Arin had to double take once she was through the portal, seeing that she was once more in the New York Financial District, right outside of the bank that moments before was swarmed with police. Yet it was empty here, with some buildings completely different and others missing entirely. She strained her eyes against the harsh light, noting the clouds above looked strangely out of focus. There was a brief flash to the beach in her mind, pixelated sand and water pouring over her, before she was snapped back to the present by a slamming door. Arin looked around, seeing that there was someone off in the distance coming near, she ducked out from the bank door and proceeded to meet it, missing the sign hanging on the door that said “See You Next Millennium!” In massive font.
“Hey! Um… Hi!” Arin began yelling at the other being down the road, unaware of exactly which one of the Strays it was. She began waving her hands above her, trying to get their attention and shouting again. “Hey! I followed you! I have to ask you something!”
She knew how stupid she probably sounded, but it was about all she could manage while taking everything in that was happening. The figure was still moving closer, she could see them swinging their arms as they went, running towards her. She began to speed up in return before something loomed on the edge of her vision, making her turn to the sky behind her and almost immediately panic. Towering above the city, the Twin Towers stood in the dim sunlight almost exactly as they had twenty four years before she had stepped into the bank, as if the day had never happened… or hadn’t yet. She noticed a noise coming from the direction of the person, turning to see them coming closer and hearing a constant, jarring sound like a marble was stuck in a fan, constantly being scraped through the interior and clicking so fast it made one, continuous drone that only got louder as it approached. Arin covered her ears, gazing in horror at the thing approaching.
It looked vaguely human shaped, but like a humans skin was just printed and wrapped around it to try and make it look normal. The face seemed too small for the head, arms swinging at awkward lengths while legs goose stepped ever closer, never touching the ground but gliding along ever so slightly above it. The noise grew louder as the thing began to bend and stretch, the area around it corrupting as it passed. Arin turned, knowing it would probably do the same to her and she couldn’t fight back. She didn’t know anything else to do, not being familiar with New York as is and definitely not familiar with any of the shit going on around her now. Buildings barely looked like they could be entered, with windows and doors looking more painted on than usable. The sky began to darken above her as she ran, no sun visible she could see but a massive, exaggerated moon appearing in the distance and beginning to rise.
“Help! Please! I’m sorry I followed you! Please, what the hell is this thing? I just wanted to know what happened to me!” She was screaming at the top of her lungs now as she ran down the street, to where she didn’t know. The thing behind her was gaining ground no matter how hard she pumped her legs, and they were screaming in pain as she tried to keep herself ahead of the damned monster. She stumbled trying to step up a curb, falling to the ground below and noting the smooth surface only looked like concrete. It still hurt though, and she was down long enough for the creature to come bearing down, small, stretched face smiling in a maniacal grin as she closed her eyes, hoping it would be quick and damning her curiosity for bringing her here.
A blast of light made her think it was all over, reflexively opening her eyes as the thing let out distorted scream, punctuated by low, droning tones overlaying high pitches. The thing was now glitching and stretching around itself, a hole blown in the middle where a small sun seemed to be burning now. As she looked behind her a guy her age stepped forward toward the thing in the street, holding a metal rod to it and causing the thing to scream louder, further collapsing into the miniature sun at its core. As he raised his hand and struck down at the thing, it gave a final, mechanical scream before popping into non existence. The man turned back to her, brushing unkempt, dark blonde hair from his face and sticking the metal rod back into his belt. He glared down at her, eyes the color of jade looking right through her soul.
“You gonna get up or just lay there until another one comes?” He asked, walking by her and into a nearby door, indecipherable writing on the sign above it. Arin picked herself up nervously, not sure where to go or what to do but following him in anyway, through the door and into a small, abandoned bar the rest of the Strays group were occupying, all now unmasked and plain for Arin to see. “I’m Gerard. That’s Kori.”
He pointed to a younger guy near the door, maybe twenty five or so. Dark skin made deep, golden eyes stand out brilliantly from his face, kindness pouring through them alongside what Arin could tell was boundless energy that could be more chaotic than not. He practically bounced over to her, holding a hand out for her to shake.
“Kori, nice to meet you! So, guess you’re special since you were able to go through the door?” He was walking around her now, sizing her up as a woman stepped out from behind the bar, shooing him away and standing in front of her. Dark skin and black hair swept back from a widows peak at her forehead, with sharp features complimenting a stare that hid whatever she was thinking.
“Kori, leave the poor girl alone. Remember your first bug? She’s probably scared shitless. What’s your name dear?” She asked, putting hands on each of her shoulders and looking her in the eyes, care showing through. “I’m Sari.”
“Arin.” She muttered, still unsure of what could be going on.
“She shouldn’t be here.” Tai sat down at a booth nearby. “We need to go, she can’t come with us.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Oh, fuck off. We’re not going to leave her here.” Gerard shot back at him, looking over to the one that said it. He was around Sari’s age, a little older than Arin. Dark, piercing blue eyes were deep set in his eyes, bags under them holding enough exhaustion to knock out a football team. He was only glaring at her, a snake deciding if it wants to bother with prey that wouldn’t even fill its belly. Arin started to shrink under his gaze as Sari pulled her aside to a bar stool.
“Sit, sit. Tai, we don’t kill. Sun, have you got a water in your bag she can have?” Sari motioned to a young girl nearby, barely 25 if that, deep hazel eyes set against round cheeks, snacking on something from a bag in her hand. She nodded, reaching into the bag beside her and pulling a small bottle out, tossing it to Sari and in turn to Arin, who drank it gratefully. Kori was still bouncing around them, obviously excited at the prospect of someone new showing up. “So, who are you Arin?”
“Do we have to do this now?” Tai butted in again, standing up now and moving to the door. As he moved from the shadows Arin could see he was obviously the Raven, taller than the rest and slim, wearing all black to set himself apart. “I have places to be.”
“Ooh, gotta go brood on a rooftop while it storms around you?” Kori giggled, making Tai shoot a venomous glance his way. “Or are you going to play your assassin games more?”
“Doing more to fix the problem than you are.” Tai muttered, leaning against the door to the street.
“Dude you lopped some old fucks heads off, it could’ve been done with a pool noodle if you hit them the right way.” Gerard said back, making Kori snort.
“Calm down, please. All of you.” Sari turned back to Arin now, smiling at her again. “So, you know what we can do, obviously. What can you do?”
“Oh, uh. Is it okay if I use you?” She asked Sari, who nodded, surprised but willing. Arin studied her for a moment, focusing on her face before concentrating hard. Nothing happened. “Uh. I swear I can do something.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry, I just meant to tell us. Glitches don’t work here. Well, except Gerard’s but this place is kind of the whole point of his so… you know. So, what’s your Glitch?” Sari asked again, laughing.
“Oh, I can change what I look like.” Arin answered. Kori almost looked even more excited, Gerard rolling his eyes at the bouncing around. Tai seemed to perk up a bit, taking more of an interest in Arin after hearing that. “Yeah, like even my height and everything. That’s how I got into the bank in the first place.”
“That’s fucking awesome!” Kori burst. Sun seemed uninterested in the goings on around her, just scanning the walls, full of pixelated decorations. Sari motioned for Kori to calm down again, reaching in her pocket for something.
“Oh, before I forget.” She pulled a bank pen out and handed it to Kori, who looked at it briefly before giving her a hug.
“Thanks!” He stashed it away in his pocket now, turning back to Arin. “You’ll have to show us when we get back! Tam’s gonna be so hyped to see this, did you get the afterlife treatment and everything?”
“Afterlife?” Arin asked, the beach flashing into her mind again.
“Yeah, met some kind of god that asked if you wanted to keep living or just call it there? We all got it one way or another.” Gerard answered her.
“Oh, yeah. There was this older person, can’t remember too well, but they seemed nice.” Arin replied, making all of them except Tai burst into giggles and Kori explode into laughter.
“Tam’s gonna be pissed.” Kori squealed and high fives Gerard, both laughing now. Arin looked at Sari, confused, but she simply rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Okay, guess she’s coming with us. Gerard, you cooled down yet?” Sari asked, standing and looking to the him. He nodded, walking to the front door as Tai cleared out of the way. Gerard raised his hand to the door, waiting a moment as he closed his eyes before turning his open hand as if turning a doorknob. The door disappeared, replaced by a totally white void in stark contrast to the abyss she had stepped through previously. “All righty, everyone in. Tam said they’ve got everything you two sent from the vault so now we just have to let them and Sun do the dispersal. God, I’m starving.”
“Fuckin’ same.” Sun said, munching down on another snack as she casually strolled through the white void, disappearing beyond. Kori followed, skipping through as Tai grumbled behind him. Sari motioned behind her to Arin, stepping through out of sight as Gerard shooed her forward from behind.
“It’s just like how you stepped through into here. It’ll lead directly out to our home this time though, so you’ll just see everyone and a couple of couches. Maybe Tam.” He was telling her, still ushering her through the void. She stepped through after a deep breath, opening her eyes as cool air hit her face, sound pouring in and the smell of something burning hitting her nose, making her crinkle it in disgust.
“It’s about damn time you got back! I’ve been hungry, and do you know how damn hard it is to open a bag of frozen chicken nuggets when you don’t have arms? Really fucking hard.” Someone was saying. Arin looked to the voice, seeing a person standing with two tiny hands growing directly from their shoulders. The little, nubby fingers on one waved at her one by one as Tam looked at Arin, smiling before realizing just how jarring they must look. “Hello! I’m Tam, would normally offer a handshake or something but kind of got rid of those yesterday and the new ones haven’t been delivered yet.”
“Do you… do you have a glitch too?” Arin asked, still staring at them. Dark brown hair tumbled around their face, currently unkempt but a bright, toothy smile behind the wispy curtains and bright green eyes that looked like they would welcome you with a chaotic gag instead of friendly handshake.
“Oh, Tam can’t die. Nothing kills them, just regenerates everything.” Kori mentioned, walking over and doing some sort of handshake with one of Tam’s smaller hands, looking more like a pair of little wings branching from their shoulders. “It looks awkward now but they should be all good by tomorrow.”
“Yeah, this happens regularly. Sometimes it’s arms, sometimes legs, there have been worse things.” Gerard added, sitting down on the couch and grabbing a game controller, Kori flopping down beside him and doing the same. Sari stepped forward, clapping to get everyone’s attention. Tai turned back from the front door he had just begun to pull open, annoyance on his face.
“I just want to say I’m so proud of you all. We’ve pulled off a lot in the past few weeks and helped a lot of people, but this is the biggest one yet. We’re changing peoples lives and doing good, and I’m so thankful that each and every one of you are here to do it. Also, Tam, this is Arin. She tagged along home after the bank happened.” Sari motioned from Tam to Arin, both giving a friendly smile to the other. “Anyway, I’ll order some pizza. Arin, any requests? Money isn’t a problem, obviously.”
“Uh… no. I’m good.” She said, simply looking around the room with an odd sense of familiarity.