't mean you should hate them for simply doing what they need to do to survive.” Andrew retorted with a sigh. “It isn't like they want to hurt you, they're just- kinda forced to.”
Quinn grimaced, eyeing Andrew cautiously. “So you think it's okay to hurt people for your own benefit?”
Andrew hesitated. “Well… maybe not for your own benefit, but- I don't know. Trying to ensure the survival of you and your people is one of the most fundamental instincts of any form of life! To ask anyone to just ignore that seems… unreasonable? And it isn't like I'm asking anyone to stop defending themselves, I'm just saying maybe don't hate people for how they were born? You don't blame rodents for spreading disease, or a parasite for infecting you, you just- deal with it, you know?”
Quinn shook her head. “Rodents and parasites aren't capable of examining their actions. Goblins are. It isn't the same.”
Andrew sighed. “Yeah, that's fair. Still, I don't think it's exactly cut and dry. At some point you have to value yourself more than others, don't you?” Quinn grunted noncommittally, frowning as she mulled the idea around in her head, when a knock at the door interrupted her. “I'll get it.” Andrew offered, hoping to his feet, thankful for the interruption. He wasn't exactly comfortable with this subject, or his position on it, and the whole thing just made him feel sick. He pulled the door open, pausing as he took in the group of individuals in suits standing there with serious expressions. “Uh… are you here for the territory?” Andrew asked tentatively, gesturing towards the kitchen.
The lead individual, who looked like some kind of lizard person, inclined their head. “Are you Drew Nobilis?”
“Yes?” Andrew confirmed hesitantly.
“I'm going to have to insist that you come with us.” They replied, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the apartment, a few others heading inside.
“Hey!” Quinn protested, jumping off the couch. “What are you doing!?! You can't just- Hey!” She cut off as one of them grabbed her, dragging her out as well. “Stop! You can't just abduct people like this! Help! Some- mmmph!” She cut off again as the individual dragging her used some sort of ability to seal her mouth shut.
Quinn continued to struggle, to little effect, as the two of them were pulled down the hall towards the stairs. Andrew saw a few of the other apartments being cleared as well, though the other residents seemed to at least be allowed to pack some bags before they left. They were dragged down the stairs and out a back door, where they were shoved into a windowless van and driven off. Thankfully, while their abductors were definitely insistent, they weren't being unnecessarily rough about it, Andrew's handler only keeping a firm hand on his arm as he followed them without much complaint. Of course, if he really wanted to escape, there wasn't anything they could actually do to hold him, but he was more worried about Quinn. If things turned, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get her out as well, and that made him nervous. The ride was mostly silent, barring Quinn's continued muffled complaints, their handlers not responding to any of Andrew's questions, but it only lasted a few minutes before they were dragged out and led into a nondescript building, down into the basement, and finally into a small room where the lizard person opened a portal, leading them into a different nondescript room, out and down a hall, before depositing them in what Andrew immediately recognized as an interrogation room.
“Wait here.” The lizard person ordered before leaving them alone, locking them inside.
“Fucking assholes!” Quinn roared after them, kicking the door. “You can't just do this to people! We have rights and they don't go away just because the situation is fucking weird!” She whirled on Andrew. “And you! Why the fuck did you just go with it?!? I know you could have gotten away!”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Andrew rolled his eyes. “Because if I escaped, where would that leave you? Speaking of-” He opened a portal, Quinn yelping as he pushed her through, snapping it closed behind her. “There, much better.” He sighed in relief, settling into a chair to wait.
The lizard person stormed back into the room. “Where did you send her!?!”
“Somewhere she's safe.” Andrew growled, glaring back at them. “She was right, you had no authority to take us like that. Not without a warrant, at least, and even then we haven't committed any crimes to justify one. Of course, that's assuming you're even with the government, which you've done nothing to prove. As far as I know, you're some kind of terrorist slave traders I just saved my friend from. Seriously, did you flunk the policy and procedure section of your training or something? Because even my little two month uplift school went over this shit.”
The lizard person continued to glare at him, their fists clenching tighter as their frustration built, before spitting out a single word. “How?”
Andrew raised an eyebrow. “You mean the portal? You'd have to ask Chris. It's more his thing than mine.”
The lizard person narrowed their eyes. “And why are you still here?”
Andrew sighed. “Because despite your flagrant disregard for my personal rights, I'd rather not start some sort of Multiversal conflict. So I'm here to see if there's still some way for us to work together.” The lizard person frowned, before letting out a dissatisfied grunt and exiting the room, not bothering to lock it this time. Andrew just shrugged and leaned back in his chair to wait for these people to get their shit together.
About ten minutes later, a harried looking woman with the lower half of a spider rushed into the room, looking almost panicked. “I am so, so, so sorry!” She quickly apologized. “Our division isn't generally supposed to interact with the general public, but they still should have known how unreasonable this was! They were just supposed to ask you to come with them, not drag you from your home!”
Andrew tore his eyes from the spider half to blink up at her. “Uh-huh… and what about all the people they were in the process of evicting?”
The woman froze, going a bit pale. “One- one moment.” She replied, pulling out her phone as she rushed out of the room. She returned a few minutes later, looking exasperated. “Thank you, and again, I apologize for all this. We aren't used to these sorts of operations, you see, and our operatives have grown accustomed to being… unquestionable.”
Andrew frowned. “No one has actually explained who you are yet.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh! I'm sorry, yes, we're the Palace Guards!” She quickly explained, digging through her pockets and pulling out a badge. “Sorry, our uniforms usually make it clear, but… as I said, this isn't a normal operation. I wasn't even supposed to be the one interviewing you, but given our usual operatives conduct so far…” She trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid, before shaking her head. “In any case, we've asked you here today to help clarify exactly what this ‘portal to the Multiverse’ entails.”
Andrew eyed her cautiously for a moment, feeling more put off by the apparent unprofessionalism than the previous overstepping. “Alright then… it really isn't that complicated. Currently there are five different realities connected through the territory, and interactions between these realities are largely limited to the territory. People and materials are capable of passing through the territory into a different reality, but energy is not, so there's no particular threat from the territory, beyond its expansion. Other than that, you're going to have to work it out with the other governments connected to the territory.”
The spider woman paused. “We- were led to believe that you and the other three… ‘Sovereigns’ were in charge of the territory?”
Andrew shook his head. “No. We created it, accidentally, but we don't have any inherent authority over it. That belongs to the people who own the land the territory covers.”
“I see…” She muttered. “But you do control its expansion, yes?”
Andrew nodded. “We do, but don't worry, we have no plans to expand it any more than it already is.”
“But doesn't this territory grow with your power?” She prodded. “Would you really be satisfied remaining weak to keep the territory from growing?”
Andrew shook his head. “That's not entirely true. The territory grows with our unique abilities, but we can still participate in the power systems of the various realities without affecting it. I could reach level one thousand and the territory wouldn't grow an inch.”
She smiled slightly. “At that point, I believe we'd have different concerns.”
Andrew shrugged. “You'd know better than me. I haven't exactly been here long, and my education never went beyond level one hundred.”
“Ah, I see… Well, the highest level individual I'm aware of hasn't yet breached seven hundred, so reaching one thousand would be quite a feat.” She explained. “But that isn't why we're here. The Emperor has admitted… concerns over the nature of this territory, and further the nature of the individuals who have brought it into existence. His Majesty would like… assurances that your presence won't destabilize our reality. Of course, he understands that we can't force you to work with us, therefore, our question to you is what would it take for you to be willing to work with us to ensure your presence doesn't adversely affect our reality and the balance we have created?”
Andrew blinked. “I'll need to talk to the others, but… we could use an education?”
“An- Education?” She asked hesitantly, as if trying to make sure she'd heard right.
Andrew nodded. “Yeah. See, except for me, all of the others have had their educations cut short by the events going on in their realities, and even in mine there are other activities I'd rather pursue. Additionally, your reality has certain benefits when it comes to education due to how your system works, so if we had to pick where to get an education, this is a pretty good option.”
She stared at him for a second. “How- old are you all?”
Andrew frowned. “Well, I'm sixteen and the others are all eighteen or so… Greg is technically twenty, but he spent two years unconscious and I'm not sure if you can really count those or not. Why, how old did you think we were?”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut, not sure if she should actually say. Some things weren't meant to be known by what basically amounted to teenagers, no matter what they were capable of. “We'd- assumed you would be… significantly older.” She briefly replied. “But I believe the Emperor would be more than happy to facilitate your education. And that's all it would take for you to be willing to work with us?”
“Pretty much?” Andrew agreed. “Though… if we're being honest, we already want to work with you. We don't want to cause problems for anyone, we just want to live our lives, you know? As long as you don't get in the way of that, I don't see any reason why we can't work with each other. So I guess the absolute minimum we'd need are official identities and a means of contact. Everything after that is a bonus.”
The spider woman nodded slowly, not having expected things to go this way. Instead of dealing with some ancient existence looking down on her as some sort of bumbling child, she'd found an at least seemingly earnest teenager who'd passed all their tests near perfectly. He hadn't abandoned his companion, getting her to safety as soon as possible. He'd remained behind after proving he could escape, showing at least an interest in cooperation. He'd called them out for their own offenses, proving he wasn't just going along with whatever they did to earn their trust. And he hadn't attempted to take advantage of her own apparent incompetence during their negotiations. Of course, there was always the chance he somehow knew they were testing him and tailored his response to their actions with that understanding, but she believed his responses would have been more… exaggerated in that case. Her lips quirked slightly as she studied Andrew. “Well then, I hope for a long and productive partnership between us all.”