Venus
“Who—” Two shots from my rifle downed the latest goblin that had been patrolling a rock-hewn hallway via candlelight; it seemed that the vault we were after was hidden away. Siobhan was at the head alongside Jude, the pair peering intently at their wands as they lay face-up in each palm. We were in the 400-level of vaults, but the numbering seemed to be completely random—
“Got it. Between 477 and 432.” At a nondescript door, the six of us clustered around as Jude peered at the solid metal from several angles, cast a few spells, and stepped back.
“I would suggest that all of you step back.” With five feet of distance, she reached a hand up and dragged it downward—with a horrific metallic screech, the door curled and crumpled down on itself with a burst of fizzling light, explained as the enchantments breaking from the sheer force of the magic she was using. Smoke rose from the remains of the door, which we each stepped over warily.
“Seems goblins haven’t learned to ward off angels, yet. Good to know.” Ignoring whatever that meant, I followed Jude and Elle inside to find one of the strangest scenes I’d ever encountered: atop a single, small stone table sat a small gemstone inlaid into an amulet, as well as a clear bag of some sort of plant or fungus that I’d never seen before; both Elle and James recognized it, judging by their reactions.
“Is that…?” A quick scan from Zed revealed some sort of herb; after a prayer, Dugan appeared inside the vault and peered around at the sparse contents.
“Should be the amulet we’re after. The…” something off-screen beeped angrily, then what looked like a hyper-advanced Assaultron stepped into view, holding up a rude hand gesture to whatever was beeping.
“Don’t touch the amulet. Or do, it’s just a little cursed.” Zed brightened, popping off her helmet and giving a goofy wave, which the robot didn’t return.
“Serious time, Zed. In order to hold the amulet, you have to smoke.” All six of us exchanged looks, Elle already moving to open the bags and, after taking a gigantic sniff, nearly fell backwards onto me as a horrific odor filled the room.
“That shit is preem—why do we need to smoke to hold this thing?” Dugan and the robot shrugged in unison, the former waving vaguely at something we couldn’t see.
“For some reason, the way magic and dimensionality are interacting is causing an inflection point where one shouldn’t be; the details around those tend to get fuzzy. For whatever reason, in this divergent timeline, you have to do so—I’m a sky god, not a quantum physicist.” While I’d been watching Dugan, Elle had already expertly rolled what looked like a cigarette, but was much larger and more nefariously-shaped, like an expanding cone instead of a cylinder.
“Anyone got a light?” Having never had this particular chem before, I smoked it like a cigarette and nearly collapsed onto the ground as a rolling wave of coughs overtook me, Zed grabbing one of my arms even as she held back a cough herself; the others didn’t so much as peep, which made me scowl before another wave of nausea and dizziness overtook me and the last thing I registered before blacking out was Elle triumphantly picking up the amulet.
“Hey, you. You’re finally awake.” With a headache so bad it felt like someone had put a bullet through my head, my vision cleared to an altogether confusing scene. Where we had once been in a bank vault deep underground, the gentle rocking of a horse-drawn carriage and brilliant green plants like I’d never seen before—even in Zion—bloomed out all around us, assaulting my senses with sights, sounds, and smells I’d never heard before. The six of us were in an almost comically-long roofless carriage, riding down a cobblestone road with three other people in the back and an armored man driving. Almost before I’d realized it, my hands had leaned down to grasp a boot knife and began sawing at bindings tied tightly around my wrists; a quick glance revealed the others using similar means to extricate themselves, as well—strangely, we were still armed and armored. In less than ten seconds, Jude did some strange magic on the people who weren’t part of our group and practically shoved us out of the carriage to duck into trees and behind bushes until the rumbling carriage became a distant, muffled sound.
“What the hell? Where are we? What was that?!” Elle was bouncing up and down on her heels, grinning madly and staring around at every bug, plant, and tree near us, only stopping when I expressed confusion and giving me an equally confused look.
“Don’t you… oh, right. We’re in a video game. Like the old-school ones, way back near the turn of the 21st. This is a good one, too; I played the holo-port of it growing up. We have to go to Riften, can we? Ooh, maybe we start in Windhelm, then thieves after? No, I’m getting ahead of myself.” All five of us were mystified, only two others (James and Zed) even knowing what a video game was, before Dugan’s square appeared in the air, halfway through a tree before it corrected itself.
“Woah. Everyone okay?” Scattered nods; I dug out a half-empty bottle of whiskey and swigged some to stave off the headache.
“Must’ve pulled you into another splinter dimension. Nila, get me the conditional for this one? No, I don’t care about Planck, I need the… Well, yes, but if the Side-Slice Theorem is applicable, that means that we need to recalibrate—I—” defeat briefly flashed across his face, before Dugan shook his head and rolled his eyes at us.
“Don’t know how you deal, Zed. Uh, the objective for this one is… Oh. Just an assassination, I guess. With Elle apparently having knowledge of this ‘game,’ should be easy. You need to kill somebody named ‘Hermaeus Mora.’” Elle went white as a sheet, blue light flickering across her vision for several seconds while we all waited for an explanation. When it came, it was faltering.
“Hermaeus Mora: Daedric Prince of knowledge and memory—he’s… basically a… an outer god? Tentacles, eyes, secret dimension of cursed knowledge. How are we supposed to kill a Daedric Prince? You can’t even do that in the actual game.” My eyebrow arched—this person we were after was a god?
“Gods can die. Besides, you six aren’t in the actual game—maybe it’s… What’s that?” He glanced off-screen, then peered harder at us; in particular, Jude.
“You aren’t the only ones from familiar dimensions. Apparently… a few others from separate timelines are in this place, too. A really fuckin’ big robot, like our Autobot pals at SHIELD; some witch or sorceress, judging from energy readings; some other data signatures; and… oh, you’ve got to be joking. Caesar.” The one word made a tremor of anger run through me like a bolt of lightning; one of the people who knew something about me, one I’d already killed with Luisa’s help.
“Assume they’re hostile.” Jude had ignored Dugan, instead staring straight at Elle with a slightly confused look before turning and mouthing a word at the sky. A crack of thunder shook the ground, and she flinched as I raised an eyebrow in her direction.
“Think I know what we’re going up against. Not going to be fun. Is there any way to store magical energy in this ‘game’?” Elle shrugged, eyes slightly faraway as they flickered various colors.
“Technically… soul gems. Can be filled with the souls of animals or—well, people.” Jude’s expression sank, then vanished as she moved faster than I could perceive, an invisible force knocking me back moments before a bullet struck the tree behind my head. Another instant later, she reappeared holding a middle-aged man in full tactical gear, eyepatch, and a bandana around his forehead that all matched the palette of his rifle, which was in Jude’s other hand.
“Bunch of people, armed with modern technology. One with them is radiating some kind of energy, made that shot from almost three-quarters of a mile.” Two bullets impacted the back of her head, but they were ignored as I stepped up into her shadow to make eye contact with the man.
“You’re pretty good, huh? Got people who can shoot that far, must not be the average Ranger. Got a name?” He didn’t speak, so I spat on the ground and jerked my chin to the others.
“Time to move. Elle, got a destination in mind?” For a moment, Jude peered over her shoulder, before gasping and vanishing again—Siobhan was busy turning a stick into a transporter to wherever Elle had in mind, and I shouldered my rifle in preparation just as Jude reappeared holding a random woman, tapped her pinky on the stick, and we were all yanked into the suffocating pressure of whatever magic made this thing work. I was able to keep focus, landing with my gun trained on a woman in similar tactical gear to the man, but slightly older-looking. I didn’t take stock of my surroundings until the man was restrained (the girl, who Jude referred to as Shade, was both dumbfounded at Jude and more than willing to cooperate), looking back and forth to see the interior of a colder, slightly damp underground stonework—almost like the Vegas sewers, but pre-pre-war in design.
“Where are we?” Elle was peering through Zed’s helmet, scanning the area, and waved down my rifle slowly.
“Safe spot, in the north of the country. There is a troll here, though. The place is an abandoned hideout for an assassin’s guild called the Dark Brotherhood, but the quest isn’t done yet, so they aren’t here. Help me kill the troll? I’ll give you some cigarettes.” That was deal enough for me, so I left my rifle with James, who was watching the man with Zed and Siobhan while Jude talked with Shade a few feet away. Following Elle, I clambered up into a broken stained-glass window and onto sediment—this place must’ve been built into a tunnel system—and pulling my coat around myself as a chill settled in.
“Aren’t you cold?” Elle frowned, eyes clearing and blinking twice before fans started up into her back; a few seconds later, I was warm almost to the point of sweating as the air around Elle heated up.
“Uh…” She raised an eyebrow, directing me at a fork and only responding after.
“From Night City, remember? Everyone has chrome—at least, the smart ones do. You should see Psyche, she’s got…” A bit of sadness entered her trailed-off words, and I drew Nero as I began to hear noise ahead—still far off, but approaching.
“Got someone back home?” She shrugged, avoiding my gaze for a few seconds.
“…Sorta. You’d think a joytoy would know how to love, but… it isn’t really part of the job description.” I had no idea what she was referencing, but I could see the connections between her tone and that of some I’d heard on the Strip. Pausing, I put a hand on her shoulder, both of us turning to look squarely at the other.
“Just ‘cause you’re not good at it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Besides, isn’t life about trying new things?” A little surprised, she shrugged, eyes widening briefly before I was yanked away, thrown through the air by something massive and tumbling out into a wider area that butted up against some of the wall of our new hideout. Storming out of the opening I’d just flown through was a massive, hulking, hairy supermutant-crossed-with-yao-guai that stopped a few feet from me, slapped the ground, and roared. Before I’d even stood fully, Luisa had gained the controls and holstered Nero, instead flinging the coat off and dropping into a crouch, mimicking the slap and roar that rung back and forth on the icy walls. Was she going to wrestle this thing? Without warning, she lunged forward and dodged a slow swipe, shifting momentum upward and uppercutting the troll hard enough to snap teeth together as it’s jaw shut; followed up by two midair kicks to it’s chest, sending the thing back a few feet as Luisa landed, barely breathing hard. The troll pawed at it’s mouth, seemingly tasting it’s own blood and straightening up, towering over Luisa’s readied stance before grabbing forward with both hands—instead of dodging, her hands snapped out, catching the grab and locking her hands onto the troll’s clawed paws in a pure contest of strength. Muscles flared, burned, and bulged under our skin as the troll bore down on her stance to the point that the ice below cracked around booted feet. With a guttural growl, she shifted her grip to grab the troll’s wrists tightly enough to break them and hauled upwards, gritting her teeth and lifting the troll up into the air, back straining as a blood vessel burst in our eye, before leaning back and suplexing the troll into the ice. Without even looking—and, I suspect, for style—Luisa drew Nero, and shot the troll once as her free hand lit a cigarette. Elle was flabbergasted, and I felt myself regain control halfway through the puff, exhaling a cloud in the shape of a knife and smiling.
“Props to Luisa on that one. Any other pest control that needs doing?” Her shock turned to confusion, and I holstered Nero with another drag, accepting the cigarette gratefully.
“I’m—or I was—a sleeper agent for this organization back where I’m from. The Enclave. Long story, but I was able to buck my programming—in this dimension, we’ve got a more equal share of brain-space. She likes to fight, and I like to talk.” Elle nodded slowly, beginning to lead the way out with a glance over her shoulder.
“You’re weird, you know that?” My snort echoed through the tunnel, and as we rounded the corner to the main area, I ran into Elle, who was frozen in place. I didn’t see it initially, but with a keen perception spotted movement at the end of a long hallway that let out into the main area—in a large room, atop a raised platform and in a bed, Jude and Shade were… the door slammed shut of it's own accord—magic, probably—and I exchanged a look with Elle as we hopped down to find the man untied, smoking, and making a call on some kind of pre-war device.
“All good?” James nodded while moving a few chairs over to a table, Siobhan helping via magical repairs or cleaning around the area.
“Shade smoothed things over—friendly with Jude and this ‘Snake’ guy. Apparently, we’ve got a PMC under our command, now.” I was confused, but Elle shrugged and explained as Zed dropped a chair down from the second floor to Siobhan, who caught it with a flick of her wand.
“Mercenary army. Must be as confused as we are… what was his name, James?” He shrugged, sitting down in a chair to smoke.
“Codename. Solid Snake—cool one, but not as good as Sinner—right?” Elle nearly fainted, falling onto my shoulder dramatically and frantically whispering to us.
“Another video game. Am I just… wait, you’re from some post-apocalypse, right? Where are you from?” A horrifying pit opened in my stomach, almost as though I was standing on the edge of a very big and dark pit, and I mumbled out a response as James ushered both of us to chairs.
“The… Mojave? Is it…” She blinked, then went pale, snatching James’ water bottle and draining it as her back-fans went into overdrive.
“I’m… holy shit. Holy shit, Psyche. Okay, you are not going to believe this, but I think that… we moved through dimensions, right? I dunno this science-magic shit. Siobhan?” After repairing the final chair, the witch in question sat down, Zed also having tuned into the conversation.
“Jumping through worlds is something we have myths about. What is it?” Elle flicked her wrist, then withdrew a cable, before pausing and sighing.
“Never mind that—if you all knew at least one ripperdoc, I could—” Zed reached out and snagged the cable, inspecting the port as Elle blushed bright red and stuttered out a few words.
“I… that’s… Zed.” The clone paused, looking up in confusion at Elle’s expression.
“What? This will fit a port on my helmet, then you can project it as a hologram.” Delicately, Elle reached up and took the cable from Zed’s gloved hand and plugged it into the indicated port.
“Phew. Just… some cybernetics are more wired into your nerves than others. Kind of a… personal part of me to yank around.” It was Zed’s turn to blush, attention diverting as a bluish-white hologram appeared in the air, filled with several boxes that displayed text in a mishmash of symbols that moved quicker than I could comprehend; seeing my (and James’) slightly glazed-over expressions, her eyes flickered and caused the words to come through slower.
“This is a representation of the Net—the computer stuff. When we moved to this world, I think the copy of it I have on my data seeped through another one—one where we’re all characters in different video games—or movies. This is…” Glancing over, ‘Snake’s eyes widened, then narrowed on the screen as the information flashed past, before his eyes settled on Siobhan.
“Think you could magic me another smoke?”