Just a short piece to advertise mp3.1415player's Worm fanfic Taylor Varga on Spacebattles.
If you know Worm, read it. It's ace!

Edit - Taylor Varga is now also on FFN!

.

The Institute Varga

.

The alarm echoed through the mansion and in one particular room, Clark Kent closed his eyes in annoyance while his wife laughed in resignation.

"Every single time." Clark groaned as he rose from the settee and grabbed his comm-link. "Superman here. What's going on now?"

"This is Forge!" A near-panicked voice came through the device. "Beast and I are picking up what looks like the formation of a Portal of a sort we've never seen before… and it's right outside!"

"You'll need this." Mrs Kent said as she handed Clark his cape, then she kissed him on his cheek as he donned it. "I'll assemble the backup."

Clark returned her kiss, then vanished in a blur of Superspeed as she strode out of their shared bedroom, her own comm-link activating.

"This is Mystique to the Protectors and the Avengers." She said as she stepped into the corridor. "Unknown Portal at the Xavier Institute. I repeat, unknown Portal at the Xavier institute. Superman already on-site."

"This is Iron Man, we're already mobilising."

"Patriot here, we'll be there momentarily."

Satisfied that two of the most powerful superteams on the planet were on their way to help, Raven Kent descended the stairs quickly, but being careful not to go too fast. It wouldn't do anyone any good if she tripped and broke a limb because she was careless.

.

Clark Kent watched as an orange-edged hole finished opening, a metal cylinder sliding through it before flaps of metal unfolded to form a rim that covered the glowing border.

"Any ideas what that's about?" He asked and beside him, Scott Summers tapped a small control on the side of his visor.

"My sensors picked up a low level of Gamma radiation, not enough to cause any real damage, but I'd recommend a session in the med-pod just in case."

"Some of us don't need med-pods." Logan snorted from Clark's other side, then they went quiet as the door set into the end of the cylinder opened and a scaly head poked out.

"Hello!"

"Hello?" Clark repeated in mild confusion. "Erm, welcome to Reality Alpha."

"Nice to be here." The lizard-girl said as she stepped down onto the drive almost daintily, looking round. "Reality Alpha? You mean that you've visited other realities?"

"We have, and we maintain links with most of them." Clark confirmed. "I am Superman, leader of the Protectors. To my left is Cyclops, leader of the X-men while this is Wolverine, general affiliate and honorary member of at least five separate teams."

"I'm Saurial." The new arrival said as she finished walking up to them. "You don't smell human."

"I'm a Kryptonian." Clark replied. "We look human, but we've got very different genetic structures. May I ask why you're visiting this reality?"

"Well, I'm trying to find something." Saurial shrugged. "Perhaps you could help. It actually belongs to my big brother. You see, during his travels when he was younger, he gave someone called Khaji-da one of his old teeth as part of a sword-making project, but it seems the wizard did something odd to it and now big brother keeps tasting things that he isn't actually eating. We think he's actually tasting whatever the sword is hitting and it's ruining his appetite so…"

Saurial shrugged and Clark shook his head, lifting his comm-link.

"Just as I thought life couldn't get any stranger. Forge, if you can hear me, run a search for any swords made from the tooth of a dragon."

The silence from the other end was far more eloquent than any spoken word could be.

"While we're waiting, what sort of world is on the other side of that Portal?"

.

.

Emily Piggot stared at Dragon and Armsmaster.

"…what."

"The Dockworkers Union has a moonbase." Armsmaster repeated. "Apparently The Family were testing out one of the alternate modes of the Portal that Dragon, Leet, Raptaur and I constructed and made contact with Reality Alpha. The Dockworkers Union now have a working trans-dimensional portal leading to Dome eighteen of the Reality Alpha Moonbase, meaning that we are officially Reality Eighteen. On a totally unrelated note, I would like to apply to use some of my accumulated holiday entitlement."

"We're planning on visiting a couple of the notable Tinkers there." Dragon supplied. "And visiting their planet Venus. Apparently they've got an entire civilisation of extra-terrestrials there!"

.

"So." Clark said, looking round at the other team-leaders (or their deputies) who had responded to his request for a meeting. "Reality Eighteen is a strange variant of Reality Ten, except that it has the Family, a group of semi-aquatic lizard-like beings ranging from human-size to over eighty feet tall and who have powers that are odd even by our standards. Don't ask to see the model building they gave Mr. Hebert. My eyes felt like they were itching for an hour afterwards. We've got a standard Portal there and I'll be needing some volunteers to look at their Portal device next week."

"Count me in." Tony Stark instantly volunteered. "New tech! Cool. Banner'll probably want to come, he's the expert with anything radiation-linked and if Eighteen's Lung-analogue acts up, Hulk Smash."

"I too will volunteer." Otto Octavius interjected. "It's been fairly quiet recently, the Thunderbolts haven't had anything interesting happen for a while. Mysterio can lead in my absence."

"Then is sounds like a plan." Clark nodded. "Oh, I almost forgot. Eighteen's Panacea is also known as The Amy and none of The Family like to risk annoying her. If you meet her, be polite!"