Part 1: [link]
Part 2: [link]
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Mary sat in the GOTM waiting room alongside the cyborg A-2. The brunette was slowly munching on a cookie, but she didn’t have much of an appetite. Mary didn’t quite know where she was, or what GOTM was or why this cyborg gave her cookies. As far as she knew, this was some kind of sci-fi police station, and she was next in line to be interrogated. Or at least, she would be if the GOTM soldiers remembered she existed.
The troops had dragged Ronnie away down a nearby hallway two hours prior, and all Mary had heard since then was screaming. Mostly from Ronnie pleading innocent or trying to shift the blame onto Mary. The rest was the GOTM soldiers telling the fugitive to shut up.
Although she didn’t realize it, Mary was perhaps one of the most fortunate beings from her universe. Besides being its last survivor, she is one of few beings from the lower realms who have stepped foot in GOTM HQ. While on the outside, they appear to be mere sci-fi cops, and they kind of are; they are more often referred to as soldiers. The reason being they are typically sent to destroy interdimensional threats with extreme prejudice. Petty crooks like Ronnie are an exception to their usual cases.
GOTM, or for their more long-winded title, the Guardians of the Multiverse are an interdimensional organization. They are based in the theoretical center of the multiverse, which, despite popular belief, is not a boundless void. Instead, it is a series of endless voids bundled together into layers stacked atop each other. The upper layers are home to gods, sentient concepts, and celestial wonders. The lower layers are home to dying worlds and low-rent housing.
To Mary’s credit, she came from a universe that existed just above the lower layers. A mediocre place with nothing special. So while she wouldn’t die at twenty being attacked by a band of shrimp-men, the secretary would still have little to look forward to in her life. In fact, her universe’s destruction was likely the most exciting thing to ever happen to it.
Again, Mary knew nothing of this. She was still too traumatized by the events of the last hour. In fact, during this whole exposition dump, she had yet to finish her cookie. A-2 had been poking the brunette in the cheek for the last ten minutes to ensure the woman was still alive, and the results were inconclusive.
“Hello, you still got a brain in there?” A-2 continued to prod Mary.
“I’m sorry, Mother, I didn’t know that was yours,” Mary muttered nonsense. A-2 curled her lip in concern before a sly grin spread across her face.
“Can I borrow your brain and put in a robot?” A-2 inquired.
“No, thank you, I don’t want any cream cheese,” Mary gnawed on the cookie half-conscious.
“Darn,” A-2 sighed.
“A-2,” the GOTM soldiers from before returned. “Ronnie keeps demanding to see her partner or whatever. Did we pick up anyone else?”
“Yeah, this one, you told me to give her a cookie, remember?” A-2 replied.
“Oh, right...whatever, just bring her over,” the GOTM soldier shrugged.
~--~
“Am I in trouble?” Mary had snapped back to reality once she was led into the interrogation room and placed alongside Ronnie.
“Shut up, I’m working a plea deal,” Ronnie assured.
“No, you’re not,” the GOTM soldier denied. “Now I want you to tell me, why do you have this bland woman with you? And don’t tell me she’s your partner because I’m pretty sure I’d remember if you had one.”
“Fine,” Ronnie relented. “I knew you’d be monitoring that last universe closely since it was about to be pruned. Someone dimension jumping from such a low dimension would look pretty suspicious. So, I grabbed...uh, Mandy?... Marty...?”
“Mary,” the brunette sighed.
“Uh...So I grabbed whatshername here,” Ronnie continued. “Her dullness would make the perfect cover for my getaway.”
“What are you talking about?” The GOTM soldier looked at the pink-haired fugitive like she had two heads. “I don’t know what you were learning in science class, but dull people don’t have a perception filter around them. I mean, seriously, how stupid would you have to be.”
“Really?” Mary asked.
“When’d you get here?” The GOTM soldier was startled. Mary groaned in reply.
“In any case,” Ronnie took control of the conversation. “I want my plea deal. We’ll do anything to get out of prison. I’m an experience dimension and hopper, and she...um...is very useful.”
“Don’t lump me in with you,” Mary cut in. “You basically kidnapped me with that weird spray thing.”
“Weird spray?” The GOTM soldier was intrigued. “I don’t recall finding that on your person during the full body search.”
“Uh,” Ronnie sweated. “Don’t you forget, I also saved your life, Mandy.”
“Mary,” the secretary replied.
“Okay, I understand,” the GOTM officer nodded. “Let’s take this to trial then. Starting now.”
“Trial, already? Where’s the judge?” Mary asked.
“We’re shorthanded right now, so that would be me,” the soldier put on a powdered wig. “Time for, guilty or not guilty,” he held up a small device that resembled a police badge in shape.
“Judge, jury, and executioner,” Ronnie let out a nervous laugh.
“What now?” Mary exclaimed.
“Ronnie Ray, you’re charged with petty theft, poorly filed taxes, and loitering between dimensions. As well as interfering with beings of lower dimensions and conspiracy to resist arrest,” the soldier activated the device. It flashed back and forth between red and blue before settling on red. A large holographic “guilty” appeared above the machine. “How do you plead?”
“We’ll take the plea deal, please,” Ronnie put on a brave face.
“Fine, fine,” the soldier relented. “They do need some extra bodies down at the Beginner’s Guide offices.”
“Thank the countless gods above,” Ronnie beamed.
“Not you, her,” the GOTM soldier pointed at Mary.
“What?” The two said in unison.
“As for you, 1,000 solar cycles in the cryo prison. Starting now,” the soldier clicked a button on the badge-like device. Mary was blinded by the flash of light it emitted, and when she regained her vision, Ronnie was gone. In the fugitive’s place was an action figure-sized replica.
“What happened to her?” Mary asked.
“That is her,” the soldier picked up the Ronnie figure and put it into a cylindrical container he had retrieved from beneath his desk. “She’ll serve out her sentence and be released out into the universe one day. She might even join you at the Beginner’s Guide office.”
“I don’t know if I’ll live that long,” Mary pointed out.
“Ah, right lower dimension,” the soldier felt foolish. “With our medicine, aging and disease is a thing of the past. You’ll live forever as long as you don’t get killed some other way.”
Some part of Mary’s brain told her she should be happy. She’d never get sick and be young forever. On the other hand, she didn’t like anything about this situation, and she was still teetering on another mental breakdown. Thus, torn between conflicting emotions, she let out a sound somewhere between a scream and a sob and smashed her head into the table.
To Be Continued...
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Sometimes a golden opportunity hits you out of nowhere and carries you
to places you could never dream of. Sometimes a less than desirable opportunity is dropped in your lap and you have no choice but to take
it.
If you've made it this far I'm sure you have many questions, such as "why did the last part have a previously on segment and this one did not?" That's simple, because I forgot to write one and didn't realize until I was finished editing. However, I'd say it's more interesting to believe that the previously on segment took a vacation this week and will be back next time.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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