Outside of the lair, Thiziri was there waiting. “Hey, you found the stuff right?” She looked back and forth between us eagerly. Perhaps she was desperate for things to be resolved. She was cooperating with us to avoid further trouble. Or so I thought. “They probably had a bunch, right?”

  Movebrain was the one with the rank, so he should be the one providing answers on that. “It does appear that your information was correct. I’m certain that this makes up for any of your… previous indiscretions.”

  This was the part where Thiziri was supposed to be happy and go back to whatever mayor’s nieces did. Hopefully not crime. I don’t think that was supposed to be the norm. Either her uncle was very tolerant or this was one of her first times being problematic. Or getting caught.

  “I trust you can handle the rest,” Movebrain commented. “I must be off.”

  “Sure thing,” I said. Not that there was really much else to do. Make sure nobody came and freed the thugs, mostly.

  He zipped off, teleporting bit by bit. I wondered if he couldn’t go any further, or if that was just more efficient. Or it could have been a ploy where he looked weaker until he actually needed more.

  Not that it mattered if his teleportation was short range. I had seen for myself how effective it was along with his other abilities. Using your powers well was more important than being able to throw a skyscraper. If that was all you could do, you’d go broke pretty quickly.

  “Hey. Mage.” I turned towards Thiziri. “So like, were there any spare vials?”

  I gave her a look. “What do you mean, spare? They’re all being collected for evidence and then… probably destroyed or whatever.”

  “What?” She looked like I said I was going to kick puppies or something. “In that case, you can probably spare a handful, right?” She shied away slightly. “Just one…?”

  “Why?” I wasn’t going to give random civilians illegal stuff, obviously. I was just curious.

  “Because I need powers!” She grabbed the front of my jacket and tried to shake me. She wasn’t really very strong. “Don’t you get it?”

  “The powers sucked though,” I commented.

  “You suck!” she yelled. “I need those powers.”

  “... Are you okay?”

  I already knew the answer before she shouted in my face. “No I’m not okay!”

  The area was cordoned off because of official business, but I could see news crews gathering on the periphery. “We should probably go somewhere else. Midnight, could you run interference?”

  People liked interviewing him. Probably because felines were good for views or something. Or maybe because they didn’t like interviewing me, but I’d only ever punched a reporter that one time!

  Anyway, I didn’t want the mayor mad at me and his niece getting any significant screentime would probably ruin that. Midnight could explain her presence just fine- she gave us a tip on some gang activity she saw. Easy.

  Once we were out of the area- following supers away from a scene was bad form and I didn’t spot anyone either- I pulled out a vial to look at. “Do these things have the same powers every time or what…?”

  Thiziri lunged for it, but I held it over my head. “Give it!” She punched me in the jaw, and I was glad I had remnants of Stoneskin left even if she wasn’t good at punching.

  Back into Storage it went. “Even I have limits, you know.” I shoved her away with my forearm. “Tell me what I want to know and I’ll consider your request.”

  “You will?” Her eyes sparkled. I was pretty sure she hadn’t heard my precise wording. “Uh, what was the question?”

  “Is it always the same powers? They’re not labeled.”

  Thiziri’s eyes were darting around all over. “Uh, I think each person gets the same thing every time?” She clearly wasn’t certain of her own answer. “So can I have it now?”

  I ignored that. “So it’s addictive, yeah?”

  “Of course having powers is addictive!” Thiziri said. “You wouldn’t understand because yours don’t go away!”

  “I was talking about whatever other drugs they put in those things.” Well, we’d know if we tested stuff.

  Thiziri’s eye was twitching. “I’m not a druggie! It’s just that powers are cool.”

  “Yeah?” I asked. “So if you had powers, you would feel better, right?”

  “Obviously.”

  “I can do that,” I said. “But if I get you powers, the vials will kill you.”

  I was fully making that up. I wasn’t sure if injecting yourself with power serum and probably drugs would do anything special if you already had powers. But it might kill you. Power exclusivity alternated between smooth rejection and violent internal conflict. People didn’t tend to survive the latter- and if they did, it was with a single power at most. Sometimes both were ruined.

  This didn’t count additive things like many forms of lycanthropy. Though they could probably lead to power rejection in certain cases.

  The woman in front of me seemed stunned into silence, as if I said something crazy. Even if death was totally an obvious result of such things. “... You can get me powers?”

  Oh, that. I supposed people didn’t normally have that as an easy option. “You have to promise not to do anything stupid with them,” I said. “Like crime. Or drugs, even if they’re legal. Because powers and intoxication don’t mix well.”

  “... What kind of powers?”

  “Magic,” I said. From her perspective, every option would be magic.

  “Like you?” she asked.

  “Maybe like me. But there’s something else I’d prefer to try. Are you up for a trip to Japan?”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She blinked. “Uh… I don’t have a passport.”

  “You won’t need one,” I said.

  Midnight was approaching. “Won’t need what?” he asked.

  “A passport.”

  Midnight narrowed his eyes. “I feel like you’re doing something crazy.”

  Hmm. There was another option, but Celmothian tech wasn’t optimized for humans. Plus, she wasn’t allowed to have that. If she ended up with powers, though, nobody could say much about the legality. Things that were an inherent part of a person weren’t illegal. You still had to follow other laws, though, which meant not hurting people.

  I couldn’t imagine any powers I was thinking about would be inherently harmful. Especially not the first option. “It’ll be fine, Midnight. We might not even go anywhere.”

  I could actually see potential issues with all of the plans now. But… I didn’t want to just leave Thiziri. I’d promised, sort of.

  And I understood the desire. It didn’t seem like just drugs.

  -----

  Momo’s response was affirmative. It didn’t mean we had a guaranteed route of success, but it meant we could try. I was just trying to figure out how to do it without bugging Extra. I was usually more on their good side, but that was because I didn’t hide things from them. This time I would be pretty directly breaking some of their rules. Or… not. It would only be relevant once we returned, and we could just register anything relevant that got picked up.

  Right?

  I should probably read some rules. I didn’t want to get banned from Earth or something. Or locked up in a deep pit, but they didn’t even do that. As long as I didn’t commit any other crimes, I should be safe. But it would be annoying for Midnight if I got banned from Earth.

  Earth #1. Because I wasn’t planning to leave Earth right now. I was just going to hop over to Earth #2, which didn’t happen to have Extra operating there. I wondered if there were Martians in that dimension.

  Eh, the locals could figure that stuff out. I just contacted Thiziri.

  Midnight was currently on board with the plan, after I explained things. He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t unhappy. And I could tell he wasn’t hiding anything, so I was going to do what I wanted.

  “Just don’t screw it up,” he said. “I get why you want to do this for her, but you know most people would want the same?”

  I shook my head. “Just wanting it isn’t good enough. Also, maybe this is a political maneuver. Because of that one guy.”

  “Did you forget who?”

  “... The mayor?”

  “He had a name.”

  “... Steve?”

  “You’re not even trying.”

  I wasn’t. His name wasn’t that common.

  -----

  People teleporting was more common in New Bay than many places, but even then people disappearing from a street corner would draw attention. Plus, there were a lot of cameras outside. After some amount of debate, Thiziri finally came to my apartment.

  “Ugh, but what if people think something?” she said. Even though she was already on her way.

  “What would they think?” I asked.

  “You know. Things.”

  What things? “I’m not sure I get it.”

  “I’m going to be in your apartment!” she yelled.

  “I don’t think yelling is being subtle. Are people likely to recognize you on the street?”

  She sighed. “Not mostly. Unless I make them look at me.”

  “I suggest being boring, then.”

  She was grumbling about some things, but eventually hung up to finish her approach. I buzzed her in when she showed up.

  “This place is way more secure than I thought,” she commented as I opened the door. She stepped inside and looked around. “Huh. You’ve got more style than I thought.”

  She wasn’t looking at me, so she must have meant the apartment. “I paid to have it furnished.”

  “Of course you did,” she said. “So uh… what do we have to do?”

  “Just stand over here,” I gestured.

  “How long does it take-”

  I opened the portal in the biggest empty section of floor I had. “You should go through first. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “... It’s really Japan?” she asked. She could see it, of course. “That’s crazy far.”

  It was both further and closer than she thought. As she wandered into the little empty room reserved for me to appear in, I followed along behind her. Midnight would have come to see friends, but he was busy with Celmothian stuff again. Well, we were getting closer to the embassy establishment.

  Momo was waiting in the other room. “Greetings, sir Turlough. Miss Thiziri.”

  “Whoa, translation magic is cool. Nice kimono. Uh…”

  “You may call me Momo.”

  “Right, Momo.” Momo did a great job not flinching at being called without any honorific. Well, she’d gotten used to me and Americans happened to be similarly casual. “So you’re some kind of magic user?”

  Momo looked to me. “Did sir Turlough not explain?”

  “Hmm…” I tilted my head. “I don’t feel like I left out anything important. But it would also be fast to show her.”

  Momo nodded. “Very well. Lady Eglantine?”

  The rainbow porcupine had been lounging on a nearby cushion. Thiziri was quite surprised when she followed Momo’s gaze. “What-”

  Bright lights snapped her attention back towards Momo. Or Strife, now. “Hey. I’m Strife,” the eyepatched young woman held out her hand.

  “Um, Thiziri.”

  “They’re the same person,” I said. “It’s just a superhero moniker thing.”

  “Plus, I’ll shake hands like this,” Strife commented. “So, you’re here to get a companion?”

  “Am I?” Thiziri looked at me questioningly.

  “Pretty much, yeah. Are they ready?”

  “Yeah. There were three willing to give it a shot. Going to another world is a bit of an ask, but you’ve helped us secure things here so much the numbers aren’t the issue. Anyway, they’re just in the next room.”

  The first and most boring thing inside the room was an owl. I wouldn’t have known they were a Humurun, except for the power emanating from them. Pretty bland colors. Not ugly, but without some of the extravagance others had.

  ‘They’ also included a pink elephant… with sparkles. Was pink a common Humurun color? No, probably not by any large margin. It just stood out more, and there had really only been one other I was specifically aware of. Relevantly, the elephant had two trunks and was probably only half the height of a normal one. Just small enough to fit inside. And apparently light enough to not damage the tatami floors.

  Then there was one more. A shiny, metallic skunk. Its fur only reminded me of glossy paint, both white and black.

  “Hoo,” the owl spoke. I still wasn’t sure about the specialness of said individual, until it said real words. “It is surprising how you manage to find potential. This one is fortunately not previously bonded.”

  Oh right. There was that other problem. Temporary powers might have screwed up any chance of getting others. I was pretty sure that fully eradicating them made it more likely to work… and at least this Humurun seemed to think it would. We might not even have to try out any class stuff.

  Thiziri looked like she was in shock. I didn’t think talking animals- or animal shaped people- were that weird. Well, she’d get over it either way.

  //End Chapter 421