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"The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude."

- Friedrich Nietzsche.

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"....."

"Weird right?"

The explanation of my circumstances seemed to give Owl both a headache and a look of clear interest in learning more on how this all worked. Or how I was even still alive. I let the silence build around us for a few minutes to let her digest the data before deciding to speak again.

"So you have in front of you the first ever multi-dimensional traveller in the history of humanity, pretty cool eh?"

Well, assuming there hadn't been others before me that decided to not make their presence and origin known to the rest of the world. Owl looked at me and couldn't help a small chuckle, finally realizing it wasn't something that would be easy to understand right now. Instead, she just stood up and walked over to a corner of the room where a wheelchair was resting, pushing it over to the side of the bed and looking over at me with an amused look.

"Well, Miss Freak, since you're feeling so lively how about I show you around?"

"I'd like that, sure."

With great effort and the aid of my superior strength, I was lowered until I was able to sit down comfortably on the wheelchair. Owl offered to push it around, but I figured the excercise would do nicely. Plus, I could keep up with her no problem anyways. As we made our way out of the room, I noticed that we were not in a hospital. At least not a regular one. The entire outer building was constructed with some kind of metallic material that I didn't assume to be steel since it wasn't reflective. Owl notice me staring, and smiled a little.

"Alloy." She said. "Won't tell you what exactly, but it keeps signals from reaching inside or escaping outside. Makes staying hidden much easier really."

"Cool! Wait, then we're in like, your evil lair or something?" I teased, smiling as Owl seemed to flinch at the idea. "Not that being a hero doesn't suit you, but the whole Owl aesthetic...."

"Oh shut up, Spider." I mimicked being stabbed in the heart and we both chuckled a little as we kept moving through the long hallway.

After a few minutes of teasing back and forth over our identities, we finally arrived at what looked like some kind of monitoring room. Screens and monitors all around, a few were not connected and just had an owl logo bouncing around the screen like those DvDs back home. Multiple computers and chairs were set up, ready to equip an entire team inside. It felt weird, Owl seemed to be working alone, and I hadn't seen anyone else around the lair this far, even though there were other rooms on the way that seemed to be closed for a long enough time to cause dust to settle over the doors.

"Impressive cybercafé you got here." I teased, ignoring the ideas I was getting and just approaching one of the computers.

Owl just rolled her eyes and sat by my side, turning on the computer and opening what looked like a news article. It mentioned some kind of weird noise and a flash in the sky that people assumed to be fireworks, but the location felt a little familiar. I had to take a good second to think until I noticed the street and the familiar building, then traversed the mental map of the city I had and found myself at...

"That's where I dropped in, right?"

"Yeah, only thing I could find however. We don't have a particle accelerator here in Ark City, at least not that I know of, so it may be pure coincidence but...."

"But?" She seemed to hesitate quite a bit there.

"Look, I've been at this for a full year. You start to get a sense of when something feels like an evil plan sooner or later." She pointed at the article. "This feels like something someone really fucking powerful is trying to use for personal gain."

But how? What would they gain from ripping open the fabric of reality? It's not like there was much else out there, just infinite worlds full of exploitable unlimited resources free to colonize in the pursuit of oil, riches and cheap labor! I shook my head and just grumbled under my breath until Owl decided to keep talking.

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"I'm not sure who yet, but it has to be someone really high up in the ladder. Blackwood is ambitious, but he doesn't have the power for that. Now, if we were to find out just where does he keep getting new people, money and power...."

"We get a better look at the bigger picture." I nodded.

It was a good idea. We climb our way from the bottom and start searching for connections and branching relations. Eventually we'll find out if there's anything or anyone out there trying to rip open reality and, with some luck, I get to go home and get a job.

Who am I kidding? Why get a boring job when you can be a badass superhero?!

Sure, I got stabbed, but that's just a minor setback! Plus, I'm sure Owl can help me learn how to fight properly. She seemed to have quite a good technique when dealing with the thugs, considering she was going unarmed against hardened criminals with automatic guns.

"For now, though, how about introductions?" Owl said, taking me by surprise. "Oh come on, neither of us has a mask on and you'll eventually walk out of here. I'd rather be sure to let you know who I am by myself without having you find out through other people."

"....Okay." I stretched my hand to her. "Valeria Ramirez. Still haven't settled on a superhero name though, don't even have a suit."

"Eliza Reál. The police gave me the nickname since I'm always out at night and all." She shook my hand and recognition assaulted my face.

"Like Bella Reál?"

"She's my aunt. Took me in when my parents, well..." She shook her head and offered a bitter smile. "I assume you know her from the news?"

"Well yeah, and I'm trying to get a meeting with her, had a cool deal to offer-" Eliza raised an eyebrow. "Not the illegal kind, mind you! Blackwood was financing a few community centers for charity to help the homeless but he's pulling back since he doesn't need the extra support anymore. Figured Bel-your aunt could help us out and get a few extra votes on the same move."

"I mean, she knows I'm Owl so I could probably explain her how Burns went down....The votes would go directly to her, the extra support could probably..." She smiled.

"Looks like we have a way to put pressure on Blackwood now."

"That we do. But for now, you should go back to the bed though. The stab wound was pretty nasty after you got that last hit." Eliza started to make some notes on the computer, sending the data she scooped from Burns' office into the main server.

"Oh right, what do we have on the drugs? If every shot can do that...." I grimaced.

"Burns had a special needle. The normal drug isn't even half as effective, but still pretty dangerous. I'll try to track down the remains but I can't cover the entire city on my own, might need to get the court together."

"The court?" I asked, already planning on how to tease her about it.

"The team." She specified, a few faces apeparing on the big screens in front. "You didn't think I worked alone, did you?"

"Well kinda." I admitted, maybe it was a bit too much to assume? There was quite a concerning amount of crime around the city.

"In any case, go rest and then we'll see if I can get my aunt to meet you on the weekend when she's free. Until then keep superhero to a minimum, you are really strong and durable, but you don't have regeneration."

I rolled my eyes and shrugged.

"You don't either, and I saw how you got hit before I got stabbed."

She rolled her eyes this time. A moment of silence and a short burst of laughter later, I said goodbye and rolled myself back to the bed I was resting in before. Using a web shot to pull myself up to lay on the bed and go to sleep almost instantly.

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The exit from the lair the next day was...A hit to her superhero fantasies. All that was required was a ride on an elevator and they were on the first floor of a very nice mansion. Not big enough to ne impractical, but big enough to let people know it was a place worth its size in gold. The decorations alone would've been able to pay for my entire college tuition, which, all things considered, I was pretty happy to not have been stuck with after jumping over here. Speaking of here, soon enough I made my way over to work. My stomach still hurt pretty badly when I bent over or used a lot of strength, but otherwise it just caused me to wince every now and then.

Jacob seemed a little worried at first, but got used to me grumbling after the first fifteen minutes. Cleaning and getting everything back into order was almost therapeutic, and it kept my head off my other worries for now. Work was nice, it was routine, it was easy and there was no need to get stabbed in the stomach while fighting a massive hulking man shot full of steroids and god knows what else.

Plus, Jacob's lunch was delicious as always.

Eventually though, work was over and I was on my way to the community center to speak with James about meeting Bella. We'd need a good pitch of our plan to make it more valuable, but now that Burns was out of the competition...Well, it was sure to be much more likely to be approved. Even more so with Eliza's help. Upon arrival, I noticed how the air was slightly warm instead of cozy. Some of the people sitting inside were still wearing the blankets, and the smell of food seemed like a distant dream. It had only been like three days since Blackwood cut support, but the conditions were already going downhill.

Seeing James, I approached him for a quick talk. He smiled as he saw me, Jacob probably told him about why I hadn't come by the day before.

"Sup James."

"Hey kid, you good?" He asked, his eyes sharpening as he took a closer look at me.

"Well, yeah. Just had a bad time with something I ate, probably shouldn't get street food for now."

"Hummmmm...." He looked at me from head to toe before letting out a sigh. "Sure, be careful with that kinda food. Try not to buy them close to the industrial district, there's more rat than beef in those skewers. Speaking from experience." He grimaced at the memory and I chuckled.

"Will do." I nodded and continued speaking. "Came by to ask if you guys had any solid ideas on what to say when we meet with Bella, figured I'd do my part telling the experience down here and guilt-tripping, but it's up to you to make it appealing ya know?"

"Me and Ashley were talking about it earlier. The homeless population is pretty numerous all things considered, still considered citizens of the city, so they can still vote even if most of them just don't bother anymore." He shook his head and smiled a little more brightly, hope in his eyes. "We can set up a public speech and gather a solid number of votes for her to use in the elections."

"Sounds like a plan, you sure people will listen though?"

"I have a good feeling about this, Kid." He nodded, ruffling my hair a little. "I rarely do."

I rolled my eyes and just combed my hair with my hands as I looked over to the corner of the room where an old tv was displaying the news. Burns was arrested for drug traffick and possession of illegal firearms. James looked at me and I looked at him.

"Sounds like we'll have an easier time with that now." I said, causing him to laugh out loud.

For someone that seemed a little stern, his hearty laughter was pretty contagious. We shared it for a moment until the other guests looked over with curiosity and a bit of concern, maybe laughing like that was a bit weird considering the circumstances.

" *Cough* " I cleared my throat. "You should put that idea into a presensation or something, maybe paper if you wanna do it the old way."

"Yeah, sure kiddo." There was some awkwardness, so he turned over to the entire room. "We'll be serving dinner soon!" He announced.

Everyone immediately looked more chipper and happy.