For the first time in over twenty years, Alexandria awoke to a throbbing headache.
"Ow." She muttered, trying to remember how to deal with the sensation. "Ow ow ow ow."
"Oh dear, are you still hurting? Here, let me see if I can help…"
Through her closed eyelids, Alexandria could see a soft light envelope her, and the pain in her head faded to a manageable level.
Was that Eidolon? No. She told herself. Don't be stupid. That's a woman's voice.
Though she really didn't feel like it, Alexandria forced herself to open her eyes.
She found herself staring into eyes the size of softballs and a glowing protrusion of white bone.
She blinked slowly, processing this information, and leaned backwards so that she wasn't nose-to-nose with whoever it was. With the extra distance, she was able to recognise the eyes as belonging to Princess Celestia, her horn glowing a soft gold.
She blinked again. "Princess?"
Celestia's horn's glow faded, and the pony took several steps backwards. "There. Are you feeling better? I've afraid I can't do much more than dull the pain…"
Alexandria rubbed her head gingerly. "It's fine. Thank you."
She punched herself in the arm with enough force to shatter bricks. Her arm flexed under the pressure but did not break. Still 'invincible'.
She paused. "Your highness, aren't we supposed to be dead?"
"Well, I was quite worried about that for a while." Celestia admitted. "But I don't think so. I'm sure that if I was dead then Discord would be here to rub it in my muzzle."
Alexandria levitated herself into a standing position gingerly. Now that she thought about it, she rather doubted that her Shard would follow her into the afterlife. "Do you know where we are?"
"One of the human worlds, though obviously that doesn't narrow things down very much."
Celestia tilted her head, indicating the walls around them, and Alexandria turned her focus to them. They appeared to be in a back alley somewhere, and out on the main street busy crowds walked past. In line with what Celestia had observed, they were human – Caucasian even.
"I suppose that means Ajimu must have removed us from the battlefield somehow." Alexandria said, rubbing her prosthetic eye. For some reason, it felt rather squishy under her fingers…
"And healed us." Celestia added. "To which I am very grateful for."
"Hmm." Alexandria made a wordless noise of agreement, hiding how uncomfortable she was right now. Her powers made healing her just as hard as hurting her – so being healed so easily and so thoroughly had some unfortunate implications if she ever had to fight Ajimu.
"Alright, who's managed to get themselves lost in the dimensions this time – wait, its you?!"
A new voice, but not an unfamiliar one. Alexandria and Celestia both turned to find a young man with a buzz-cut and giant shoulder panels marching down the alleyway.
"Access." Alexandria greeted flatly. "So that means either Earth Ayin or Earth Tsadi."
"Man, can't you just call the worlds by numbers, like everybody else? I can barely remember the Greek letters, and you expect me to remember Hebrew?" Access rubbed his hair, looking quite cross. "Look, I've told you people before: I don't know what you think you know, if you don't get your noses out of other people's realities then I'm gonna hafta… gonna hafta…"
Access slowed to a stop and began to blankly stare at Celestia, who he had only just gotten a good look at.
"Access, this is Princess Celestia, of Equestria." Alexandria introduced him, trying not to enjoy his stupification too much. "Your highness, this is Access, the cosmic hall monitor."
The derogatory name seemed to shake Access out of his funk. "Man, I'm never going to live that one down, am I?" He blinked. "Uh, good to meet you, miss unicorn princess lady."
"It's very nice to meet you too, cosmic hall monitor." Celestia said with a smile.
"Look, that's not actually my – you know what, never mind. What are you two doing here? I told you before, you can't just jump dimensions without thinking –"
"We're not here on purpose, Access." Alexandria cut the old argument short. "We're not even sure which world this is."
"The one with the X-Men in it."
"Earth Ayin, then." Alexandria said. "Regardless, we'll be out of your hair now. Door."
She waited for a moment, but the expected portal did not open.
"Door?" She tried again. "Doormaker? Clairvoyant? Hello?"
Access crossed his arms. "Your ride not working out?"
"I don't understand." Alexandria said, looking around just in case the portal had opened somewhere she wasn't looking. "This has never happened before…"
Access frowned. "Much as I'd like to think you were just having me on, I remember those 'doors' o' yours from the first time we fought – er, met. Has something happened?"
"Not that I know of." Alexandria said, worry starting to creep into her mind.
"If it helps," Celestia offered "I can make a portal with a mirror and a few hours."
"Thanks, but no need. I'm way better than any mirror." Access thumbed his chest. "A taxi service I ain't, but if it's a lift home you need, I'll be happy to oblige."
"Door?" Alexandria tried one final time, before sighing. "Yes please, Access. I need to find out where my teammates have gotten to."
"Say no more." Access grabbed the two of them by the shoulders, and a bright glow of golden light engulfed the both of them –
She was suddenly aware of another direction that didn't really exist, of objects whizzing past her that were simultaneously infinitely large and infinitely small at once, of yellow and spinning and falling –
She came out of the portal flying at speed. Though unexpected, she halted herself in mid-air without much trouble. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Celestia doing the same, and Access the non-flyer tumble through the air…
Catching him was the work of a moment, and she carried him back up to where Celestia was almost as quickly. One look down told her that they were several thousand meters up.
"I assume that wasn't on purpose?" She asked dryly.
"W-what the hell…?" Access seemed quite shaken. "What the hell was that?"
"You'll have to clarify." Alexandria said. "What the hell was what?"
"There's…" Access fumbled over the words. "Something's wrong with the space between worlds. The universes aren't where they're supposed to be, and I think they might be moving. I got us to Earth – er, 0? The one with the Justice League – but I'm not sure I can manage somewhere other than my main two worlds at the moment."
"Maybe that's why Alexandria's friends can't come get her right now." Celestia observed. "What do you think, Alexandria?"
One of the many benefits of time-stopped flesh was an inability to break out in a cold sweat. "I think that I need to find the rest of my team. Now."
Access started rubbing his hair again. "Oh man… I'll have a look around these two worlds and round up anyone who's not supposed to be there, but this is big. Like, really big."
"You don't say." Alexandria said, the voice of the White Queen echoing loud in her ears.
"Listen." Access said. "In lieu of a big 'explain things' button, we're gonna need help. The JLA should have a ground base right now, so while I'm rounding everybody up, you go explain things to them, okay? I'll send some of the figure-things-out-type Avengers your way when I can. Just make sure you get the big guys on board with this. Tell 'em… er… tell 'em Access sent you."
The Justice League. Alexandria remembered her briefings. Earth Tsadi's equivalent of the Protectorate, only independent rather than government-operated. It would have the sort of resources that would be needed to investigate what was going on.
Dealing with the problem, however, was going to be another matter altogether...
Name: Access
Series: Marvel and DC
Disposition: Independent Hero
Location: No fixed address (Usually found in either New York City, Earth Ayin [known locally as Earth-616] or in Gotham City, Earth Tsadi [known locally as Earth 0])
General Information: Access does not usually intervene in regular parahuman conflict unless forced into it, instead spending his time on his self-appointed mission of tracking down people who have travelled across dimensions and forcing them back into their home universe.
Classification:
Mover [Teleporter/Portal creation] 11: Access can freely teleport and create portals between any locations in the known multiverse, moving large amounts of personnel and equipment when he does so. His greatest feat so far has been to teleport the Justice League Satellite across dimensions. However, he must constantly move between dimensions, as staying in one place for too long causes his power to go out of control and teleport parahumans to his location in the most disruptive way possible (known as "crossover" events).
Recommended Strategies: Access is one of the greatest Movers known to the PRT, and that isn't the most threatening thing about him. No, the most terrifying thing about him is the fact that he is on friendly terms with most super-teams in Ayin and Tsadi, such as the Justice League, the X-Men and the Avengers, and does not hesitate to temporarily leave combat to enlist their help.
As a teleporter, Containment Foam is ineffective against him. The PRT's only hope against a hostile Access is to kill or incapacitate him before he fetches reinforcements.
Rumours that Access can use his portals to travel through time are so far unsubstantiated, as are rumours that he can 'merge' together two people from different universes.