Chapter One

The stream of people pushed forward at an ever steady pace. It was somewhat difficult to make my way through the long crowd. Everyone was travelling in the same direction, moving without slowing or breaking.

I was eventually able to separate from the path and push myself against the glass door of a coffee shop. Scooting to the left, I pulled the door open as little as possible. People filled the streets and gave me no room to comfortably enter.

Squeezing through the door, I was met with a number of refreshing sensations. A cool breeze from the air conditioner; a stark change from the packed sweaty road. The sweet smell of caffeine and other concoctions; again, the acrid congregation of bodies. Pleasant music humming in the background; it was actually very quiet outside—sans the many footsteps.

Settling down on one of the corner couches, relaxation took over as I let out a sigh. It was nice to be able to stop and think for a bit. Everything had been so chaotic in the beginning. The stress of walking into this world had finally started to die down. Sure, I was alone and without a legal identity—and it sucked that everyone that I knew and loved didn't exist…

But I had powers now! Or, well, just one power that was vague and horrifying, but that was beside the point. With time and creative application, I could do anything I wanted.

…Almost anything, ignoring the whole dimensionally displaced issue.

That was in the past now. I needed to focus on the present.

Taking out my phone, I unlocked the device and connected to the coffee shop's Wi-Fi. Somehow, my iPhone 8 was able to work in Earth Bet. Not perfectly, as things like Google and the Apple store couldn't be accessed, but Safari and Bing worked fine.

Using Safari, I tried to look myself up. Not 'me' me, but my cape persona. Unsurprisingly, nothing came up. I didn't have a proper debut, nor did I make any efforts to communicate with the world. That didn't make the lack of results disappointing.

It was irrational to have such assumptions, but I couldn't blame myself for being hopeful. Not after my little 'demonstration' in the last town I was in. In that case, it was true that people knew about me. The Internet had taken to calling my work "The Pit" and attributed it to… them.

Really, it was a miracle I was able to escape with my mind and body relatively intact. I planned to have the Agent take out Hatchet Face, but apparently his aura messed with my instructions, so it grabbed me instead.

Oh well, I'd have the opportunity to kill the group later.

In the meantime, I was using my power again. As sickening as it might be, it was a necessary action. I needed money, food, shelter, et cetera, and I couldn't go to the police for help. Officials only knew of me as an unknown cape, but it'd be pretty obvious if I visited a station to reveal no records, an exclusively harmful power, and appearing in a city just a short run from The Pit.

A loud series of knocks broke me from my thoughts. Glancing up from my phone, I was able to spot the source of the sound. A boy stood against the glass door, red faced and wide eyed. He wore a black t-shirt and jeans. His eyes were blue and his hair black. I guessed his age to be around 15-16.

I gestured for the boy to pull the door open, rather than push. He was briefly confused, but eventually received my intended message. Entering the shop, the boy nearly fell in exhaustion, using a nearby table to support himself.

"It's-" He stumbled into a chair, quickly pulling it around to sit on. "I haven't seen you before. Are... are you the only one left?"

Nodding, I confirmed his fears. "Yeah, haven't seen anyone else in at least a week. Didn't expect to see you so soon, but I guess things are wrapping up soon."

The boy was confused, but rather than succumb to bewilderment, his eyes narrowed a fraction. "Expect to see me- what are you talking about? And what do you mean by wrapping up? Are you sane?"

It was clear that he didn't have the full picture. Understandable, but it was time for me to pull back the curtains.

"Let me elaborate. You're aware of how the 'insanity' works, right?" I jerked my head towards the people outside.

"Yeah… It forces people to march without rest. They're still conscious, judging by the way they looked at me." He shivered and turned away from the building's entrance.

The city's residents were compelled to walk regardless of the strain. The scores of people were completely aware of their surroundings. However, the most disturbing factor would be the fact that they were doing this of their own free will. The only thing keeping them from stopping was their own thoughts and paranoia.

"Yeah, you get it. And you've noticed that this phenomenon started about a week ago, when things like the Internet, radio stations, and other means of communication stopped working. You could say that it was the start of this story—setting up for what was to come."

His mouth hung open. Shock, anger, and fear radiated from his body. His fists clenched as he slammed the table. "You- how could you say a tragedy like this is anything like a story!?"

"Because it is? Haven't you noticed it? The way the week started with an unusual amount of talk about the town's history, the mysterious disappearance of law enforcement officers. Or the slow deterioration of the city's populace. Not to mention how everything lined up so you could piece together what was happening. There was conflict and sorrow. Losing your friends and family one by one. Forced to work together with a motley band of teens with a streak of rebellion. Perhaps, most importantly, the reveal that the entire town was insane, leaving you alone."

Standing up, I threw my arms out to my sides. "This is the resolution! The only thing left is to make clear who was responsible in the first place."

With a surge of adrenaline, the boy leaped from his seat and clenched my unzipped hoodie. His eyes were full of vitriol and hate. "You! It's your fault! It's all your fault!"

Reaching into my hoodie's pocket, I grabbed a black face mask. One of the few things that I owned from the real world. Ignoring the snarling boy, I put on the mask. It was a little redundant to cover my face at this point, but I wanted to be a little theatrical.

"That's right. I am all to blame for this horror show. You might even recognize my previous work, aptly called The Pit."

To my satisfaction, the boy had in fact heard of The Pit. He paled and fell onto his back. Scooting away, the boy had lost any desire to fight.

"You're the one who did that?! Does that- is the Slaughterhouse Nine here!"

My fists clenched at their name as I held myself from lashing out. "No… the S9 is not here, nor am I one of their members-"

I was back in the room. Infinity stretched from beyond what I could physically see. I couldn't control it, couldn't stop it from...

Taking in a deep breath, I calmed my nerves. Honestly, to think I'd gotten over my first Trigger Event, only to lose composure here.

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I lost any interest in playing up the puppet master act.

"Well, this was fun and all, but I should be leaving. Since you survived this long, do you want a reward of any sort? I could tell you the origin of Case 53s, the identity of Zion, or even the illusive Trigger Vision."

The tonal whiplash of the conversation left the boy speechless. All that desire to survive and push forward evaporated.

I waited for a response. Not from the boy, but from Earth Bet's resident boogey-woman. Much to my disappointment, nothing happened.

Taking that as a sign I wouldn't get a reaction, I shuffled around the table and made my way to the glass door. When I rested my hand against the glass door, the boy shouted one last thing.

"Who are you?"

With a heavy shove, the exit swung open despite the masses on the other side. But rather than the clustered and crowded street, the doorway led to something else entirely. Darkness radiated from a hellish landscape. As far as the eye could see, dirt covered the expanse with a cracked and gray appearance. Dead spindly trees sprouted from the ground like weeds in concrete.

"…Stranger than Fiction."

I internally cringed as the gateway shut behind me. Coming up with names wasn't exactly my strong suit, but I wished I had said something else.

Kicking the ground, dust exploded outward like a mini-explosion. I coughed at the sudden cloud of strange gray dirt. The Pit's ground floor was filled with exotic properties, but after my Second Trigger, my powers were no longer able to hurt me. Had I been any other person, the dust would've passed through my body like accelerated particles through a sheet of paper.

It was unfortunate, but my powers didn't have many nonlethal options. Even my disappearing act would have been fatal for anyone else. I was somewhat proud with how well I dealt with the last city though. Didn't kill a single person—in exchange for the sanity of the victims, but I digress.

Although… I was expecting some response to my second attack. Maybe the local enforcement was worried about being Mastered. Not that I could Master people, but a reasonable fear.

As for the whole potentially spilling extremely classified secrets, I was hoping Cauldron would show up and induct me, or something. If there was any way of getting back home, it would probably be through them.

But if they didn't do anything, then I would have to continue my initial goal. Ridding the Earth of the remaining S9 members.

Half a mile away from me was a large shell-like hill. It was at least 30 feet tall and 45 feet wide. Starkly contrasting from the cracked dirt floor, the hill was jet black, smooth, and reflective with uneven surfaces.

Believe it or not, that hill used to be a person. Not that it looked very human before its transformation. Crawler could only adapt so many times in The Pit before he was incapable of functioning outside of it.

Throwing the rest of the S9 into here would've been ideal, but I doubted I would catch Jack off guard again. Meaning I would have to leverage my (very limited) meta knowledge to succeed.

If I recalled correctly, the S9 were hired by Ravager to kill Mouse Protector. Not sure when this happened, but obviously not yet, since Murder Rat wasn't among the group.

So if I found Ravager, I might run into the S9.

Now, I had to find what city Ravager was based in. And to do that, I needed the Internet.

It was time to move to the next city.