User visit: Valeria von Doom

[a1enzo]

Enzo brings Val into the Academy through the cafeteria door. Fortunately, they emerge in the hall outside the cafeteria, so they are only greeted by a few early finishers and not the entire student body at dinner.

The cadets in the hall spot them and raise their eyes in trepidation. When whatever they're waiting for doesn't happen, though, they relax and greet the pair.

"Gee, thanks, guys. This is Val, but you'll have to wait for the show for the full introduction."

As he leads her out of the building and across campus, he mutters, "One time a guest's code turns out weird and sets off the autoscan alarms, and everyone thinks it's gonna be a habit."

Comments

[a1enzo]

"No, no," Enzo assures her. "That kind of thing, that's what you're here for. After the presentation, that's when you have to be careful."

Off campus, people will not be in the know.

[time_dancer]

"Okay," she replies smiling again, though with a thoughtful expression. She can feel the hero format here and it's nice to not have her usual doubts. Here, she's a hero and nothing can change that. "Actually, in Userspace, I guess you could say I still have a hero format but I lack a city or world to protect."

[a1enzo]

"How come?" asks Amy, the youngest.

[time_dancer]

Val looks to Enzo with a raised eyebrow, to gauge how much she should tell.

"Well, it's kind of complicated," she says to stall.

[a1enzo]

Enzo shrugs; he doesn't see any particular reason for her not to tell anything she wants to. Up to you, he mouths.

[time_dancer]

She nods, deciding to start simple and see how it goes.

"I guess you could say a virus from another system erased mine."

[a1enzo]

The others look stricken, then mournful.

"Sorry," murmurs Amy.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," says Value.

[time_dancer]

"That's okay," Val says with a smile. "I mean it hurts to remember but it happened and I'm not going to hide from it. I figure since I'm the only that I know of who made it, I have a responsibility to make sure some part of my system survives. That it isn't forgotten, even if I'm the only who remembers."

[a1enzo]

Solemn nods all around.

"So when you say 'system'..."

"I've covered the structure of Userspace in my reports," Enzo tells her.

[time_dancer]

"Okay," Val says to Enzo before pausing to collect her thoughts. "So back in my native system, we knew of other systems or universes if you were to use User words. This virus was crashing any universe it could, I'm not sure why. I can jump between universes and accidentally jumped into one that seemed like my own but in the past and this virus tried to erase it. We were able to erase him instead but I got caught in the field of the weapon that did the erasing. I guess I acted instinctively cause I turned up in another universe."

She pauses then as a sudden thought occurs to her. What if her native reality really was still out there? She had spent so much time reacting to her feelings for what happened with Abraxas, that she hadn't really thought of the events too clearly.

[a1enzo]

"Whoa," appears to be the consensus.

"'System'... isn't really the word you were looking for, then," says Value.

"Try 'Internet'," agrees Tone.

[time_dancer]

"Ah, okay. It's funny that I have so much trouble translating the words or ideas. I work with computers all the time but experiencing their world is very different."

[a1enzo]

"It's a very different structure," agrees Caret, the earnest-looking orange boy.

[time_dancer]

"I'm glad I got the chance though," Val replies with another smile. "Experiences are always different but usually better than what you think they'll be."

[a1enzo]

"So what other powers do you have?"

[time_dancer]

"Well, I'm stronger than the average teenager though not as strong as many superheroes. I can also make force fields but I don't know if they'll work here."

To be honest, she's a little scared to try, worried about what damage she might cause.

[a1enzo]

"We can find somewhere to try it later, if you want."

There are some safe labs in the Academy for practising with various weapons and devices.

[time_dancer]

"That would be nice. I wouldn't want to cause any trouble," she says with another smile. "Oh, I kind of mentioned it but I can also move through space and/or time as well as traveling to other universes. I used to be able to only move myself but with lots of practice, I can now make gates other people can step through."

[a1enzo]

"Portals, huh?" Value exchanges a glance with Tone. "Can you do it short-range? Like... across a stage?"

[time_dancer]

"Easily!" Val replies enthusiastically. "A jump through space that short is easy. It takes more effort for time though."

[a1enzo]

The purple Val squints at the blue Val consideringly. Then she nods decisively and summons a vidwindow.

"Durra? Muster the girls. We're doing Carmen."